Kitchens & Happiness Linked.

[Daddy-A]

From the latest issue of DESIGNER Magazine (Kitchen & Bath Industry Trade Magazine) comes the following:

According to a Gallup survey conducted for home furnishings retailer IKEA, respondents in countries with a significantly high kitchen satisfaction also expressed the greatest overall family happiness.

Further observations:

More than half the respondents expressed dissatisfaction with their kitchens, with 57% wishing they could get a new one.  However, a whopping 54% of people who were unhappy with their kitchen say they wouldn't change it because the task seems too overwhelming

The most coveted kitchen feature? In island, with over 40% of respondents listing that as a "must add."

Does your kitchen make you happy? Would a new island bring you to a state of higher nervana?

A.

[*Deborah*]

I'll let you know if my kitchen makes me happy when you finish installing it

[ScorchedPalate]

I can tell you that my current crappy kitchen makes me very -unhappy-. Not very scientific, I'm sure.

[Timothy Burke]

Does your kitchen make you happy?  Would a new island bring you to a state of higher nervana?

A.

←

I've just had a kitchen fitted this week, with the floor to go down next Monday. It was a deeply traumatic expereince but I'm just starting to come out the other side and the view is lovely. An oven with even and reliable temperature, a gas hob that is properly controllable, beautiful units with draws that stay shut when when you close them, two square yards of extra workspace, discreet recessed halogen spots rather than a harsh strip light - it may have cost an arm and a leg and ruied my house for three weeks or so but I think I'm going to enjoy this. I keep going and stroking the units and pushing shut the draws just to watch the soft-close mechanism do its stuff.

An island? not really an option in a 6ft by 11 ft kitchen. But the sense of pleasure at having beautiful things around me? Not nirvana but something very pleasant nonetheless.

Edited April 18, 2006 by Timothy Burke (log)

[johnder]

After growing up in NYC with sub-standard kitchens I was besides myself when we had the chance to buy a house in which we could gut the kitchen and make it over. We ended up doing all the work ourselves (minus the countertop installation) and I have to say after 10 months without any working kitchen I am VERY happy now.

We are both very happy. Happy to not have to live off microwaved food and salads for 10 months. Granted having a 12' x 16' kitchen helps a bit too.

[Daddy-A]

I'll let you know if my kitchen makes me happy when you finish installing it

←

A little background: Deborah's new kitchen was designed by me, and my firm will be supplying & installing cabinetry & countertops. I'm sure photos will be forthcoming

I sure HOPE you'll be happy, what with a 48" Wolf range skillfully designed into an 8' x 10' kitchen I know I'm pretty stoked about it!

A.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

From the latest issue of DESIGNER Magazine (Kitchen & Bath Industry Trade Magazine) comes the following:

According to a Gallup survey conducted for home furnishings retailer IKEA, respondents in countries with a significantly high kitchen satisfaction also expressed the greatest overall family happiness.

Further observations:

More than half the respondents expressed dissatisfaction with their kitchens, with 57% wishing they could get a new one.  However, a whopping 54% of people who were unhappy with their kitchen say they wouldn't change it because the task seems too overwhelming

[scubadoo97]

I love my new kitchen and sure there are somethings I would do different if I was doing it all over. #1 would be to hire a different contractor. This has been the most difficult frustrating thing I have ever had to deal with due to poor work on their part and they came with good references. End result is the kitchen looks good and I love most of the appliances. The joy of cooking has increased significantly.

[purplewiz]

I HATE my island. You can have it. Since the day we moved in it's been nothing but a junk magnet, no matter how vigilant I am.

I'd love a new kitchen - ours is mostly original the house when it was first built, and it's ripe for remodeling. But a move may be forthcoming, so it's just not worth it at this time.

Marcia.

[*Deborah*]

I'll let you know if my kitchen makes me happy when you finish installing it

←

A little background: Deborah's new kitchen was designed by me, and my firm will be supplying & installing cabinetry & countertops. I'm sure photos will be forthcoming

I sure HOPE you'll be happy, what with a 48" Wolf range skillfully designed into an 8' x 10' kitchen I know I'm pretty stoked about it!

A.

←

Ha ha ha, and reading about a 10 x 4 island...that's half of my entire space

Arne, at this point, I am going to be happy to have any actual kitchen that consists of more than an espresso machine and a microwave, regardless of whether it's the weirdest kitchen ever. Of course, a 48 in. Wolf in an 8 x 10 kitchen just might qualify as weirdest kitchen ever...

