We're just completing our new house and 'dream' kitchen. We both like to cook, and have been frustrated by prior poorly laid out kitchens, so we really focused on the kitchen in this house.

Space: Room for two cooks, with two separate work triangles. Lots of counter space.

Storage: 33 drawers in all. A spice drawer that holds 100 (!) jars, because we use tons of different spices.

Light: Our eyes are getting old, so we have plenty of lighting, and lots of windows. No upper cabinets, because neither of us like them.

Traffic: Our G-shaped kitchen is on an outside corner, so there is no through-traffic. The one aisle leading in and out is wide enough (5 feet) for two people to easily pass, and plenty of room to get by even with the refrigerator door wide open.

Practical: Good old Formica counters are cheap and easy to clean. SS surface mount sinks. A prep corner with room to sit down and do prep work. Sturdy basic painted cabinets. Basic appliances that work and are affordable.

Charm: Well, we think so, anyway. A tin ceiling. Antique type tray handles for the drawers. A vintage style galvanized ceiling fan. Maple peninsula top and prep corner. Beadboard cabinet doors and panels on the window returns. Floors are reclaimed pine, milled from 120 y/o beams out of a textile mill.

We have a fairly big collection of cookbooks due to our trying a number of different cuisines over the years. Only a few get used regularly. We wing it a lot, but some things require a degree of precision only a recipe can provide.

We pretty much cook everything, rarely eating out or buying processed food. We use a grill and smoker a lot, year-round. Entertaining is fairly rare, small scale, and very informal. The kitchen is bright and airy, and open to the rest of the house. It is a place to gather and share good times and good food.

I realize that I have strayed off-topic a bit, describing a lot more than whether we use cookbooks or not, but you did ask what went into the decision-making in our kitchen design.

I used to love to cook. I rarely do anymore. If I do, it's in huge batches, which I freeze.

When planning my rebuild, I think I was so scarred by the crap everywhere, that I just wished for cabinet doors to hide the visual clutter. Couldn't STAND seeing sh---, er, crap everywhere. Still can't, and it's still everywhere. I digress about crap.

That said, I didn't know to plan well when I started this. Thought I had, actually. My landing space of 24" between the sink and fridge quickly became overused, over cluttered and just plain annoying. Nothing else seemed to work, either.

In the subsequent years, I've built drawers under my peninsula. I turned a (stupid) reach-in cabinet into a trash pull-out next to the stove so prep work wouldn't be a PIA. Difficult to chop for soup or 'getti and have to drag the remnants across the room to the waste basket. Just this last week or so I moved the fridge to the other side of a door (which I widened) into the mudroom. I'm going to extend that 24" counter across to the wall. Still my landing space, but oh, the room!

As of this thread, I've determined my most-used kitchen appliances are
Daily: my fridge, my espresso machine, and my coffee-warming microwave,
Once in a great while: the stove and about once a month, my DW.
I'm still trying to figure out how to fit a kegerator into my new landing space... I like beer sometimes.

Oh, that last idea was a flash of brilliance...! I'll mull that over and report back.

The rest of my kitchen is just space to store the many pots and pans, dish sets, utensils, pyrex, and cooking things I very seldom use. Hmm. And I need a 10x12' kitchen, why? Cooking for one lazy chick isn't much fun, although I'm glad I have the food when I'm done!

Happy birthday! It's a great time for birthdays, isn't it? :)

I've never been much of a cook. My initial plan to remodel my kitchen was intended to improve the aesthetics of my first floor (tiny row house, open floor plan) and, in so doing, to open up views to the outside. I did have a secret hope that a nice kitchen would inspire me to cook.

In part, because of my lack of cooking, I opted for a gas range (over induction - why pay two to three times as much for induction if I don't cook much?) and for an OTR microwave (I don't cook much, so don't have a need for a powerful hood - but I do need space & storage.)

Last night, I cooked up a batch of asparagus (olive oil, garlic, parsley, pine nuts, salt & pepper) and it turned out quite good. I do hope that I will be inspired to cook. A couple friends have offered to come over & cook with me, I'm really hoping I take them up on their offer!

Timely thread, Texas_Gem.

Happy birthday!

