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Thread: All about your kitchen

  1. #1
    andybuildz
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    Default All about your kitchen

    I do home renovations and restorations for a living the past 35 years and currently I'm in the middle of reno-ing my own kitchen in a house we will sell as soon as the entire home has been redone. Right now I really should be upstairs cutting out the ceiling beams to create the cathedral ceiling I've been working on in there but I had this thread idea so the ceiling will have to wait another few minutes lol .
    In the last house I did..and sold I used the brand Plain & Fancy cabinets which is a high end cab company but the house was in a high end neighborhood and warranted those kind. You can see it in my website if you'd like under the Goose Hill Project http://www.cliffordrenovations.com. I also fabricated my own counter tops using soapstone which was the first time I ever dealt with that medium and I have to say I LOVE SOAPSTONE now!! What kind of countertops do you all like working on?
    In this current project I'll be subbing out the installation of granite counters because I can't fabricate those myself like I did with the soapstone.

    The kitchen I'm working on now will have a small center island which brings me to kitchen lighting. My newest favorite idea which isn't new to most people is using "pendent lights".
    Most of this kitchen will have recessed lighting b/c on cathedral ceiling it'd look odd having pendent lights hanging down 15'+ imo so I'll be hanging two just over the island.
    What kind of lighting do you all like..or dislike and why?

    I'll be posting photos of this current kitchen I'm working on from the original that was here to the demo work to the final products as soon as I'm done or maybe just in stages as I go along.

    Whats your favorite things in a kitchen and whats your least favorite...and why?

  2. #2
    cobweb
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    Default Re: All about your kitchen

    I personally hate bright overhead lights, even in kitchens, so I usually have table lamps everywhere.

    My favourite thing in my kitchen is my American style fridge-freezer because it's so big! lol.

    My dream kitchen would have space for my rocking chair, and a small telly as I like to watch TV whilst doing other stuff. It would also have a waste disposal unit and built in water filter . I'd also have a saucepan rack full of shiny copper pans if I could afford it!.

    I also love those corner cupboards with the twirly rack things inside, and walk-in larder cupboards. Ooh, and I also really like to have a magnetic strip to hang knives up on.

    Things I hate in kitchens are small sinks and awkward units that are badly placed.

  3. #3
    andybuildz
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    Default Re: All about your kitchen

    I agree about having lighting thats too bright...in any room actually....which is why I always use dimmers so I can set the lights according to my mood or project. I also don't really like the look of recessed lighting but in a lot of ways it is the most inconspicuous lighting as long as the trim kits that surround the bulbs are the same color as the ceiling they're in. Having lights under the hanging cabinets which we call here in the US, "puck lights" are also real nice and you totally don't see those. they just light up the counters and not the entire room though.

    My favorite sinks are "farm sinks" and if I could afford them I'd go with copper farm sinks but I'd have to hit the lottery to afford a big dbl farm sink. http://www.manhattaninteriordesigns.com/cofasibo.html
    My last house I bought a Sub Zero brand fridge/freezer which is top of the line and IMHO...a BIG waste of money! YOu can get very very nice fridge with all the same accessories for half the cost. I have no idea why people buy Sub Zero brand other than for the name recognition.

    My favorite stoves would be gas stoves. I hate cooking on electric. I won't even go into which brands I love in this post because like copper farm sinks...I'd have to hit the lottery to afford the stoves I love. The AGA stoves are awesome..awesomely expensive http://www.aga-ranges.com/_store/scr...t.asp?idcat=22

    Like I said in my first post my favorite counter surface is now "soapstone". It has that warm look to it. I really don't care for the shiny look of granite although I know you could get honed granite but I still love soapstone. Any scratches can be easily sanded out. It gets a very nice worn look to it which is my taste. Kinda soulful and personalized. This is actually the company I bought my soapstone slabs from. http://www.soapstones.com/?gclid=CO3...FQjd4Aod0F3c_w
    After they were delivered I fabricated all the counters in my last house. The link I left here shows how thats done btw.