I sure hope I don't need an island to guarantee my happiness ...no man is an island. Hmm, I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere.

[gingerfreak]

Hey I'd be happy with a "real" kitchen!

I live in a Vancouver west end hole-in-the-wall apartment with a cubbyhole for a kitchen. When I cook it seems to take over the whole apartment (boiling water on the stove steams up the windows..). And it's a good thing I cook best solo as there's no room for 2.

An island? One can dream...

oh, and the oven's on a slant so baked goods end up sliding together or lopsided - good thing I'm going for taste, not looks

if it weren't for the (lack of) a kitchen, I'd love my little place. And I've had some impressive results regardless.

[Anna N]

My kitchen is tiny, has bottom-of-the-line builder's appliances, so little storage space that my pantry is in the basement BUT compared to what I had for most of my life it's a dream. I have lived with tiny kitchens so long that I am sure I would be totally lost in anything bigger than 8x10.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

As I've thought about this thread, I'm not sure the new kitchen will "make" me happy. The current one makes me miserable. One can feed a family off a hot plate; I've done it, but my kitchen is also for working and living.

One of my dreams for the next life -- the one where suburban Mommy and ridiculous house is no longer part of it -- is an 8 x 10 kitchen Now that I see it can be done with a 48" Viking range, I'm even happier!

[C. sapidus]

Renovating our 10 x 12 kitchen brought happiness, but it is expensive happiness to be sure. Using Ikea cabinets eased the financial pain, though. The most happiness-inducing results were:

The cooktop isn’t pinned against a side wall (now my wife and I can cook together)

Switching the cooktop from electric to gas (I can wok again)

The kitchen door opens out (no more getting bonked in the butt while chopping veggies)

Efficient layout for three cooks (mother-in-law will be living with us)

Effective lighting (good-bye and good riddance to the dim fluorescent light)

Storage space for dry goods and cooking equipment (no more microwave on the counter)

Spice cabinets, oils, and cooking implements next to the cooktop

Decent ventilation over the stove (although I still occasionally induce coughing fits with capsaicin fumes)

Pull-out trash next to the big single sink next to dishwasher next to dish and flatware storage (very efficient cleanup and we can hide lots of dirty dishes when entertaining guests)

Adding a small prep sink (incredibly useful with >1 cook)

Replacing the scary electric panel that had wires stuck in random places (hey, we can cook more if the house doesn’t burn down)

We didn’t have room for an island, but a galley is a very efficient layout. The kitchen is open to the dining room, so guests have a place to hang out while we are cooking (the main advantage of an island, imo).

Bruce

[Varmint]

I've now had my new kitchen for a year, and for those who saw my old kitchen, they completely understand how happy I am today. What is great about my kitchen is that I don't have to think as much anymore about how I'm going to accomplish a particular task -- I just do it. I don't have to worry about smoke, as my hood has eliminated that issue. Prep and clean-up are much easier. So, yes, I'm happy. And yes, Arne helped a bit with my kitchen, too (although he has never seen it, before or after the renovation).

[Jean Blanchard]

Considering how much time all of us spend in our kitchens I'd say that a kitchen is quite capable of making us happy. I have a long galley kitchen that is great for cooking because I can reach everything. I love my kitchen so much that I added onto my house (so that I'd have more room in living/dining room area to entertain) rather then leave my kitchen.

[deltadoc]

Despite the fact that everybody thought I was nuts to spend 3 times on a new kitchen remodel (even by doing most all the work myself) as I originally paid for my house, the last 13 years have been sheer nirvana! We turned a large dining room separated from a tiny kitchen by a wall into a large L-shaped room with the old dining room becoming the new kitchen and the old tiny kitchen area becoming the new dining area. Re-plumbing waste, drain and supply lines was daunting, we added a 48" island with a tiny bar sink, we added a garden window over the dual main sink, all Corian countertops with Corian seamless built-in sinks, new Grohe faucets, Italian Ceramic 13" x 13" flooring (entry foyer, kitchen floor, dining room floor and back landing), all new lighting and electrical service (9 flush mounted ceiling lights with 5 (like 5 on a dice) with dual switches, an extra 4 counterposed within the pattern of the 5 on one switch, and a separate single light on a switch over the main sink, Thermador professional gas cooktop with griddle, grill and 4 burners, Dacor wall oven (convection/conventional), Sub-Zero built-in 48" frige/freezer, white raised panel Fieldstone cabinetry (including slide out garbage, slide out baking pan drawer, and swing out herb shelf, and two lazy suzans in opposite corners of a U-shaped countertop run, etc., 1200 cfm Vent-a-Hood)

Everyday I cook in it I am so happy we did it! Opened up the small house we lived in for the last 30 years, and makes for a nice gathering place for company and entertaining. We can sit at the island with its overhang countertop for informal eating, or use the dining room table for more formal events.

