Monthly Archive: December 2011

Slow project progress around here.  Our contractor is trying to finish up some other projects by Christmas and so we’re waiting on his availability to get the design stage really rolling.  I continue to make tweaks to the plan I posted about last time.  I think this will wind up being a better design for us overall.

We took a trip down to Yale Appliance in Dorchester today.  They have a higher-end selection of appliances than the big-box stores, and we were able to see some things in person that we hadn’t seen before.

We saw the Sharp microwave drawer.  I think that if the design dictates that we use this for space savings, it would work for us.

However, I am still concerned that if it doesn’t cook well, or if it breaks down the line, that we’d have trouble replacing it in place.  This same display had an extra-deep upper cabinet above with a normal countertop microwave on a shelf, and I think this is probably a better idea for us.

With the extra-deep upper cabinet I think the options are about a wash cost-wise.

We also looked at sinks.  Lis is not a fan of the appearance of a 0-radius sink — too modern. The P-shaped sinks seem like they’d be good for us, and a round prep sink would be a nice touch.  Neither of us likes farmhouse sinks. At all.

Yale has a big selection of refrigerators, especially high-end.  While a Liebherr or Sub Zero is impressive and I’m sure does a very good job, they’re too ostentatious for us, and too much $$$$ besides. We saw the higher-end brother of a KitchenAid fridge we liked at Lowes, and it adds some very nice features, especially to the arrangement of the freezer section.

Finally, we looked at range hoods.  I was pleased to find that Lis likes my current top choice (Zephyr Venezia) just fine.

We have one more field trip we need to make over the next couple of months — to the stone yard.  Other than that, I am chomping at the bit to get the design nailed down. I hope that after the holidays we’re able to pick up the pace a little.

The kind folks at the GardenWeb Kitchens forum did indeed have a totally different arrangement idea for me to try.  This is just a quick post to share this alternative, which is a pretty radical departure from what I had drawn, and in some ways works much better.  We haven’t run this by the contractor yet.

This plan moves the stove and prep sink into what’s now the sunroom, and moves our bistro table to over by the foyer at a banquette.  It also gives us room for a small walk-in pantry in the corner.  And a truly enormous 54″ primary prep space between prep sink and stove.

I’m not happy yet with the “perch space” / hang-out seating in the middle: I feel like this should be somewhat of a focal point, not a plain rectangle as I’ve drawn it. And we’re not sure if we’d prefer the finished look of a banquette or the flexibility of an open space for our bistro table.