Help me design my kitchen!!

[Beth]

Hi!

We are in the process of sitting with a designer and ordering cabinetry for our kitchen. At this point, everything in the kitchen has been ripped out, and we're back to the stud walls. We'll be changing the floor, walls, lighting, appliances - everything!!

-- Is there something - if you had it to do all over again - you would change about your kitchen?

-- Some functionality that it's missing?

-- Some type of drawer, cabinet or appliance you really wish you had?

-- More lighting or electrical outlets?

-- Different flooring or countertop?

-- Different arrangement of appliances?

-- Different lighting?

Or is there something really COOL about your kitchen that you've found you just can't live without?!?

My only disclaimer.. my kitchen is fairly small, and there will be no room for an island.

Thanks in advance!!!!
- Beth

 

[FreshTressa]

I really like the slats in one of my cupboard to put cookie sheets an other things in. The cabinet has these vertical slats about 4 inches apart and they are very useful for keeping organized.

I love the deep and large drawers to put pots and pans in.

I would like an island or some more counter space.

I do not like the cabinets that are in the corner that open weird. They always fall open and it is hard to keep them flush with the other cabinets.

YOu are going to love your new kitchen!!

 

[Beth]

Thanks very much for your suggestions FreshTressa!

Pretty ironic - I went in and talked to the designer last night, and the two things that he stressed were how much he enjoyed the vertical cabinets for cookie sheets, etc., and also how so many of his clients wish they had gotten more "deep drawers" for their pots and pans...

Thanks!

 

[WeirdEyes]

There are two things in my kitchen that I love....the lazy susan and the appliance garage. The lazy susan is in a corner cabinet. The appliance garage is also in a corner and the door just pulls down (kind of like a garage). There are several plugs in there and I store all of my stuff like coffee maker, waffle maker, blender, toaster, etc.) Very handy to have so you can hide all of that stuff. I also have a breakfast bar that has a cabinet door on the side facing the breakfast room. That would've been wasted space unless we had them put shelves and a door. I store all of my Tupperware there.

There are several things that I would change if given the chance. One is the ceiling over the breakfast bar. I have sloping ceilings in my kitchen. The ceiling in the breakfast room is 9 ft. and the kitchen is 11 ft. I should've sloped the ceiling right after the breakfast bar and then put in different lighting over the bar. My cousin did this in her house and it looks great. I just have recessed lighting over my bar. Two would be more lighting. I would've had lights placed under the top cabinets to add more light on the counters. We actually bought some little flourescent lights at Lowes and installed them ourselves, but not nearly as nice as if done by a professional.

Good luck!!

 

[faithinkarma]

Our new home has a deep breakfast bar that is open to the adjoining room. I use the kitchen side as my work counter. I find that when I am there preparing meals or whatever, I feel so much happier. I never before realized how isolated I always felt in the kitchen, working at a countertop with my back to the room, to the rest of the house, and to the people in the house. I find it infinitely preferabe to looking out a window.

 

[Beth]

Thanks, Weirdeyes...

So cool - you hit on more things I can relate to!

My MIL has been in Tupperware for about 15 years. When we got married, she threw me a "Tupperware shower." Needless to say, I have two entire cabinets in my existing place dedicated to Tupperware - and I've been debating as to where to put it in the new house! So you put cabinets under the bar in your breakfast nook for additional storage? That's pretty cool!

I really like those "appliance garages" (never knew what they were really called - they kind of look like a "built-in bread box.") - but I didn't know if people really used them, or not! I'm going to give that one some thought!

 

[jrmasm]

Under cabinet lighting is the best!!!!

Also, put all your lights (no matter what kind) on dimmers.

I don't have deep drawers but I do have rolling shelves that I really like.

I also really like hidden trash, recycling containers.

Love my undermount sink except for one thing. It's split and the deep side is too deep because of the fact that it is undermount. I'm 5'4" and sometimes doing dishes hurts my back. Just an annoyance, not a big deal.

Granite countertops were by far the best money we could have spent.

 

[Lewski709]

I would have a large island with a stove top and storage space underneath and an actual stove in the cabinets. I would have a pantry as well. I would also have ceramic flooring.

 

[Beth]

Thanks faithinkarma!

The kitchen in this house is adjacent to a wonderful sunroom that looks out over a lake. Sad - the best view in the house was in a small, isolated room that was hardly ever used. So we ended up busting down a wall and making a walkway from the kitchen to this room, and also made a large window next to that - so a lot of light from that room can come into the kitchen. The largest area of counterspace I'll have in the kitchen is that which will adjoin the bar that extends into this room. I think I'm REALLY going to enjoy it!

 

[Beth]

Thanks jrmasm! First of all - we're definitely going with granite! What color did you choose? What other colors did you use in your kitchen to complement your countertop? What color are your cabinets? Sorry for so many questions. Yes - I really like the effect of dimmers. But I wasn't sure if we really needed it - I'll give it some more consideration!

