- What the internet, and most people, and realtors, and TV, and and and... told me: you need an open kitchen with an island with seating so you can entertain table-guests while cooking and people can come sit closer while you're cooking... - What I had: an open kitchen with an island - What I hated about it: the fact that table guests kept talking to me when I went to the kitchen, that I felt the need to be entertaining and keep the kitchen manicured and mind I didn't set the range or clang my pots/utensils too loud instead of hyperfocussing on cooking, that I couldn't zone out for 5 minutes or ask somebody 'to help me in the kitchen' (talk privately - What I now have: a closed off functional galley kitchen - What everyone thinks: I devalued my home and will regret it - What I think: I LOVE IT!
@@carolmelancon Exactly: lots of people hate living with an open kitchen, but they do because "you're supposed to" and "it increases the value of the home".
If you do not plan to sell= do what you want. The realtors are correct that it devalued your home for re-sale right now, but the trend is going back to closed off rooms because of covid and folks realizing the need and desire for more privacy/more traditional designed floorplans are coming back in vogue. I do believe totally closed off kitchens are being entertained too so you might be fine if this trend takes off. What does that matter if you are not selling? I tell my clients when they ask me my opinion this: Are you selling in the next 5 years? No? = do what you want because anything you are doing will be out of style anyways in 5-7 years and we will have to refresh to sell your house anyways. If the response is Yes, we plan on selling. I say let me come over and help you pick out what will get you the most at re-sale and make it easier to sell and sell fast for the highest amount in the shortest time when you are ready.
@@ShellSellars-Smith Nah, even if I were to sell within a few years I wouldn't care. Want an open kitchen? Well, act like you mean it and go find a house with an open kitchen then, plenty of them out there, don't waste my time trying to haggle as if it's suddenly less of an issue if the price is a bit lower. Want a closed off kitchen or don't care? Good, no reason to haggle because of some trends, you get what you like, give me the price I like. There's nothing trendy about my home anyways, no reason to "refresh" in 1 or 10 years, plenty of people out there don't like trends, the rest is doomed to be a slave of their home. I'll sell to who appreciates my home for what it is or can be, not to some flipper who's clearly interested but uses every excuse to pay less than it's worth based on size, location and state of maintenance.
I did not think I needed a designer but the ability to build your kitchen with software with the cabinet makers standard size units made the process easy. To be able to visualize in 2D and 3D is priceless. The software was so easy to use that the designer let me do all the layout. Not many designers will share this software but make sure your designer is proficient. Everything fit perfectly using this process. My kitchen has been finished for some time but I still love to visit your videos! P.S. Lighting is important and is something one should consider early in the process. Ceiling, under cabinet, and even toe kick lights really can make your kitchen stand apart.
After a bad experience with a kitchen designer, we designed our new kitchen ourselves. (House was built in 1913.) The main thing we thought about is "where do people walk when preparing a meal?" End result: dishes, silver and glassware are in cabinets right near the dining-room door, and the dishwasher is right there too. There's a small sink next to the dishwasher, and a big sink further into the kitchen where food is prepped and big items (pots, cutting boards) are washed. A dirty pot goes 3 steps to the big sink and 4 steps back to a rack near the stove. Small appliances are stored in a tall cupboard, and racks designed for the woodshop hold the tools we use over and over - measuring spoons and cups, rubber scrapers, kitchen scissors... anathema, I know. (We think the kitchen designer broke down when we told her to make a place for the cuckoo clock.)
I'm in the kitchen design mode. I was at a house with a beautiful kitchen. I talked to the husband who told me the kitchen was too small. Later I talked to the wife. She said the kitchen is too small. They didnt ask for my opinion but I knew what the problem was. The kitchen was too small for an island. All they had to do was remove the island and possibly replace flooring. It was a good kitchen if they got rid of the island. Sometimes problems can be solved cheaply.
I hate islands. I much prefer a simple table with chairs. Members of family and friends sit there while I'm cooking and the table looks a lot less bulky than an island.