I cook most nights each week and I rarely cook the same dish twice. Although, it may be the same dish it rarely taste exactly the same each time. My kids have become very accustom to having different cuisines each night. They are very adventurous and willing to try anything put in front of them. In the process, they have also become big food critics! It doesn't happen often, but I quickly hear about a meal that doesn't meet with their approval! I laugh and tell them, that they wouldn't appreciate a good meal if they didn't occasionally have a bad one!

When I'm feel very creative, I will often make up my own dish, other times I use cookbooks and I will follow them to tee; usually when I'm making a new type of cuisine. But, most of the time I use a cookbook more like a guide or a road map. I take the bits that I like and leave the rest. I write in many of my books and 'edit' the recipes so I can remember what I did differently.

I love cookbooks and it's one thing I usually bring home from anywhere we travel. I read them from cover to cover and I almost always learn something with each one. I many not try all of the recipes, but I enjoy reading the books. In my new kitchen I designed an open shelf for place for them to be displayed and readily available.

Happy Birthday!

I don't love to cook, but I do like it, and I like to bbq. I have a lot of cookbooks which I rarely use and did not incorporate into the kitchen storage. I tend to make it up as I go along or use my ipad (internet or saved recipes) instead. My new kitchen is very similar to the one it replaces with the exception of more drawers and cooktop with oven stack instead of a range. That is me acknowledging that I am either getting older or too lazy to get down on the floor to find something at the back of a cabinet. I did splurge on a steam oven - with the thought/hope/dream that it will magically improve our meals, lol. On the other hand, my current kitchen was a significant step up from what I had and so now are our meals, so perhaps not a total pipe dream.

When we redid our kitchen I wanted two work triangles and lots and lots of counter space. I cook dinner every night and do some baking. I didn't want any counter space outside of the work triangle because it becomes a dumping ground for crap and so is wasted space.

My two work triangles are anchored by two sinks at either end of an 18' long counter with the range in the middle and the fridge sort of across from that. I love my counter space.

I am a very neat cook but an extremely messy baker and so my baking area is on top of the dishwasher and beside the clean-up sink so things just get thrown into either one of those as I go along. That counter is 7 1/2' long and is completely used and really messy when I'm done.

When we have friends or family gatherings the two work triangles work out really well.

I sorta follow recipes but don't use my cookbooks anymore. I use the internet and then tweak just about everything that I make especially by throwing in different spices or more vegetables.

Some internet recipes get kept while others are thrown away. I didn't know what to do with all these recipes printed out on 8 1/2 X 11 paper so I bought a rustic box which is 8 1/2 X 11 X 3" deep and keep them in there. It actually works out well. It isn't organized but that's ok.

The one thing I wished I had done was to get a 36" range, but, next time....

Happy birthday!!!!

I love to make chocolate desserts and cook reluctantly. I love cookbooks and have a lot but I don't use them. I cook by smelling and poking.

I did not design my kitchen for cookbooks but for two people to cook at. I've cooked at times for up to 250 people as we used to entertain clients a lot at home.

I gave up a lot of storage space for a big standalone freezer so that I can cook in batches.

Interesting thread. Obviously the right answer is, Stop and think. Determine your own needs, and then design your space for yourself. More than in any other room, we're different and won't like the same details.

My husband and I both love to cook ... but never together. In fact, we annoy one another when we cook together. Thus, we're planning a smallish U-shaped kitchen just right for one cook. We're planning a spot for an observer to sit outside the U and chat. We're also placing the refrigerator in a spot where someone can come in and get a drink /glass /ice without entering into "the cooking zone".

As for looks, I want a kitchen that's attractive ... but my tastes are simple. I want medium-stained cabinets because they're easiest to keep clean (and while cooking's my thing, cleaning isn't). And a white-ish granite (or maybe recycled glass) with some variation in the pattern -- but absolutely not marble-like. I want a great backsplash tile -- certainly not plain old subway tiles. And I'm very interested in GE's new COLORED appliances instead of stainless steel (their cupcake blue looks nice).

I like clean, uncluttered countertops, so I want a drawer for the bread and another to hide small appliances: Microwave, toaster oven, coffee maker. These and the refrigerator will be located on the "back side" of the U shaped cabinets.

We are close to being empty nesters, so we're cooking in smaller quantities. Thus, when we move, I plan to have "prime storage space" for my everyday pots and pans ... and I'm going to store my large stock pots (I have four BIG soup pots, for example) in the pantry, where they'll be accessible but won't be right at our fingertips. We'll have a large mudroom/pantry just steps from the kitchen.

