Back in a previous life I was a caterer, so in addition to being able to make a nice lunch for 100 of my closest friends, I also ended up seeing a ton of kitchens ... mostly in 10,000 square foot abominations on the north side of Indy.
Some of them were really funny (or sad depending on your perspective) ... one kitchen had an island the size of a small room, so that most of the space was unreachable ... the cleaning woman needed to actually climb up on the counter and clean it like a floor. Another had huge Viking commercial appliances, which wasn't so bad until you realized she hired a caterer like me to cook her weekly meals every night. Another kitchen was in a huge 1000 square foot open space, but the usable counter space to actually prep meals on was about 2 linear feet. Finally ... the best ... one house had actually two kitchens - one bare bones, austere thing where real cooking took place, and then an entire show kitchen that no cooking was actually done in, so when people come over for parties, the "kitchen" was NEVER a mess ... bizarre.
Not to say I haven't seen my fair share of poorly design kitchens on the more modest budgets. Most of my friends track home kitchens lack a drawer big enough for silverware. There is a love affair with Lazy Susan's, which might as well be called black holes. And the use of granite ... people, it's not the only stone in the World ... and quite frankly, it's not even close to the most interesting. In general there's a theme where they look big, but the actual work space is either limited or the work triangle is too inefficient.
So what were our requirements in the kitchen?
I don't think they were significantly different than what other people want, but here are some of odd ones.
We like the idea of people being able to talk to me when I cook (and see them), but I don't like the idea of them actually being in the kitchen while I cook. Not only are they usually in the way, but I don't like people seeing my dirty dishes.
Space needed to be very efficient - usually for one person cooking, but easily expandable if I was doing canning or group cooking things. Since the entire first floor is only 1200 and had to accommodate a master bedroom, space was tight.
Since it was an open house concept, I didn't want the kitchen to be so dominant that I'm sitting on the couch watching TV, and I'm thinking - ugh, there's that huge kitchen over there.
For the cabinets I didn't want any Lazy Susans (which meant no corners), little to no overhead cupboards (they are just wood boxes shoved on a wall), and all solid drawers (no pull out shelves). Cabinets needed to be solid and last. Any loss in cabinet space would be made up from a walk pantry nearby.
Since there was no gas coming into the house, the appliances needed to be all electric, but I really didn't care for electric stoves. There were other little requirements on appliances, but that's mostly personal preference.
So what did we end up with.
A picture is worth a thousand words, but essentially the house is a long galley kitchen in the middle of house. The kitchen is basically divided into two areas ... dirty and clean.
The dirty area is only about 7 linear feet and consists of a big farm sink flanked by two dishwashers, and the other side has the double ovens, frig, and a bit of long shelving. It is all concealed from the open concept of the house by the staircase to the second floor that forms sort of a roof, and a half wall and hanging ceiling cabinets that provide a small bar area on the other side. The design was actually kind of inspired by Panera ... where they have the kitchen and a half wall hiding all the activity and mess.
The clean area is right next to the dirty area and consists of the induction cooktop and open countertop island and back countertop - total square footage of this countertop area is about 50 square feet - so there's a lot of work area. There are no overhead cabinets ... everything is just big drawers.
The end result is a very efficient kitchen - it's only 4' X 15' of actual floor space (the area that gets mopped), so very easy to move from one side to another. Since it's hard to see typical kitchen equipment (the induction cooktop is all flat and blends with the countertop), it's easy to make the kitchen blend in even when it's essentially right in the middle of the house.
So what were some of the lessons learned?
- GET TWO DISHWASHERS
Best idea ever !
This sounds crazy, but think about it for 2 seconds. Not only is it usually cheaper to put in a $300 dishwasher, than another 2 linear feet of cabinets. The best part is that you never need to empty a dishwasher ... once the dishes are cleaned, you just pull out the dishes as you need them. By the time the other dishwasher is ready to be washed, you've unloaded 80% of the clean dishwasher over the last several days. As far as storage ... the extra dishwasher is essentially storing dishes for you anyway, so you don't lose anything - you actually gain quite a bit actually. Added bonus when you are having a big party ... make sure both dishwashers are empty, and you have a super easy cleanup after the party.
- GET HEAVY DUTY DRAWER HARDWARE
Drawers are all about the hardware (on the inside of the drawer) ... if you're planning on putting heavy pots and pans like we did, make sure the drawers are rated for that weight. It's usually only about $20 for the weakest to the strongest, so you're not talking a huge additional expense to put it in a bunch of drawers.