I hired a kitchen designer who told me I could not have an island, and it would be too expensive to move location of appliances and sink. Their designs were all peninsula styled kitchens and I knew I could have an island. I designed my own kitchen and went with the elegant higher end look with customized deep uppers 16" deep and 42" tall uppers with traditional crown that matches my current crown. I picked appliance pulls for my drawers (this look is stellar on a 32" drawer) and used matching hardware in varying sizes in brushed nickel) keeping the hardware similar added to the classiness of the design. They also were pushing Quartz which (sorry) I think looks meh and is way overdone and reminds me of Corian counters. I used natural quartzite in White Pearl). I have my island and it's 10" foot long with 40 inches between the wall cabinets and 5' off refrigerator and there is a 3' long spot where the walkway behind the island is 33" (which is why I think they said I could not have this island as the desired walkway is 36" and they wanted 48" between the cabinets where I have 40"). They also kept the appliances in the same position, and I moved everything from where the sink it to where the refrigerator ended up and removed the double ovens and installed a 48" Italian range and added a pot filler. Plus, the biggest factor on why I went DIY was the time. They all said it would be 2 Months! By the time I finished this kitchen it cost me under 30K (their costs were 50-65K) and took 3 weeks from demo to finished. First rule of any project is to have everything on-site before you remove one thing and set up your makeshift kitchen (we used the dining room as our kitchen and used the laundry room as the sink/coffee station.) It was painful process, but I feel it would have been even more painful if I did not have control over schedule/contractors. Thankfully I am in real estate, so my contractors were on demand for me and costs reduced because of my relationships. My kitchen cabinets were modified flat packs with no pressboard in site and my installer was able to modify them all to fit perfectly. It is not the inset style high end look I really wanted but it's close. Everyone who comes to my house make comments on the elegant style. I highly recommend deeper upper cabinets if you have access to do this. Those few more inches are a lifesaver to me. I also feel paneling out every flat side helps get that higher end look without being expensive inset cabinets. Kitchen designers are stellar but I see trouble with execution of the designs all the time and overuse of quartz counters.
Our kitchen is 2 years old, we live in a small 1949 Bungalow that still had its original kitchen. It was falling apart. We had a budget, we DIY'd everything, and I mean everything! (my husband and I both grew up in DIY families, sometimes I wish we didn't. lol) We found kitchen cabinets on F B market, the only cabinets that didn't get used were two small 12 inch wall cabinets. The other was a long bar, but we took that apart to also use in the kitchen. There were "must have" items, and that was a large farmhouse sink, new appliances, (I wanted to shop scratch and dent, that didn't happen) and quartz counter tops. I know, big ticket items, but this was literally our very first "brand new" kitchen and we have been married 33 years. Plus the kitchen is small, we kept the same footprint, no knocking down walls, it's just not feasible. We have a great layout, it functions very well, we now have an exhaust that goes outside for the stove, (YAY!) I also have a long stretch of counter for food prep. Before it was super choppy and I only had two feet. Literally. Unless you count using the top of the stove. The huge mistake I made, was letting my husband pick appliances. And now I am stuck with an enormous fridge (way too big for the space) and a (stupid) microwave over the stove that barely gets used. Now, I did push back on these . . obviously I didn't win. But all in all ... we now have a beautiful, mostly new kitchen, we both love it, and I enjoy cooking way more than I did before!
Kitchen Islands - thumbs 👍 👌 😊 Kitchens are the place you prepare food - to me that is their purpose - sadly that is rarely shown in all these beautiful kitchens. I LOVE ❤ the island - that is where it all takes place & the transfer station. If you have 2or 3 people working preparation, cooking & clean up, this is central station. Take everything you need out of the fridge (yes some items may need rinsing at the sink, but not all). When you take something out of the oven or off the cooktop you are only a step away from setting it down on the island. If you are a lone cook, then change position around the island, as you change role from prepping, to cooking, to plating up, to cleaning up, but the island means most things are in easy reach of the job. It is, as stated many times, all very personal & depends on your season in life (pureeing baby food & washing bottles, school lunches, etc) to actual season (stewing fruit, cooking turkey or cookies or preparing lots of salad), but what are the most repetitive things - a normal day, now & a bit longer term????? AND where is the food kept - pantry cupboards- why are they given so little consideration in the traditional 'work triangle'??? Just for the record, I like the first kitchen the best, because I don't like open shelves near the floor as in the second kitchen.😊
OMGosh! I thought I was the only one who thought that way. So many kitchens I see have islands smack in the middle of the kitchen work flow. I always say...nope...not spending the rest of my life going around a horizontal surface that with my family will only collect clutter.
