BS: Kitchen question for the ladies

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 14 Apr 08 - 03:57 PM

Whatever it is is in my gos aven.

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Rockhen
Date: 14 Apr 08 - 02:48 PM

Lol! What's cokoing, Mike?!

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 14 Apr 08 - 11:44 AM

Dream on Helen........you're more likely to get some old geezer like me doing your cokoing than a Mel Gibson lookalike! On the other hand...you do look pretty good.....perhaps.....perhaps.......perhaps..














I better dream on!!! LOL

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Rockhen
Date: 14 Apr 08 - 08:39 AM

A large ocean-viewed room with a steamproof piano(?!) divided by a clear screen, (with soundproofing so none of the narrsty dentist-like sounding kitchen appliances can be heard.)With a view of the resident chef, who just happens to look extremely like a young Mel Gibson, who prepares wonderful healthy meals, which strangely include items which in the real world are BAD for you,at the drop of a hat...and clears up afterwards...with an extra large fridge for desserts and chocolate...ok, someone already put this, right? I knew I should have taken time to read the whole thread, properly! :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: M.Ted
Date: 14 Apr 08 - 01:04 AM

I've mentioned this before, I think, but when people actually have the money, and finally build that dream kitchen, they seldom use it, because the kids are grown and out, and they've gotten tired of cooking--

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 13 Apr 08 - 12:07 PM

What a great thread!
I know of a family of four in Africa who have one ageing gas ring and one saucepan with which to prepare the family repast. They have wooden bowls which have been hewn by the husband and they use their fingers to eat the not so ample food available...this family are the lucky or blessed ones...some have no heating for food bar an open fire which is outside the mud hut and have to make do with whatever food they can scavenge. The family of four are comparitively well off as the husband has a job...earning a pittance but enough to feed the family adequately.
Wonder how they would cope with a modern kitchen as we know it?
Best wishes, Mike.

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: gnu
Date: 13 Apr 08 - 07:29 AM

Go to grocery for roast. Thanks for the reminder.

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: the lemonade lady
Date: 13 Apr 08 - 04:47 AM

Any more thoughts before you cook the Sunday roast?

Sal

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: the lemonade lady
Date: 07 Apr 08 - 08:23 PM

Wow, now that's really interesting. I want one of those.

Sal

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: gnu
Date: 07 Apr 08 - 02:18 PM

Some GREAT ideas here.

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 04 Apr 08 - 07:58 AM

I'm payng sepcial attention to this thread because I know that when we eventually move house I'll have to design and build a new kitchen.
And I'm having a system that slides out in all the low down cupboards so that I can see what's in them! (see the dishwasher thread)

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: the lemonade lady
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 09:50 AM

Ok let's throw in the house boy!

Sal

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Thompson
Date: 29 Mar 08 - 05:42 PM

I only saw one photo in the movie kitchen piece but I've noticed that many movies have droolable kitchens - think of the one in Home Alone.

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: the lemonade lady
Date: 29 Mar 08 - 02:47 PM

that was really interesting, thanks for that.

Sal

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 27 Mar 08 - 05:16 PM

Here's an article about the kitchen in the movie.
(cut and paste)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/homegarden/2003655346_designkitchen07.html

Is it just the photography, or are the kitchens in the article half the size of a railway station?

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 27 Mar 08 - 05:07 PM

I have been looking at books and articles on kitchens for quite a while. Rarely do I see a kitchen I would want to have.

The emphasis is mostly on looks. We get the kitchen with expensive wood cabinets that look vulnerable and hard to clean. Or there's the sterile-looking stainless steel job that looks like an operating room.

I can't believe the people who want the kitchen to be completely open to view. They must not cook. As for me, when I want to sit down with my guests, I don't want anybody looking at the used pots and pans in the kitchen.