We both like to cook from scratch, and we're both fairly creative in the kitchen. Thus, we want a big pantry full of ingredients. We're frugal shoppers and stock up when things are on sale. Like an above poster, we have a lot of spices -- and I love my spice container system; it lives in an upper cabinet on a series of three lazy susans. We need a fairly large refrigerator because we use lots of fresh vegetables and ingredients.

I used to be a professional baker, but it got to be too much with my "real job". One had to go, so I decided to stick with the one that offers me a pension; sometimes I wonder if I chose wrong. Anyway, I own more than 100 cake pans and also a slew of cake stands ... one more reason for that large pantry. I also value my stand mixer highly and have "its spot" picked out.

What we don't have is loads of cookbooks. We realized years ago that we had too many, and we were keeping most for the sake of 3-4 recipes ... so we typed them up into a notebook and discarded the books themselves. I have a unique system for typing up my recipes that really works for me. I'm struggling with the idea of letting go of my shelf full of Southern Living Yearly Cookbooks; they're the best. We also use the ipad for recipes on a regular basis. I want to build in an open "charging shelf" UNDER my peninsula so phones and ipads can be "in the kitchen" without being "on the counter".

We store food. That is, we can and dehydrate vegetables. We make spaghetti sauce in large batches and freeze it. We make our own BBQ spice rubs. We need space for this in the pantry.

My husband is devoted to his Big Green Egg grill. If you have one, you understand. Thus, we want good access from the kitchen to the outdoor grilling area: wide aisles, convenient doors, place to set platters as we bring them in/out.

We want a connection between the kitchen and the great room. If he's watching a football game and I'm cooking, I want to be "close enough" that I can say something to him, or if we're hosting a small group, I want a viewer to be able to leave the football game and get a beer from the fridge without missing large chunks of the game.

Finally, seating. As I said, we're close to being empty nesters, and we don't like the idea of eating all our meals in the dining room at a large table. So we want a small seating area adjacent to the kitchen. Just big enough for two would do.

When reading the posts, I thought our kitchen and cooking style is just like Mushcreek, with just a few tweaks. Then, ditto Corie Hall and Mrs. Pete.

As I reflect on my cooking over the years, I now realize just how much a kitchen impacts my desire to cook and my enjoyment of it. The kitchens I've enjoyed being in, brings out my inner chef. The ones I haven't enjoyed, means more simple, quick and uninspired meals.

Even though my current kitchen isn't done yet and, so, isn't yet pretty, it is so well laid out, spacious (due to design, not an increase in size), and has such convenient, use-in-place storage, that I could live in it. Yup, my inner chef has been released!

I will sometimes use a recipe but I normally don't follow it exactly and add/subtract things depending on our family's tastes. I will follow it more closely if I'm experimenting with a new cuisine and am unsure of how to tweak the flavors. Sometimes I just play and randomly toss things together to see how it turns out. Even if I make something not good enough to make again in the same way, it's never inedible. And it's fun to play with color, texture, flavor, and new ingredients. I'm using vegetables I never even heard of a few years ago, lol.

I have too many cookbooks but I've been going through them and photocopying the recipes I actually use and putting them in binders. I am garage selling or donating the to the Goodwill. They are stored in my office, not the kitchen. (I've been on a kick to remove anything from my home that isn't beautiful and useful). To be honest, if I feel a need for a recipe I usually just go to Google. I might type in something like "Asian halibut recipe" and see what comes up. So many recipe sites have ratings that I'll look for one with a lot of stars and many ratings. So a 4.8 star recipe with 398 ratings seems a safer bet to try instead of a 5 star recipe with 8 ratings, kwim? I've rarely come across a bad recipe this way. Since cookbooks don't have ratings, I trust what is in them less.

I'm also inputting the ones I like and use the most in Pepperplate (a website with an app that sync). And it's easier to add website recipes (just a few clicks). And so much easier to find recipes as I can tag by ingredient, cuisine, whatever I create). And I can create shopping lists form the recipes. I'm opposed to paper clutter so this really works well for me.

We are also enjoying doing more canning and such again.

Of course, sometimes life gets busy and dinner is a grilled cheese sandwich and a cuppa soup. But not it's more often home-made soup from the freezer than Campbell's.

We're also working on expanding and improving our outdoor cooking space. We live on the patio when it's nice and we're making it easier to cook more there, too. Sometimes the canning is done outside.

