About the kitchen

The kitchen has possibilities. In a perfect world it would be a tiny bit wider - wide enough to fit cabinets on both sides comfortably - but I've been thinking a lot about how to make it work.

Here's the layout:

You'll notice, on the apartment floorplan, that there's a bite taken out of the right-side wall in front. That's the back of an adjoining closet. Another unit in my line knocked that wall out, making the kitchen bigger and the closet a little smaller. I hope to do the same.

I'll probably take the kitchen door off completely, so that the kitchen flows better into the dining balcony.

The kitchen window begins a couple inches lower than standard counter height. But remember I'm replacing the windows - and though the street-side ones (e.g. the bedroom) have to conform to the building facade, I'm hoping that I have a little more leeway on the alley side. I'll ask the window contractor if he can just put a few inches of blind panel in the bottom - or make the window open from the top - or something, so that I can run counters across under the window.

Layout parameters: I like to cook, and I want full-sized appliances. The fridge will have to be a counter-depth model - they're all at least 35" wide, the gorilla in the room. Probably the dishwasher will be a compact 18", not the standard 24". I'll talk about style and materials in another post - right now I'm focused on making things fit.

I'm glad I played so much Tetris in my youth - it's good practice for the Ikea Kitchen Planner. (Which is great free software, btw, and useful for thinking about space even if you don't want to buy Ikea products.)

Here are two possible layouts - (oh, and I've got a clever plan for the left-hand wall, which I'll reveal in another post) -

1. The cheaper and less convenient version:

(The "pullout", here and below, is a very clever kidney-shaped thingie that swings all the way out of the cabinet, so that you can get at everything without crawling with a flashlight.)

Why inconvenient? Because there's no counter space to the right of the sink, and only a little bit - shared with the stove - to the left of it. There's nowhere sensible to put dirty dishes while you're cooking, or vegetables while you're washing them, etc. Why cheap? Because freestanding stoves are considerably less expensive than built-in ovens and cooktops; see below ...

2. The more expensive and quirkier version, with two variations:




















The cooktop could also be angled in the corner, I suppose.

Why is this better? Look at all that counterspace! Both sides of the sink and both sides of the cooktop - and behind the cooktop too! (Note that the "wall oven" will be under the counter.)

Why is it more expensive? Well, I want and need the oven to be gas. ("Want" because I love gas broilers; "need" because it's a prewar building and I doubt I've got enough wattage to support an electric oven along with all my other appliances.) Who makes 30" gas built-in ovens? Viking, BlueStar, and American Range. $$$$! They're gorgeous, though.

If I were willing to downsize to a 24" oven, there are more choices, and somewhat less shocking prices. My mother's oven is effectively 24" (even though her range is 36"), and it's certainly livable, though it only fits the smaller size cooky sheets, two at a time.

But I may as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb ... this, I think, is one of the dangers in planning a renovation. The more I look, the more I see that the most expensive choice would really work best, and I covet it. And it's only a little bit more, after all, in the grand scheme of things, and I'll save money somewhere else (though I'm not sure where yet), and it's good for resale value, isn't it, and thus my budget drifts upward like an untethered balloon ...