===
A few months ago, my newspaper had an article about a kitchen which appeared in a movie. (Wish I could remember the name of the movie!) Evidentaly the movie was nothing special, but the kitchen struck a chord in the hearts of Americans. It had white wooden cupboards with black handles - and glass in the doors. The cupboards connected to the counters with curved, wooden uprights. There was a central island, and the island stood on legs with ball-shaped feet at the bottom. It had a clean, cozy, yet practical look.

Designers were amazed when people started showing up with pictures of that kitchen and copies of that movie. They wanted a kitchen like that! But apparently the set designers who assembled it for the movie thought nothing of it. They didn't know they had touched a chord somewhere.

My kitchen, whose upper cupboards are little changed from 1915, has many of the same features.

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Thompson
Date: 27 Mar 08 - 04:20 PM

Ooh, I want an appliance tower.

I have a great book stand - got it in Waterstones or Hodges Figgis, forget which - but it takes *big* books. Very, very handy.

I also want some firemen to stand around and flirt, and eat what I cook.

Moving out of the kitchen, I already have a shoe cupboard in the hall, which is very handy, but I now want one of those drawers for gloves and caps and scarves.

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: the lemonade lady
Date: 27 Mar 08 - 03:20 PM

a BOOK STAND FOR MY COOK BOOKS SO THAT I DON'T GET IT COVERED IN STICKY GOOOO!

SAL

Sorry to shout, mistake,honest!

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Celtaddict
Date: 27 Mar 08 - 03:11 PM

A walk-in pantry for food storage, with a really big freezer in it.
A second, butler's pantry, for linens, serving dishes, 'special' china I don't use every day.
Glass front cabinets for things pretty enough to show.
A book case for cookbooks (also glass front) and a desk/work station with computer.

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Penny S.
Date: 27 Mar 08 - 10:45 AM

A second sink for handwashing so that the male in the place doesn't walk across my choreographed path around the triangle to wash his hands again after coming downstairs just as I want to put a hot saucepan lid in the sink.

I see common patterns here.

And a surface to put my appliances on with a set of outlets behind, so that they get used more often.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: the lemonade lady
Date: 27 Mar 08 - 06:48 AM

What do you think of the prices of the flat packs in B & Q or HomeBase? They are cheap but are they up to the standard of the bespoke kitchens? My mum has had a flatpack kitchen for 25 years now and we are forever tweeking it to close the doors and stablise it.

Sal

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Mar 08 - 01:51 AM

I don't like using a dishwasher. We have one that was in the house when I moved in. I wash the dishes by hand and they drain in it. I run it once every couple of months with a cup or two of white vinegar to take out any buildup from water that stands in it.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 26 Mar 08 - 11:36 PM

Ah well - I know what is important in life!!!!!!!

No comments on our ABSOLUTE need for a double regular dishwasher or an industrial sized one -- these piddly little normal ones just don't cut it if you cook a lot (not that I do, of course but Tom does)

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: the lemonade lady
Date: 26 Mar 08 - 10:41 PM

I think if I could design my own kitchen, then have a company make it for me, flat pack it and then I could assemble it myself. Bit like a kit kitchen!

Sal

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 26 Mar 08 - 09:57 PM

I've often noticed that people tend to pay for a nice stove and counters, then they put the small appliances they actually cook with all over the counters.

If I had a new kitchen, I would call for an 'appliance tower,' a tall thin cupboard with adjustable shelves to hold the toaster, Geo Foreman grill, big mixer, waffle iron, slow cookers, blender, etc. Right next to it would be an electrical outlet so the items could be taken out, plugged in and used.

Another thing I would have is a separate small sink where my husband could stand and fool with things and not be in the way. Don't get me wrong, he is often a real help. But if I need water RIGHT NOW and he has appropriated the sink to rinse off the ring that holds the measuring spoons together I'd like to ...

I would have my deep freeze nearby, not down in the basement. I don't believe I have ever seen a kitchen in a book that had a serious freezer, yet I depend on mine quite a bit.