Hoi Mark sweetie, I like the 3the one because it's bright and I love that + it's roomy ;-) because I'm very clumsy this is the best for me hihi. Thanks to you, I now know what I want and don't want in a kitchen! I already knew the color of the walls (in terms of paint): warm yellow, as they are now!! That is so beautiful and cheerful. So grateful for your advice, hun! If my dream ever will come true I do not know because of lots of problems, but we will see ................................... All the best and lots of love to you and the family from an old rebel-Pinkie
Actually, I wound up choosing kitchen 2 even though it wasn’t really my style because kitchen 1 had the wall ovens right up next to the fridge (BAD for the fridge compressors) and kitchen 3 had what looked like a really weak ventilation hood above a very powerful range (also very bad). So, I guess I disagree that they were essentially equivalent.
AH, HA! The trick question WAS a trick question! There WAS a bad kitchen, and it was the first one. There's a HUGE island between the fridge and the sink! Try making a meal in that kitchen - you get food out of the fridge, walk around the island to the sink, need something else from the fridge, back around the island, then to the stove, but people helping you need to move behind you at the stove to get from the fridge to the sink. It's kitchen triangle hell! Kitchen #2 had the fridge too far from the sink, and same for kitchen #3 (but less so) so maybe you SUBCONSCIOUSLY placed them in the video from worst to "slightly better"?
😳 Me with a kitchen of 9sqm, four doors, one window a chimney, an inbuild sink out of stone, a woodburner and only 1,20m to place 50cm deep cabinets. And no possibility to hang some. 🤣
Kit 1 island in way of getting between sink and cooktop. Kit 2 would work for me and is similar to mine. Kit 3 has prep space too far away from sink and fridge.
The 1st kitchen has the worst layout for functionality. The 2nd is my fav, but while the 3rd is ugly, it has the best layout though I'd swap locations of the sink and dishwasher for ease of loading and unloading the dw (and obvs. redo the color of the cabinets-ew. lol For me, I like to be able to stand at the dw and unload it right into cabinets I can reach from there, which is why the 2nd one while most beautiful to me, is not the most efficient. The 3rd also has the best triangle, work zones, and accessible storage. I don't like the 1st one as you're walking around the island no matter what you're doing and you have to carry all the dishes across the room to put them away. The 2nd one is workable assuming the dw is to the right of the sink and the dishes and utensils go directly opposite next to the stove, then it could work. The shelves though...lots of cleaning for those that I wouldn't love, but the aesthetic is gorgeous. The third one, while the ugliest-that's an easy fix, is the most efficient well designed kitchen of the 3, in my opinion IF you swapped the sink and dw spots. I also like the pot filler and that the sink and stove are on the same counter so you don't have to carry a full pot across a room to dump the boiling water from it. Much safer. Also better for a disabled person should one be disabled. It has drawers too rather than too many lower cabinets.
Can get expensive quick for non standard cabinets. I would rather spend that money on high quality drawer and cabinet hardware (hinges and soft close slides.)
