I’ve lived in a number of places and had good and bad kitchens, and have also been on tours of many dream homes for up to $10 million and I inevitably come back with ideas but also concerns about the kitchen.
My husband thinks there should be a cooking robot to make food. He loves my food and I find this concept to be an insult unless he wants peanut butter sandwiches all day, every day. I find cooking to be more of an art than a science.
First off, those people who buy the $10 million house are not going to be using the kitchen so open concept is fine but they should have one in back for the chef and brigade, especially as the home has a movie theater, steam room and locker room for 20, three front-loading washers/dryers and heating elements for 20 pairs of ski boots. Oh, and ski-in/ski-out access.
I prefer a small, open galley kitchen. Many “dream homes” have as large a kitchen as possible and most suffer an extreme loss of functionality. When one watches home shows on the weekend, everyone says “the kitchen is so small.” Yes, but is it functional?
We now have a small, open galley kitchen with stools on the outside for breakfast and for guests. There is not nearly enough cupboard space and most is so high I can’t use it without a stool which I keep but prefer not to take out regularly. There’s a “tech center” right off the kitchen and I’ve a 6′ dark metal (think Container Store) utility cart in there with wheels and brakes. It holds a pasta machine, meat grinder attachment, many heritage bowls, colanders and measuring sets for dry and wet ingredients and pots and pans hanging on each side. Also, I designed it as my pantry and my husband and I placed four 6′ racks along the walls, one side for flour and spices and savory items, plus oils and vinegars and canned goods. The other is for cereal and sweets, plus a top shelf for Marsala and brandy and the back for dog stuff. I initially wanted to close it off with a screen but as long as I keep things organized, I don’t mind if guests know that I actually cook, and we eat, food.
In an ideal situation I’d keep a smaller kitchen with a useful island and a butler’s pantry (swinging door) with glass-fronted shelves and a marble countertop for pastry, also a wall of outlets so I can keep certain appliances at the ready. When I look at a place and the refrigerator door opens the wrong way against a wall I know that’s a time-waster, also that the owner cut corners elsewhere because he didn’t care about functionality.
What is most important in a small kitchen is getting whatever one can off the countertops to leave prep space. I’ve a power strip attached to the utility cart for a juicer and spice grinder. All my important knives save one are on a magnetic wall mount so I don’t have a knife block taking up space. The one I use and love is a ceramic santoku that I keep in a knife guard in the silverware drawer because it is not magnetic.
The dried spices I use most are also on the wall so they don’t take up space. I strongly believe that one should have on hand only the appliances one uses regularly displayed on the kitchen counter for easiest use. Mine are: KitchenAid 5 qt. mixer (25 years old and going strong); utensil jar with spatulas and wooden spoons and my favorite sauce whisk and paint brushes; KitchenAid food processor, 11 qt., a wedding present 10 years ago from my in-laws; and a KitchenAid blender. Also a toaster, and an electric tea kettle. I fell in love with this while living abroad and when in the Rockies at 6.500 feet above sea level, it got our tea water hotter more quickly than a kettle on the stove.
If we made coffee, rice, espresso, pasta every day choices would be different but these are mine and it makes easy work of our meals. The lesson learned is that finding a kitchen that fits you, is functional and makes your life easy is better than finding the largest kitchen you can. We carved out space for a pantry and everything has its place.
Even my m-i-l, who loves her big kitchen, re-did it last year and while she’s not a fan of islands, brought out a lovely granite-topped addition that makes the kitchen better for serving big family gatherings, as well as it allows us “landing space” for our three-day Thanksgiving cooking marathons. Over the past ten years we’ve developed our own rhythm and space for cooking together, even though she’s moved some things around due to new storage space on her “non-island.” I’ll get used to it! Cheers, Dee
Cooking with Dee 