- SHOP AROUND FOR CABINETS
We ended up going with some Amish cabinetmakers - but we looked all over including the big box stores. I'd give you the name, but so much of a quote depends on how badly they want or need the work, it's too variable. Suffice it to say I got high quality (3/4" plywood) hickory front cabinets for way less than a big box store (they were pricey). The price ranges for essentially the same plywood box was kind of astounding.
- GO WITH SIMPLE AND BASIC CABINETS
The simpler and more basic means that you won't tire of these cabinets and want to remodel in 10 years. Ironically the cabinet that looks worse in the store is probably the best from a cleaning and "I won't get tired of it" stage. We just went with very simple hickory and straight lines. If you're doing a lot of rope work trim and filligree doodads, you're going to find it dated and need a redo too soon. Nothing wrong if you want that look, just put that in your financial calculation that you'll remodel sooner.
- GO WITH A PANTRY
Basic quality cabinets can easily run $250 a linear foot - that adds up REALLY fast. Throw in some cool doodads and before you know it, you've spent more on this kitchen furniture than all your other furniture in your house combined - and the kitchen furniture is just storing cans of tomatoes and pasta.
A cheap alternative is to make sure a nice pantry is next to the kitchen. A run to IKEA for some shelving, and you've got a place to store food like a Mormon household for pennies on the dollar to the full on cabinet solution.
- TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT LIKE SOAPSTONE
Granite is actually common now, but there are a ton of cool solid surfaces you can try. We ended up getting slabs of soapstone and cutting them on site to fit (they are soft enough to cut, but I would still keep the cuts to a minimum). Looking back I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, because it was a lot of work and risk (esp to my back) - but we did pay $40/sqft as opposed to $130/sqft.
The look works better for our style house, since it's more modern rustic - whereas the high hard gloss of granite might be a bit too formal for us. Quite frankly, I found granite to be too hard in our old house - and I didn't like it that much. Bottom line: there are options.
- THINK THROUGH HOW YOU COOK
I know books have been written on kitchen designs, nor is there a lack of people willing to design a kitchen for you. But for me, cooking and living is an extremely personal thing, and I don't think a stranger can really compensate for an hour of thoughtful reflection on how you cook.
Yes, they will help you make your kitchen triangle small (ours is the smallest possible, I think, at 4' X 4' X 4', but you need to do a lot of thinking on your own too to stay away from trends and things you don't need.
For example, everyone seems to like stations ... some are great, some are not so great - depending on your needs. If you are a master pastry chef and regularly use specific tools for that work different from other cooking, then by all means setup a pastry station. But in reality, I cook in the same 3' wide area most nights - with the exception if there's a big party, and I need to spread out a lot of different dishes. Since the entire kitchen is small to begin with, it's not big deal to reach for what I need.
Another example ... the trash can ... where is it going to go, where does it need to go? Most commercial restaurants have it VERY close to prep work. It would be a shame to plan this beautiful kitchen, and you end up with a plastic bin sitting in the middle of those $250/lf cabinets. But then on the other hand, do you want to spend $500 for a cabinet to store trash?
In our case we took a high but narrow (8") restaurant trash can and made a gap between the dishwasher and cabinet. It's totally hidden, holds a large amount of trash, and basically didn't cost us a thing. I'm amazed when kitchen designers don't suggest even this most basic option.
- CHECK OUT RETURNED APPLIANCES ON EBAY OR SEARS OUTLET
I saved a fortune by buying my appliances on EBay.
Even with the shipping, I was able to get "unsuccessfully delivered" appliances that had a minor scratch or dent for huge discounts. How much? Let's just say retail, I would have paid $15K (they were mostly Bosch), and I ended up paying about $3K. Yep, they usually had a dent in the front (sometimes in the back where you'd never see it), but I told myself I would first pull out the dent with a special tool I got online, and if it still bothered me, I'd buy the replacement panel. I haven't even bothered to pull out the dent yet, since it's not a concern. For the dent on the fridge, I just covered it with a $1 magnet.
I did have to setup searches for what I wanted, so it took a couple of months, but it's not like I needed them right away anyway.
There's another trick for induction cooktops (which deserve their own post for how well they work) ... the model I got is about $2000 retail, but I ended up paying $800, and a tank of gas. Why? Basically people don't understand induction cooktops, so they buy them without knowing they won't work with some pans (e.g. copper, cheap pans) - so they return them. Since our country has no patience for an open box - they have to discount heavily in order to resell it. Considering you can always buy or extend the warranty - this was a no brainer for us. Just look on various outlet sites, and you'll eventually find what you need if you patient.