If you decide to go that route, I’d pull the cabinets off the wall and run the countertop deeper. You’d have to brace behind but a lot cheaper. It’s not something I would normally do, but I can see why it might be a good idea especially for a slide in range. I normally make pantry cabinets that flank a fridge deeper to make the fridge look counter depth.
it's a terrible idea! how many countertop appliances do you have? custom size counter tops are more expensive, takes up more of a footprint in your kitchen, makes it harder to reach/clean items at the back, throws off the scale of upper cabinets. and is totally unnecessary.... there's still plenty of room to work on other areas of the counter, or you could put them away in cabinets and only take out for use or have a designated area, or appliance garage. I had a 3 ft.underused swath of countertop and decided to turn it into a breakfast station with toaster oven, coffee maker, electric kettle and accoutrements. worked out great
I did this with my last kitchen and it was unreallthe couple of inches in-depth made to the counter top space .I'd highly recommend.my new kitchen has deep er countertop as standard.its fabulous even a something .as small as the tap and sink has extra space It looks much better quality with at extra bit.
Well, it seems I did everything totally bass ackward. My "designer" was my sister, who although a doctor by profession has a pretty good eye. Her first sentence was "That wall has to go!" My brother in law said that this was good because she could "spend someone else's money. I didn't budget, didn't really make any lists, flew by the seat of my pants. My biggest "want", and I got it, was soapstone counter tops. The owner of the store where I got my cabinets did lay the kitchen cabinets out based on what I had in mind. I, not knowing any better at the time, trusted him. I think he did a good job. I decided where I wanted the sink, stove, dishwasher, & fridge. I decided that a door to the basement had to be moved. I also decided on a peninsula, a drawer microwave, upgrades to the electrical, lots of outlets, ceiling lighting brighter than a thousand burning suns, lots of linear feet of counter top, and real linoleum (not vinyl) flooring. I did make one small mistake on clearance on the pantry doors because I didn't account for the curved freezer handles and I'm about an inch too close so my pantry pull-outs only are about 50% effective. I can live with it for now. All in all I think I got very lucky. I flipping love this kitchen. I don't know if I lucked into a functional kitchen or if the old one was so bad, that anything would have been a huge improvement. I wouldn't recommend doing it the way I did after watching some of Mark's videos, but at least the kitchen gods seemed to be smiling on me through the process.
Flying by the seat of my pants is my life's motto, except when it comes to kitchen design. lol. Super glad you got a kitchen that you love! I love soapstone too.
I’m in a rental. The best I could do was paint and make it prettier. It’s so dysfunctional though. All my drawers are 3 inches deep x 7-9 wide, with cabinets that are just as wide. Absolutely. Useless. We did change out the nasty, long, florescent light that looked like it came out of an office. There literally was a rat’s nest above it, with a drop ceiling we didn’t anticipate. So, just installing a light, was far from “just installing a light.” It took like, 2 hours to install that new light!
5 дней назад
I really dislike a kitchen with the stove/burners in the island.
I’m in a rental. The best I could do was paint and make it prettier. It’s so dysfunctional though. All my drawers are 3 inches deep x 7-9 wide, with cabinets that are just as wide. Absolutely. Useless.
![Lil Uzi Vert - Chill Bae [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/D7F42F_JM3U/mqdefault.jpg)
- What the internet, and most people, and realtors, and TV, and and and... told me: you need an open kitchen with an island with seating so you can entertain table-guests while cooking and people can come sit closer while you're cooking...
- What I had: an open kitchen with an island
- What I hated about it: the fact that table guests kept talking to me when I went to the kitchen, that I felt the need to be entertaining and keep the kitchen manicured and mind I didn't set the range or clang my pots/utensils too loud instead of hyperfocussing on cooking, that I couldn't zone out for 5 minutes or ask somebody 'to help me in the kitchen' (talk privately
- What I now have: a closed off functional galley kitchen
- What everyone thinks: I devalued my home and will regret it
- What I think: I LOVE IT!
Oh, yes! I chose my "final" home in 2019 because it did NOT have an open plan. I need to focus in the kitchen, not entertain.
@@carolmelancon Exactly: lots of people hate living with an open kitchen, but they do because "you're supposed to" and "it increases the value of the home".