All because I enjoy being in my kitchen so much I could live in it and if I'm in it, why not cook healthy, interesting and tasty meals? In the meal planning thread, I was a bit surprised at how many people have beautiful kitchen but don't like to cook. No judgment on my part but it just seems a bit sad, imho. I really want them to enjoy cooking in their lovely kitchens, not just looking at them.

I'm working on designing up my dream kitchen and it will include cookbooks on shelves -- because I love ethnic dining and I want to be reasonably accurate when I cook, say, Korean. Or, Greek. Or genuine Mexican, not just Tex Mex. But generally, I don't cook to the letter - I use recipes for ideas and concepts, and for oh, say, sometimes, proper cooking times for some ingredients. (And I love paging through the better cookbooks for ideas...)

I've designed my current build around my kitchen, as I like to say. It's the prep area that looks out the window, not the sink where I do dishes later. Cleaning up is necessary, but I want to be inspired by the view out the window when I prep and plate. I can view out towards the east and south -- directions of inspiration at my build. My kitchen is where I'd like my manifestation of home-bound heart and soul to be. Because, I do COOK, and it is one of the enjoyments of my life.

In much of the summer and in mild weather -- I plan to eat most of my meals outdoors on the deck. There will be a wrought iron table with four chairs that I already own. Otherwise, even if alone, I won't mind eating in the dining room.

Well I've never been a fan of cooking. It's a means to an end. However, I am a fan of eating (and unfortunately it shows.) In FL we live downtown close to really excellent restaurants so we're out 3-5 nights a week. We tend to stay in and eat at home on weekends when restaurants are crowded.

Despite not liking to cook, I am a very good cook who only cooks from scratch. I dislike eating processed and canned foods. DH will help with chopping and cutting but honestly his idea of cooking is to throw some pre-made sauce on something and bake it, so I don't allow him to cook.

Once or twice a year, I'll make a huge batch of tomato sauce and a couple of different soups for freezing and quick meals. Usually chicken soup and a vegetable soup and freeze them in two person servings.

I cook mostly on the cooktop. I love cutting up and throwing things together in the pan and seeing what i can come up with. No recipes for me or if I am not sure, I'll quickly look and then put it away and still do my thing. Whatever veggies or meat is around, is what I use. Or if no meat is available, I'll do something with veggies and cheese over some pasta.

Every couple of months I get on a baking binge and I love baking. But only when I am not too heavy. LOL. For baking I do use recipes.

We are building a new home and for the first time in years we'll be able to barbecue. I'm anticipating with the barbecue we'll eat home at least one additional night a week and that will be DH's job to cook on the barbecue. I'll prepare and he'll barbecue.

My new kitchen will have induction and a single oven since most of our cooking will either be stovetop or the barbecue. A simple oven will be all I need.

Because we're downtown, and only the two of us, I don't need to stock tons of stuff. Plus Whole Foods is walking distance from our home. I keep a weeks worth of fruits, yogurt and veggies in the fridge and most of the freezer is filled up with the sauce, soup and DD (dear dog's) food since she eats RAW.

A few boxes of pasta, rice, paper towels, tuna cans, extra bottles of seltzer (soda water to those of you not from the northeast) etc are all that is stocked, so we're going with a built in 24" wide pantry. Spices are stored near the cooktop and breakfast items go in an upper cabinet and snack items in another upper cabinet. I have a baking cabinet too with sugar, flour, etc. And of course DD gets her own cabinet.

Oh and with the new windows I added, I can look out the windows when I prep, and out the back door to the pool area when I clean up.

cpartist:

Ahhh induction... I want induction. Can't afford it right now, so I am building with a smooth top electric, to move to induction when I sell my current home.

I'd rather eat most of my meals home cooked -- overall healthier, and I have a great spice and herb collection. Where I will be moving will have very little close-to restaurants to dine out at anyway.

I avoid most high carb foods, especially pasta and (most) breads. I find I lose weight better on a low carb diet, and I only make desserts when called upon to participate in bake sales. (Everyone notes that I make the "healthy" cupcakes or mini-muffins, since I add in veggies...) (I do have a serious weakness for ice cream...)

I love to cook inside, DH loves to cook inside and outside, and we have many similarities with quite a few of the above posts.

