need shelving for cookbooks, bar ware, but conflicted over options
Melissa Paulsen
3 years ago
I have an open concept that feels just right in terms of furnishings and decor, but am perplexed by one particular spot on a wall between the kitchen and dining. The first two pictures give you a sense of the space and the third picture is the sore spot. It’s not untenable, but I feel like there is more that I could do here such as a bookshelf for recipe books and bar ware, etc. I like texture and the play between contrasts. I’ve considered an a frame shelf from Article, a rattan bookshelf from Ballard, but am not convinced how it will look and feel in the space. I don’t want to impeded traffic between the kitchen and dining in that area so don’t want anything more than 16” depth. Would love some ideas
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Comments (10)
apple_pie_order
3 years ago
tfitz1006
3 years agoRelated Discussions
This bread cookbook is like a chem. textbook!
Comments (27)Please REREAD my original post.It was never meant to be condecending or belittle anyone who eats or makes white bread.That being said you did nothing in the way of offering help to someone who was asking about whole grain baking.Its great that you can bake by feel and make ajustments based on your experience.Where does that leave someone who is a novice and needs help? How many recipes from our mothers and grandmothers have been lost forever because they did it by feel and no one ever bothered to measure the ingredients or jot down baseline instuctions, so future generations would have a starting point and be able to enjoy a heritage dish.Everything we create in life has to have a recipe or starting point from which to go;it either being in your head or from a book.I have 30+ bread books and good or bad they all provide a basis on which to start.Reinhart's book on whole grain baking is one of the better on that topic,in my humble opinion,and has taught me a great deal and that was the only reason I chose to answer the question.It was certainly not to get in a battle of words with someone who completely misinterpreted my remarks....See MoreWet Bars - Are they 'out'?
Comments (92)It's amazing how long this conversation has been going on! I thought I would add my experience. Just more food for thought for someone. We bought a 70's home and have been adding a master suite and updating. We were unable to add on to or change our kitchen and it's pretty small, so we opted to add a beverage center off the great room to get most beverages out of the kitchen. I was advised to do a dry bar by a designer who said wet bars are old news. It has an ice maker and 2 refrigerator drawers and a pull out drawer for liqueur bottles under the counter and shelves above for glassware. I have to say, now that we are using the space we really wish to have a sink. As is, it's great for water, soda, beer, and wine, but if you want to mix something with those liqueur bottles it's pretty inconvienent to not have an easy way to clean up a spill or add water to something, or blend using the ice maker that's right there. I wish I had gone with my own instinct instead of listening to a designer. We are considering adding the sink right now before the builder is totally done with our project. It's going to be more expensive now. I have a beautiful beverage center, but I wish I had researched this issue sooner. I got sidetracked by too many other decisions and just went with someone else's thoughts. We don't have room for one but a dishwasher drawer would be really cool as well....See MoreOver & Under refrigerator advice/options
Comments (15)If they're panelled, or if even one is, there's no reason at all not to have two kinds of fridges. You've been talking high end. There will often be several kinds of refrigeration in a high end kitchen. I have Marvel drawers in my prep area besides the Miele all fridge and all freezer. All panelled. The only way to know that the drawers aren't cabinet drawers is that the handles are longer--which I did on purpose so that people might know! It would be a little funky to have a big stainless high end fridge with a big glory badge next to a Kenmore white plastic, but I bet it could be made to work. It's better, of course, if they have similar fronts. If you're doing two different types, it's better if they're not adjacent. Maybe have a pantry cabinet between, or a coffee/MW/snack bar. As to the Miele drawer temperature controls, I just tried on mine (older), and was able to push all the buttons, but I don't know what the control module does with that. I'm not even sure how it handles two, but I think it averages. I don't have the drawer divider (30" or because it's older, I don't know which), and have always set the upper drawer to both fruit and veg. I keep berries, tomatoes, apples, herbs, peppers, scallions, etc. in there together and they all seem to do well. For space, and because they do as well or better on the shelves, I put bags and boxes of greens in the middle, often on top of the tall bottles. Roots and things I'm about to prep go in the drawer fridge. Recently, I had to move the roots for awhile and some of them have been hanging out in the fruit/veg drawer and seem quite happy there. If you want to know more about the temperature combinations, you could call the Miele technical help 800 number. You should be able to look up the number online, or look up the manual and you'll see it on the back cover, I think. Those guys really seem to know the product's innards. Perhaps to get the exact dimensions you want, the two fridge/freezers would make sense, but remember, at least with the high end units, that means you're actually buying four units in two boxes....See MoreStyling kitchen open shelves. Help!
Comments (32)For the first time in my life I finally have enough cabinet space in my kitchen that I can hide everything behind doors, meaning this space doesn't have to be functional but thanks to those mentioning that it would be helpful to be functional made me consider another option all together, so I've included 2 options with photos. One photo I took several items off my counters all white thanks to the awesome suggestions here (fruit bowl, utensil holder, onion & garlic holder) so that actually ended up being really useful and follows the concept of clean counters ala the concept found in "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up" (I should mention I don't mind the added few seconds it takes to pull these items down as it will make cleaning my counters that much easier). This feels like the shelves are really full but when I took the photo and posted it doesn't look as full as I thought. The other option pictured is a more decorative approach (I still need to add something on the middle shelf). I think if I used this second decorative approach then I would fill that space with some beautiful handpainted teacups I saw that would make me smile. Sorry everyone I can't seem to shake that frame it's eye level and makes me happy, just need to put a photo in it. Not sure if I even arranged things right in these photos according to design principles, but here goes. Thinking of redoing the counters, backsplash, and paint but that's another post!...See More
Maureen
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoYou have height and length, so I would take advantage of both. Suggest complimenting cupboards to keep it feeling light. There are lots of great antique or second hand pieces that you could chalk paint And having doors or even glass doors keeps it feeling neat and tidy
Jilly
3 years agoMelissa Paulsen
3 years ago
J D
3 years ago
Lisa Dipiro
3 years ago
loobab
3 years ago
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