Cooking with Children
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
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Comments (3)Neat blog indeed! We are hosting a sleepover for a bunch of my sons friends during spring break, I think the Rainbow Pancakes will be breakfast! Alexa...See Morehelp with kitchen layout needed
Comments (18)I can't see the pictures. it maybe because I am at work. 1. Sodastream and French Press for coffee. I use both. My soda stream is in the walk in pantry. We use it about 1 x per day. It was not worth the trouble of keeping it on the counter. I use the electric kettle to boil water. I use the kettle 2 plus times per day. I keep the kettle on the counter. The french press goes in the drawer when not used. I keep the kettle close to the faucet so that I can fill it easily. I find that the electric kettle boils faster than the gas range top kettle. I have high power gas range. Even so, the electric is easier/faster. It is also easier for the kids to use. I have a large island. that is where I do most of my prep work. So I can afford to leave some stuff out on the perimeter counter. 2. I have a 30 inch range plus a Miele speed oven which is a combined MW and regular oven. It was expensive but it gives me the second oven that bakes well and allows us to have a MW and saves space. We only use the MW to heat stuff. I only put glass or ceramic in the MW. So even if i have already started to preheat my oven to bake cookies and I forgot to melt the butter, I switch the hot oven to MW setting, put the butter in a pyrex, melt the butter and switch the oven back to preheat mode. It works fine... 3. I have a L plus island configuration. Ref/range on one leg and sink/DW on the other leg of L. I put the speed oven under counter on the island. I opted to not have a second sink. Sometimes i wish I had one. When my kids are doing home work for hours on the island and the paper doesn't get splashed by the water or I need the large surface to layout stuff, I am glad that I did not put the sink in the island. there are pros and cons to every decision you make. Another thing about the L + island versus a galley is how the room feels when you are in it. The L has a more open feel since there are multiple ways out of the working space. So you don't feel as locked in. This is an important concept in design. How does the space feel when you are in it?...See MoreNeed help/advice on the kitchen layout
Comments (8)I actually really like this plan! What are you going to use for finishes? Any "special items" planned for your kitchen? Rhome is a great one for adding coffee bars and baking centers, etc. Your range location also opens up the possibility of making that space a real focal point, from the dining room. On the fridge wall, have you thought about a pantry or broom closet on one side of the fridge, with a "landing space" on the other? Maybe a counter with glass doors above, for wine glasses, tea cups, or other special display items, on the dining room side of the fridge? The reason I ask, is that you don't have a space near the fridge to set down juices and other items, without walking over to the sink or stove area. For storage, do you have a larger pantry or laundry area downstairs? Some people like to have everything in the kitchen, but you're working with limited space. If you have an area for additional storage (large items not used very often) that will free up more space for everyday items in the kitchen...and give you room for "special" features, like a display cabinet or a fancy hood over the range :) Where does the single door in the dining room go? Do you have a porch or another room on that side? Just curious... Oh, one other question. Is the hall bath going to be used for the kids' rooms? If so, you might want to replace the walk-in shower with a tub/shower combo. Also, if you don't mind, what are the dimensions on your master bedroom and bath? I am probably overstepping here, but it looks like you have a lot of space at the foot of the bed, and the toilet is kind of centered between the tub and shower. Has your designer provided any drawings of the rooms with a picture of each wall. For instance...how will it look, when you're standing in front of the double sinks? What is your view from the tub? You have some nice space there and I think you could set up something that emphasizes the sinks and tub (your pretty areas) and still leaves plenty of room for the toilet and large shower. Maybe some way that the toilet is not between the tub and the shower. (I've seen that before in a bathroom and it wasn't a great look). Again, sorry if I've moved way beyond the point of your original question :)...See MoreFor those still playing alone, kitchen revision #9876593
