Kitchen Fixture Upgrades

[budrichard]

First, live with your 'new' home for a year or two unless some things just have to be done.

Second, if you have someplace like the Fruniture Mart in Chicago to visit and get ideas, its well worth the time.

Third, don't listen to any vendor tell you whats best, they are just trying to sell what the make the most markup on and care less about what you would like or require.

Fourth, read and investigate as much as you can before making a decision.

Having a simple plan drawn up is well worth the effort.

I went through two kitchen designers before I decided to do the planning myself, Speced all the equipment myself and purchased from on-line sources where I could.

This is what we ended up with and assessment after about 5 years.

Countertops, John Boos 4" end grain in most places except for thier 2" edge grain around the Viking. Wood works great for cutting, chopping, what have you and you don't have to worry about where you work. Uusally needs sanding and then a coat of Boos food grade mineral oil once a year.

Sink is Franke Manor House commercial grade, biggest size we could get and no little weeny type bowls. Faucet/sprayer can be any one of a number that Franke makes, it just depends on what you like. Franke is available from one source on-line at about 60% of retail store cost. Its dropped shipped and wait is about 6 weeks. We use heavy Falk copper and so far neither has dented the other, the Franke can swallow anything.

Flooring, Pergo, best there is, sold at big box stores so the trendy boutiques don't sell it anymore, anyone can install. Absolutely bullet proof!.

Good luck and don't be afraid to make your own decisions based on what you like and think will work best for you.-Dick

[Wholemeal Crank]

Another shout out for stainless steel sinks! Had them for years in several apartments, and hating the standard porcelain over whatever kind of metal it is that I have now: it stains, I worry about chips, and things falling into it are more likely to break than with stainless.

I do LOVE the divided sink arrangement I have now--a two parter with a smaller and a larger compartment. But I'd rather have the garbage disposal in the bigger than the smaller compartment. Much nicer than the 50:50 divided ones that were too small for my baking sheets.

Have a delta spray-head-extending faucet, and LOVE IT. It is many years old, and without a manual I have managed to take various bits off and clean it when scale builds up from the old pipes and hard water, and once I replaced a gasket, easy.

I have never lived with a granite counter, but have visited/rented places with them, and find them closer to tile than formica when it comes to breaking things. Being clumsy, this is very important to me. I dislike tile even more, because pretty grouted lines require a lot of maintenance to stay pretty grouted lines. I have mostly lived with cheap plastic countertops and vastly prefer them to either tile or granite, although the aesthetics suck.

I'd love to be able to get some of the stuff that is used for laboratory benches. It's tough, durable, not very likely to shatter stuff, and rather heat tolerant too. Wonder if it comes in anything but basic black?

Forgot to add, hate tile floors too. Not only does everything breakable mostly shatter on it, but it can break too. A few years ago while I was gone for a couple of days something happened and a shelf gave way--that's another point to consider, the sturdiness and ease of finding replacement parts for your cabinetry--and several dozen pint and half pint canning jars full of jams, jellies, apple and tomato sauces fell onto a tile floor. Most (suprisingly not all) of the jars shattered, and when I cleaned up the mess, here were some impressive chips and cracks in the tile, some of which were clearly fresh.

Cabinetry sturdiness: the cabinets in this same house have shelves held up by plastic fittings that sit in holes drilled in some kind of composite laminated verticals. These fittings are fragile, the holes wear at the edges, and I've not yet found the correct brand replacement parts for the plastic fittings while scouting local big box and smaller hardware stores. Not so user-friendly. Be sure you get some with sturdy fittings that are easy to find and replace.

Edited May 8, 2010 by Wholemeal Crank (log)

[Dave the Cook]

I'd love to be able to get some of the stuff that is used for laboratory benches. It's tough, durable, not very likely to shatter stuff, and rather heat tolerant too. Wonder if it comes in anything but basic black?

That's soapstone, which we discussed over here. It does come in different colors, but all of them are dark, sometimes with marble-like veining.

[lesliec]

Coming into this a little late (I won't apologise - I needed the holiday in Nouméa, about which postings will follow at some point) ...

Absolutely, if you like granite - go for it. We have three metres of the blackest stuff we could find in our kitchen and it's magnificent. Looks great, doesn't care what you put on it (OK, maybe not a red-hot cast iron pan, but let's not be silly) and is FABULOUS for bread or pastry making.

We considered the manufactured stone surfaces, but they appeared (this is three or so years ago) to offer no advantages over granite, were more expensive and less stain-tolerant.