If you do not plan to sell= do what you want. The realtors are correct that it devalued your home for re-sale right now, but the trend is going back to closed off rooms because of covid and folks realizing the need and desire for more privacy/more traditional designed floorplans are coming back in vogue. I do believe totally closed off kitchens are being entertained too so you might be fine if this trend takes off. What does that matter if you are not selling? I tell my clients when they ask me my opinion this: Are you selling in the next 5 years? No? = do what you want because anything you are doing will be out of style anyways in 5-7 years and we will have to refresh to sell your house anyways. If the response is Yes, we plan on selling. I say let me come over and help you pick out what will get you the most at re-sale and make it easier to sell and sell fast for the highest amount in the shortest time when you are ready.
@@ShellSellars-Smith Nah, even if I were to sell within a few years I wouldn't care. Want an open kitchen? Well, act like you mean it and go find a house with an open kitchen then, plenty of them out there, don't waste my time trying to haggle as if it's suddenly less of an issue if the price is a bit lower. Want a closed off kitchen or don't care? Good, no reason to haggle because of some trends, you get what you like, give me the price I like.
There's nothing trendy about my home anyways, no reason to "refresh" in 1 or 10 years, plenty of people out there don't like trends, the rest is doomed to be a slave of their home. I'll sell to who appreciates my home for what it is or can be, not to some flipper who's clearly interested but uses every excuse to pay less than it's worth based on size, location and state of maintenance.
I hate how homes are being built as one giant room. I don't understand it at all.
I did not think I needed a designer but the ability to build your kitchen with software with the cabinet makers standard size units made the process easy. To be able to visualize in 2D and 3D is priceless. The software was so easy to use that the designer let me do all the layout. Not many designers will share this software but make sure your designer is proficient. Everything fit perfectly using this process. My kitchen has been finished for some time but I still love to visit your videos!
P.S. Lighting is important and is something one should consider early in the process. Ceiling, under cabinet, and even toe kick lights really can make your kitchen stand apart.
The third kitchen was the best because it had the most effective work triangle.
And the first one is terrible because it has the island in the middle of the work triangle 😂
@@FelipeBudinich Exactly
That was my opinion as well.
After a bad experience with a kitchen designer, we designed our new kitchen ourselves. (House was built in 1913.) The main thing we thought about is "where do people walk when preparing a meal?" End result: dishes, silver and glassware are in cabinets right near the dining-room door, and the dishwasher is right there too. There's a small sink next to the dishwasher, and a big sink further into the kitchen where food is prepped and big items (pots, cutting boards) are washed. A dirty pot goes 3 steps to the big sink and 4 steps back to a rack near the stove.
Small appliances are stored in a tall cupboard, and racks designed for the woodshop hold the tools we use over and over - measuring spoons and cups, rubber scrapers, kitchen scissors... anathema, I know. (We think the kitchen designer broke down when we told her to make a place for the cuckoo clock.)
I'm in the kitchen design mode. I was at a house with a beautiful kitchen. I talked to the husband who told me the kitchen was too small. Later I talked to the wife. She said the kitchen is too small. They didnt ask for my opinion but I knew what the problem was. The kitchen was too small for an island. All they had to do was remove the island and possibly replace flooring. It was a good kitchen if they got rid of the island. Sometimes problems can be solved cheaply.
Removing the island would present a new problem. No island 😂
I hate islands. I much prefer a simple table with chairs. Members of family and friends sit there while I'm cooking and the table looks a lot less bulky than an island.