The only thing I would do different would be to insulate with firebrick and put in a 60" commercial Wolf gas range/cooktop with raised griddle instead of the THermador. 15k burners/griddle/grill just don't cut it as well as I would wish.

But am still very happy anyways!

doc

[Toliver]

Would a new island bring you to a state of higher nervana?

←

If it's somewhere in Tahiti or Hawai'i, yes, please.

[Chris Amirault]

I've now had my new kitchen for a year, and for those who saw my old kitchen, they completely understand how happy I am today.  What is great about my kitchen is that I don't have to think as much anymore about how I'm going to accomplish a particular task -- I just do it. 

←

Dean, what you wrote here really struck a chord in me. We're one vent hood away from finishing renovating our kitchen on a shoestring (total <$3K -- thank you, craigslist, Building 19, etc.). We realized that the location of our appliances, the cabinets, the walls, and total square footage weren't going to change, so we found a granite sideboard that provides additional storage and, essentially, a new counter, moved our shelving unit up onto the wall and took out the table on which it rested, and hung a big pot rack from the ceiling.

So, in addition to a new range and fridge (both of which increase happiness significantly, to be sure), getting things out of the space enables the two tall adults (cook and baker, respectively) who use it regularly to get around far more easily. And -- this is probably obvious but is worth saying -- that $200 sideboard creates six feet of counter space that has geometrically increased marital bliss.

[MelissaH]

I'll let you know when we're done with ours by the end of the summer. The pieces are coming together nicely, though, and we've pretty much finalized our cabinet order from IKEA.

Island? No room for one in a kitchen that's 8 by 18 feet. But ours (like Bruce's) is open to the dining area, and I'm *so* looking forward to being able to cook with my husband!

MelissaH

[jsolomon]

Does your kitchen make you happy?  Would a new island bring you to a state of higher nervana?

A.

←

No, my kitchen doesn't make me happy. It is so less than 5 feet wide, wall-to-wall, and 8 feet long. I probably have 8 square feet of usable counter-top.

An island would probably come in the form of a power cord hanging from the ceiling so I'd have more than 4 outlets...

[therese]

Not only does my kitchen make me happy (as documented in excruciating detail when I blogged on eG a while back) but I can say for sure that earlier non-great kitchens have made me very unhappy.

The worst wasn't the kitchen that I replaced with the remodel: although small and ill-equipped it had it's charms. The worst was the kitchen in the apartment that we lived in during the remodel: new appliances, lots of storage, etc. but still just a thoroughly depressing work space. We ate way too much take out during those months.

[H. du Bois]

Appropos of this ...

I read somewhere once that in my neighborhood (Park Slope), the leading cause of divorce was kitchen renovation.

[therese]

Appropos of this ...

I read somewhere once that in my neighborhood (Park Slope), the leading cause of divorce was kitchen renovation. 

←

When we embarked upon our renovation our architect remarked that she'd never had a couple divorce in the course of or as the result of a remodel under her watch.

So far her record has held.

[the g-man]

This is what my kitchen looks like right now. Seriously.

I will be a lot happier when it becomes a real kitchen. About half of my waking hours spent at home are spent in the kitchen, so I think my general happiness could be directly linked to this room.

This is what it looked like a couple of months ago, when I bought the house:

You can see why I opted for the renovation. I picked up a lot of tips from previous posts on kitchen renos. It will be cool when it is finished. I have picked out a Caesarstone countertop, there will be an island, a gas range, lots of storage. The rest of the house looks about the same as the kitchen right now. This house is about 100 years old, in the Main Street area of Vancouver, B.C. The renos are underway, but it will take a good two or three months to finish the work.

I am training the dog to install the cabinets.

Edited April 22, 2006 by the g-man (log)