    In most all the houses I've built for myself over the years I've installed wood floors and love them. My last house which is in my website I used wide plank pine flooring that I installed using hand made cut nails that I face naiked the planks with so you could see each handmade nail head.

    In my dream kitchen (one day) I'd LOVE to build a real stone/brick dutch oven in it with a fireplace along side it (part of it). I'm hoping to meet with this guy in North Carolina next year and have him give me some tips on building one http://heatkit.com/html/bakeoven-mha.htm (DROOLING!!!!!!!)
    Well thats it for now...

  4. #4
    baffled harpy's Avatar
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    Default Re: All about your kitchen

    I'm not a keen cook so my favourite things in the kitchen tend to be things like radios and iPod docks that distract me while I'm cooking

    My least favourite things in our kitchen are probably the raised cupboards that I can't reach to the back of. I can only get at the things in the front so they might as well have made them a bit shallower and then there would be more room in the kitchen!

    Good luck with your project Andy - sounds as if you're the man for the job. Will you mind moving out after all that work or is that part of the fun?

  5. #5
    kokopelli's Avatar
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    Default Re: All about your kitchen

    Our house had a 1960s solid fuel Rayburn (like an Aga) when we moved in, it's still going strong, providing hot water and keeping us warm, as well as cooking. It's tricky to get the oven to the right temperature and keep it there (easier with coal than wood), but it does give really great results with baking. You get a lot of secondhand Agas and Rayburns here, maybe you could look into that? They're built to last and spares (oven bricks, grate etc) are readily available.

    The house still needs a lot of work and we've been thinking about our 'ideal kitchen'. Personally, I want something that's minimalistic, easy to keep clean and designed so at least 2 people can work at once without getting in the way of each other, which is difficult because the kitchen is long and narrow, with no room for island units.

    I saw a TV programme once where an American family swapped houses for a while with a UK family and they were amazed at how small the average British domestic appliances are. Everything seems to be giant-sized over there!
    once in a while you can get shown the light
    in the strangest of places if you look at it right

  6. #6
    andybuildz
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    Default Re: All about your kitchen

    Quote harpy View Post
    !
    Good luck with your project Andy - sounds as if you're the man for the job. Will you mind moving out after all that work or is that part of the fun?
    Thanks harpy,
    No, I won't mind moving out. While this house is really nice..or will be..it's not "me". Even the neighborhood is real nice...but again, it's not me.
    We've been doing this for several decades. Living in the house while I rip it apart to redo it....inbetween doing projects for customers as well. I try and finish a project in our house b/4 I do a customers job so we don't have to live in the debris and dust.
    Like I said..it's getting to feel like we're living like gypsies and I am starting to get tired of it but it keeps me constantly working with no down time and even in the bad economy it always pays the bills...cept we have to live on a low interest loan until the house goes up for sale. So far over all the years it's worked out although it can get nerve racking.
    I keep thinking..what exactly IS me? I look at farm houses in France in the country-side on real estate websites and think..now THATS me! Only problem is...I doubt the entire country will all learn English just for me and I ain't about to learn another language just so I can move

    kokopelli,
    I do recall reading about the issue with keeping those stove at the right temperature and that folks did say it helped keep their houses warm as well. So you use wood to run it? WOW! I'm impressed! Our first house (30 years ago)I heated with a Vermont Castings wood stove. We heated the house that way for about 3-4 years with no backup system. It had a hopper I could put in it that allowed me to use coal if I wanted which is what I did most of the time b/c wood would cool down too quick in the very cold seasons/nights. The only problem I had with using coal was it did last a pretty long time b/4 it'd go out and that would occasionally make me lazy so I'd forget to shake it right before I went to sleep and it would end up going out in the middle of the night and it was a real PITA to get coal started again. As you know..you first have to start a wood fire..let the embers get really really hot..sprinkle a little coal at a time on it and finally when you had a nice bed of hot glowing coal embers you could dump a cpl of bucks of coal over it. Thats such a PITA in the middle of the night if that happens...echhh..plus the coal is kinda dirty even with an airtight stove.