But this thread, for the first time, made me think about the location of our cookbooks in relation to the design of our kitchen and how we use it. It seemed coincidental at the time, but it actually relates perfectly. I love to cook from scratch and make up things as I go along, using whatever ingredients are around. But sometimes, I will see a recipe in a magazine or leaf through a cookbook, and find that using the recipe gives me a new idea, or teaches me a new technique, that I can then use for dozens of other take-offs on it. DH does the same things with grilling and smoking, get an idea and then not use a recipe any more, but make it his own. We do have several favorite recipes and pull the books or binders out for them, but this happens perhaps once a week, at most. So, where are our cookbooks? They are not in the kitchen. Our kitchen opens to a breakfast nook, which has a bookcase cabinet, and they are around the corner in that cabinet. Which actually perfects suits how we use them. Fun thread!

My cookbooks are in a cabinet above the MW in the kitchen - it's the perfect sized cabinet for them as well as takeout menus. They are at the ready but most things I cook from memory because they are repeated so frequently - or it's a grilled meat, a veggie or salad and a starch. I do have soup recipes and marinades that I need to reference as well.

We converted from electric to gas - I could not get dh to agree to run both gas and electric and induction was out of budget so gas it was. I did adjust to gas fairly quickly though and I do love it. I did notice I left the burners on a couple of times at first - I was used to the burner "on" light and somehow would forget. I do have to remind my younger grilled cheese and egg makers that the burner is hot immediately when you fire it up - it's not like electric that takes forever!

I suppose it is my lack of cooking style that influenced my kitchen re-do! In other words, since I was working with a limited space and options in placement of things, I did not worry about dream features for particular modes or styles of cooking, entertaining etc. I just went for making the most of the small space for practicality's sake, increasing storage (because I also like to stock up on sales) and I am content with that.

I rarely eat out and at home usually cook fresh or out of the freezer, but my focus is generally on quick and/or simple, centered around proteins and vegetables -- the act of cooking is not of great interest to me. I do have lots of spices on hand, I do keep a few cookbooks and a notebook of recipes that are favorites, and have a few that have been given to me (kept on one shelf in the upper above the phone) but like funkycamper I tend to google for recipes when I am interested in something particular. I make preserves from my garden, and I have the space and storage now to do that easily but that wasn't a consideration in the design, really.

@cpartist OMG 3-5 nights out a week. I can't eat out that much. Twice a week gives my heart pitter patter from all the stuff that restaurants put in their food, especially sugar.

My cookbooks will be in the dining room on the built in bookcase. I never use them to cook but love to read them.

I love to cook, but food preferences here are limiting: I don't eat red meat, husband and kids don't eat vegetables willingly, and the kids don't eat fish. So it's lots and lots of chicken as our protein. But I'm happy to make them steak while I make a portobello mushroom version, and I'll make fish for us on the kid's pasta nights :)

I also use cookbooks as a guide, and enjoy getting new ideas from them. Ina Garten is my absolute favorite chef- I could read through her books for hours. I only have about 10 cookbooks, but they are well loved

My kitchen reno was all about me- it's my favorite room in the house. And I'm the only cook, so I got carte blanche. It was really nice not to have to compromise on much, except being limited by size. We moved from a bigger kitchen for a water view with gorgeous sunsets (best views from the den, kitchen, and MBR)- truly a gift every time there's a pretty one.

ETA: I did not mean a carte blanche budget, but carte blanche within my budget ;)

We got into a horrible eating out habit during the latter part of our build and it was driving me nuts. It was way too frequent and we rotated pizza, wraps and subs. Bleh. Once it isn't a treat anymore then it kind of loses it's favor and we quickly were sick of it. They weren't nice sit down restaurants though - those are few and far between for special occasions.

My kids love steak and pork tenderloin. We eat mostly chicken though and burgers as they are quite a bit more budget friendly.

Understand when we go out to dinner 9 out of ten times my dinner consists of a salad with dressing on the side or some sort of vegetable start and my main course is an appetizer. Once a week we do sushi and 3 out of four nights my appetizer will be some sort of fish appetizer. These are great restaurants where all food is made fresh. And I don't drink at all. if I am going to waste calories it will be on a good piece of chocolate, not alcohol. lol. I wind up eating larger portions at home

Such an interesting topic. I usually don't post but I had to. This thread really made me think about how we cook and use our kitchen. We entertain extremely large crowds every weekend think 30-40 people each meal. So I cook a lot for the weekends everything home made from scratch even the bread. During the week is another story I work sometimes 14-15 hour days and. My husband can't even figure out how to boil water soooo dinner during the week is either chicken nuggets or fish sticks or leftovers. If I'm feeling ambitious and I get home before 9 pm we may have noodles. The kids are happy and I'm to tired to care. Today was the first time in a month we didn't have weekend company so I actually prepped dinner for the whole week.

