BS: Kitchen question for the ladies

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 10:47 AM

As men appear to be allowed a say then I suggest that the most wonderful appliance for me to have in my kitchen would be a gorgeous woman but as I don't possess one I guess I will just have to carry on performing my own culinary delights. Just love cooking and experimenting with foods...would like to have a larger and better devised kitchen.

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 10:22 AM

I'm with Sorcha....space. Our kitchen at the moment is tiny but functional. Our new kitchen is going to be much larger ( well we can't get much smaller!) with counter space. The washing machine, tumble dryer, chest freezer etc will all be in the utility room which makes more space. THe work tops will be raised up a couple or 3 inches so I don't hurt my back when working in the kitchen or doing the washing up. Gas hob and oven and a big window looking out into the garden!

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 10:14 AM

a log box and a calf in,

A baby cow? You want a baby cow in your kitchen? "Calf" in this usage must mean something different over there in the UK.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 10:07 AM

I'm with Becca on the ideal kitchen but if I have to have one, I'd like the one my granfer had in his farmhouse.

The pantry alone was the size of our present kitchen. The kitchen itself had a fireplace you could put an AGA, an armchair, a log box and a calf in, without encroaching on the actual kitchen. There was a dresser that must have been 10ft long, and a table that sat 24 people without bashing elbows. There was still room for a sofa and the other armchair along the inner wall, with an electric cooker, the washing machine (and mangle), a huge stone 'Belfast' or Butler's sink and the draining boards under the window.

It always smelt of sweet cow dung and rose carbolic soap, when it wasn't having huge roast dinners cooked in it. With a kitchen table like that, who needs counter tops?!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Becca72
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 09:46 AM

My ideal kitchen is one that I don't have to use :-) Where do I sign up for that houseboy dealie?

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: GUEST,Appaloosa Lady
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 09:13 AM

This would do me:


A room with a view

And when I got tired of cooking in the evening, I could just lie down and stare at the stars.

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: SINSULL
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 08:59 AM

Self-cleaning and a gas stove/oven.

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Sorcha
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 08:56 AM

I quite like the idea of a row of burners! I'd not thought of that. I also want one of the new counter tops--poured or whatever it's called. I HATE Formica.

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: the lemonade lady
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 06:30 AM

It's not just for ladies really, but it's usually the guys that put the money in for a super duper kitchen so that's why i wanted to ask the ladies what they would really like.

Come on guys, you must know what you'd like too.

Sal

lol

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: folk1e
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 05:17 AM

"Kitchen question for the ladies"

So that means I can't have a separate utility room for laundry?

OK ... Enough room to squeese past "the love of my life" and not too mutch that we don't occasionally bump!

Oh and the usual BIG freezer, medium fridge, DISHWASHER(not me!), spit level cooker (gas), Plastic 1+1/2 sink with decent tall taps, smooth wood floor ........ etc

Oh and the neighbors moving away a bit to make enough room for it all

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 04:25 AM

Agreed open shelves are a PITA for cleaning. Slide-out racks and spin-out racks for corner cupboards are both very space-hungry: I'd rather crawl and have the extra space (and my kitchen is already huge).

For saucepans and such-like that you need frequently, I have seen a thing like a large stainless-steel drain grating. Hang it on chains over the sink so you don't bang your head on it and put saucepans upside-down on it and hang useful tools on the side.

I will never again have a coloured enamel sink. Sooo much easier to clean satin-finish (or brushed-finish) stainless steel. Flat finish stainless shows every water-drop!

Washing machines and tumble-dryers and ironing boards belong in a separate laundry-room.

I like the inset polished granite cutting board I have. Easy to clean.

I'd quite like to remove the breakfast bar to make space for one of those huge American combined upright fridge-freezer things. You can naever have too much freezer space. I'm still finding stuff that Jacqui froze!

And I'd like to shoot the idiot who put the burglar alarm controls in the kitchen where they just waste space, and also the idiot who designed the plastic knobs on the Cannon range-oven that disintegrate every few years, and the other idiot who put a griddle on it with too small a burner underneath so that it is simply impossible to get it up to temperature to sear meat properly.

But I hate cooking, so what do I know?

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: gnu
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 03:49 AM

I like most of the ideas. Definitely with Sorcha on the counterspace and with Ivan on the additional small sink. I wash my hands often and it would be ideal. Beats what I do now by a mile - a cereal bowl full of hot soapy water with a dish rag in it or use prep bowls in the sink so I can still wash my hands in the sink... or use the bathroom sink.

Bee. Always wanted the open sheling, until I did it. Now, I like glass doors for "viewing". I find open shelving a bother to keep clean, as well as keeping the stuff on them clean. Seems like all the humidity in the kitchen goes right to them, so that the stuff has to be washed and not just dusted, especially if the shelving is on a cold wall. The glass is much easier to keep clean.

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: IvanB
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 01:29 AM

As the chief cook and bottle washer for our family, I'm going to feel free to jump in here.