I hired a kitchen designer who told me I could not have an island, and it would be too expensive to move location of appliances and sink. Their designs were all peninsula styled kitchens and I knew I could have an island. I designed my own kitchen and went with the elegant higher end look with customized deep uppers 16" deep and 42" tall uppers with traditional crown that matches my current crown. I picked appliance pulls for my drawers (this look is stellar on a 32" drawer) and used matching hardware in varying sizes in brushed nickel) keeping the hardware similar added to the classiness of the design. They also were pushing Quartz which (sorry) I think looks meh and is way overdone and reminds me of Corian counters. I used natural quartzite in White Pearl). I have my island and it's 10" foot long with 40 inches between the wall cabinets and 5' off refrigerator and there is a 3' long spot where the walkway behind the island is 33" (which is why I think they said I could not have this island as the desired walkway is 36" and they wanted 48" between the cabinets where I have 40"). They also kept the appliances in the same position, and I moved everything from where the sink it to where the refrigerator ended up and removed the double ovens and installed a 48" Italian range and added a pot filler. Plus, the biggest factor on why I went DIY was the time. They all said it would be 2 Months! By the time I finished this kitchen it cost me under 30K (their costs were 50-65K) and took 3 weeks from demo to finished. First rule of any project is to have everything on-site before you remove one thing and set up your makeshift kitchen (we used the dining room as our kitchen and used the laundry room as the sink/coffee station.) It was painful process, but I feel it would have been even more painful if I did not have control over schedule/contractors. Thankfully I am in real estate, so my contractors were on demand for me and costs reduced because of my relationships. My kitchen cabinets were modified flat packs with no pressboard in site and my installer was able to modify them all to fit perfectly. It is not the inset style high end look I really wanted but it's close. Everyone who comes to my house make comments on the elegant style. I highly recommend deeper upper cabinets if you have access to do this. Those few more inches are a lifesaver to me. I also feel paneling out every flat side helps get that higher end look without being expensive inset cabinets. Kitchen designers are stellar but I see trouble with execution of the designs all the time and overuse of quartz counters.
Thank you Mark❤️ You’re a Kitchen Designer Guru . I saved this video for my playlist😃🇨🇦 Excellent detailed advice.
Hey Debbie. Thanks so much for watching!! Appreciate the support and glad it was helpful.
@@MTKDofficial ❤️
Our kitchen is 2 years old, we live in a small 1949 Bungalow that still had its original kitchen. It was falling apart. We had a budget, we DIY'd everything, and I mean everything! (my husband and I both grew up in DIY families, sometimes I wish we didn't. lol) We found kitchen cabinets on F B market, the only cabinets that didn't get used were two small 12 inch wall cabinets. The other was a long bar, but we took that apart to also use in the kitchen.
There were "must have" items, and that was a large farmhouse sink, new appliances, (I wanted to shop scratch and dent, that didn't happen) and quartz counter tops. I know, big ticket items, but this was literally our very first "brand new" kitchen and we have been married 33 years. Plus the kitchen is small, we kept the same footprint, no knocking down walls, it's just not feasible.
We have a great layout, it functions very well, we now have an exhaust that goes outside for the stove, (YAY!) I also have a long stretch of counter for food prep. Before it was super choppy and I only had two feet. Literally. Unless you count using the top of the stove.
The huge mistake I made, was letting my husband pick appliances. And now I am stuck with an enormous fridge (way too big for the space) and a (stupid) microwave over the stove that barely gets used. Now, I did push back on these . . obviously I didn't win. But all in all ... we now have a beautiful, mostly new kitchen, we both love it, and I enjoy cooking way more than I did before!
Kitchen Islands - thumbs 👍 👌 😊
Kitchens are the place you prepare food - to me that is their purpose - sadly that is rarely shown in all these beautiful kitchens.
I LOVE ❤ the island - that is where it all takes place & the transfer station. If you have 2or 3 people working preparation, cooking & clean up, this is central station.
Take everything you need out of the fridge (yes some items may need rinsing at the sink, but not all).
When you take something out of the oven or off the cooktop you are only a step away from setting it down on the island.
If you are a lone cook, then change position around the island, as you change role from prepping, to cooking, to plating up, to cleaning up, but the island means most things are in easy reach of the job.
It is, as stated many times, all very personal & depends on your season in life (pureeing baby food & washing bottles, school lunches, etc) to actual season (stewing fruit, cooking turkey or cookies or preparing lots of salad), but what are the most repetitive things - a normal day, now & a bit longer term?????
AND where is the food kept - pantry cupboards- why are they given so little consideration in the traditional 'work triangle'???
