Archive for the ‘Kitchen’ Category

The Pot Filler Debate

Thursday, January 8th, 2009

Aaaah, the infamous pot filler. It’s one of the most hotly debated appliances on kitchen design forums. Some scoff at its frivolity, others swear by its usefulness. Interestingly, the scoffers are those that haven’t used a pot filler and the proponents are those that have.

pot fillerPot filler faucets are one of many commercial kitchen items that have worked their way into today’s family kitchen. Located on the wall or countertop near the cooktop, a pot filler dispenses cold water and saves half the work of hauling it around the kitchen. It has a heavier flow than a conventional faucet and fills large pots considerably faster.

I wanted a pot filler because we do lots of home canning in the summer and I think filling a 33-quart kettle with water and lifting it out of the sink gets rather tedious. My husband wanted a pot filler because he thinks being called in from whatever he’s doing just to carry a kettle a mere seven feet from the sink to the stovetop gets rather tedious.

Turns out we both love our Danze Opulence pot filler. And not just for filling the canning kettle. We use it for cooking pasta, soup, vegetables and for measuring that one cup of water called for in a recipe. You name it, we use it every day. What’s especially nice is that it eliminates traffic jams at the sink when multiple people are cooking together, an activity our whole family does now that we have a large kitchen.

So what’s the debate with pot fillers?

Aside from cost, which varies greatly, the biggest concern people have is that the pot filler might leak—there is no sink beneath the faucet, after all. However, most pot filler faucets on today’s market have a double shut off valve, one at either end, and this serves to minimize damaging drips.

Aesthetics are another concern. People are doing some pretty artistic backsplashes these days and don’t like the idea of a wall-mount faucet interrupting the design. A perfect solution for this is the deck-mount, which also works well for islands and kitchen remodels where a wall-mount is impractical. In my opinion, the articulated extensions in both the wall and deck-mounts are art forms in themselves and look very, very cool.

And for those with technical concerns: there’s always the installation. I’m fortunate to have a handy husband that can do it all. He plumbed the one-half inch water line during our renovation process when the walls were completely gutted. He did the final installation and hook-up after we completed the backsplash. If your plumber or contractor is professional, he or she will certainly be qualified to install a pot filler in a variety of design situations.

Convenience. Safety. Cool factor. And most important: family togetherness.

I say there’s no debate at all!

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The Spice of Life

Saturday, September 20th, 2008

Aside from a new sink, perhaps the most life-altering event in our kitchen renovation was the completion of my spice drawer. I realize this sounds a bit dramatic but, in reality, there’s a lot of truth to this statement.

Historically, cooking has not been my greatest forté. I’d like to be a good cook and sometimes I even put a little effort into it. But for the most part, cooking is a chore I try to finish as quickly as I can. Obviously.

If you look back at our original kitchen floor plan, you’ll see for 20 years we operated basically out of a 9′ x 7′ pantry. Needless to say, there wasn’t much room for efficiency and organization, two things that also are not my forté. So, like many people, I jammed all my spices together in miscellaneous plastic containers and shoved them in one of the few cupboards available. They were always a mess. A huge mess. A meal I should’ve been able to throw together in five minutes usually took 20 because 15 of them were spent rummaging through a gazillion spices (other people in our family actually get into cooking things that take longer than five minutes—thus the large collection of spices).

Enter the Universal Spice Tray by Ovis Online!

This simple piece of molded plastic has transformed my cooking and my organization! Note the fairly tidy and semi-alphabetized arrangement of spice jars in the heading photo. I lovingly refer to this as stadium seating. What used to be a gazillion jars are now only 30-40 because we assess our inventory and don’t buy spices we already have. And best of all, cooking is actually becoming fun! I pull open the drawer and easily choose a spice that will creatively enhance the culinary delights I’ve now mastered.

Okay, well, now maybe I’m over-dramatizing. But someday…

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Relief for the Well-Bitten Tongue

Thursday, April 10th, 2008

I subscribe to the wise adage that says the sign of a good marriage is a well-bitten tongue. My husband probably doesn’t agree that I subscribe to this, but, oh, I really do. I think I do even more when it comes to home renovation.

My husband and I have been married for almost thirty years. He is my soul mate. But, yes, we are different people and, no, we don’t always agree on how things should be done. Of course, I’m always right. And, of course, he never listens.old house kitchen cabinets

And so I bite my tongue. Well, I try to.

Here’s an example.

We’re working on this kitchen renovation project. We’ve been at it for more than a year and it’s coming along great. When I say “we’re working on it,” I mean I’m the creative brain and my husband is the mechanical brawn. In other words, I tell him what to do and he does it. How can it get any better than that?

So, the latest phase is cabinetry, specifically some cool cubbies customized to fit at 45-degree angles around the microwave positioned in the corner (not exactly calculation-free construction). My husband’s first response is, “No, that’s not going to work.” I come back with, “Sure, we’ll just do this and we’ll just do that…” We, meaning he. He obligingly builds the cabinets, hoists them into place, stains and varnishes them.

My contribution to this project, beyond the creative instruction? Not much…aside from gleefully filling the cubbies with cute little apothecary jars that, when all totaled, will probably cost more than the oak wood for the cabinetry because my husband cut down the trees himself and planed the wood. Are you getting the picture here just how much of this kitchen he’s actually doing?