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: ClaireBear
Date: 26 Mar 08 - 03:24 PM

I think I'd rather have Harrison Ford waiting AT the table, myself.

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Greengal
Date: 26 Mar 08 - 03:06 PM

My perfect kitchen is one where I don't have to cook EVER AGAIN. So since I can't opt for the cute kitchen guy, I opt for Oprah's cook.On 24 hour call.

AND the kitchen that has a view of the mountains in springtime.

With loads of friends gathered round the table. Laughing and chatting.

And a couple of cats purring on the window ledge.

That would do it, I guess. The other particulars ain't that important to me.

Oh yes..and having Harrison Ford waiting on the table wouldn't hurt either ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Thompson
Date: 26 Mar 08 - 12:32 PM

Funny thing is that it's generational. I always wanted a big country kitchen, and my mother laughed and said that was what her aunts had wanted. She and all the women of her generation wanted a little scullery for washing-up and chopping and cooking, and a generous breakfast-room and/or dining room.

Which is what I now have - though I mostly chop in the breakfast-room and then carry through bowls of chopped meat and vegetables to the scullery to cook there. Or cúlchistín, as it is in Irish.

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 26 Mar 08 - 09:10 AM

Well to have the ideal kitchen I would first have to move house! I would like a large country style kitchen so that I could talk to Geoff while he cooks and does the washing :0)

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: maeve
Date: 26 Mar 08 - 09:08 AM

I want Liz's granfer's kitchen. A lamb could fit in the space by the Aga, or a box full of chicks, or a injured hen...
You can wash a child or the garden harvest in the sink...

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: billybob
Date: 26 Mar 08 - 08:23 AM

I too love my kitchenaid, the best mixer you can buy,I thought I had my dream kitchen too, big American fridge freezer( still need a spare freezer in the garage though!) The best buy, my big range cooker, three ovens, 7 hobs plus griddle. I loved it for four years till this Easter sunday when the glass lid that covers the hobs suddenly shattered, glass everywhere all over the worktops and floor. It went off like a bomb and a few minutes earlier Billy was in the kitchen with our little grandaughter!! Dream kitchen could have been a nightmare!Now do I order a new one or go without?
Wendy

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: GUEST,Penny S. (elsewhere)
Date: 26 Mar 08 - 07:20 AM

Walk in larder.

Which can be opened from the inside.

My mother was locked in hers by my toddler sister, and had to break the perforated zinc ventilator and wave out of it until someone saw and came to unlock her.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Thompson
Date: 26 Mar 08 - 04:42 AM

Everything everyone else wants, yes.

I also want an easy way to access the largeish machines I use - a rice cooker, a citrus juicer, a separate vegetable juicer; some day I may get a liquidiser and one of those multichef things again.

Enough sockets. When I was wiring my first kitchen, my mother said to count the appliances I usually used, then double the number of sockets, which meant eight. Actually, I could use 16 no bother - with mobile phone juicing up, radio humming, a whizzer wand whizzing up soup, a kettle boiling...

Big windows looking out across a beautiful view - preferably to the Atlantic. A couch with a dog sneaking up onto it. A happy cat purring on the windowsill. Plants. A good radio/CD (a Denon for preference), with my music plugged into it on a wireless hard drive like the one Apple's either about to issue or has just issued.

A big table would be nice, but I don't want to spend my life walking around it, and I don't particularly like shifting table and chairs to sweep and wash the floor. Haven't worked that one out yet.

I don't like fitted presses as much as I used to; they're kind of hospital-like. But easy cleaning is important.

I used to love open shelves, but have now defaulted to my mother's view that in a kitchen where there's greasy steam, you're better off with glass-fronted presses.

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 26 Mar 08 - 04:24 AM

I suppose another couple of wall cupboards might help take some of the clutter off the counters we do have... I have to move half a dozen things if I want to roll out any dough.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Mar 08 - 12:13 AM

Trubrit has elevated this conversation a notch--she wants a wine fridge, the rest of us are heard to whine fridge (size, position, problems).