Just for the record, I like the first kitchen the best, because I don't like open shelves near the floor as in the second kitchen.😊
Your advice is always spot on, I really appreciate all your tips - they have helped me design a great kitchen which is now nearly finished.
Awesome! Glad the video the was helpful. Great to hear about your project being close to completion.
I would never buy a house with a kitchen with an island between the refrigerator and the sink. Nope.
OMGosh! I thought I was the only one who thought that way. So many kitchens I see have islands smack in the middle of the kitchen work flow. I always say...nope...not spending the rest of my life going around a horizontal surface that with my family will only collect clutter.
Lots of good advice!
Linda, you told me money coming in and going out, but it was good to have it coming in… I have had some unexpected checks arrived that help a lot, 🥳🥳🥳
Awesome video, Mark! Lots of great advice and information. I'm sure that I will be watching this one again.😊
Thanks Kera!!
Hoi Mark sweetie, I like the 3the one because it's bright and I love that + it's roomy ;-) because I'm very clumsy this is the best for me hihi.
Thanks to you, I now know what I want and don't want in a kitchen! I already knew the color of the walls (in terms of paint): warm yellow, as they are now!! That is so beautiful and cheerful.
So grateful for your advice, hun!
If my dream ever will come true I do not know because of lots of problems, but we will see ...................................
All the best and lots of love to you and the family from an old rebel-Pinkie
New product idea. Napkins with grid lines for engineers.
You are so smart…keep up the good work 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 Have a very blessed weekend
4:03 fridge in the island 😂
Might you talk about refacing kitchen cabinets in detail?
I've talked about it in the past, but I'm not an expert in refinishing. I'd have to do some research myself.
Actually, I wound up choosing kitchen 2 even though it wasn’t really my style because kitchen 1 had the wall ovens right up next to the fridge (BAD for the fridge compressors) and kitchen 3 had what looked like a really weak ventilation hood above a very powerful range (also very bad). So, I guess I disagree that they were essentially equivalent.
AH, HA! The trick question WAS a trick question! There WAS a bad kitchen, and it was the first one. There's a HUGE island between the fridge and the sink! Try making a meal in that kitchen - you get food out of the fridge, walk around the island to the sink, need something else from the fridge, back around the island, then to the stove, but people helping you need to move behind you at the stove to get from the fridge to the sink. It's kitchen triangle hell!
Kitchen #2 had the fridge too far from the sink, and same for kitchen #3 (but less so) so maybe you SUBCONSCIOUSLY placed them in the video from worst to "slightly better"?
haha. That sounds how my brain might work. I tried to pick random kitchens, I promise. lol
So So good!!!
😳 Me with a kitchen of 9sqm, four doors, one window a chimney, an inbuild sink out of stone, a woodburner and only 1,20m to place 50cm deep cabinets. And no possibility to hang some. 🤣
Kit 1 island in way of getting between sink and cooktop. Kit 2 would work for me and is similar to mine. Kit 3 has prep space too far away from sink and fridge.
What do you think about putting a microwave in a walk in food pantry?
The 1st kitchen has the worst layout for functionality. The 2nd is my fav, but while the 3rd is ugly, it has the best layout though I'd swap locations of the sink and dishwasher for ease of loading and unloading the dw (and obvs. redo the color of the cabinets-ew. lol For me, I like to be able to stand at the dw and unload it right into cabinets I can reach from there, which is why the 2nd one while most beautiful to me, is not the most efficient. The 3rd also has the best triangle, work zones, and accessible storage. I don't like the 1st one as you're walking around the island no matter what you're doing and you have to carry all the dishes across the room to put them away. The 2nd one is workable assuming the dw is to the right of the sink and the dishes and utensils go directly opposite next to the stove, then it could work. The shelves though...lots of cleaning for those that I wouldn't love, but the aesthetic is gorgeous. The third one, while the ugliest-that's an easy fix, is the most efficient well designed kitchen of the 3, in my opinion IF you swapped the sink and dw spots. I also like the pot filler and that the sink and stove are on the same counter so you don't have to carry a full pot across a room to dump the boiling water from it. Much safer. Also better for a disabled person should one be disabled. It has drawers too rather than too many lower cabinets.
