Kitchen

Reply to: I see the following different options: 1. range with built-in oven, plus CSO wall-oven, and speed wall-oven. 2. range-top (*), CSO wall-oven, and speed wall-oven. 3. range with built-in oven, plus CSO wall-oven, and microwave in the pantry. 3a. range with built-in oven, plus CSO wall-oven; no microwave. 4. range-top, CSO wall-oven, and small microwave in the pantry. Without doubt, option #1 is obviously going to address all your cooking needs. It's most expensive and takes up the most space. Option #2 is cheaper and uses less space. It still has most of the advantages. But it means you won't have a full-size oven. It depends on your cooking style. I personally would miss the ability to bake a full-size cookie sheet all in one go. Also Thanksgiving gets interesting; you can prepare a turkey in a CSO, but you might have to spatchcock it. All of that might be a non-issue for you. On the plus side, having a Speedoven is nice. It's not critical. But it's a fun tool to speed up cooking of some select dishes. And in general, having at least two oven cavities is awesome; and you don't often need them to be big if you have more than one. Option #3 is great for most people, iff you feel you don't really need a microwave most of the time. We have little kids and expect that we'll need our microwave for a good while longer. But if it was an "adult-only" household, I might decide otherwise. There are few things that couldn't be done with the other appliances just as well. So, having to trek to the pantry and use the small microwave once or twice a month is probably OK. This leads to option #3a. Maybe, you'll find you won't even need a microwave at all. Option #4 is the most extreme option. It means you won't have the benefit of two oven cavities. That's a noticeable limitation. On the other hand, you gain a lot of space, you save money, and with some forethought, you can still cook very efficiently. In other words, we'd have to know a lot more about your budget, your available space, and your cooking style in order to give you the perfect answer. Sounds as if you don't know all of this information yourself, though. But you probably can't go wrong with either of these options (you might have noticed that they all include a CSO; go figure). *) if you are looking into getting gas, do not get a cooktop. Look for a range top instead. You'll like it much better. On the other hand, if you plan on getting induction, then there are not that many choices of range tops; a cook top might be a better option.

Q

Reply to: Despite what others think you should have for your kitchen, I think you want a kitchen with an island, so here are some ideas you can do/think about to make it work better and still have the island: Reduce the width of the island to increase clearances around the island Reduce the length of island to increase clearance between island and dining room Change the seating on the island to either just two on the end, or two on the end and two on the side. You could then move the prep sink over - or you could put a prep sink on the counter run between the refrigerator and range. Re seating: you really need more than 12" of overhang on the island for seating - for counter height you should have at least 15" - more would even be nicer - you can reduce the depth of the back of the island cabinetry to get more overhang - or get rid of it altogether - particularly if you reconfigure the island to incorporate a prep sink on the other side -- the practicality of accessing the limited storage you might gain probably is not worth the cost of the extra cabinetry) to get more overhang. Move the refrigerator down toward the range (the overhead picture you have shows it closer to the corner than the 3D pics). That way if you put any seating on that side, you will be clear of the refrigerator. Also, if you move the refrigerator down, you could recess it a bit into the storage area of the garage and have a more flush/modern appearance to that run of cabinets. Other thoughts: Get rid of the upper cabinets on the range wall Put drawers in base cabinets instead of doors -- especially on the island -- think about unloading those dishwashers -- if you have drawers, you can just pivot and turn to put stuff away. You may think you will put items in those upper cabinets, but think about it -- you will have to remember to put the items you keep in the left upper cabinet into the right dishwasher and the items you keep in the right upper cabinet in the left dishwasher; otherwise you will have to walk around the dishwasher when it is open to put things away. It may seem weird at first to put dishes and glasses in the drawers, but once you adjust to it, you will wonder why it hasn't always been done that way. Make the U even on both sides (now it is 168"/158") -- I'm sure that it's uneven because of the design on the sink run -- trying to get two dishwashers in and a double cabinet. Not sure if you will notice it -- but I would/did. It would drive me crazy to have the two runs be different lengths. Think about where a countertop seam will go on the sink run - even if you reduce the run to 158" to match the opposite run of cabinets, you will still have a seam somewhere (if you go with standard length quartz, marble or granite). Some people plan the seam for where the sink cutout is, but sometimes that's not feasible depending on the sink chosen, clearances, etc., so factor a seam into your design, and into your choice of material for your countertop, and into your choice of who will do your countertop install. I've seen so many posts on this board about bad seams -- usually because of bad workmanship, but sometimes the problem could have been avoided with some forethought. Lastly -- this doesn't concern the kitchen, but if possible, I'd take a foot of width from the garage storage and give it to the mudroom. You won't miss the room in the garage (you'll just fill it with stuff you should probably get rid of anyway), and you will enjoy the spaciousness of the mudroom every day. Good Luck!

Q