Clearly, for serious cooks only.

I did see that and wondered about it for a minute. Kind of different. Serious cook or serious tv watcher, I'm not sure.

I'm just glad my husband didn't see it...

Was it wired to turn on when you push the "chicken nuggets" button?

No, its over a Bertazzoni, which is surprising because Viking usually has the Show House market locked up.

Marcolo - so funny (as always)

Hey! I DO have a TV behind my range. No, really I do. It's now where that hole is:

It's pretty tacky, even though I put a potted plant on top of it. But I think building one INto a kitchen is even tackier. And I have a pretty high threshold for tackiness.

(I wish this house still had the walls with which it was built! I really need to do some work on it...)

Did you see the one with the fish?

Or the pink BlueStar?

No fair Pll! You know I considered a behind-the-range fish peekthrough in my last kitchen! (And I did actually try to fit them behind the stove in this place but their cage was a quarter inch too long to fit in that stupid hole.)

Well, but Fo, the fish were cool! And so, in context, was the pink BlueStar.

Which was my point. Many of us can't imagine watching the TV over the pots, but there's a lot of non-cooking times in most kitchens when one might be watching the TV. If done right, it could be a good use of space to use the taller backsplash area over the stove for it. Mine is setting on the island, and definitely isn't decorative! In fact, it's downright fugly. :)

So what sealer do you use on a TV backsplash?

I think a TV in the kitchen is fine. I just thought that this was a problematic place for it. Its also a black hole when turned off (or one of those mirrors that looks funny).

I think the hole under the peninsula in Fori's kitchen was probably a good place to stick a big TV at one point. I generally put TVs in discreet locations but don't go to great lengths to hide them either. A spot on a counter works for me.

I work in one office where there are TVs for the patients in the operatory. Its usually okay, but bothersome when a patient says "Hmph, could you move your head? I can't see!" On the rare occasion I have also been the parent and said "You either have to change the channel or turn it off!" (Jerry Springer)

I saw in person that house renovated on "This Old House" to include a TV behind the medicine cabinet mirror. Its location gave you a choice of 1) slicing off your ears while shaving, since you couldn't see your reflection 2) showering with the doors open so you could see the TV or 3) watching TV instead of reading magazines while you were sitting and thinking, which, due to the location, had to be done while straddling the sink instead of the toilet.

But it looked cool. On TV.

Oh I don't object (as much as I ought) to a TV in the kitchen although it depends on what you're watching. Building one in and treating it like a feature is the problem. I've seen some beautifully integrated TVs, and they are small enough that they can plop on the counter if there is space.

I often drag a laptop into the kitchen for recipes or reference or to avoid people and a modern television isn't much different from a computer. I suppose you could play games while cooking. Ohhhh. I get it. It's an online gamer's house!!!!!!!!!

My hole is not meant for a TV--I think it's meant for barstools. But to accomplish that neat peninsula so many walls were removed that there remains no place for a television unless I want to block a window. Considering the POs had an entire bedroom added on that blocked a window, they probably didn't mind sticking a TV in front of another.

I bought this dump for the windows, not the kitchen. The kitchen is already an eyesore so the TV doesn't detract. (I'm working on both, though!)

I would guess that anyone with a TV over the range is kinda into sports. Or really trying to mess with the spouse's head.

Or maybe the counter seating was oriented in that direction and/or you could see it from the table, and it was meant primarily for use when there was not cooking going on. But I don't know that it would work out that way.

Palimpsest, I'll happily take you word for it that this installation was strange. The description reminds me that some kitchens balance more to function than to design, where, ideally, they balance well between both.

Gotta admit, though, that my TV, for all that it's one of the new, ultra thin kind, is a big black presence in an otherwise light room and pretty awful, if moveable. :)

Beagles, your place will be like an amusement park funhouse for adults. It never occurred to me that you wouldn't install one of those TV mirrors.

For myself, I wish I were done with my landscaping, roof repairs, plumbing repairs, rewiring, driveway, and kitchen (gulp, I never listed them all before), so I could address this:

Gotta admit, though, that my TV, for all that it's one of the new, ultra thin kind, is a big black presence in an otherwise light room and pretty awful, if moveable. :)

I confess, I have been coveting one of those ultra thin TVs that sits behind a painting that disappears into a gold frame when not in use. It is not cheap. But I have only a living room, no family room, and I would dearly love to get rid of that black rectangle.

The price is ludicrous, of course.

LOL Marcolo, I'm not sure if an amusement park funhouse for adults is a good description or a bad one!

I looked into those TV frame things too. I too found the price insane, so much so I am not doing it. Be careful if you ever request a quote, I put in my email address and phone number on one of those framing websites to find out the exact price and it took me like a year to get them to stop calling me to see I was ready to buy yet!

I thought the TV behind the mirror in the bathroom was more for listening/watching when you were in the shower or tub? Would you even be able to focus on it while shaving?

As for hiding them, if I can hide the cords I am fine with it being out. I used a "hair dryer grommet" from Mockett (I guess made for the snout of a professional blow dryer) that was big and long enough to go through an entire wall and pulled all the wires through and they plug in in a cabinet on the other side of the wall. So the TV is there but it does not have any wires showing.

I think the fridge with the tv in the door that was touted a few years ago is a more awkward location, lol....

We did our layout so that I could watch tv on the den wall from our island when prepping or cooking. It is a great way to keep up on shows while making dinner. The only downside is it is hard to ff past the commercials if your hands are dirty. I don't have enough time in the day to keep up with the shows I like and sometimes, if I don't watch a show soon enough, it gets out of date or the ending gets revealed. It is better to watch shows that are less visual because it is easy to miss things when focused on cooking. If I had to stare at a wall when cooking, my family would have fewer "from scratch" meals and more take out, lol.... Sometimes dinner prep/cooking takes over and hour in the kitchen so this keeps me entertained and not resentful. Oprah is may fave show to watch when cooking, so her departure is sad.... It did not have as many moments to watch as interviews can be heard and I'd look up when they showed the video package and then back down when it was less visual.... The View is good for that too.