As for cookbooks I have a lot of them but usually use them more for ideas of what to make I never follow a recipe to the t.

Love your dining room, TG. The curio cabinet, especially lit up, is awesome in that space. That blue is one of my favorites colors. It can really act as a neutral, imho. So dramatic.

Thanks funky. My dad actually built that cabinet for me 17 years ago.

Now that it is dark outside I can get a better pic without sunlight glaring on the glass.

It is a pain to move but I've always had it with me in any house I've had. Thankfully I will never have to move it again!!

cpartist, - sounds like you got some great restaurants near you!

I think the only thing I dislike about my future home is that you have to trek quite a bit to get to a quality restaurant. The closest place you can eat food in at is a convenience store that makes the types of foods one associates with gas stations. A little further away there's a place that makes excellent pizzas and Greek salads (but it is only so often I'd want to do that), but I have to go all the way to Northhampton for some quality dining and seafood (and, sigh, sushi...) and an excellent Indian restaurant.

I also won't be close to a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's -- or even a normal supermarket -- no more impulse buys!! ...but on the other hand during the summer there are a few thriving farmers markets about. And I plan to grow a lot of my own food, and raise up chickens.

I don't follow recipes for most dishes, but I enjoy baking breads, cookies, and crackers, and following recipes for those items produces better results. Some cookbooks even recommend weighing flours to get just the right ratio to the other ingredients. Sorry, that's too much dedication, even for me. I scanned the posts to see if anyone else mentioned following recipes for baking--waving to cpartist. My favorite cookbooks are on a shelf above the KA mixer, which sits at the end of an 11' counter. I love having the filled sheet pans all lined up, ready for the oven

My kitchen is set up ideally for one cook--me--and I don't like company in the kitchen. (Except for peeling potatoes; last evening I made potato soup using 10#s of potatoes. I recruited my DD to help peel. Delicious! What could be better on a crisp fall day than creamy, oniony, garlicky, potato soup?)

Oh, yeah, baking is different. About the only baked item I don't closely follow a recipe for is cobbler which is a little more forgiving than most baked goods.

I enjoy cooking and make dinner from scratch just about every night. I rarely use a cookbook unless I'm baking and need to follow an exact recipe. I had a large collection of cookbooks that has been recently thinned out and stashed in our hall pantry just outside of the kitchen. If I need a general guide for a new recipe, I usually just pull one up on my iPad. Dh works from home and is in the kitchen throughout the day making this or that, and some nights he makes dinner. Often he helps me prep, so we are definitely a 2+ person kitchen. DD is vegetarian and Dh avoids carbs and red meat for the most part. I also make jams and do other canning. I decided for our new kitchen to have 3 ovens because I have said a million times " I wish we had a third oven". The range will have a large and very small oven, and I'm adding a 24" wall oven. I cannot tell you how much guilt I feel over this (seems self indulgent). On the other hand, I've decided to forgo a prep sink in order to have more prep space on my smallish island. I may regret it, but oh well.

Texas_Gem: Can you tell me what color/brand paint you used in your DR ? It is so pretty and I'm looking at similar colors for my DR.

I agree, baking is different.

Melis- I have 3 ovens, it is wonderful!!

I can not remember the name of my paint color. The chip was Behr and I had it color matched in Kilz ProX paint.

Here is the label with the formula.

Family of five here, with 3 under the age of 11. I cook homemade family meals Sunday night through Thursday then Friday night is takeout and a family movie and Saturday night we go out to eat - not always, but mostly. When I cook, it's usually a pasta meal on Sundays, roast chicken (great for leftover lunches as chicken salad, etc.) a fish one night, taco or fajita night with lots of sides (the kids fav) and a few slow cooker meals I rotate in an out. I entertain a LOT, and purposely designed my kitchen with an 88 inch counter (peninsula) for big buffets - and two back counter areas for beverage & dessert stations. Yesterday I had 45+ people over - it was my son's entire soccer team and their families. I made pasta, pizzas, garlic bread, dips and snacks. 3+ years post remodel and there is nothing I would do differently.

