An Adobe Kitchen Disaster in the Mountains
Is there help for this kitchen? We just moved into this house and
are starting to remodel (of course a limited budget). We are replacing
appliances and the island lighting. Does anyone have any suggestions on
updating but not buying new cabinets and replacing the counter-tops?
The kitchen
has a black slate floor that cannot be easily replaced due to the installation
of the slate tiles and radiant floor heat. The kitchen is open to a living
space and divided by an overhead beam. The house is an adobe straw bale house.
Does anyone have any suggestions to update the look and make it a more esthetic
kitchen?
Comments (16)
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Comments (5)Hi Lynn, love your adobe look walls in the front and your view in the back is wonderful. I'm glad you plan on preserving your view in the back and think it's great that you're thinking of water conservation. Since you're close to Santa Fe I hope you've been to High Country Gardens/Santa Fe greenhouse. I've been buying plants mail order from them for fifteen years and I understand they have some great waterwise landscaping at thier store in Santa Fe. In this month(Sept.) issue of Sunset magazine there is a Santa Fe landscape with adobe walls and a planter against the wall like what you are talking about. It does have a lot of plants in the ground also but it is a great backyard landscape by Wilder Landscaping. Your idea of all raised planters sounds very attractive and ambitious. I know you where conscerned about the heat situation with all that masonry. All your walls would act as a heat sink collecting the warmth during the day and then radiating it out at night. You would have cooler temperatures in the mornings from the walls and warmer temperatures at night. About the planters using less water I can't get around this idea. Planters because they are exposed to the hot summer air on the sides as well as from overhead actually heat up the soil more than in ground plantings. This makes them use more water not less. Of course you are talking about other issues too such as ease of planting and not having to deal with your rocky soil. Mulch is a great way to help keep soil cooler and use less water, rock mulch for more deserty type plants and organic mulch for others. And your shade trees will really cool things off for you too. If you use plants well adapted to your area you could really keep your water use down and not have to feel like you need all the planters....See MoreSoapstone Disaster Averted
Comments (3)I hope you have followed up with Green Mountain to provide feedback on their recommendation. I imagine they would want to know about your experience, as it reflects on them, as well. Looking forward to seeing your finished pics!...See MoreWith a nod to trailrunner: Let's See Your Working Kitchen!
Comments (58)Thanks alaris19 and suzannes1! The banana bread I made yesterday was not good; I am copying down your recipes and will try. The most important thing to remember is to not overwork the dough. It will be wet and sticky but that's fine! Baking Powder Biscuits (Julia Child, Baking with Julia) Oven: 425. Grease a 9x12 baking pan. 2 c. all purpose flour 1 Tablespoon baking powder 1 tsp salt 1/3 cup solid vegetable shortening 1 cup milk Put the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and stir with a fork to mix. Add shortening, roll it around in the flour to coat it, and then break it into 4 or 5 pieces. Rub the flour and shortening together with the tips of your finders, making little crumbs. Keep doing so until most of the shortening is mixed together with the flour. Don't worry if you have a few largish pieces. Add milk and stir with a fork to moisten the flour. Don't worry about getting everything evenly mixed. You'll have a sticky mass of dough. Flour a work surface, scoop the dough out, and drop it on the counter. Flour your hands. Knead only 10 times. Do not overwork! Pat the dough into a circle about 9" and cut with a 1.5 - 2" biscuit cutter (or glass, whatever works). It helps to dip the cutter in flour to prevent dough from sticking. Brush with melted butter if desired. Bake for 12-15 minutes until they are golden on top....See MoreLong Galley Adobe Kitchen - Layout Feedback Please
Comments (14)The cooking alcove in the posted kitchen...your DH is absolutely right...there's not much work or landing space around that range...it would drive me crazy! Refrigerator...I'm not sure what you're asking...in the layout I posted, the refrigerator is next to the french doors...yes, I like it there. It's much, much easier to get to it from the Breakfast Nook, which is probably the 2nd most common location of refrigerator use (1st is the kitchen). The 5' aisle b/w the Prep Zone & the refrigerator isn't really that far...mine is across a 6' aisle from the Prep & Cooking Zones and it seems pretty close to me. MW...You could put the MW b/w the refrigerator and cleanup sink, just either replace the dish hutch upper cabinet with a shelf under the upper cabinet to hold a MW or put a MW drawer in the base cabinet of the dish hutch. Hood...it's not a matter of how many burners are going at one time...it's a matter of how