My dream kitchen

[mkayahara]

Is that a bug or a feature? As far as I can tell, the only real benefit to a wood floor in a kitchen is that it looks nice.

What? They're easy on the feet, easy on the back, easy on dropped items, and they take a bit of water much better than a lot of people worry about.

Sure, but my point is that all of those things are as true or truer of other flooring options, like rubber. So the only reason that wood is an advantage over something like rubber is that it looks nicer. Of course, Steven's point may have been that, once you put enough coats of sealer on the wood floor, you sacrifice those benefits, in which case I withdraw my comment.

[Darienne]

Is that a bug or a feature? As far as I can tell, the only real benefit to a wood floor in a kitchen is that it looks nice.

What? They're easy on the feet, easy on the back, easy on dropped items, and they take a bit of water much better than a lot of people worry about.

Reiteration of BIG POINT. They don't show the dirt. And they really look nice!

[natasha1270]

Very nice! But where are the drawers?!

[jsmeeker]

I think most of my sauce pans would fall through those burners on the stove. How do you use a small sauce pan on that thing?

[Pam R]

Beautiful kitchen. Enjoy it. What are the dimensions of the room?

[Fat Guy]

What are the dimensions of the room?

16'1" x 8'4"

[Fat Guy]

I think most of my sauce pans would fall through those burners on the stove. How do you use a small sauce pan on that thing?

The burners are fine for anything with a diameter of about 6" or more, however there is also a ring you can set in for really, really small stuff:

[Fat Guy]

Very nice! But where are the drawers?!

The drawers are on the end of the kitchen where I'm generally standing when I take the photos. All the large drawers are on the kitchen side of the passthrough/counter.

I've been outfitting the drawers with various racks and such.

[jsmeeker]

I think most of my sauce pans would fall through those burners on the stove. How do you use a small sauce pan on that thing?

The burners are fine for anything with a diameter of about 6" or more, however there is also a ring you can set in for really, really small stuff:

Ahhh... OK.. That would do the trick.

[Chris Amirault]

Are you enjoying this process or is it driving you crazy or both?

[Fat Guy]

Are you enjoying this process or is it driving you crazy or both?

At the moment it's more a question of living through it than reflecting on it.

[natasha1270]

Very nice! But where are the drawers?!

The drawers are on the end of the kitchen where I'm generally standing when I take the photos. All the large drawers are on the kitchen side of the passthrough/counter.

Excellent! I thought as much but had to ask. I guess I'm not used to seeing lower cabinets without a drawer on top. I wish I had more drawers in my kitchen. Container Store has one that can be added to an existing cabinet that I am thinking of purchasing to hold smaller, flatter items that get lost in my pantry cabinet.

[Fat Guy]

I'm ambivalent about drawers. I'm not completely convinced that array of drawers is better than it would have been to have more cabinets in that space. The nice thing about these drawers, though, is that they have the soft-close dampeners so when you push them closed they can't slam.

[cbread]

I guess it must be personal, but I'd be rid of anything without drawers if I could. Having to get down on my knees to peer into the back of a cabinet and shuffle through piles of kitchen miscellany just isn't my idea of fun. I feel the same about refrigerator freezer compartments. Can't wait for my existing frig to croak so I can get a bottom freezer with slide out drawer style storage.

Didn't you mention, on another thread, that you had an adjacent space (a tall hall way?) where you contemplate additional storage for kitchen items, or did I misunderstand? If my memory is correct, can you post a drawing with dimensions?

Looking at your photos and drawings, I'm assuming the microwave is under a pass-through?

Your new space is beautiful; congratulations!

Edited April 29, 2011 by cbread (log)

[Fat Guy]

Didn't you mention, on another thread, that you had an adjacent space (a tall hall way?) where you contemplate additional storage for kitchen items, or did I misunderstand? If my memory is correct, can you post a drawing with dimensions?

The entryway to the kitchen is partly the side wall of the large pantry cabinet, seen on the right of this photo as you look into the kitchen through the passthrough and over all the accumulated junk we still have to put away. Its dimensions are 24" wide and 9' high. There's also about 6" of regular wall next to it but it's drywall and I wouldn't anchor anything serious to it. I definitely have to do something with that space, probably a combination of a space to hang the stepladder, a magnetic bulletin board, and some sort of peg/rack/hook system.

[Chris Amirault]

Two more questions:

1. What sort of undercounter lighting are you using?

2. Can we get a shot of the stove? On and off s'il vous plait.

[Fat Guy]

1. What sort of undercounter lighting are you using?

Fluorescent. In the whole apartment we don't have any normal light bulbs. I think at this stage of the game the CFLs and fluorescent tubes are putting out some really nice light and the energy savings are massive.

2. Can we get a shot of the stove? On and off s'il vous plait.

Stove off:

Stove on (that's the one burner that has any sort of serious power, it's a double ring burner with separate controls for each ring):

[jsmeeker]

Ooohhhh... nice blue fire!!

[lstrelau]

FG, is your Bertazzoni oven gas or electric? I have the 4 burner version with gas oven and broiler. THe 'infrared' gas broiler does a pretty good job (though not sure how I would find the sweet spot that MC talks about)

has taken me quite a while to get used to the intensity of the bottom heat - can't really use the bottom shelf for any high heat cooking - burns stuff even with convection fan going.

Otherwise really happy with the range.

[Fat Guy]

It's all gas.

I haven't used the oven yet. I'm hoping the broiler is a good thing. So far, having only used the rangetop, I think five of my six burners have unimpressive power. The double-ring burner, however, is pretty sweet. I don't think its BTU/hr numbers are all that fearsome but it really cranks when it's time to boil water (which, along with cooking eggs, is all I've really done so far).

I will say it's about the most attractive range I've seen, unless you want to get into something like Bonnet in a totally different price category.

Then there's the issue of it not being installed correctly. But I hope I can get that remedied one of these days. More on that at some point.

[Kouign Aman]

Does the hood have a place for a filter?

Ours just moved the smoke around when we moved in, then we opened it and discovered that it was neither vented nor had the charcoal filter been installed. Its not as good as venting out, but the filter does make a big difference in getting smoke out of the air.

[Fat Guy]

There are two big conical/cylindrical carbon filters in there.

The hood works well for minor filtering, like when I sautee mushrooms. I haven't torture tested it on deep frying or searing meat or anything like that yet. I don't have high hopes.

[FauxPas]

It looks like a nice space! Can a couple of people work there comfortably? What's in the back corner behind the fridge?

[Fat Guy]

I think a few people could work in there comfortably, though I prefer to work alone in any kitchen.

Behind the fridge is just more counter space. The KitchenAid and rice cooker are sitting there at the moment.

[Fat Guy]

So, one impediment to the dream has been overcome. From the day we took possession of the kitchen, the stove was about two inches out from the wall. A lot of neck craning revealed that the gas valve was blocking the stove. There's a cutout in the back of the stove where the gas valve can nest, but part of the valve was about 1/2" out of place so was blocking the stove.

About 20 emails with the contractor, many phone calls, three cancelled appointments that I waited around all day for, and a couple of meetings in the lobby later, the plumber finally showed up this morning and fixed it in five minutes by turning the valve 180 degrees so the control faces the other way. The Berta is now, gloriously, flush against the backsplash. My life can go on.