Open Kitchen possible?
angel
3 years ago
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Woodhaven Renovations
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Modern open kitchens vs Old house styled kitchens?
Comments (35)This topic stressed me out a bit since we are the middle of work opening our kitchen to the dining room in our 1906 house. I'm already worried about whether everything will turn out ok. We thought a lot about this, though, so I'll weigh in. I apologize for the length - brevity may be the soul of wit, but it apparently is not my strong suit. We moved to our current 1906 Arts & Crafts house from a Victorian farmhouse which had the kitchen isolated from the dining room and living room, separated by a bathroom. We found it hard when we had people over since they were either crammed in the kitchen without enough room to participate in the cooking or they were way at the other end of the house. We saw that we had a pattern of having people over in the summer when we could congregate outside by the grill, but not much in the winter. We have a very close community of friends and we enjoy sharing meals in a very casual, family sort of way with kids playing, adults talking and cooking. We also found the dining room more difficult to use for everyday meals. Additionally, it was not possible to carry on conversations when in the two spaces or moving between them for setting, clearing etc. I enjoy cooking, but also like interacting rather than being isolated. When we decided to move we were looking to resolve this split and have a more connected common space. We saw many houses (and almost bought one) with family room additions connected to the kitchen which left unused living and dining rooms. These rooms had become merely somewhere to walk through, heat and cool. Some had little or no furniture in the abandoned formal rooms. We realized that we did not really need this redundant space. There is an excellent book by Sarah Susanka (Taunton Press), The Not So Big House. It talks quite eloquently about using space in an efficient manner. I personally like having one place to eat all meals. I like eating at the dining room table for just the reasons mentioned in posts above - slowing down, sitting on a chair instead of stools, in a space designed for eating, around a table (preferably round) which facilitates a relaxed, shared experience. The truth is that since we do not have servants, we often need to go back and forth between the spaces. Houses at the turn of the last century were often built to fit a more formal way of living which placed servants (even modest homes) or the women of the house out of the way while the hosts entertained in formal rooms. They were also built prior to the use of refrigerators. When we moved into this new-to-us 1906 house it had a (tiny) butler's pantry for staging serving, while the refrigerator was crammed into the food pantry in such a way that required near-contortionist moves to get a carton of milk. The only storage was open to mice or around the corner in the butler's pantry cabinet. Counter space was limited to the two drainboards of the 1950's metal sink. This was not the room of efficient post-work cooking and cleaning, much less any pleasant shared time. One of us would quite frequently get trapped in the pantry by another trying to get something. The rest of the first floor of our beloved home showed signs of the revolutionary changes that were happening in houses at the time, shifting from formal double parlors to more flowing open rooms with wide framed openings between them. I am in Oak Park, home to Frank Lloyd Wright, though our home was part of a far more modest working class development. It is stunning to see the differences among the different houses being built during the first part of the century. As central heating and radiators allowed rooms to open up, a social shift away from formality and toward more relaxed, real connection was also under way. Now that the social and technological changes that have transpired over the last century have ushered in a time of shared cooking, I welcome kitchens and floorplans that facilitate that. There are other times in history and other cultures today in which the communal kitchen holds a significant place in a community. Our new kitchen provides inward facing space where people can prep around an island. In our open floor plan I envision friends and family cooking and talking together, either within the de-cramped kitchen or between it and the dining room next to it. We are also concerned about creating something that respects the house's history, fits in with the architecture and creates a sense of two spaces with different but related activities. The disfunctional pantries were ommitted in favor of refrigeration and dish storage near the new dishwasher (uses less water than hand washing). We removed the wall between the kitchen and the dining room and are replacing a portion of it with shallow (12 inch)cabinets that create a partial division and open to both sides. There will be a 6 foot visual opening on top,stepping in to a 3 foot walking space at the bottom in a sort of key hole shape. As much as we love the big pocket door in the large opening between the dining room and the foyer, I doubt that we will use it. I just can't see part of our family sitting in the living room smoking cigars while another part of the family or servants quietly set the table out of sight. It has been a delicate dance trying to mesh the eras. We are having a duplicate of the missing original built-in hutch along one side of the dining room built, but it will have some wood doors in place of the original glass to house some less aesthetic items that have no other storage on the first floor since the one closet was turned into a WC in the 50's. We got a picture of the original at an open house across the street and noticed gloves and scarves displayed where china and silver of another time once shone. Life is not static and it seems to me that a key component to navigating the ever-shifting impermanence is to be flexible. I cross my fingers hoping that my ideas about homes and people actually work out in this re-working of our lovely old house. I do not disagree with any of the prior posts, I just wanted to add some thoughts....See MoreIs a corner pantry possible for this tiny kitchen?
Comments (8)A wide closet-style pantry would be a good option. But you need to do it right. A few random thoughts: * Consider other things to put in the pantry. I keep my stand mixer, blender, food processor and the like on the lower shelves. It's much easier to get them out of the pantry than it was to get them out of a base cabinet. * Don't forget the floor space. This area is good for things like cases of bottled water, beer, sodas, etc. Maybe even a rolling step stool. * For a shallow pantry, make the back shelves narrow and the side shelves deeper. That way you can get to the top of the shelves. FWIW, I keep lightweight stuff on the top shelves. It doesn't hurt so much when it falls on my head. Personally, I'd go with a regular door rather than a bifold door. A bifold does take up a lot of room when it's open. Just make sure you have plenty of counter top space for a landing zone on the latch side. You may want to get some grid paper and start sketching a few ideas. Whatever you do will be limited by the location of the window. Best of luck....See Moreto open or not to open the kitchen
Comments (9)I am pretty sure that wall is loadbearing so make sure about that first since that will be a big expense if you need a steel beam and that will also need support.IMO you need to get a good interior designer who also does independant kitchen design . What will happen when you remove the wall is you will eliminate that entry from the hall into the kitche nwhich will then allow for a really great kitchen design . Forget a walkin pantry and use true pullouts a much better use of space . Remove the bedroom entry from the kitchen it inteferes with good kitchen design .What is in the utility room? The left bedroom appears to be the master bedroom so an entry into the bathroom from the bedroom is needed do you need an exterior door for entry into the bedroom ? Maybe a bit more info and for sure some idea of budget. This plan will need to include all new flooring everywhere for sure The kitchen is really not arge enoigh to have an island but if you did a u shaped kitchen you could have a dining space where the AC and pantry are now. Get a good designer this could work,...See Moreoutside hose gate valve opened up by ice??? is that possible?
Comments (3)Thanks for the reply kudzu9! Unfortunately we do not have an internal shutoff for the outside spigot (or at least there is not one accessible since we are on a slab and where I live in TX they do not plan on sustained sub freezing temps....) so unless I shut the main water off, there is no way to isolate that valve. So many people around here cover the outside spigots with insulated blankets/rags.... So there was still full water supply to the valve, which I had shut off and it was not dripping before we got below freezing. Was wondering if somehow the ice could make its way into the valve and push it open because of expansion. I know it sounds crazy, but unless somebody got in our backyard and opened it, I can't picture how it would all of a sudden start having water come out. Note - that happened AFTER we got above freezing and the pipe thawed out. Any thoughts?...See Moreangel
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