Drawer Fail 2


I saw this photo of a ‘Drawer Fail’ on the Our New Home Coach Facebook Page (One of the people I follow).

As you can see the drawer can’t fully open because the window blind is in the way.

Forgetting to allow for the drawer to open is an all too common problem as this Other Fail shows.

In this case a piece of 50mm x 50mm timber placed between the wall and the cabinet when installing, would have solved this problem.

 

For more Fails and unusual houses go to What the………….?

 

Butler’s Pantry? or Bigger Fridge?

©www.bobvila.com

One of the ‘Design Trends’ that I have seen over the last two or three years  is the ‘Butlers Pantry’.

But how many of us have a Butler?

In my opinion its just another marketing idea to make you pay more for your new house.

What Does a Butlers Pantry Mean?

Well the original meaning was a storage place for the best silverware and china, and the butlers office . . . not a food preparation area.

In some European Grand Houses the butler even had a bed in the pantry to provide extra security overnight.

These days it seems to mean a second kitchen, that could add $20,000-  $30,000 to the cost of your new house.

Why?

The reasons I hear are:

  • Extra room for storage.
  • Extra room for food preparation
  • You can hide away the mess that you make when you are preparing a big meal.
  • Somewhere to hide away all the dirty dishes.

Why Not?

Apart from the cost, the reasons why not are:

  • Most of the Houses that have butlers pantries have kitchens with lots of storage anyway. so the extra storage will probably fill with stuff you are never going to use again.
  • Do you really want to do your food preparation in a poky butlers pantry when you have a large, well lit, kitchen bench.
  • Entertaining shouldn’t be like an episode of ‘My Kitchen Rules’ or ‘Masterchef’ so do the preparation, and clean up, before the guest arrive! What the working chefs call ‘Mise En Place’.
  • If you have done the preparation early then you can have the dishwasher empty and the dishes go straight in.

What’s The Alternative?

Well I work in a production kitchen and every day I see lots of preparation going on at least 24 hours in advance of the time that the food is going to be served.

Rather than spend the many thousands on the butlers pantry it might be best spending around $1,000 on a bit bigger fridge to store your prepared ingredients.

 

If you really must have a pantry why not check out these Hints On Organising.

 

Are Waterfall Islands A Good Idea?

©www.pinterest.com

Looking around Display Homes I see a lot of island benches with waterfall ends.

Although I would agree that they can look very great there are some downsides that it is worth thinking about.

Less Flexibility

Most of us use an island bench as a casual eating area.

The waterfall end means that you will all end up facing  the same direction rather than being able to look at each other sitting around the end.

You will also find it less comfortable to work of the waterfall end for food preparation. . . because your foot can’t go under the bench you can feel a bit to far from the bench.

Power Point Location

These days there are lots of electrical devices in the kitchen, coffee machines, toasters, kettles slow cookers etc even lap top and phoone chargers.

A convenient place for power points is at the end of the bench. . . but putting a double powerpoint in that waterfall end is really going to spoil the look . . . .under an overhanging end will make it unobtrusive but still convenient.

Cost

All that extra stone counter top and the labour in making a smooth join isn’t going to be cheap.

 

One compromise is to have a waterfall at one end of the island and an overhang at the end you want to use for casual dining.

Bottled Gas – Cooking

Photo from wickipedia

Many people building a new house like cooking on gas, but may find that their area doesn’t have a mains supply.

The question then becomes “Should you go for bottled gas, or go all electric?”

Energy Cost

To compare energy costs you first need to understand how much energy there is in bottled gas.

  • 45kg bottle of gas holds the equivalent of 611 kw hours
  • 9kg bottle of gas holds the equivalent of 115 kw hours

Price

Current prices Victoria July 2015 are:

  • 45kg is $114.00 – Equivalent to $0.18 per kw hour
  • 9kg (Swap and Go)  is $23.00 – Equivalent to $0.20 per kw hour

For the 45 kg bottles you would need to add rental for 2 bottles at around $40 each/year

With the 9kg bottles you need to consider the purchase price for  the initial bottle, plus a couple of dollars for fuel every couple of months to  swap bottles.

Efficiency

There is no star rating for cooktops, but I did find the following, typical, comparison figures on the Consumer Energy Center Website:

  • Standard Gas Burner – 55%
  • Standard Electric Hotplate – 65%
  • Induction Element – 90%

The reason for the difference is that the standard cook tops radiate a sizable amount of heat into the air; while the induction element makes the bottom of the pan the heating element, putting more heat into the food.

Convenience

I much prefer cooking on gas to using a standard electric hotplate. (In case you are wondering I probably cook 75% of family meals and we rarely get takeaway food) . . .However people do tell me that induction element are pretty close to the  ease of gas.

One issue with induction elements is they don’t work with aluminium or copper pans, just Stainless Steel and Cast Iron, so it might be time for some new pans!

Overall

If I was building in an area without mains gas I think I would go for an Induction Cooktop for the following reasons:

  • Cost – When the  additional costs are added to the base cost and with the lower efficiency the final cost is around around $0.35-$0.40.  Electricity is going to be cheaper especially if you have got solar power.
  • Simplicity – One bill for all fuel use and no need to bother about changing bottles.

