Varmint

The siding has to be done, as some of the existing wood has rotted and we're starting to get new tenants (of the furry tailed variety) in some of our attic. What are some of the quick fixes? Remove the large marble slab and the cabinets underneath, and create a box to house the dishwasher with a new mini-slab above it. Remove the upper cabinets, which are not used and obstruct sight lines. Remove the cabinets above the cooktop, get a new cooktop with appropriate hood, install new cabinets above the new mini-slab. Fortunately, it's less than a foot or two between the kitchen ceiling and the roof, so installing a hood isn't a problem. This is where a "temporary fix" makes sense -- if the master, final plan is established where the hood and cooktop would stay in the same place as they are in the temp, then that's great. Then I improve my functionality, spending money only on stuff and labor that would be spent in the master design, without duplication (except for the mini-slab change).

If it's a matter of gutting the kitchen, then I'll do nothing, and I'll go insane. I've cooked in this kitchen for 5 years, and every day that I do, I mutter, "I hate this kitchen." I want to at least change my daily comment to be, "This kitchen doesn't drive me batshit as much as it used to." We're replacing the siding on our house (and, of course, replacing it with red cedar planks, some of the most expensive siding available), so the kitchen budget is limited. Seriously, I can't take it any more, so something has to be done.

First, the dude who designed the kitchen is my father-in-law. Second, the wine fridge still has about a case left in it, so it's time to place another order! As far as the cabinets are concerned, they're el cheapo ones that were custom made, but I have no attachment to them at all. They're made out of plywood, for chrissake!!! But replacing them will cost plenty.

Oh, I kept the Shun, and I used it tonight. I diced potatoes and tomatoes. I minced garlic. I sliced zucchini and did a chiffonade of parsley. What fun!!!

OK, I'll try to describe the kitchen with the aid of pictures. I did this quickly, so photo quality may suck. Also, I didn't clean up one bit, so the kitchen's a mess. Here's a view of the entrance to the kitchen from the outside doorway (I took this standing in my pantry). Note the compactor and broken built in Jenn-Air grill. Walk 3 steps forward, turn slightly to the left, and look down the hall, where you'll see a two marble work surfaces, a wet bar, and the hall housing the fridge. This is a closer up view of the compactor and grill: Just before you reach the compactor, turn 90 degrees to the left, and you'll see my wall ovens. Look at the large, white marble slab on the right of the picture. Under that is the dishwasher. Walk to the white marble slab, turn 45 degrees to the left, and you'll see the bar counter where the L'il Varmints eat their breakfast. Turn slightly left again to see the cooktop. Notice how little space there is between the cooktop and the cabinets. Turn around 180 degrees, and look back across the marble slabs and down the hallway with the fridge, freezer and wet bar. Here's a closer view of the Sub-Zeros and the wet bar. Walk down the hallway past the Sub Zeros into the laundry room, turn back around 180 degrees, and here's a view down that hallway back towards the marble slabs, the ovens, and the cooktop area. Notice the cabinets up high. Walk forward 4 steps, and here's the same view, closer up: OK, forget all the directions. Here's a view of the kitchen from the living room, looking across the bar counter area, towards the cooktop. Here's a view of the oven-dishwasher-marble counter megaplex. This is our floor. This photo makes the tile look a lot better than it really is. This shot is to give you an idea of the amount of the toe kick space. Carry on.

If I totally gutted the kitchen, moved a couple of walls, I could do the entire kitchen for 40K. Right now, I have an appliance budget of about 8K. If I do a stop-gap solution, then I don't want to spend much more than 6-8K to do a temporary solution. Yeah, it's a stupid way to do things. But if that temp solution isn't feasible, then I'll wait.

I just talked to Daniel O'Malley, and I'm keeping the Shun. Off to the market to get some good veggies to chop. I'll take pictures.

And by the way, to further complicate matters, it appears that the cupboards were built on top of the plywood floor, and the remainder of the floor was built up from that. What this implies is that if I remove a cupboard or two, I'll just have to build up whatever floor there is and create a transitional. This is another reason why I started this thread in the first place!!

OK, lots of pictures to come tonight. The floor is brown.