Stainless steel can look OK - we have a small area of it around the gas hob - but it's easy to scratch. Over years the accumulated scratches will merge into a comfortable patina, but you've got to live with them in the meantime. Although having said that, we recently acquired a restaurant-style stainless bench on wheels to hold some of the overflow of my toys and I'm enjoying working on it too.

[AmyKay]

I really appreciate all of your insight! This is really helpful!

[cbread]

Kitchens are totally personal.

My last kitchen prior had a smallish enameled cast iron sink and ridiculous teeny counters and I utterly hated it. The sink was a dish breaker. Too hard, too small, too shallow... After gnashing my teeth about that setup for a couple of years I made enough counter and enough sink a priority when I got the chance to plan a rebuild. For me, a big stainless steel sink was a must.

I was able to create a 22" wide by 36" long by 12" deep sink. My girlfriend is very very short but is OK with the depth of the sink. I can wash my biggest wok and my biggest plastic cutting boards in it. (Yes, plastic... Go ahead. Make fun, but they work fine for me.) My counters are 30" deep so working space is ample. The cabinet boxes are standard 24" depth boxes. I had them installed 6" out from the wall. I didn't want drawers any deeper than 24" so was win / win for me.

I go with a single bowl sink. Any time we want a separate compartment for rinsing or whatever, we toss a rubbermaid tub in. I'd never permanently devote the working volume of a large sink to get a second bowl unless I could sacrifice 4 1/2 or more counter space to the sink alone and that makes no sense for a kitchen my size.

I got really lucky and found a wonderful stainless fabricator, who does a ton of restaurant fabrication, who made up a one piece integral stainless sink and counter for the cabinets that are on the "sink side" of the U that makes up the shape of my new kitchen. The sink is on one side of the U. The bottom of the U is around 7' (give or take, I can't remember exactly) of butcher block counter for general kneading and is my warm feeling day to day work area. The opposite side of the U from the sink has a 48" slide in stovetop with stainless counters on either side. It would be worth while to price out multiple suppliers on stainless fabrication. The price and feature differences are larger than I would have guessed, and the best price I got turned out to be from the best fabricator, who added features I hadn't even thought I could ask for without breaking the bank.

Integral sink and counter means no leaks ever. None of the working surfaces are dish breakers. The stainless handles wet items and really hot items, and the maple butcher block is great for general work, bread making, and almost all my prep work.

I got a commercial faucet and sprayer from a restaurant supply house. I don't trust the Swiss army knife pull out sprayers - one tool doing multiple tasks. They are trying to make one tool do multiple things, and that usually means it does none well. The sprayer is great. I would not want to be without one.

The old kitchen floor had a 12" x 12" checkerboard pattern of gray and white tiling. There was no way to keep the white clean; we were thrilled to be rid of that floor. Now we have natural earth tone floor of slates 16" square.

I am one more who urges you to take the blather from sales people with more than a large grain of salt. They don't know what will make you happy, and they are under pressure to sell what they or their distributors most need to get rid of.

I had the chance to have a real pantry, which took the storage pressure off the kitchen, so I was able to rid myself of upper cabinets entirely. In a kitchen with a lot of window area, there would have been scant wall space to put top cabs anyway.

[Darienne]

I was able to create a 22" wide by 36" long by 12" deep sink. My girlfriend is very very short but is OK with the depth of the sink.

I am not tall and my DH lowered the counters on the non-sink side of our galley kitchen so that I would have a more comfortable surface on which to work. (He also lowered the stove...what a guy ...he likes symmetry and lower is better for me.) And now he is building me a table on casters under the window with a marble slab dropped in and it will be even lower. Three heights to work on. Perfect.

[Special K]

I had the chance to have a real pantry, which took the storage pressure off the kitchen, so I was able to rid myself of upper cabinets entirely. In a kitchen with a lot of window area, there would have been scant wall space to put top cabs anyway.

Oh, I envy you that! As a height-challenged person myself, upper cabinets are frustrating - mine go all the way to the ceiling, but I need a step-ladder to get to them, and I don't like using a step-ladder because my knees are both bad. I would much rather have a separate pantry and lots of windows in the kitchen!

[Wholemeal Crank]

I'd love to be able to get some of the stuff that is used for laboratory benches. It's tough, durable, not very likely to shatter stuff, and rather heat tolerant too. Wonder if it comes in anything but basic black?

That's soapstone, which we discussed over here. It does come in different colors, but all of them are dark, sometimes with marble-like veining.

Not at all what I was referring to, nor have I ever seen this in a lab. The standard benches in student & professional labs I've worked in were a very sturdy solid plastic-like material, much denser and less brittle than formica. They look like this, although I don't know if this is truly the same material.