What is your opinion on deeper counter tops to be able to push appliances back?
Can get expensive quick for non standard cabinets. I would rather spend that money on high quality drawer and cabinet hardware (hinges and soft close slides.)
If you decide to go that route, I’d pull the cabinets off the wall and run the countertop deeper. You’d have to brace behind but a lot cheaper. It’s not something I would normally do, but I can see why it might be a good idea especially for a slide in range. I normally make pantry cabinets that flank a fridge deeper to make the fridge look counter depth.
it's a terrible idea! how many countertop appliances do you have? custom size counter tops are more expensive, takes up more of a footprint in your kitchen, makes it harder to reach/clean items at the back, throws off the scale of upper cabinets. and is totally unnecessary.... there's still plenty of room to work on other areas of the counter, or you could put them away in cabinets and only take out for use or have a designated area, or appliance garage. I had a 3 ft.underused swath of countertop and decided to turn it into a breakfast station with toaster oven, coffee maker, electric kettle and accoutrements. worked out great
I did this with my last kitchen and it was unreallthe couple of inches in-depth made to the counter top space .I'd highly recommend.my new kitchen has deep er countertop as standard.its fabulous even a something .as small as the tap and sink has extra space
It looks much better quality with at extra bit.
You have " instead of ' in won't. Otherwise, excellent content as always.
Well, it seems I did everything totally bass ackward. My "designer" was my sister, who although a doctor by profession has a pretty good eye. Her first sentence was "That wall has to go!" My brother in law said that this was good because she could "spend someone else's money. I didn't budget, didn't really make any lists, flew by the seat of my pants. My biggest "want", and I got it, was soapstone counter tops. The owner of the store where I got my cabinets did lay the kitchen cabinets out based on what I had in mind. I, not knowing any better at the time, trusted him. I think he did a good job. I decided where I wanted the sink, stove, dishwasher, & fridge. I decided that a door to the basement had to be moved. I also decided on a peninsula, a drawer microwave, upgrades to the electrical, lots of outlets, ceiling lighting brighter than a thousand burning suns, lots of linear feet of counter top, and real linoleum (not vinyl) flooring. I did make one small mistake on clearance on the pantry doors because I didn't account for the curved freezer handles and I'm about an inch too close so my pantry pull-outs only are about 50% effective. I can live with it for now. All in all I think I got very lucky. I flipping love this kitchen. I don't know if I lucked into a functional kitchen or if the old one was so bad, that anything would have been a huge improvement. I wouldn't recommend doing it the way I did after watching some of Mark's videos, but at least the kitchen gods seemed to be smiling on me through the process.
this made me laugh out loud so glad it worked out and gives the rest of us hope for being fly by the pants
Flying by the seat of my pants is my life's motto, except when it comes to kitchen design. lol. Super glad you got a kitchen that you love! I love soapstone too.
I suggest proof reading your kitchen design consultation page. Attention to detail, is one of the most important elements in designing a kitchen.
Thanks for the heads up. I will do that immediately.
I’m in a rental. The best I could do was paint and make it prettier. It’s so dysfunctional though. All my drawers are 3 inches deep x 7-9 wide, with cabinets that are just as wide. Absolutely. Useless.
We did change out the nasty, long, florescent light that looked like it came out of an office.
There literally was a rat’s nest above it, with a drop ceiling we didn’t anticipate. So, just installing a light, was far from “just installing a light.” It took like, 2 hours to install that new light!
I really dislike a kitchen with the stove/burners in the island.
Bridge in the island! 😜 Please tell me you've seen this with a client. 💀
Imagine!? Kitchen of the year award. lol
I’m in a rental. The best I could do was paint and make it prettier. It’s so dysfunctional though. All my drawers are 3 inches deep x 7-9 wide, with cabinets that are just as wide. Absolutely. Useless.
ouch. those drawers are tiny. We should team up on the landlord and see if we can't get you a new kitchen. lol