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.
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.
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.
The reasons I hear are:
Apart from the cost, the reasons why not are:
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.
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.
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?”
To compare energy costs you first need to understand how much energy there is in bottled gas.
Current prices Victoria July 2015 are:
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.
There is no star rating for cooktops, but I did find the following, typical, comparison figures on the Consumer Energy Center Website:
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.
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!
If I was building in an area without mains gas I think I would go for an Induction Cooktop for the following reasons:
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 questions you should be asking yourself are
Historically Dining Rooms, which were only found in ‘Posh Homes’, were kept separate:
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:
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?
Have you ever wondered why kitchens with all the unit along a wall are so popular with builders?. . . . . and island units?
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
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:
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.
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:
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?
