teal.

Trying again -

Measurements

My Plan #1

My plan #2

make sure you have
+ a slim shallow tall fireplace (search "count rumford" or read wikipedia)
+ a p trap on every drain
+ a strainer firmly attached to the floor drain to keep rats out.

A $10 steel salad bowl can have a hole drilled into it and become a sink.
A $10 ball valve can be used as a faucet for a few years.

Good luck scrounging whatever you can find.

Here is a link that might be useful: ball valve at Lowe's

Wow, what a gorgeous portfolio of ideas. Welcome to the forum, and I love your vision so far. :-)

I'm not great with layouts, but I'm sure that the layout gurus will wander along within a few days and give you some good feedback on your plans so far.

You seem to share my aesthetic in terms of patina/unenthusiastic cleaning -- one surface I can recommend for countertops, working tables, etc, is metal of any sort. You can salvage stainless commercial worktables, old iron tabletops, or create your own tops quite inexpensively from roofing copper or zinc, etc. I made my own copper countertops and their warmth and durability might fit in very nicely with your other materials.

I'm hampered by being completely unfamiliar with the architectural salvage scenario in Spain, but if it's like elsewhere in Europe you should have adequate resources if you are willing to travel a bit far afield and haul items yourself. Get to know some professional cooks/chefs/restauranteurs in your new locale and find out where they go for second-hand supplies.

If you have any photos of your kitchen space, I'm sure folks would love to see them -- so much fun to see cooking spaces in other countries -- and seeing what you're working with might help us offer you more inspiration?

cheers!

This is going to be so much fun to watch. I'm betting that there is a ton of old wood, marble, and natural materials that you could salvage. I imagine a work surface created from old planed boards that are laminated together to form a surface.

Welcome, Cocomartinez!!

Re dyeing fiber--keep it out of the kitchen!! And if you're using powdered dyes, get a "Darth Vador" mask that has cartridges that will screen for both particulates and vapors. It's worth the investment. I also would make a shed space (or proper studio) in the barnyard for actually mixing and using the dyes, to keep loose dyes away from your clothes. :) If you don't want to do that, at least mix up powdered dyes with water outside somewhere unimportant.

First floorplan thoughts: I would tend to put the table by the window rather than the door, where it could be kind of in the way (plan #1), but maybe turn it the other way. Rather than putting the fridge next to the woodstove, however, I'd use all that wall for the stove plus traditional fireplace. You can build the chimney for both together that way, and have them both against the LR wall. It looks like that area lends itself to the additional depth into the room that would require.

Is there room for the fridge in the left of page, bottom corner? The fridge should be handy to the sink, and to the table. It would be a lot better if it were also nearer the stove. Since you'll be eating outside a lot, I actually think it would be most convenient for all purposes by the outside door, which is pretty central to all, but that would probably require redoing the windows, which you said you were open to... It would also be okay where you have it in plan #2, but most people don't want to look at a fridge from the living room.

It looks like a good, useable space. While you're scrounging, look for deep (from wall) dressers with drawers that open easily and have strong bottoms. You can put a stone, wood or metal counter on, and have a good work surface. Also look for buffets. You can also turn an old dressing table vanity into a sink base.

Also...I'm sure you're going to have electricity, though maybe I'm wrong? If you do have it, I highly recommend getting a portable induction hotplate (and appropriate pans), if you don't already have one. It'll be useful while you're building, and good to have after the woodstove goes in, if you just want to boil some water fast or to help the cooking if it's raining down the chimney and things aren't going so well.

What an exciting project!! Best of luck with it!

Separate the woodstove/cookstove and fridge. If the stove is a room heater, it has to radiate heat, in a big way. And if it is also a cooker it will still radiate heat on hot days in the summer adding to the load.

Now if its something like an old-fashioned wood-fired AGA it's primarily a cooker and only secondarily a room heater (It's really a room warmer, but not a heater if you get my meaning.)

Canning, espcially pressure canning (all non-acid produce like veg.. require pressure canning) on a woodburning appliance will make you cry in frustration. I know, because I've lived and cooked in houses with only a wood cookstove (and no electricity!) and aside from the fact that canning happens on hot days at the end of summer when the last thing you want to do is mess around with a wood cooker, it's nearly impossible to keep the canner's pressure steady with wood. You can, with enormous diligence, run a water bath canner on wood, but temp issues still make it a miserable on hot summer days. So, I second pllog's rec. to get at least one portable burner, or electric coil if you plan to can. Or a gas hot plate. Most canners are aluminum and won't work on induction (all pressure ones are as far as I know).

I wouldn't waste the south east corner on a service space. It's far too valuable with sun and warmth potential, even if the view isn't great. Plus pantries are traditionally on the northeast corner in order to harvest the natural coolness of that space.

May I make a useful preparation suggestion? Before you get too much farther down the planning road, I would recommend you get a copy of a tremendously useful book A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander , et al. This book teaches what makes a house (also any land or neighborhood) a wonderful space to live and work in. The principles were articulated by studying housing across many cultures and areas, so they work very well for most houses and will work with your kind of project particularly well.

The book isn't a picture book with pretty inspiration pictures, but a thoughtful exploration. It amply rewards the small effort it takes to figure out how to use it. It's a classic and the underlying foundation of lots of very popular shelter writers (Susan Susanka, for instance.)

Organizing and planning an exciting project of this nature is difficult enough in your native country, so doing it long distance, or even as a resident expat, will really test your mettle. Having lived overseas many years, I wish you the very best: Buena Suerte!

L

Thanks all!

We will have standard electricity, all new plumbing. I added an additional stove, which I neglected to label, which might be propane or electric, for spring/summer use and we will have a microwave, probably a bbq outside.

Given that the structure needs a roof, floor, plumbing, electrical and everything, the budget is not going to a typical kitchen installation. But I figure we have the next 30 years or so to furnish.

The house from the NW corner

A terrible photo of the south facade after demolition. As you can see, the only existing openings are the doorway and a window in the laundry/pantry. We can add exterior windows along the south and west where convenient.

We will also be creating the opening between the kitchen and the living room. On one hand, we would like to preserve the walls that are still standing and save money, on the other hand we think a door there is important to the traffic flow in the house.

Thanks again!