I also fold laundry while watching tv and that makes me not mind doing it. YMMV.

This got me thinking of an 'active' backsplash.

put on a video of a Tuscan landscape to inspire when cooking.
Or post the recipe you're working on, and the finished product. Or Deadliest Catch when cooking seafood.

possibilities...

Those bathroom mirror TVs can really only be watched when you're standing in front of them. They're way up on the wall. And make the mirror disappear when you're using it. So when the TV is on you end up trying to shave Al Roper's face.

Funny, how the TV industry pretends the cords don't exist. With DVRs, cable boxes, Blu-Rays, XBoxes and all the rest, the back of my TV looks like the control room at NASA. I had to get a guy from Geek Squad out to make sense of them. It looks better but I'll never be able to move my TV stand until I move.

In a different layout the TV might not bother me but you see my LR TV as soon as you step fully into the room. It's OK and not oversized but I'm really lusting after the disappearing version. I did price out the lift cabinets but they're not only expensive, but huge. (Apparently the cheap ones tend to break with your TV inside.)

There already exists a new technology that displays TV/video on a completely flat "tape," maybe 18" tall (I forget) and as long as you want. The potential uses that manufacturers will come up with are disturbing to consider.

Technically, marcolo, that is not always 100 percent true. On our TV mirror in our bathroom, the TV only appears in a small section of the bottom of the mirror, leaving the rest of the mirror fully mirror-operational. So, you could shave while looking at your face straight on and the TV would be below your face. Of course, I'm not sure how that would work as far as keeping your eyes downward to watch the TV and focused on shaving at the same time.

I am hoping to be able to watch ours from my tub, that is why we bought it. I'm an avid tub user and I put in a very fun tub, so I wanted to have the TV to go with it. I'll be sure to let any interested parties know how that goes, LOL.

I went to a model house once both the living room and bedrooms had projectors mounted on the ceiling in the back of the room and then projection screens that came down from the ceiling when you pressed a button. The only evidence of the TV was the projector and if you looked up you would notice the small slit in the ceiling. It was pretty cool! I'd love one for my bedroom but DF has this aversion to TVs in the bedroom :(

:) Beagles, I bought a nice plastic box for my touch screen stereo controller so I could use it from the tub. :) It's not the kind that you can get in waterproof form. I think they make those yellow toss 'em in the pool TV remotes though...

Weedmeister, I love the active backsplash idea!! Not so much for the fishing shows, but can you just imagine? The recipe over the stove, Julia in the corner explaining how to fillet the squab and not lose any of the precious meet, the illustration from www.howtobutchersquab.info right next to her, the evening's menu with timer reminders on the other side, and the guest list with phone numbers, table arrangement, and allergies, at the other end. All controllable by voice or gesture.

I totally love it!!!

Marcolo, the TVs themselves are probably pretty expensive (mine were gifts so I don't know for sure), but the frame part can be done pretty easily if you're willing to compromise a little. You build a box frame on the wall, surrounding the TV (and run the wires through the wall so they're not all hangin' down), and then you cover the box with your painting or mirror. There are different ways to do it. You can make bifold doors that tuck out of the way and paint a pretty picture on them, you can hinge a proper framed art piece so long as it's not too heavy--I've seen this done where it dropped down and on the wall side of the frame, instead of brown paper or linen, there was a rack for the controllers and some pieces of the surround sound. I've also seen where the art only goes up when there's company, so they just have a double angled slat top edge/hanger and the framed piece sets on the floor behind an end table otherwise.

I like having the ugly black TV on the island. It's right by the seating for A/V company when one is alone, or shucking peas (or, more likely, clipping artichokes), and I have it on a little slate turntable so it's easy to turn it to face the cook. Often, I'll turn on the news while I'm prepping or something and not even bother turning it because I'm looking at my work. Yup. Really functional. But no disguising it. The HDMI wire does help though. Just that and the power cord, rather than spaghetti. And the thing has Bluetooth and, I think, wi-fi, so if the stereo were allowed internet privileges (it's been hinting, and it has a birthday coming), the TV could get Hulu or Netflix without a computer hookup. 'Course, then my refrigerator would start calling home to Germany and trying to get my phone to talk my ipod into turning the car against me.

pllog they do have waterproof universal remotes. I have already sourced some :)

I really like the Dolphin, except I want to see if the learning function will let me teach it the controls to my Moen IO Digital tub controller and the chromatherapy functions in the tub, or if the features that let you control the spa only work w/ the Balboa hot tubs.

I also found these for TV art which seem sort of like a low-budget and not-as-nice version of the fancy TV art things. I wouldn't pay $599 for this glorified box, but you could potentially just look at what they have done and build your own.

I did see that - and no thanks! I do have a tv in my kitchen and have since I bought my first house at 25. You should have seen me with the coat hangar and my dad in the crawlspace trying to fish the cable wire! I turn it on in the morning when I am making breakfast for all my boys and turn it on again when I am cooking or cleaning the kitchen. I love it!!! It makes a pretty monotonous job more enjoyable.

When trying to figure out where to put a tv in my new build I looked at all sorts of options and a houzz ideabook on the subject - I decided the small tv on the countertop was the best option for me (particularly since I don't keep anything else on the countertop except a coffeemaker and a crock for utensils).

Interesting spot for one for sure!