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fisherPete's kitchen ... then and now

fisherPete

By fisherPete
in Kitchen Consumer

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fisherPete

fisherPete

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I have a 90 year old house.  When I bought it, the kitchen was a 1965 remodel.  It was broken and dysfunctional, but the light bulb .... yes, one light bulb ... worked well. 

 

I did almost all the work myself, from design to finding appliances to designing and commissioning cabinets to making the counters.  The marmolium floors are awesome.  The PaperStone counters are temperature tolerant to 380ºF and feel like soapstone, but I was able to cut them with woodworking tools.

 

Before ... yes, that's a Litton MicroRange ... Ugh!

kitchen030808.jpg

 

But a couple months and few dollars later, I have a place I love working in.

kitchen101608b.jpg

 

Lots of new outlets.  Massive counter space.  What isn't shown is the mobile cutting board I built on top of an old French baker's table, which normally sits between the fridge and the sink. 

 

kit123315003-L.jpg

 

Of course, the counters are full of stuff now: coffee roaster, bean grinder, drip brewer, sous vide, knife block, ... the usuals. :)

Edited by Smithy
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fisherPete

fisherPete

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It's called PaperStone.  It's a green product made from recycled newspaper and cashew ester.  It's stable and cool to touch.  It comes in a bunch of colors.  I've seen some really creative applications such as a drain board routed into the surface.  I'm not sure where it's available.  I bought mine from the factory in Hoquiam Washington.

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Alex

Alex

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Very impressive. That "before" picture made my eyes hurt. I didn't know where to focus (or, even better, not focus).

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"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

A king can stand people's fighting, but he can't last long if people start thinking. -Will Rogers, humorist

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fisherPete

fisherPete

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Here's the finished backsplash.  The iridescent tiles don't really show very well, but it's better than nothing.

 

With a gas stove, I wanted ventilation, but I didn't have the option of going up and out through the ceiling.  Instead, I was able to go down in the cantilevered wall behind the stove, then laterally outside (to the right).  The key was finding a vent hood fan strong enough to draw, but not so strong that it would put out the pilot light in my furnace. 

 

kitchen111608a.jpg

 

Here's my French Bakery table in the center of the room, but before I'd finished the backsplash.  It forms the perfect triangle between stove, sink and refrigerator ... with workspace in the middle.

 

kitchen101608a.jpg

 

The whole project, showing progress details.

Edited by fisherPete (log)
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cyalexa

cyalexa

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39 minutes ago, fisherPete said:

The key was finding a vent hood fan strong enough to draw, but not so strong that it would put out the pilot light in my furnace. 

What brand did you choose and how do you like it? My hood is ineffectual and I should replace it. 

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

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My stove hood is ineffectual, thirty six years old, and hanging by two screws.  But I live in an apartment.

 

The bathroom exhaust is hanging by one screw.

 

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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FauxPas

FauxPas

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Very impressive transformation! I especially like that you worked in some pot hooks above the stove, very smart! What are the cabinets like above the sink, on the opposite side of the room? 

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cyalexa

cyalexa

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3 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

My stove hood is ineffectual, thirty six years old, and hanging by two screws.  But I live in an apartment.

 

The bathroom exhaust is hanging by one screw.

 

 

Time to call maintenance!

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fisherPete

fisherPete

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Multiple responses ...

The vent hood is a GE Profile ... 400 cfm.

The cabinets above the sink and the long counter are the original 1925 boxes.  They're solid and I couldn't justify the $10-15,000 to replace 18 feet of cabinets. I did put LED tape lights under the old cabinets, which provides great lighting for the entire counter.  Over the sink I hung a couple pendulum lights.

 

Over the stove I custom built the open shelves to join the closed cabinets.  Somehow, they turned out just the right size for wine bottles! :)

 

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ChocoMom

ChocoMom

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Wonderful transformation!!!  Hard to believe its the same space. Love, love, love the French Bakery table!!!

  If you're not too busy, I've got two kitchens that need to be designed and built this fall. :D  

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-Andrea

 

A 'balanced diet' means chocolate in BOTH hands. :biggrin:

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