SC - OT - Pseudo-Medievaloid Cookery Saves the Day

[Elaine Koogler]

I have to admit that, within the constraints of the house design and our budget,
our current kitchen is very close to my dream.  We have a sort of "C" shaped
arrangement that opens onto a breakfast area and the family room.  The only
interior wall is between the kitchen and formal dining room.  We have an island
in the center of the "C", with a cupboard and drawer on one side and electrical
outlets on 2 sides. Over the island hangs one of those brass utensil racks.  The
3rd side was supposed to be a breakfast bar, but we chose to make better use of
the space by turning it into a book case under the countertop.  We have a large,
side-by-side refrigerator (would be even larger and walk-in ideally), a gas
stove with a fan vent on an outside wall (would be a Viking gas stove top with
an electric double-oven, ideally), and dishwasher.  Because we are on a septic
system, we do not have a garbage disposal.  We have a fair number of cabinets
and drawers...but as is always the case, never enough.  The cabinets are light
maple with white porcelain knobs, and the floor is sort of blue-gray linoleum.
The space between upper and lower cabinets has a white tile spash guard.  The
sink is in the corner, with a bay of 3 windows above it...looking out into the
woods!  The best feature of the cabinets is that the top shelf rolls out...Now I
don't lose things quite so easily.

The only drawback is that the pantry is in the basement.  When we win the
Lottery, we plan to rebuild our current house, adding 5 feet to a side.  This
would give us enough room to include the larger appliances...and a pantry!

We really like the arrangement, especially as the nearby breakfast nook contains
a 6 foot pine dinner table that my father built...and it doubles as an extra
counter when we're working on pre-cooking a feast!

Kiri

"Laura C. Minnick" wrote:

> Philip & Susan Troy wrote:
>
> > No harm done. If I'd had an ice-cream freezer I'd have used one. I've
> > spent the last twelve years or so doing a lot of my experimental and
> > everyday cooking in a kitchen roughly six feet by eight, including
> > counters, cabinets, and appliances, so I simply don't have room for a
> > lot of machinery, and I have a self-imposed rule about any large
> > implements that do only one job. Most of what I do I do with about three
> > knives, a balloon whip, and a couple of wooden spoons... . Recently
> > we've moved, though, and have a little more elbow room in the kitchen.
> > My next bulky addition is likely to be either a stoneware pickling crock
> > or a large earthenware Chinese soup pot, though.
>
> I put up with what I called a 'one-butt' kitchen for most of six years.
> No usable counterspace, really, and the refrigerator with the door
> opening the wrong way. You learn to to very innovative and hang as much
> on the walls as you can. And the stack on top of the refrigerator would
> have given a seismologist the hives.
>
> Here's a question that'll open a can of especially fun, wiggly worms: If
> money was no object and you could have the kitchen of your dreams
> (either home or eventing), what would you do? How would you design it?
> What appliances would you have? What decor? I'm just curious, but I also
> want to see if a couple of my pet theories about cooks pan out...
>
> 'Lainie
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