Kitchen Improvements without New Cabinets
Alex Kendall
2 years ago
Featured Answer
Comments (55)
Elizabeth
2 years agopalimpsest
2 years agoRelated Discussions
How can I improve my cooking experience in the new kitchen?
Comments (15)Looking at your layout, I don't think you have the room for a 36" range. You will need a filler between the blind corner and any adjacent cabinet. That nixes your pullout that you have there. And you have minimal landing space on the other side next to a major traffic route. That will leave you with a 30" range fitting MUCH better. You could do a 30" induction range and separate wall oven elsewhere, or something like the GE Cafe with the griddle and double ovens below. That would give you the maximum versatility in the smallest space. If you want to grill, use a grill pan or do it outside. It doubles your requirements for ventilation, which you haven't discussed at all. That will get pretty expensive as you will be required to have makeup air for the CFM that you would need to have for a grill. In your situation, I'd put a separate under counter oven in place of the under counter MW. Maybe a speed oven, but the best place for the MW is next to the fridge as that's the logical flow of snackers and reheaters. I'd also really revisit having the work table as island. You could make the island work a lot harder by having a small prep sink on it and putting the trash there as well. That would give you a better prep zone with less walking. I'd suggest swapping the pantry and fridge. You need a straight shot from the fridge to the sink to make the prep zone work best. And that involves water access. So, you need the fridge at the bottom of that aisle, or a prep sink on the island. Or both. Otherwise, you're adding a lot of roadwork to making dinner....See Morenew & improved island cabinet choice
Comments (13)Thanks everyone, I feel soo much better with this choice. I was trying to be too "safe" with the eggshell and they weren't complimenting anything. I love the idea of something other than granite for the island (and I really like both butcher block and stainless), however its going to be both a work island and a connected drop down to chair height eating island with 3 chairs down each side. (I wish I had a good drawing but the KD had to go back to the drawing board.) As much as I love them both, butcher block and stainless won't work b/c this will be our daily eating area. So, if I go with the Ubatuba on the perimeter (there are lots of perimeter cabinets and its an economical choice and I think it looks good with the golden maple), are there any other good options for a large working and eating island beside another granite? Otherwise it sounds like I should look for a creamy background(not white, not gold)granite with maybe bits of black and/or tan. I agree that all that black and green will be too dark...my inspiration was quite bright and fresh..timeless but whimsical rather than formal. And rhome and Hestia make a good point that a lighter creamier granite for island might tone down the mirror/shinymodern finish. Hosta- I loved the Shiloh charcoal, and that will be fabulous with a pewter glazed white perimeter. But I can't see your pictures...can you try the link again? My KD said Shiloh is one of the few makers that hasn't caught onto an upcharge for glazes, distressing, wearing, etc. Anyone that knows they want any of those specialty finishes should check them out. Krisd- I adore my Gail Pittman pottery. We've used some of the pieces daily for years and they still look new....See MoreMy NEW and improved kitchen design!
Comments (7)I love your new finishes! So glad that you're happy with what you've found. I could tell you didn't really love the last choices and you're spending a lot of $$$ to not love it! Ditto what marcolo said - we had to practically destroy our floor and cabinets to replace our dishwasher after the previous owners tiled over the vinyl. What a mess!...See Moremy new and improved kitchen plans are here but
Comments (23)I enjoyed looking at your plan and seeing the concrete results of your family's needs worked in so well. Now, I'll segue into my wood-stove fire-safety spiel: No matter how "high-tech" or "easily regulated" a woodstove is, it still will have some surfaces that are fiercely, even dangerously hot. You didn't describe the wood stove as a masonry heater, so I'll assume that it is some variety of cast iron/sheet metal even if it has some soapstone facing. What I write below applies to all of the above, except a true masonry heater. We heat our upstate NY farmhouse entirely with wood so I have more than 40 years experience with them. I also have dozens of small burn scars on my hands and wrists from accidental contact with the stove while loading it. Woodstoves when properly running are so hot almost any contact will instantly burn some skin right off. You mentioned that some members of your household are challeneged. Are you absolutely sure they will be able to appreciate the potential danger and protect themselves? I have had members of my household where that was not true, though I had thought so initially. In addition to potential human contact, I have a cat at present that will jump up on to a burning woodstove (650F)- resulting in terrible burns on her pads. I have had dozens of cats living here (I do rescue fostering) and this is the only one who has done it (and more than once). Now we have to have the stoves "walled" off with exercise pen caging to keep her safe. Finally, all woodstoves have minumum safe clearance distances to combustible materials (walls, wooden furniture, soft upholstery and books and papers) these must be observed or you risk starting a house fire. The manufacturer of your stove will have this info in the specs. While it is fine to draw up a chair closer to the stove while you are sitting there, and awake, you need to build in safe guards so that when the stove is burning any combustible material cannot be inadvertently left closer than the specs allow. It is easy to forget the requirements when busy with your day. Woodstoves do NOT turn on and off quickly, they often require hours to wind back down so whatever is used near them has to default to safe distances without needing too much second thought. If you are thinking of having a hearth, but perhaps want to avoid some of the extreme temperature risks of a wood-burning appliance, then you might consider a stove or insert that burns wood pellets. The surface temps are generally much lower (all our cats fight to sleep on top of the pellet stove while it is burning) so it safer to be around. The wood pellets are easy and clean to move around (come in 40 lb bags), which is an improvement on the messiness of wood fuel. The chimney cleaning issues with pellet burners are less intense, etc. The only downside is that I believe all pellet burners require electrical power to run their fuel feed and combustion blowers, so they don't work in power outages. Many have very nice fire-viewing glass fronts. Another option (though a good bit more expensive) is a masonry heater. These rely on massive amounts of stone warmed by short hot fires, perhaps only two per day. As a rule masonry heaters are completely safe to touch, sit on, etc. I'll add this as a teaser for your DH: some masonry heaters also come with wood-fired ovens for pizza, bread- making, etc. They do not require power to run, so during power outages can be counted on to function as your oven as well as heating the room. For some reason, wood-fire ovens are perennial man-pleasers; there's some atavistic draw to them, I think. HTH, L...See Morejiddie
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