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 11:45 PM

My husband is chief cook and bottle washer round our house and we do a lot of entertaining -- large family groups every Sunday and lots of other groups as well. My job is to sit in the kitchen at the breakfast bar with a glass of wine saying - that smells good dear!!!!! and I want you to know I am very good at it.

One thing I didn't read above was a huge oversized dishwasher.....a regular family dishwasher is just useless if you have served twelve or so as we often do.....you have to run the darn thing 5 times to get rid of all the dishes. We would have a commercial one or at least a double.

And, of course, a wine fridge so my wine is always at just the right temperature.....

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 10:51 PM

Kat, I bought a couple of simple sliding wire baskets to install in the deep cabinets in the kitchen. See if this works or go to http://www.lowes.com and search for shelf organizers. Mine were different, single epoxy-covered baskets on sliders. Maybe I got them at Home Depot, but I thought it was Lowes. Anyway, they work great and now I don't have to reach in to see what I've forgotten in the back of the cabinet, the entire contents pull forward.

I got a Kitchenaid stand mixer with points from my credit card when I moved into this house and did a lot of work on it. I paid as much as I could with my credit card, paid it off every month, then cashed in the points. I love it, and have accumulated a few attachments. I picked up a rolling chrome utility cart at Sam's Club for about $40 (the kitchen stores have them for over $100) for some of my appliances (bread machine, coffee maker, convection oven, they are moved to a counter top when in use). I would redo my kitchen with an island and take out the L that is where it is. I'd move the utility room (the washer on one side of the pass-through and the washer on the other) and put my freezer in there and a pantry. Make a new utility room further over in the house.

A while back I lucked out to be the first into a kitchen at an estate sale in the neighborhood. I bought the upright Harvest Gold freezer for $30. They had to move stuff out of the way and wanted to empty it, so I arranged with the woman to pick it up that night. The guy (brother of the woman who sold it) told me he could have sold it for a lot more--I was proud of him--he was honorable and resisted the other offers--but I did make it clear just how happy I was to finally be able to afford to have a freezer for all of my garden produce. This jolly yellow giant isn't Energy Star by any means, and it needs to be defrosted one day soon. It lives in a hall right now (when I remodeled the former garage we enclosed the area where a freezer would have gone and put in a second heat pump). Whether it is this freezer or another, it needs to be in a less traveled space.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: open mike
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 05:21 PM

I have a water filter in my kitchen (i get my water from an untreated source and like to know that I have acdcess to pure water.) There is a special spigot near the sink for this water...it makes better coffee, tea and soup.

i also was lucky enough to get a kitchen maid (i think that is the brand) mixer which had attachments...to juice, whip, etc.
www.kitchenaid.com/ oh it is kitchen aid...

also a Vitamix blender www.vitamix.com that has a spout in the container and serves up smoothies from this "tap"

i often leave dishwashing for days and then need extra space to dry them. the oven doubles as a dish drying rack in times like those.

i never seem to be able to close my cabinet doors. I hope one day
to have a fridge that is propane and electric (12 v and 120 )
so that during power outages i am not left with spoiled food.

I do have a propane freezer, but it is not installed yet.

I would never want electric oven or stove..gas (propane) is so
much easier to control as far as i am concerned.

there is a window by the sink with a humming bird feeder outside.
i would also like to put a bird feeder there, and a flower box.
especially with flowers that bloom fragrant at night so when i
open the window to cool the house in the eve it will smell good.

i sometimes cook on the wood stove, and would love to have an oven
in the stove pipe..a stack robber they call them...

i intend to invent a garbage disposal that pipes out to the compost pile..no use sending all that good nutritious compost into the drain!

counter spqace, counter space, counter space,,,,i always have mine filled up with stuff...cookbooks, appliances, compost bin, stuff stuff

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: gnu
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 04:53 PM

Bee: "...I maintain it was designed for a single man who did not like cooking and drank copious amounts of beer."