  7. #7
    cobweb
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    Default Re: All about your kitchen

    Sounds like a great job, andy, I like your ideas!.

  8. #8
    baffled harpy's Avatar
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    Default Re: All about your kitchen

    Quote andybuildz View Post
    I keep thinking..what exactly IS me? I look at farm houses in France in the country-side on real estate websites and think..now THATS me! Only problem is...I doubt the entire country will all learn English just for me and I ain't about to learn another language just so I can move
    If that's the only thing stopping you, I do know a couple of people who've moved to France without speaking much French, although I think it helps if you learn a bit either before or after the move. A lot of French people can speak English, though perhaps less so in the country. (Getting some of them to speak vegan is more of a problem, though.)

  9. #9
    kokopelli's Avatar
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    Default Re: All about your kitchen

    Quote andybuildz View Post
    I keep thinking..what exactly IS me? I look at farm houses in France in the country-side on real estate websites and think..now THATS me! Only problem is...I doubt the entire country will all learn English just for me and I ain't about to learn another language just so I can move

    kokopelli,
    I do recall reading about the issue with keeping those stove at the right temperature and that folks did say it helped keep their houses warm as well. So you use wood to run it? WOW! I'm impressed! Our first house (30 years ago)I heated with a Vermont Castings wood stove. We heated the house that way for about 3-4 years with no backup system. It had a hopper I could put in it that allowed me to use coal if I wanted which is what I did most of the time b/c wood would cool down too quick in the very cold seasons/nights.
    We ran the Rayburn entirely on wood for years, but the last couple of winters here have been very severe, so I bought coal last autumn and it's made a massive difference. My son told me that old model Rayburns were made to run on coal. With wood, sometimes it seemed very wasteful getting the oven up to temperature for baking and then keeping it there. I'd be burning a huge stack of wood. But with coal, it's really easy! Which has made us a bit lazy too, and I agree with you about the dirtiness of coal. Also, wood ash is good for the compost, it's a great high potassium fertiliser for potatoes and tomatoes, but coal ash is useless in the garden.

    I've seen Vermont Castings stoves, they're very pretty! We've got a Morso 'Badger' woodburner (Danish) that heats another room, it's kind of the opposite of the Vermont style, very minimalist and unadorned. It's much more efficient with wood than the Rayburn, but it's only a space heater.

    I think a lot of people like the idea of French farmhouses, but recently I read an article about how the dream can easily all go wrong, with some people finding themselves very isolated. Obviously, that's not always the case, though, and I'm sure it must work well for others.
    once in a while you can get shown the light
    in the strangest of places if you look at it right

  10. #10
    andybuildz
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    Default Re: All about your kitchen

    Quote kokopelli View Post
    We ran the Rayburn entirely on wood for years, but the last couple of winters here have been very severe, so I bought coal last autumn and it's made a massive difference. My son told me that old model Rayburns were made to run on coal. With wood, sometimes it seemed very wasteful getting the oven up to temperature for baking and then keeping it there. I'd be burning a huge stack of wood. But with coal, it's really easy! Which has made us a bit lazy too, and I agree with you about the dirtiness of coal. Also, wood ash is good for the compost, it's a great high potassium fertiliser for potatoes and tomatoes, but coal ash is useless in the garden.

    I've seen Vermont Castings stoves, they're very pretty! We've got a Morso 'Badger' woodburner (Danish) that heats another room, it's kind of the opposite of the Vermont style, very minimalist and unadorned. It's much more efficient with wood than the Rayburn, but it's only a space heater.

