andrea345's Kitchen

Teensy kitchen - 9' wide x 11' long



Contact: andrea345 (My Page)
Posted on Sun, Sep 17, 06
Link to kitchen photos: http://s208.photobucket.com/albums/bb39/Andrea3452001/Kitchen%20final/?start=all

Details:


This time last year we were living with a gutted hole where our kitchen used to be. We finished finished last April when the very last item on the punch list was completed. They began demo August 22, 2005. We were able to move into the space December 18th, 2005.

We didn't add additional square footage for our 9'x11' kitchen. We removed two walls and added one back, so we increased our usable space by about 8". This was the final room in a whole house remodel which lasted 13 years. So, it's our "forever" kitchen in our "forever" home. We chose to go with increasing the materials budget over adding space. The space works really well for one cook and one baker, but we have had four cooks in this kitchen working at the same time. The "zones" for prep, cooking, & clean up keep everyone out from under each others' feet.

We planned the function of each drawer and each cabinet because we don’t have a lot of space in this corridor plan kitchen. Some of my favorite things are:

1)As we’re short people, upper cabinets weren’t as important to us as lower cabinets. Therefore, losing an upper cabinet to the right of our sink for a European style in-cabinet drying rack was an option for us. Thanks go to so many people on this board who helped us with material ideas to put that concept together. It’s still not in its permanent state, but we’re not ready, yet, to take on even this small project. However, the temporary setup with a small drying rack is working beautifully. I love that the hand-washed items are not on the counter, not in the sink, out of sight and out of the way. The material to capture the water is a dimpled polysterene which is used for under-sink cabinet mat. It’s impermeable and dimpled. When water drips down off the rack, it’s captured by the mat. We haven’t had a problem with moisture build-up in the cabinet as it’s not an air-tight seal. We plan to eventually install some of these products by elletipi as the permanent solution.

2) The range has two ovens and is 8" shorter than the American standard with two ovens. In 40" we got 5 burners, two ovens and two storage drawers. The power of burners is phenomenal for us. Two ovens were a "must" for me, I bake a lot, but I didn’t have room for wall-ovens. Putting them where the pantry is wasn’t an option because there are stairs (2) down to the laundry area there. One of the ovens is gas and the other is electric. We also fell in love with the enamelled color and the style of the range. The scale is perfect for the space. There’s 5 burners and often there are two cooks working at the burners at the same time.

3) Zones. Zones. Zones. We have a prep zone to the left of the range with a little countertop and the pull-out butcher block. To the right of the range, is the little corner and it's to the left hand side of the sink so clean-up is a breeze. There’s more space to the right of the frig with the pull-out garbage beneath it. And best of all, a huge expanse of cold stone for the baking area which remains unpolluted by chopped onions. In a pinch, we can also work at the built-in breakfast table with its copper top.

4) No reveal on the sink. I can clean the counters by pushing stuff straight into the sink bowl.

There’s lots more that we love about this space.




Comments:
This might be the most beautiful kitchen I have ever seen on this site. I absolutely love it - even though my own renovation will be by necessity very different in style and budget. Your choices are warm, elegant, daring. Particularly admire the use of copper on the wall. Did you design it yourself or did you use a decorator? Either way, well done. Mazel tov!
 

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