Teensy kitchen - 9' wide x 11' long

• Cabinets: Shoreline. Solid cherry stained "fireside red" on the uppers and "cabernet" on the lowers. The pantry and the frig are finished out in the "cabernet". The glides are all undermount, full extension Bloom in motions. The carcasses are maple plywood. The feet are Sedona decorative aluminum furniture legs (4").
  
• Countertop: This stone has so many names and no, I don't know what kind of stone it actually is. It's called "Golden Lightning", "Mizar", and we bought it as "Verde Fantastico." The slab was huge, but 2cm, so it sits on plywood. There was one seam - at the end of the sink base, before the bottom part of the "L" shape next to the range. The slab would have made the whole length, but the granite guy wouldn't transport it without the cut. However, the match with the veining is flawless. The edge is a laminated miter (pencil edge, I think it's called), similar to Design 9 under laminated edges here. This covers the plywood and gives a nice clean line. There was no (as in zero) reveal around the sink. The guy cut it about as flush as flush can get. Amazing.
• Backsplash behind range & sink, breakfast table: U.S. Sheetmetal, custom made panels in a super-heated copper.
• Rest of the backsplash: Benjamin Moore paint with copper leaf in a geometric pattern & copper leaf over 1x4s.
• Range: Lacanche Cluny in Provencal Yellow with the island spacer / vent. This is a dual fuel, 40" wide range finished in enamel. I have one gas oven and one electric (without convection) w/ a 4 pass broiler. Yes, I use the two ovens often. No, I don’t miss the self-cleaning or the window or the convection. I’ve had all those in the past and found them easy to not have. The ovens are smaller than American standard, but I’ve baked turkies, pies, cakes, cookies. The ovens hold their temps well. I do a standard 30 minute warm-up in the ovens.
• Refrigerator: Sub-Zero 611G Glass Door Refrigerator / Freezer on the bottom. We turn the lights on for "display" and guests say they wish they could keep their frig looking so organized. It’s not. It’s like anyone else’s frig, overloaded with left-overs, little bits & pieces of this and that. The frig just looks cool and makes everything in it look cool. heh. No, really, love the light b/c you can see what’s in the frig (when it’s not packed) before you open the door.
• Dishwasher: Miele Incognito G818SCVi. 18" with full overlay panel. We were able to gain 6" of cabinet space in our sink wall lineup going with the 18" vs. 24" dishwasher. We wanted the panel without any controls showing so it was the Incognito with the static drying system for us. Drying is great for us. Cleaning is usually good as well. Quiet unit.
• Faucet: Franke Atriflow Titan ATT-400 Series in chrome. The sprayer is great and on a very long pull-out. The pullout is metal clad.
• Sink: Franke Professional PSX-110-30-9 with the grid (love the grid!). This 9" deep sink is perfect for 5’6" me. The grid keeps the pots & pans out of whatever nasty thing I happen to dump into the sink. We also got the chopping board & collander. These are most commonly just stored away. Yet, when there’s lots of veggies or fruits to prep, or when the butcher block is in use for something else, it comes in handy.
• Hood: Custom wood exterior with patinated copper trim. Vent-A-Hood BH240PSLD liner which has been bumped out to cover the range’s burners. Because the Cluny has the island spacer / vent, it is not (and should not be) absolutely flush with the cabinets. The stove doors begin where the cabinets end, so when I open the stove door, the released heat is directed towards open air, not the side of one of my cabinets. The bump out also allows the ranges to vent from the rear. This created a dilemma when my vent was being installed. Neither the contractor, nor the kitchen designer, had ever mounted the vents over the center of the burners, they just mounted them to the walls. The 22" deep vent didn’t cover the front of my burners. The carpenter on the job built up 2x4s along the back wall until the vent covered the front burners. Then, they cladded the wood with stainless steel.
• Air Switch: Allied Innovations in chrome. I love not having to reach over to the Netherworld to find the switch.
• Tapmaster: The 1750 model, I think. It’s hot & cold water & locks down if you want it to. We love setting the water temperature and walking away. We didn’t want the look of a single handle sink.
• Disposer: In-Sink-Erator 777
• Instant Hot & Cold Water Faucet: Mountain Plumbing "Little Gourmet" MT-650 with heat tank, Everpure H-104 Water Filter, Everhot Instant Hot Water System
• Trash / Recycling: 100 Quart trash & recycle in an 18" cabinet
• Pulls: Hafele 115.70s in zinc nickel matt with matte stainless steel center
• Organization: After market knife & silverware organizer bought at Costco. Aftermarket acrylic boxes for flour, sugar, spices, bought at a variety of organization stores. Aftermarket glass containers bought at Cost Plus World Imports.

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.

- posted by starpooh @ 6:33 PM