Dave, please describe how fucked up my kitchen is. I'm not doing a good job conveying my frustration.

I know that's a bit high, but those who have seen my kitchen might understand the complexity. My cupboards have about an inch of toe kick space. If there were the standard 3-4 inches, it would be less of a problem. God, I hate my kitchen.

As I mentioned above, I've been told by a couple of people that I'd have to gut the entire kitchen to remove the tiles. Just think of trying to remove tile from a maze -- that's my kitchen. Cost estimates for removing tile without gutting the kitchen are in the 3-4,000 range!!! Damned if I do, damned if I don't. What we may do is keep the tile for now, but have some complimentary "transitional" floor options where we do plan to remove cabinets. I don't know. This is way too confusing.

Floor mix, from what I understand. About an inch thick of it, too.

Hmmm. I wonder if commercial vinyl tile can be put on top of existing ceramic tile? The reason is that we discovered that no one will rip out our existing tile floor and substrata without gutting all the cabinetry, too.

Can anyone tell me how much a 10-inch Shun chef's knife weighs? I couldn't find it.

The Shun has 32 layers of Damascus.

How do you like the cork floors?

The 9-1/2 inch Ryusen would add about 0.6 ounces and make the blade height slighly broader than the Shun. I'm torn. The Shun I have sells for $116. The larger Ryusen sells for $184. But I really think I like this D-shaped handle.

They're here!!!!! Initial impressions: I think I like the feel of the Shun more than the Ryusen. The "D"-shaped handle is a fantastic configuration and is very comfortable in my hand. It's wild to have the blade be slightly off center from the handle, but I like it! Also, the tang on the Ryusen is slightly noticeable in the hand, unlike the Shun, where it is buried. I love the lack of bolsters in both knives. The Shun's weight, taking into account its larger blade length, is proportionately a bit heavier than the Ryusen. I think that's because of the handle and the blade width. The height of the Shun's blade is larger than the Ryusen. God, I want to use these suckers!!!

Still not here. Maybe in the 3:00 mail. . . .

Saturday Dinner: Cioppiono with calamari, mussels, bay scallops, cod Sirloin roasted with thyme, garlic and served with a buerre rouge Lentils Braised Red Cabbage Rosemary Cake Lemon and Olive Oil Ice Cream Dried Figs poached in Marsala, honey, lemon, balsamic and black pepper

Marlene, if you can't recall my monstrosity of a kitchen, I need to remind you that sketching it out isn't really for someone like me. This isn't just a matter of taking a nice rectangular space and putting stuff where you want. It involves load bearing walls in strange places, steel I-beams that get in the way, ugly tile flooring that has over an inch of substrata, and other quirks that just ain't right!

My knives are supposed to arrive today. If they do, I'll get pictures and post them tonight.

Oh, and Malawry, it's not that it's impossible to go without a kitchen for over a month, but it's just totally undesirable right now. We can do it, but we're trying not to.

Thanks for the advice on designers. I need to read Don Silvers' book on design, as he focuses on the cooking function first and foremost. Fortunately, stepping back for a moment is going to be helpful, allowing me some time to evaluate both short and long term plans. Of course, I'd like to gut the kitchen, the hallways, and the laundry/utility room and create a totally new workspace, but before I can afford to do that (and we have the emotional energy reserve built up), I want a quick fix. Let me give you an example: my current cooktop is an electric coil top with a downdraft that doesn't work. There is a cabinet that is 20" above the cooktop. This doesn't even comply with current code requirements. Imagine boiling a pot on a back burner, under the cabinet -- the steam/water vapor condenses on the bottom of the cabinet and then drips back into the pan. Sounds yummy, eh, particularly when you think of what other gunk has accumulated on that cabinet (we try to clean it frequently so we don't gross ourselves out). Another thing: the dishwasher is under a marble countertop. However, the plane of the dishwasher door is not even with the edge of the marble. Nope, instead the door is back about 6-8 inches, resulting in quite an overhang. Getting stuff in and out of the dishwasher, particularly the top rack, is a royal pain in the ass. So I continue with the process, slow and steady.