 

Do You Need A Formal Dining Room?

Go round most Display Homes and you will see a Formal Dining Room . . . . . but why do you need it?

Photo from www.home-designing.com

If you look round the options for eating a meal will be:

  • The ‘Island Bench’
  • The ‘Breakfast Table’
  • The ‘Formal Dining Room’
  • The ‘Al Fresco’ Dining Area/Barbecue Area

The questions you should be asking yourself are

  • “How many meals do you eat on your knee in front of the television?”
  • “How often will you really use each of these eating options?”

Original Reasons For Formal Dining Rooms

Historically Dining Rooms, which were only found in ‘Posh Homes’, were kept separate:

  • To keep cooking smells and steam away from the dinner table.
  • So guests wouldn’t see the clutter of the kitchen.
  • Most of the cooking was done by servants

Reasons For Not Having A Formal Dining Room

  • Modern extraction systems effectively remove smells and steam.
  • With dishwashers to hide the dirty pots and even ‘Butlers Pantries’ to hide the preparation work there is much less clutter.
  • As most of us can’t afford servants, why exclude one of the ‘cooks’ from the dinner table conversations?
  • The popularity of ‘Reality’ Cooking Shows tells us that cooking can be part of the ‘Entertainment’.
  • A  dining room will be at least 12 sqm, so the extra area will add between $12,000 (Basic) and $24,000 (WOW factor) to the cost of your new home. A lot of money for something you may only use a couple of times a year!

 

For more thoughts see ‘The Entertainer

 

Is Modern Kitchen Design Making Us Fat

When I was young (about 50 years ago) obesity wasn’t really an issue.

In those days most houses had a small kitchen where a meal was cooked. We either ate in the kitchen or a small dining room. The rest of the time indoors was spent in the living room.

Since then there has been a move to more open plan houses and big kitchen with lots of food storage.

Now, for a lot of us, the most used room in the house is a family room containing the kitchen and a big television. Meals are often eaten at the kitchen counter.

What all this means is that we spend a lot more time sitting near cupboards, and jars, full of  tempting snacks like:

  • Cake
  • Crisps
  • Nuts
  • Biscuits
  • etc, etc.

We are also a lot closer to that fridge with those sugary drinks, and the freezer with tubs of ice cream.

I don’t know about you, but the only way I resisted temptation, and lost 12kgs a few years ago, was to keep biscuits and ice cream out of the house.

Will you be too close to temptation in your new house?

See Kitchens for more posts

Kitchen Drawer Fail

Have you ever wondered why kitchens with all the unit along a wall are so popular with builders?. . . . . and island units?

Why are drawers without a large handle common?

Well it stops mistakes like this happening!

I would have thought most kitchen installers would have made this mistake once, but only once!

One thing to think about though if planning a kitchen space with corners is the storage volume in those corners is very hard to access.

The picture is from Furafuwa.com 

For more Fails and unusual houses go to What the………….?

 

Sink or Cook Top on Island


I see a lot of island kitchens in display homes and when visiting friends……..one thing that puzzles me is that they all have the sink in the island unit.

In my opinion it’s better to have  the cooktop on the island (like the above photo) and the sink under a window, or wall, for the following reasons:

  • If you are having friends round for a meal, or even just talking to the family, you will be facing them while you cook.
  • Because of the extra pipe distance to get to the island bench it generally takes a long time for the hot water to get to the mixer.
  • Washing pans, or peeling veggies, are tasks where you don’t need to concentrate so its nice to look out of the window.

One problems is  you will  have less choice when it comes to range hoods, and perhaps need a more powerful model for the same effect.

If you really want a sink on the island, have the main one elsewhere but have a smaller sink at one end of the island. You will probably only need cold water to this sink but make sure you have a high outlet, so its easy to fill pans with water.

 

For similar posts see Selection

 

Thanks to Galloway Granite for the photo.

Mission Control

Although we have a study in our house most of the organising the household, paying our bills, writing letters and using the laptop happens on the kitchen counter. So do we really need the study?

If I was going to build again I would probably look to organise the kitchen area differently and set up a ‘Mission Control’ next to the kitchen bench. This would consist of a filing cabinet, with some shelves on top for:

  • A computer printer.
  • A rack of filing trays for printer paper, and envelopes.
  • A stand for bills to be paid.
  • A cordless phone charger (perhaps with mobile and Skype there is now no need for the cordless phone!)
  • A cup with some pens and pencils.
  • A phone point for the wireless router.

I would also want a drawer near the counter for sticky tape, more pens, blue tack staples, paper clips etc. Next to the filing cabinet would be the shredder which could then be emptied into the kitchen compost bin.

All this would save the cost of having the study and be far more convenient for the everyday paperwork around the house.

The only trouble with this idea is you could be too close to those jars of tempting biscuits! . . . . . (See this link:  Is Modern Kitchen Design Making Us Fat?)

If you had a Mission Control what would you want in it?

For other posts on planning your home see Design

 

Exit mobile version