I follow a recipe the first time (for baking) and then change it to be what I would prefer. It's fun to add spices or switch apple sauce for oil, throw in a little liqueur for flavor in frosting....and I always add a little cloves and nutmeg to anything with cinnamon.

I'm a bit of a math geek, so I like having a recipe to start, but it drives my husband crazy when I don't have exact measurements for things. It's not 1/4 teaspoon...it's better with less. He asks...how much less? I say...well, not 1/8, but somewhere in between....but closer to 1/8. LOL

I used to have more cookbooks, but now I have BH&G and two kids' cookbooks that each have some great recipes! Walnut penuche is the best in one....and Mad Hatter Meatballs in the other.

Oh, and a biscuit recipe that works for pizza crust and dumplings! These recipes have held up better (and been more popular with family) than all the fancy recipes I tried once and considered to be too much work to make again. Hey, I live on a farm....and I have to drive 30 minutes to buy anything not in the pantry! And I like Mad Hatter Meatballs :)

I don't cook using recipes on a daily basis, and I make stuff up based on what I have frequently, but I can't imagine not referring to one to cook a specific dish I'm not familiar with. But now that usually means looking it up on the internet, finding one or two recipes that look most promising and using those as a guide, rather than breaking out a cookbook. The cookbooks I have are on a bookshelf in the living room or in a box. I might move them to an unused upper shelf in a wall cabinet though.

Ironically since I'm not an adventurous baker so I can make most things I bake from memory, like CC cookies, brownies, or no knead bread.

The nicest thing about my redone little galley kitchen (other than a counter without nasty grout lines - that is the absolute best thing) is that there is counter space for at least 3 people to cook at the same time for a party or thanksgiving or whatever. (More if they are reasonably disciplined about space and bring their own knives ;) ) Before it was a 50's kitchen with a stupid peninsula that was obviously meant for only one cook. I personally don't understand redoing a kitchen and not leaving the option of cooking being a social occasion, even if the kitchen isn't used like that on a regular basis.

My cooking style changes constantly. About a year or two ago I was making pizza dough from scratch and trying to really cook home cooked meals. Lately it has been, let's pick up take out or prepared foods at the grocery store. Very recently I am trying to get back to more actual cooking. I find that I go through these stages constantly as life is always changing.

Sometimes I can just wing it with a meal but mostly need a recipe. I think our kitchen (gut remodel 4 years ago) has a got basic layout that fits any phase I am currently in.

@mamagoose - I'm super lazy and easily distractible and I actually find it easier and faster to weigh flour and sugar rather than measuring volume. You can even measure all the dry ingredients that need combining directly into the same container by tare-ing the scale after each one.

We entertain a LOT and everyone always ends up in the kitchen, no matter how we arrange our parties (previously at apartments with galley kitchens.) We designed our new kitchen with lots of seating and with sort of "separate" kitchen areas instead of the traditional triangle- the main sink will be far enough away from the cooking space that people can throw dishes in or wash dishes without being near the stove or fridge, and the wine fridge/drink area will be far enough away from everything that people can make themselves beverages without going anywhere near the main cooking area. TBD if this actually works... kitchen isn't started yet!

@lavender_less id LOVE that dough recipe!

My kitchen remodel was absolutely designed around how I cook & how we use the kitchen. Three things I wanted were:

1. Lots of natural light - I cook from-scratch meals almost every day and spend a lot of time here. In addition to prep/cooking, this is where most casual entertaining happens, where I fold laundry, work on the computer, and where DH & I eat most meals. I used to have one small window and we looked at walls of upper cabinet boxes (depressing). We eliminated many uppers, added storage in the island, put the range in the corner so that this is now what I see when I'm working there.

2. Induction range - I also chose my stove for how I cook. I prefer the look of a pro-style gas stove but chose induction because the perfect stovetop temp control works best for my style of cooking. I don't do wok or high sear frying, but for 9 months of the year you'll likely see a pot on my stovetop. I do lots of stocks, soups, stews & chowders. Induction was made for simmering! Here's the pot of chicken stock I have going on this rainy day.