    I think a lot of people like the idea of French farmhouses, but recently I read an article about how the dream can easily all go wrong, with some people finding themselves very isolated. Obviously, that's not always the case, though, and I'm sure it must work well for others.
    Isolated? Bring it on...hahaha...thats me! Even living only 45 minutes to Manhattan I rarely see a soul. I do my work then chill at night and do it all over again the next day. My hobby and my work (building) are the same so.....

    What I liked about the old farm houses I saw in some RE websites in France was that they were stone and a lot of em' needed tons of work which kept the price down. I'd LOVE to work on one of those!!
    As you can see in my website..the last house I did before I moved to this one last year was circa:1680 and a TOTAL wreck when I bought it which was how I got it at such a good price. Only problem was..when we sold the economy hit the lowest it'd been in decades...ugh. I just made it out with my shirt...and I'm still looking for my pants...hahaha. It did teach me a lot though about life. Taught me not to sweat the small stuff and that I have a choice. I can let something like that get to me which most people do..or I can just move on and be thankful I still have my health and desire to keep doing what I love to do. YOu just have to rearrange your plans is all. Nothing's written in stone! we can choose to be miserable...or not.
    "life's what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" J.Lennon

    One of my biggest inspirations is Helen and Scott Nearing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_and_Scott_Nearing
    This is...well....whewwww... http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC26/Nearing.htm

  11. #11
    cherished emmapresley's Avatar
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    Default Re: All about your kitchen

    the houses youve worked on look really cool

    my kitchen is south facing meaning some crappy glare at certain times of the day. ive toyed with the idea of a blind but y'know. if i do that how will i see the lovely view?

    im liking the layout (whole fridge-oven-sink triangle working space thingy. id be better a little bigger.and the walls (still) need some wallpaper. im lazy like that. for shame.
    ahronli sed ah dunit so thid tek thuh cheyus graytuh offa mi nihbles

  12. #12
    andybuildz
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    Default Re: All about your kitchen

    emma...I find if you want something bad enough...you'll figure out a way
    edit: see my tag line below..it says it all!

  13. #13
    cherished emmapresley's Avatar
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    Default Re: All about your kitchen

    well now. if i so very badly wanted wallpaper up in my kitchen i wouldve put it up by now.
    ahronli sed ah dunit so thid tek thuh cheyus graytuh offa mi nihbles

  14. #14
    andybuildz
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    Default Re: All about your kitchen

    'zactly! Just do it!..or not

  15. #15
    baffled harpy's Avatar
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    Default Re: All about your kitchen

    Wallpaper? What's wrong with crumbling plaster?

  16. #16
    andybuildz
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    Default Re: All about your kitchen

    Quote harpy View Post
    Wallpaper? What's wrong with crumbling plaster?
    Yeh..some people even pay for it.. ...lol

  17. #17
    kokopelli's Avatar
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    Default Re: All about your kitchen

    Our house is stone stuck together with clay. It was very cheap. There was no safe water supply when we came here. But it's taking us AGES to get all the work done. I like building too, but sometimes it's disheartening when there's SO much still to be done. Basically, we live in a hovel that's improving very gradually, but at least we don't have to try to sell it, so there's no pressure in that way.
    once in a while you can get shown the light
    in the strangest of places if you look at it right

  18. #18
    baffled harpy's Avatar
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    Default Re: All about your kitchen

    Quote kokopelli View Post
    Basically, we live in a hovel that's improving very gradually, but at least we don't have to try to sell it, so there's no pressure in that way.
    I'm afraid we're heading the opposite way, i.e. deteriorating rather than improving. Is yours quite old kokopelli?

  19. #19
    kokopelli's Avatar
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    Default Re: All about your kitchen

    Ours has been deteriorating in some areas at the same time as improving in others. It's supposedly from about 1850. I just noticed some fungus growing above the front door because the gutter fell off in the snowy weather and rain has been pouring down the outside wall. The gutter was very old cast iron and we've replaced it now.
    once in a while you can get shown the light
    in the strangest of places if you look at it right

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