Comments (8)I always hesitate to comment on kitchens that have clearly already been carefully considered because surely my concerns have already been vetted. But just on the off-chance this has not come up yet: 1) I prefer having the microwave in the same area with the everyday dishes (bowls, spoons, forks, etc.) and the fridge. It means you can get something from the fridge, dump in a bowl, and microwave it. I also prefer that conglomeration of items (fridge, microwave, everyday dishes) to be entirely outside of the cookzone so snack-seekers don't get in my space when I am cooking. Your microwave is currently in your cook zone. That makes sense if you primarily use it for cooking (melting chocolate, etc.), but if your micrwoave is primarily used in non-cooking situations as mine is, I would suggest putting it by the fridge and dishes. 2) The upper cabinet above the dishwasher is not a good place for dishes. You will not be able to reach it when the dishwasher is open, so unloading dishes into that cabinet will be a pain in the neck. You will have to stack everything on the counter and then shut the dishwasher and then put them in the cabinet. 3) Have you measured and made sure that all your daily dishes will fit in the cabinets you intend for them? Especially considering that the upper cabinet above the dishwasher is more or less not going to work, to me it seems as if you could use a bit more everyday dish storage. 4) I would prefer the mirror image of your island like this: I tend to pull out all my ingredients at once and then prep them. So, for me, I would prefer to have the long stretch of island counter closer to the fridge/pantry, so where I naturally drop the ingredients is also where I prep them. I'd never have have to move them again. Just grab from fridge, drop on island and get going. As you have it now, where I'd want the ingredients to end up (the longer stretch of island counter) is too far to be the fridge drop zone. I'd either have to grab what I could hold, walk it to the longer stretch of island counter to drop it, and then rinse and repeat till everything I needed was over there. Or I'd have to pile everything I needed from the fridge on the 18" section of counter (which isn't a ton of room for all the ingredients in a recipe), then walk to the island and transfer everything from the 18" section to the longer stretch of island counter. In addition to that, mirroring your island puts your two sinks a little farther apart. It's not a big deal, but it is a nice bonus. When the sinks are evenly spaced around the kitchen, a sink is always near you no matter where you in the kitchen. When the sinks are more clustered, they aren't always quite so handy to wherever you are. And if ever one of the sinks is getting major activity, it is nice to have the other one totally separate from the hubbub so it isn't a big deal for someone not involved in the major activity to use a sink. Again, not a big deal, but it is nicer to have the sinks farther apart. 5) With the island mirrored, it also gives you some options for drawers that pull out towards the fridge. You could add some everyday dish storage (if you agree with my suggestion above that you could use more) or move the microwave drawer (if you agree with my suggestion above that the microwave would be better in the fridge/everyday dish zone and out of the cook zone). 6) I would also be tempted to swap the location of the fridge and the dish storage cabinets next to it like this: I know that means the island is a barrier between the fridge and the cookzone. So this would definitely be a compromise. HOWEVER: a) As I said, I usually pull out all my ingredients at once. And if the fridge and dish storage cabs were swapped, the island prep counter would still be my go-to fridge drop zone, and I'd still have a straight walk between the fridge and that drop zone. So I'd pull out my ingredients, drop them directly on the island and then walk around the island into the cook zone and never go back. Yes, it'd be better if it that were a straight walk to the cook zone, but a single non-straight walk like that would not be a big deal to me at all. b) What would be a big deal to me is that, with the fridge and dish cabs swapped, the primary every day dish storage cabinets (U1 and L1) are now directly next to dishwasher. So unloading would be a breeze! You never have to move. In your current plan, there'd be a lot of walking back and forth in front of the fridge to unload. Not a big deal, but I'd definitely rather ease of dishwasher unloading vs. a straight walk between fridge and cook zone. c) Also, in your current plan, the fridge door swings into a person washing dishes, the open dishwasher door, and the pantry doorway. That's a lot of activity for a little space, and I am not sure I'd want the fridge door to be adding to the chaos. With the fridge and dish cabs flipped, the swinging fridge door is in the way of almost nothing. If you are the type to go back and forth a million times to the fridge while cooking, this swap wouldn't work for you. But if you are like me or you wouldn't mine becoming like me, there are certainly some real upsides to the swap without much downside....See More- 8 years ago
- 8 years ago
- 8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoBobbi thanked rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
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