Kitchen Design Tips

[CityConnection]

Originally Posted by BrettChaotix

a wall-mount magnetic strip to replace your knife block, for example.

Thats a great idea. I have seen it numerous times but never thought of getting one. Thanks

 

[crazyquik]

Was talking about this last night with roomie, actually.

There is a book called, something like, Kitchens of Celebrity Chefs. It is their home kitchens, and has a lot of neat ideas.

But our countertops are repurposed lanes from a bowling alley, so what do I know

edit:

http://www.amazon.com/Great-Kitchens...797531&sr=8-8#

 

[UpperWestie]

There are obviously the work flow considerations. Your choice of tiles and countertops are really mostly an aesthetic preference. I think if you do enough research on the appliances you'll end up with the same choices as everyone else. The few must haves I think: 1) wide and deep under mount sink. 2) a good range hood that has a real exhaust connection to the outside, not some stupid re-circulator. 3) counter lighting 4)deep pull out shelves for pots and pans, and lastly I think the most important: A practical backsplash material for the stovetop. I have glass tile all around my counter backsplash including the stove, and I regret it. I wish I had gone industrial sheet metal behind the stove - makes it much easier clean up after you cook. Good luck!

 

[Token]

After I did my remodel, I really only wish I had put in a warming shelf under the vent hood.

 

[Douglas]

Originally Posted by tiecollector

I'm designing my new kitchen right now as well. Are you re-arranging things? You know about the work triangle and all that?

I'd love a zinc or stainless countertop but am going to go with marble (maybe even 18" white tiles if my budget goes over

)

Thanks to all for the advice so far. I am sort of hoping to keep this thread alive over the next few months as things come together - I know I will have more specific questions as time goes on.

I am re-arranging things significantly - right now almost nothing is firm. In the house I'm working on, at present there's a relatively small kitchen, not quite a galley but close to it, that is sort of separated from the rest of the house. It's an older house (1928) so it was built really as a service kitchen. It is separated from a great den with fireplace by a set of secondary butler's stairs to the second floor (as well as the stairs to the basement) and a small bathroom, with just a narrow hallway connecting the two rooms. I'm going to rip out the bathroom and the stairs (obviously moving the stairs to the basement to another part of the house) and make the area one large family room/informal dining room/kitchen area, roughly 34 feet long and 13 feet wide along most of the room (though it opens to more like 16 feet at the existing kitchen end).

Frankly, at the moment, I'm not even sure if I'm going to put the kitchen in the middle or on one end, so quite literally everything is up in the air.

I'm considering concrete countertops - anyone have any experience with them? Where do they compare, cost-wise, with granite?

 

[mxgreen]

We are just finishing our kitchen. A few comments/ideas:

1. We read alot at gardenweb.com. Go to their "home forums", then "kitchen" section. You will get alot of great idea for your style of kitchen and where to source products.

2. Cabinets - We spent alot of time looking - at Expo, Lowes, home shows and onliine. We liked Christopher Peacock's lines and also Siematic's Beaux Arts line. Take a look at Crown Point Cabinetry's website - http://www.crown-point.com. Crown Point specializes in inset cabinets in four general styles - Arts & Crafts, Early American, Victorian and Shaker; although they also do overlay cabinets. Their customer service reps are great kitchen designers and will suggest things you never thought of. They will also customize their styles to fit the style of your house. Because of price constraints we ultimately went with a custom cabinet maker who did a great job mimicking a blend of Peacock and Beaux Arts.

2. Not a fan of concrete countertops. I think it is more of a fad and might look dated in a few years. We went with carrara marble.

3. I think for your style a range (with double ovens if you desire) would look better than a cooktop and wall mounted ovens. Call the local high-end distributor to see if it has any floor sample pieces for sale. We bought a Wolf 48" range, a Subzero 36" refrigerator, a Subzero 27" two drawer freezer (that we put in the island) and an Asko dishwasher for $8500 - about 1/2 price - from the local Subzero/Wolf distributor. All were never used items shown in various vignettes on the distributor's showroom floor. All came with the same warranty as a new unit.

4. I understand dumping money into the range and refrigerator, but not the microwave. Also, don't buy a microwave that mounts over the range. Hide it. We bought a $150 microwave and have it sitting in an open cabinet in the island.