So, when he inadvertently slathers polyurethane on my new microwave because five minutes of prep work seems unreasonable, should I say anything? Or, if his idea of a finely sanded finish is slightly rougher than mine, dare I criticize? Not if I want this cool kitchen project to continue.

Instead, while he’s off to his day job, I whip out the 800-grit paper for a few extra buffs and I apply protective masking tape before the next coat of finish. And I bite my tongue.

Finally, I write about it here, because as private as the Internet is, I doubt he’ll ever see it.

Ah, relief for the well-bitten tongue.

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Drawer Slides for the Spoiled Brat

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

Okay, I admit I’m the spoiled brat. But it’s not my fault! When your husband is a talented craftsman and a nice one at that, you become accustomed to the idea that whatever you want built, can and will be built.

What? Not everyone gets cabinetry customized to their fancy and whims?

I suppose this catering carries through to drawer slides, as well. We’re building the new cabinetry in our kitchen…well, I decide what I want and my husband builds what I want. In doing so, we’re experiencing the joys and challenges of drawer slides.

From past experience, we know when it comes to drawer slides, what you pay is what you get. If you plan on carrying any bit of weight, like more than two spoons in your silverware drawer, it’s best to spend money on a quality ball-bearing slide. We’ve been buying Accuride, from Rockler, and are pleased. Well, sort of…

ball-bearing side drawer slide

I keep hot pads and placemats in an 8×28” drawer under the double ovens. Nothing too heavy, no? Because it’s a drawer that doesn’t get extensive use, which says a lot about my cooking, we chose to skimp a bit on the slides. We went with Belwith Mount Euro side slide from Menards. Guess what, the drawer slides like butter.

On the other hand, when it came time to build drawers for the trash and recyclables, we figured a more solid, weight-bearing slide was in order. We chose Accuride full extension side slides and paid a significantly higher price.

But have you installed drawer slides? They can be very frustrating. Accuride, or not, the drawer will not slide smoothly if the drawer or supporting cabinet is even slightly skewed (kitty-wampus, as my husband tends to say). Jigs, such as the Kreg Universal Mounting Jig, help with this.

ball-bearing undermount drawer slide

Then came the silverware and gadget drawers. I decided since he does such a beautiful job with dovetail joinery, why hide them under drawer slides? For these drawers, we went with the Accuride extension center mount, which keeps the slide underneath the drawer and out of view. Ah, the catch with under mount slides? That which isn’t completely satisfactory to the spoiled brat? An under mount allows only a two-thirds extension of the drawer. It will work for these drawers but not the spice drawer.

So, now comes the spice drawer. We haven’t gotten to this one yet, but when we do, I have specific needs (wants). For this drawer, I need complete access. I need full view of the dove tails. And, because we’ll use it often —yes, I do cook once in a while—I need a quality, heavy duty slide. For this, we plan to use the Accuride Eclipse Undermount, which fully extends and carries a price tag that extends as well.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

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No, I’m not getting stainless steel

Tuesday, February 26th, 2008

Probably the most repeated question we’re asked about redoing our kitchen is whether we’re getting stainless steel appliances. When I say no, I inevitably first get looks of surprise and then something on the order of “how strange are you?”

What is it with stainless steel?!

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have anything against the glowing surface…except for the fact that everyone’s kitchen is done in it. For that reason, and because it doesn’t fit my kitchen’s style, I am NOT buying stainless steel appliances.

So, aside from stainless steel, what are the kitchen trends of today? And how far off, whether by intention or ignorance, are we as we renovate our kitchen?

The Top Five Kitchen Trends, according to This Old House online

1. Earth Friendly
“Green is in all over the house-perhaps most of all in the kitchen,” writes Kristin Mucci, of This Old House online.

recycled fir ceiling wood

I painted my walls green. Does that count?

Actually, we’re doing some fairly green things in our renovation project. One example is recycling the wood we saved from our porch ceiling when we rebuilt it 15 years ago. It’s fir pine and after stripping the white paint and finishing it in a clear varnish, it looks stunning in the sunporch section of our kitchen.

2. High Tech
“The kitchen of the future is here now, chock full of techie elements that meld functionality with fun.”

Okay, here’s where we fall a bit short. While some people are putting high definition television into their refrigerator doors and hood ventilations, we’re the last household on the face of the earth that doesn’t subscribe to viewing beyond the three majors, ABC, CBS, and NBC (or so our children tell us).

red refrigerator

3. Colorful
“Stainless steel might never go out of style, but it’s sure losing some steam against this year’s bright appliance hues.”

Ah, what we lack in technology (and stainless steel), we make up for in color. Our white refrigerator was great in function but with the front of it rusting away, it lacked in form. We took it to an auto body paint shop and had it painted red. We love it!

4. Fresh and Healthy
“Companies are catering to nutrition-conscious consumers with products that help keep cooking healthy.”

No, we haven’t put in a copper sink with natural antibacterial qualities, as offered by Native Trails. But a new kitchen really brings out an enthusiasm for cooking and with that comes an interest in healthy, good quality food. Hey, the fact that we can now find our spices greatly enhances the success of our meal!

5. Convenient and Multifunctional
“This year’s products pack it in for multitasking, time-challenged consumers.”

I can’t begin to tell you how moving from cramped cooking quarters to an efficient triangular work zone makes life so much easier!

So there you have it. Our kitchen certainly isn’t keeping up with the latest trends, nor do we want it to. But it’s ours and it fits us perfectly. Can’t do better than that!

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