With Sorcha, LOTS of counter space, including a good sized space at a level where I can sit and do food prep (slicing, peeling, dicing, etc.). Currently, I have to move everything to the kitchen table, making sure to put down newspaper or the like to catch the spills and debris. I also agree on the four vs. six burner stove although I'd like one of the small portable burners for countertop use when needed. Also lots of fridge space.

We replaced our kitchen countertops last year and, in the process replaced our stainless double sink with one molded into the countertop. While we were at it, I chose a double sink with one large deep sink (16" wide, 13" deep) and one shallow small one (7" wide. 6" deep). This arrangement has worked well for me. For our new sink's faucet, we chose one with a high arching spout so I can maneuver a large pot under the faucet for filling. The last few inches of the faucet also act as a built-in sprinkler which pulls out of the main faucet and provides the ability to aim the water flow - by pushing a slider button on the side I can have either a solid or sprinkler flow.

We're thinking when we return home for the summer we'll install the metal pullout trays for our pots & pans cupboard so I don't have to stand on my head to get something from the back of the bottom shelf.

When I was younger, I had much bigger dreams for my ideal kitchen, but, at the age of almost 68 (in two weeks), I know who's going to have to clean all those lovely appurtenances, so my dreams have become more realistic.

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Mar 08 - 10:44 PM

Ditto on the deep cabinet cupboards. Stuff gets lost in there and it is impossible to really store things in a way so you can reach them without taking out half of the contents. I have an L shaped countertop with this vast space under part of it (and three different cabinet doors open into it) and can only really use the front edge of one side of the shelves very easily.

I want a good-sized walk-in pantry with open shelves all around so I can see the canned goods and the packages and I can put the various appliances on their shelves for easy retrieval when I need them.

I want a color of floor tile so that something is dropped on it it doesn't disappear into the busy pattern that the builders of this house selected. Every so often here you'll see one of us down on the floor with an eye scanning the surface trying to find a dropped pill or screw. This middle-eastern mosaic look tile is pretty, but never again.

I want a deeper window sill so I can put a few plants on it.

I have a double sink, I find it annoying. I'd do it differently next time. The idea of two sinks sounds good.

I know a few guys who are excellent cooks, so this thread certainly should be open to all cooks.

SRS, (who has also given this a lot of thought, but who finds the vast dollars spent on kitchen conversions on television programs to be obscene).

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Bee
Date: 24 Mar 08 - 10:31 PM

A big kitchen with room for a farm type kitchen table (I have a long galley kitchen, and I'm really getting tired of it), a good sized window over the kitchen sink. A porcelain or white enamelled large double sink with built-in drainboard. Glasstop stove, side by side fridge/freezer. No cupboards too deep to reach into. Some open shelves, or a large hutch with open shelves, so all my nice crockery bowls and pitchers and other nice dishes can be seen. An appliance garage. Proper pot and pan drawers. A wood floor or a stone tile floor. Lots of light, with the option for spot lighting in the coffee prep area and low lighting over the table.

(Can ya tell I've thought about this?)

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: GUEST,Bill the sound
Date: 24 Mar 08 - 09:02 PM

Can you still only ask ladies or is this sexual discrimination?

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: ClaireBear
Date: 24 Mar 08 - 08:38 PM

Four burners in a row along the counter so that I would not have to reach over one hot pot to check another (I am altitudinally challenged).

One of those marvelous countertop indoor grilling surfaces, with the requisite venting of course.

A pot-filler tap (or simply a spray nozzle on a pull-out hose) next to the cooktop to so that heavy pots needn't be carried across the room.

Enough, intelligently designed pantry space (no deep, cavernous cabinets need apply)

Enough, intelligently designed food storage space (no deep, cavernous cabinets here either)

Enough light

No white anything (too much glare)

I also joke to my husband about building our new kitchen floor on hydraulic lifters so I can reach the upper cabinets and so both of us can have the work surfaces at comfortable heights when we need them...

...which reminds me, if you are designing your own kitchen, remember that building all the countertops and workspaces to exactly the same height is just like buying one-size-fits-all tights: it's convenient for the manufactor, but not for you. I like to roll out pie crust and knead bread, for example, on a surface that's six inches lower than the one I'd use to carve meat or chop vegetables.

A huge sink, maybe even two sinks, but NOT a double sink. I hate not being able to get my larger pots into the sink, or not being able to lay a bouquet of roses in the sink while I trim the stems underwater, assuming I ever get roses again...

C

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Sorcha
Date: 24 Mar 08 - 08:16 PM

Counter space!!!! Space in general! A 'triangular' work area....triangle from counter to stove to fridge. Sink to one side....I don't like 'islands' in a kitchen, but that is just my preference.

I used to want The Stove....2 ovens, 6 burners, etc...but I don't need it anymore. 2 fridges would be nice. A seating/eating area for at least 6. Built in dishwasher of course, a 'bar faucet'...the super high rise one, with a GOOD spray nozzle too.

LOTS of counter space!!

Subject: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: the lemonade lady
Date: 24 Mar 08 - 07:17 PM

If you could design your own kitchen what would be your ideal? (That excludes a good looking kitchen boy, btw!)

Sal