And thanks Lewski79! I wish we had the space for an island - but it's a very small room! The house was built 30 years ago (actually - 30 years ago this month!) - and it was just a different style back then... And the ceilings are dreadfully low - but we'll try to make the best of it. I wish I could have space above the cabinetry for places to display things - but it's not going to happen...

 

[Laurabearz]

I would have placed some outlets under the upper cabniets for a cleaner line on my backsplash tile...

Also I have to use 4 switches to turn all the lights on... I would prefer them on one swicth with a dimmer, again making for a cleaner line for the backsplash tile and easier for ALL ON lighting...

I have one large and one small sink next to each other, I would put two large sinks in if I did it over again.

Love my pots and pan drawers!

Love my cookie sheet vertical slats

Love my double oven

We have a Viking cooktop with grill... does a nice job, but is a bit of a PITA to clean.

Ohhh... figure out where your heating vents will run and dont put hidden garbage above it... it will stink to high heaven!

THat's all I can think of now....

 

[jrmasm]

I need a stupid digital camera, it would be so much easier to post a pic than try to describe.

Cabinets are a medium stain maple (very traditional recessed style). The granite is called Tropic Cream and is a medium brown with grey, white and black flecks. The floor is wood in almost the same tone as the cabinets. Appliances are black. The backsplash is a matte white tile with grey veining and we used a medium blue and medium green glass tile as an accent (random scatter) to match my dishes.

 

[Beth]

Thanks Laurabearz! I completely forgot about placing the outlets there... I guess it's not too late to have the electrician come back in... It's only money, right?!? (And it's moving SO quickly!!)

jrmasm - your color scheme sounds beautiful! I'm jealous of your wood floor. My DH is just adamant that we use ceramic tile - but I grew up in a house with all wood floors, and I would much prefer it... But I've had others say to go with tile, also - as it would be a mess with the wood floors should we develop a leak...

 

[faithinkarma]

Beth,

In my last house I also wanted wooden floors desperately. But was told the insurance would be invalid if there was a leak. I went with the most expensive laminate ( in the same price range as a wooden floor ) in a beautiful maple. no on ever knew unless I told them that it was not real wood.

 

[RUDisney]

I posted pictures of my kitchen the other day. You can find it here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=477195 .

I love my kitchen. I would definitely do a wood floor again and I'd go with the zodiaq counter top again just because it's not porous and doesn't need periodic sealing like granite does. Best of all, you'd never believe that it wasn't granite. It is cold for making pies and cookies, too.

To the left of the stove is a spice drawer. Everyone that comes into the house that I show this to is jealous. It has three tears of shelves with a bar for holding everything in on each side. It slides out like the trash/recycling drawer.

I have two lazy susans so I wouldn't waste the space with a dead zone.

Finally, buy yourself an LCD TV, like the Sharp Aquos that we have. It takes up virtually no space and has a beautiful picture and sound quality. It can even be mounted under the cabinets if we choose to do that.

And... lighting... put in as much as you can. I like having all of the lights on different switches with dimmers. I can control the exact place that I want the lights to shine without having to put all of them on.

When you've selected the look that you want, and you think you've picked every toy that you want, make sure to go through the cabinet book to see what you may have missed. The only thing that I didn't buy for my kitchen that was offered was the under-cabinet mounted cookbook holder. Who cooks with a book anyway?

 

[jrmasm]

1) Anything glass that is dropped on the floor (same with granite counter) will shatter into a million pieces.

2) Ceramic can be very tiring and painful if standing for long periods of time.

This is strictly a person opinion but I would have gone with a vinyl/Lino floor before I would have gone with ceramic. A lot of people like cork.

 

[jrmasm]

Just an FYI, not all stones require sealing and if the stone does, it's not really a big deal. Check with the stone company that your designer deals with.

RUDis, we spent a lot of time going back and forth between granite and Zodiaq!!

 

[Beth]

Wow - thanks, guys, for all your responses!... and pictures, to boot! Too cool!

I had the same concern about things breaking on the ceramic tile. But, then again... I've got all the darn Tupperware!! .....

I've not heard of the Zodiaq countertop - time to Google....

 

[Jenn Lynn]

We get HOME magazine and they had an article on kitchens. One of the things I saw was the silverware drawer was deep and divided into squares so your silverware stood up. They also had a long section for longer items (laying down.) I really thought that was a great idea. And the Spice drawer that someone else mentioned.

 

[KarenC]

Originally posted by Beth
jrmasm - your color scheme sounds beautiful! I'm jealous of your wood floor. My DH is just adamant that we use ceramic tile - but I grew up in a house with all wood floors, and I would much prefer it... But I've had others say to go with tile, also - as it would be a mess with the wood floors should we develop a leak...

I have a maple floor. I love the look. But it does show the dents and scratches. We have hot water heat, with no radiator in the kitchen, so ceramic tile was not an option...it would make the kitchen too cold...unless we added $$$ to bring heat into the kitchen.