That's a shame... did not like cooking, eh?

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Irene M
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 04:06 PM

I love the one with the ocean view.
Bit of a bugger when it rains, no?

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 03:35 PM

LOL, MMario, me, too, on the money bit, but then I'd sell this house and have one built, etc.,etc.**bg**

Thought this might be of interest, though I don't think most of us agree with the conclusion re' the kitchen of tomorrow preserving "domestic values of yesterday."

From HERE - In the 1956 film Design for Dreaming--a promotional trailer produced by Frigidaire--a housewife in the "kitchen of tomorrow" feeds a recipe card into a slot, triggering a series of appliances that automatically bake a birthday cake complete with lit candles. Other films of the era promised that future kitchens would include . . . a transparent cylindrical refrigerator! A robot butler! And an oven that cooks a roast in minutes "by electronics."

Fifty years later, none of that has materialized; really great espresso machines represent the current apex of home gastronomy. But the vision of a high-tech kitchen remains tantalizing. "Historically, technology has entered the home through the kitchen," says Ted Selker, an associate professor at MIT. who runs a lab dedicated to exploring what tomorrow's kitchen may actually look like.

The 1950s version of the future focused primarily on labor-saving gadgetry with a "gee whiz!" factor. Selker's lab has its share of this: dishes that can be custom-stamped from acrylic disks, a "smart sink" that recognizes what you put in it and adjusts the water temperature accordingly. But he's more interested in improving the quality of how we eat and interact. "Everyone talks about fresh, fresh, fresh," he says. "But what is fresh food? The freshest food is alive." So his kitchen lab includes a hydroponic cupboard with an ultrasonic evaporator, which allows leafy vegetables and herbs to thrive like cut flowers.

"And why should a refrigerator just be a cold place?" Selker asks. "Eggs don't need to be refrigerated; butter, if you use it soon enough, doesn't need to be refrigerated.

So why not have a warm compartment, maybe with a nitrogen atmosphere, so you don't worry about oxidation? What if we want apples to ripen? Throw some carbon dioxide in there."

Kitchen research is also progressing at Microsoft, where Jonathan Cluts oversees a team that projects what might be brought to market in the next 5 to 10 years. "What I try to focus on," he says, "is demonstrating what will be possible and then gauging people's reactions. So it's great when we develop something and people say, 'Yeah, I'd love to have that.' But it's also useful when someone says, 'No, don't make that.' "

Among the things people seem to like: recipes projected directly onto countertops (no need to fuss with index cards or cookbooks), an oven that can be remotely programmed from a cell phone, and a microwave that reads a product's bar code and knows how long to cook it for. And that's just the start: "We basically assume that anything in your house that has power can be part of your home network," says Cluts.

But even in this vision of the future, the feeling of home is more important than bells and whistles. "The kitchen is the social nerve center for the family," says Cluts. "So we do a lot of stuff involving scheduling, using touch-screen displays, and putting computer monitors in the kitchen so kids can do their homework there and the whole family can stay together." So ultimately, this kitchen of tomorrow may be more about preserving the domestic values of yesterday.
From Issue 102 | January 2006

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 03:29 PM

Watch, after about four minutes in, it starts on the Kitchen of Tomorrow. The stuff before that is amazing in its broad scope! Left me shaking my head.

I want a walk-in, large pantry, a deep farm sink, a newer fridge, not so big, side-by-side as I have, a finished paint job, proper corner cupboards, a breakfast bar, and more cupboards. We like our cupboards because they are old and made for tall things like cereal boxes, but there just aren't enough of them. However, for the existing ones and any future ones, I would want sliding shelves, though these ones look a bit nicer. Right now, we have two big plastic bins in the bottom cupboard, holding our pots and pans. They slide out easily, but it'd be nice to have something like the real deal.:-) I also want a new window over my sink, bigger if possible. And, the ceiling and floor done. And, shall I go on? **BG** Oh and a separate room for the washer/dryer.