[Jmahl]

Recently upgaded and added granite counter tops, SS sink and new hardware with the touch on off feature. All and all love the change. Only thing I would have done differenty is have a square edge on the section where most work is done. Easier to scrape off the counter.

[Darienne]

Recently upgaded and added granite counter tops, SS sink and new hardware with the touch on off feature. All and all love the change. Only thing I would have done differenty is have a square edge on the section where most work is done. Easier to scrape off the counter.

Very lovely. One point against square counter top edges...everything can drip off the edge with impunity.

[cbread]

I am not tall and my DH lowered the counters on the non-sink side of our galley kitchen so that I would have a more comfortable surface on which to work. (He also lowered the stove...what a guy ...he likes symmetry and lower is better for me.) And now he is building me a table on casters under the window with a marble slab dropped in and it will be even lower. Three heights to work on. Perfect.

Your DH is definitely a keeper!

[Darienne]

I am not tall and my DH lowered the counters on the non-sink side of our galley kitchen so that I would have a more comfortable surface on which to work. (He also lowered the stove...what a guy ...he likes symmetry and lower is better for me.) And now he is building me a table on casters under the window with a marble slab dropped in and it will be even lower. Three heights to work on. Perfect.

Your DH is definitely a keeper!

Yes. The table under the window is half built. The marble dropped into the laminated pine top is done. He now has a cabinet to set under the front of the top. In the meantime, I am just using an old Cosco table. I'll post a photo later.

Next...well, next after a gazillion other things...Renovation Man...I'll get new laminated pine counter tops. I had pine in Moab and just loved them.

Of my DH I have long said: He is the rocks beneath my feet (see Catherine in Wuthering Heights and the pebbles in my shoes.

Edited May 31, 2010 by Darienne (log)

[LindaK]

I'd love to be able to get some of the stuff that is used for laboratory benches. It's tough, durable, not very likely to shatter stuff, and rather heat tolerant too. Wonder if it comes in anything but basic black?

That's soapstone, which we discussed over here. It does come in different colors, but all of them are dark, sometimes with marble-like veining.

Not at all what I was referring to, nor have I ever seen this in a lab. The standard benches in student & professional labs I've worked in were a very sturdy solid plastic-like material, much denser and less brittle than formica. They look like this, although I don't know if this is truly the same material.

Lab tops today are made from an apoxy resin material, but I read mixed reviews about their suitability for home use. Check out: Labtops

For a similar look, slate is an alternative.

[Wholemeal Crank]

The look is much less important to me than the actual performance of the material. Lab benchtops are sturdy, but not so hard that things shatter easily against them. They do scratch more easily than would a hard natural stone, so that would count against them, but I can't imagine ever wanting to use a natural stone as a work surface, because they're too hard.

One thing I am dreading, when I finally am ready to buy a house, is having to rip out the damn granite countertops that are so popular right now, especially when renovating a house for sale. Or the even more evil tile. Ick.

Edited May 31, 2010 by Wholemeal Crank (log)

[IndyRob]

We gutted and re-did our entire kitchen. The appliances were mostly top of the line but we skimped elsewhere. But all-in-all we got a good result, although the master plan hasn't played out yet.

In the countertop department, we had to go with laminate counter tops. But, we have one wall where the range is. On the right of the range is a 24" cabinet which I topped with a butcher block reclaimed from an old table. Since to the right of that is a space where a door opens, I had a few inches extra, but not enough to go with a 30" cabinet. So the butcher block was oversized to provide as much working space as possible. There's about a 5" overhang (with a curve cut into it to lessen the possibility of catching the corner when going out the door. The overhang also allowed us to slide in a stainless steel garbage can with the foot operated lids (we have garbage curious dogs) underneath. So this allows me to simply wipe the onions skins and other prep refuse directly into the trash.

On the other side we have a 4' run of plastic laminate, but soon that will become marble or granite. That's where the pastry and pasta is done and a marble surface would help there.

For the other side where the sink and service areas are, I think the plastic laminate is just fine. But if we ever run out of other things to do, I could see upgrading to Corian.

So I guess what I'm saying is that you can mix and match counter materials to your needs/budget. And also if you have a plan, you can settle in some areas for now with the knowledge that you have a future goal.

Sinkwise, we opted for the basic two basin stainless steel sink with separate hose on the right. Absolutely no complaints with this. The left basin is reserved for the draining rack for quick wash items and pizza pans too big for the dishwasher. Offset drains do make sense to me though.

The stress of the hose on the tap seems bogus to me. Plus, if you have small children, you need to be prepared for the possibility of being menaced by a super soaker. Would your DH leave you defenseless against such an onslaught?

(insert discussion of flooring materials and liquids here)

Edited May 31, 2010 by IndyRob (log)