3. Big stone (no prep sink) island -I chose to have a big, uninterrupted island top that, in addition to being our preferred everyday eating spot, also works as a serving table for buffets (has the plugs for crockpots/warming trays). It also allows for a number of people to work around it with room to spare. Like when the grands come over for the annual Christmas cookie bake ;)

There are SO many elements I just love in other kitchens posted here but some just wouldn't have worked as well for me. I've used this kitchen for almost a year now, though, and still appreciate it every day.

Great thread to get people in the planning stages to really consider their priorities for use over just looks.

ETA - Happy Birthday, Texas_Gem!

Happy Birthday, Gem!

R

Biscuit recipe (drop biscuits, pizza crust, dumplings) as follows:

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt (although recipe calls for 1 teaspoon)

Sift items together into bowl....

Then cut in 1/4 cup (which is 1/2 stick) butter or margarine

Add 1 cup milk and stir with fork until holds together.

For drop biscuits, drop on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 425 for about 10 minutes (check at 8 and could be up to 12...depends on oven) Makes 8 biscuits.

For pizza crust...pat out on greased/non-stick baking sheet (probably want to put some oil on your hands to keep dough from sticking) add sauce and toppings/cheese. Bake at 425 for 18-20 minutes.

For dumplings, drop good-sized spoonfuls (but not huge) into boiling chicken and broth (I like small, cooked cubed carrots, too) and cook covered for 10 minutes....uncovered for 10 minutes.

Again, this is a kids' type recipe, so it's pretty basic...but very good! I use the lower amount of salt, but it's really to your taste. I've made these with butter and milk....and margarine and soy milk. Good both ways :)

LL- that is the exact same recipe I use for my quick drop biscuits, except I melt the butter first and just stir in. Never thought about using it for pizza dough. Hmmmm......

It's so easy! My nephew (now in his 20s) called me the other day to ask for the recipe, for pizza crust. He said it was his favorite. I had no idea :)

They're all good....but right now, I feel like making dumplings. I love chicken and dumplings!

I use that recipe for biscuits and dumplings but never thought of using it for pizza dough. Thanks for that tip!

Happy Birthday TG!

Our kitchen design was driven by the need for 3 ovens. DH & I were traumatized by 15 years of cooking Christmas dinner for 30 with two 27" ovens & a kitchen full of smoke. Our range top vent, we discovered with the reno, was never connected, thus, no venting.

I need a recipe. I do enjoy cooking when I have a good recipe & all the ingredients. I'd rather pull weeds than go to the grocery store.

LL - thanks for the recipe. I actually have all those ingredients.

So...how did your ultimate dream kitchen become a reality?

It didn't. Mushcreek's kitchen is now my dream kitchen. BUT for my little house with it's tiny kitchen, the one I have now, post reno, is my dream kitchen. It's me and my two boys (who are with me on my days off from work). I work rotating 10.5 hour shifts and last week I worked OT 2 hours one day and 4 hours for two other days, so there wasn't a whole lot of cooking going on. LOL

I normally cook all of our meals and I try to plan them ahead of time. Even if we don't eat what's on the calendar for that day, it'll be some time that week. I now have lots of counter space and storage (considering the size of the kitchen) and it's twice as much as what was there before as one wall of the galley was just an indented wall. I added 5 feet of counter/drawers and uppers and a 24" pantry in that empty space! One the other side I removed a cupboard and put in a dishwasher. It's a much more efficient use of space, though it's still really a "one-butt" kitchen.

I'll have to try that recipe, Lavender. Thank you.

Texas, your room is looking great!

Mushcreek, you know how I feel about your kitchen. :)

Amck, I love your kitchen too! Especially the view and your green enameled cast iron stock pot!

Happy birthday Texas_Gem!!

I love to cook and bake, and when I bake I (mostly) follow a recipe, but when I cook I rarely do. Sometimes I start with a recipe as my inspiration and modify it to fit our personal preferences/ingredients we have on hand, other times I just make make things up as I go. I also don't measure when I'm not baking, I usually just go by how it looks and tastes.

I have a lot of recipe books, some of which were bought for me as gifts and others that belonged to my grandmother who was an amazing cook and restaurant critic. She wrote the Philadelphia section of Fodors for years, and some of the cookbooks she gave me were autographed, so I definitely want to find a special place for them in my kitchen when we do the remodel even though I don't use them. We are at the very beginning stages right now and have an appointment on Friday to see some of their ideas for the layout. I'll let you know how it goes!