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: MMario
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 02:55 PM

a large FUNCTIONAL double sink - not the type double sink that most modern ktichens have, but the ones like my mother's kitchen had - two oversized side by side sinks.

The high pot filler tap is another thing that should be in every kitchen (ours is in the laundry room - I forget why....)

Twice as much counter space as the most extravagent estimate says you need.

8 burners aren't too many- though I really want a stove like I grew up with - which was a woodstove that had been converted to kerosene - constant heat, infinitly adjustable.

an attached pantry - large enough for a chest freezer in addition to all the dry goods and canned storage.

I want the convenience and versatility of a commercial kitchen with the hominess of Liz's granther's kitchen.

I want the cobbler's bench my Dad converted to a table. (5' x 12')

But most of all I want the MONEY that would allow this to happen.

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Bobert
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 02:49 PM

Well, I'm glad that this is a girl's only thread 'cause ol Bobert is a kitchen designer from way back and now I don't have to waste any more time here...

Harrrrrumpppphhhh!!!

B:(

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Bee
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 02:42 PM

We bought our rural house which had been upgraded from a cottage by three sequential owners. Despite knowing that, I maintain it was designed for a single man who did not like cooking and drank copious amounts of beer. It's the only explanation for why, in a fair-sized home, the kitchen is minute and not very functional, and there are three toilets, all installed in closet sized rooms under the roof slant, one with a tiny shower and another with a tiny bathtub (with the faucets on the wrong end).

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: GUEST,Jonny Sunshine
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 02:37 PM

Don't see why a kitchen question should apply only to ladies. My ideal kitchen would have:
one of those rails to hang saucepans etc off
lots of workspaces
nice deep sinks (one for washing, one for rinsing)
and most crucially
enough space for 10 musicians to sit round a table with instruments

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 02:16 PM

We did get the Kitchen Design people in... the result was nice, but expensive and in a couple of places, downright inconvenient - a mistake with measurements meant that we had to move the light switch to outside the kitchen, and lose an inch off the door because that's how far the cupboard sticks out. The other side of the kitchen has plenty of space for it, but no, the designer insisted it should go there. He also complained about the amount of power sockets I wanted (8). We still don't have enough.

Calf in the kitchen - remember it was a farm kitchen. Occasionally, premature or twin calves would need a bit of warmth to get them going. A fireplace that was big enough to park a calf in a box in, next to the AGA was a boon, although it did mean the mother would be outside the window mooing.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: the lemonade lady
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 01:34 PM

If I had the money I'd call in a professional kitchen design studio, to design, manufacture and install my dream kitchen.

Then again I could ask another company to design my kitchen. They could cut all the panels, worktops etc so that I screwed them all together in my old kitchen thus undertaking the installation myself; that would save thousands of pounds. Which option would you choose?


In other words would you be prepared to do most of the installation work yourself or would you rather sit back and have it all done for you? I think I'd get Mr. Fixer in, put the kettle on, and sit back and watch.

Also I'd really like to keep my Kenwood Chef mixer under a sliding worktop. Then I could have it out of site but press a button and have it appear, ready for work. My work top would then be clear when I have finished for a vase of flowers.... mmmmm nice. I'm always doing my back in, getting the blasted thing out of the cupboard.

Oh and have various bins in a large drawer for recycling, instead of having them hanging around the kitchen floor.

Sal

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: Wesley S
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 01:24 PM

As the chief cook in our house I'll chime in too. I want lots of sinks in the kitchen so I can wash my hands whenever I need to without making people get out of my way. Another option would be a kosher set up { two seperate kitchens } - one for me to cook in and the other for people to stand around in and do nothing as they tend to do in our house.

A fireplace would be nice too.

Subject: RE: BS: Kitchen question for the ladies
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 12:02 PM

an Aga and a pantry and ah yes. a chef. Actually I qite like to cook but kitchen is small and not much counter space, so more of that would be nice as well.

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