smoke, steam, grease, odors, fumes, etc. travel. As they rise from the cooking surface, they immediately begin to spread out..so by the time they reach the hood, they're already a few inches past the hood capture area. (It's also not a matter of the type of fuel your cooktop/range uses...it's how you cook that's the biggest determinant of how strong & wide the hood should be.) The recommendation is 6" wider than the cooking surface, 24" deep (27" in your case b/c of your deeper counter), and, IIRC, at least 600 cfms...more is better. The higher the cfms, the lower the setting you have to use for most cooking and the quieter your hood will be. Window...the window can stay in the same place & size...I just thought it would be nice to enlarge it a little. Cleanup sink location...it's not really any father from the Breakfast Nook and it's only a couple of steps farther from the LR. I think a couple of extra steps is worth it to get better workspace and better separation of the Cleanup Zone from the Prep & Cooking Zones. Your kitchen will function so much better with the contiguous counterspace in both the Prep Zone & Baking Center. Plus, the oven is often needed during meal prep...so keep it fairly close to our Prep Zone. If you're someone who starts things on the cooktop and finishes them in the oven, you will be much happier having the ovens on the same side as the cooktop b/c you won't have to cross a busy aisle w/hot food. Lastly, if that dutch door is your main entry, then it reinforces my feelings/thoughts about moving the Prep & Cooking Zones to the "bottom" wall...the zone that should be most protected from traffic is the Cooking Zone...with the Prep Zone a close second. If you have a lot of traffic coming in that door, I would not want a range or oven close to that door. As to groceries, it's not really any farther from the door to the refrigerator on the "top" wall than it is to the location you have it on the "bottom" wall, it might actually be closer b/c you'll be putting your refrigerator......See More
Joyce Machala
7 years agoYes, I feel that the cabinet color, counter-tops and floor color don't make this kitchen work. Here is a pic of the main kitchen. Have thought about an accent color on the inset of the cabinets.
acm
7 years agoWell, the big obstacle to modernity is the funky doors. But if you're living in an adobe house, I suggest embracing them -- after a couple of years you may have come to love or hate them, along with having a better feel for the functional pros and cons of the overall layout.
Meantime, there are a couple of approaches, but it would help to know more about your style. For example,
1) Simplest, you could leave the wood natural and just find a stone counter that works with the tans and grays -- shouldn't be that hard, and you can get out for a couple thousand $ in stone, installation, and new sink and faucet (get a single large undermount bowl and high modern faucet). Then you could do some knobs/pulls if so inclined, and/or add some lighting, especially some cute pendant over the sink.
2) Second, more extreme, option woud be to paint all the cabinets. You're never getting away from that inset, but you could, say, change from a natural color to a white and make them blend into the walls -- this would leave you lots of freedom in terms of counter color (grays, whites, marble-look), and you'd just have the natural beams overhead to tie into the feel elsewhere.
3) Somewhere short of new cabinets but still significantly more expensive than the previous options, would be to replace all the doors and drawer fronts with flat-panel or shaker versions -- could be natural wood to match the boxes, or painted (and paint the boxes to match). This is the only option that gets you away from the angled design, but it's also a big commitment to the current cabinets and layout, so I'd want to wait a year or two before doing that and be sure that everything works for you as is.
I don't mind the floors, especially if they're heated. Cabinets seem ok, if funky. I'd change the counters right now and then live there a bit -- that's a small enough investment that if you decide you want to gut in another year or two, it won't break your heart, but enough that you will feel a big difference in the look and function of the space meantime.
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Los Altos Hills Residence 2 · More Info(Dark is possible too, but with the very dark floors, I'd prefer some lighter speckled granite.)
RomWoods Kitchen · More InfoThen give yourself a chance to settle in. How you will live there and use the space is what's the most important, not what style boxes it checks, and that can be hard to predict on Day 1...
Joyce Machala thanked acm
Sammy
7 years agoSome examples of green cabs with wood counters:
Great backsplash!
glazed clay tiles in earthy greens:http://www.artobrick.com/arto-tile-collections/clay/western-quarry-monrovia
Joyce Machala thanked SammyJoyce Machala
7 years agoSammy
7 years agoWhite always looks good with slate and wood...
As does blue!
Do you have any inspiration kitchens you can show US? Maybe that would help!Joyce Machala thanked Sammy
PROcreate my cabinets
7 years ago- PRO
AZ Quality Homes LLC
6 years agolast modified: 6 years ago
acm