The Mushroom Factor

So, a while ago I wrote about the drawer slides we’re using as we remodel our kitchen. We’re doing a complete re-do and my husband is building the cabinetry. As he completes the project, we’re learning what we like and don’t like, and which products work and don’t work. Some of the drawer slides we chose ended up on the “don’t like” and “don’t work” list.

My husband’s dovetails are just so fine (joinery, that is…as in drawers). So fine is his craftsmanship, I felt it should be showcased with undermount drawer slides. We used the Accuride Extension Center Mount.

Well, as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. The slides are fine in quality, however they just don’t allow the drawer to open enough. It’s like you’re losing a third of your drawer space. We used the drawers for about six months and decided we’d had enough.

So now we’ve switched to the Accuride Full-Access Undermount Slide. At $35.99 a drawer, they’re a bit pricier but definitely much nicer. We now have both form and function!

But, hey! I was searching online to link my slides for your easy reference and I found even more. Accuride has come out with its Eclipse Undermount Slide with “easy-close mechanism to prevent drawer slam and tolerance-absorbing design for flawless movement.” So says Rockler. For only a mere $59.99 a drawer.

My husband would probably love these slides since he finds my habit of not fully closing drawers quite irritating. Apparently, others love them as well. They’ve gotten pretty good reviews.

Oh well. Next time.

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 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!

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…

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…

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.

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.