 

[tiecollector]

Originally Posted by Douglas

Thanks to all for the advice so far. I am sort of hoping to keep this thread alive over the next few months as things come together - I know I will have more specific questions as time goes on. I am re-arranging things significantly - right now almost nothing is firm. In the house I'm working on, at present there's a relatively small kitchen, not quite a galley but close to it, that is sort of separated from the rest of the house. It's an older house (1928) so it was built really as a service kitchen. It is separated from a great den with fireplace by a set of secondary butler's stairs to the second floor (as well as the stairs to the basement) and a small bathroom, with just a narrow hallway connecting the two rooms. I'm going to rip out the bathroom and the stairs (obviously moving the stairs to the basement to another part of the house) and make the area one large family room/informal dining room/kitchen area, roughly 34 feet long and 13 feet wide along most of the room (though it opens to more like 16 feet at the existing kitchen end). Frankly, at the moment, I'm not even sure if I'm going to put the kitchen in the middle or on one end, so quite literally everything is up in the air. I'm considering concrete countertops - anyone have any experience with them? Where do they compare, cost-wise, with granite?
1928 would probably make it more Edwardian in design. IIRC, during this period kitchens were meant to be very small to make it so staff would not have to go far to cook. I expanded my kitchen 10' to double the size of it. I thought concrete countertops would be cheap but they are much more expensive than granite and marble. Also, good luck finding a quality installer. If I could have anything, I'd go for stainless or zinc, but the stainless will run you slightly more than marble. A marble countertop will run you about $1500 after polishing and all that per 10 ft, and that is probably average. Installation will run you at least another $1000. Granite, if you want a stock bullnose will run you about half the price of marble. There are some pretty exotic types of granite though that could get pricey. I was looking for a granite that looked like white carrera marble. It does exist, but probably costs just as much as the marble or more. I'm also adding a 10" recess for the fridge. Paying for counter-depth is cray too, you pay 2x as much for half the space.Add a recess if you can. Fortunately, my kitchen shares a wall with the garage.

 

[crazyquik]

You could consider, I think, soapstone, for countertops. It has a few advantageous characteristics. Among them, plates and glasses don't 'clang' as loud when set down on it.

 

[Bluto]

When we remodeled the painters used our new stainless steel sink to wash their paintbrushes but they did not wash it all out & the paint dried on. What can I use to get it off without harming the finish?

 

[CityConnection]

Originally Posted by Bluto

When we remodeled the painters used our new stainless steel sink to wash their paintbrushes but they did not wash it all out & the paint dried on. What can I use to get it off without harming the finish?

Paint thinner. I dont think it will affect the finish. or chip it off carefully.

 

[bigasahouse]

Originally Posted by mxgreen

2. Not a fan of concrete countertops. I think it is more of a fad and might look dated in a few years. We went with carrara marble.

Too late now, but be careful with the marble. It can stain easily. Some people it doesn't bother- they consider it a patina. You probably know this already, but I'd be very careful with it.

 

[Fred49]

Liebherr makes a great refer...they have newer tech than SubZero and no vent to clean every month or the compressor will seize up..They are quiet and you can run a 48" refer for about $86 a year..they are also green in both production and the unit itself....Lastly they are less expensive.

 

[Reborn]

Are you working with an Architect?

16' is just wide enough for a u shape with a 3' wide island with walkway. Unless the kitchen is going to be stuck into an end of a room and doesn't need a walkway going by it.

If you're not working with an architect I'd suggest drawing out the space so that you and us could see the layout of the space. You need to be mindful of flow while in the kitchen, into and out of the kitchen, as well as views into it from the living space.

Staring at someones ass while they cook or at a sink full of dirty dishes isn't what you want after you just spent a ton of money on a remodel.

You can do a simple drawing on a free program like Google Sketchup that will help both you and us with recommendations: http://sketchup.google.com/

 

[Ronald Parker]

Hi,

Choose something durable and relevant to your needs. No need to install a brand new restaurant standard kitchen if you do a small amount of home cooking. If you are looking to replace a whole kitchen, consider refacing you kitchen doors and kitchen cupboard handles for a discount kitchen facelift.

 

[mandylee216]

We just had our house renovated. The material used for the floor even before the renovation is marble. Right after the renovation, it doesn't look like it was before. All that cement which splattered n the floor during renovation made it somewhat "soily". So I suggest for a place that gets messy most of the time, you should use vinyl tiles. It is easy to clean and has more designs to choose from. But for counter top, maybe its best to use granite tiles.