Reimagining the Kitchen: How feasible?

Ari Meermans

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I've been unhappy with my small kitchen lately—too little counter space (even though I have a large center island) and general dissatisfaction with my current stove. I told the spouse the other night that if I lived alone, I could happily exist with only a couple of burners and my existing countertop convection oven. I have the usual portable/countertop appliances, as well: crockpots in various sizes, a microwave, an air fryer, etc. But suppose . . . just suppose I could get rid of the range oven. That would net another 3 feet of counter space. His Pragmaticship responded with, "What about baking? For things like cakes and large cookie sheets?" Well, there is that, I suppose.

Today (serendipity) Pocket recommended an article for my 'reading pleasure' and it set me to pondering 'what-if': "Why top restaurants are getting rid of stoves (and why you might, too)".

For me, the value of the article rests only in the 'what-if' factor, so if you could reimagine your kitchen, what are your must-haves? Would tech like the portable induction burners touted in the article be on your wish list?
 

Cobalt Jade

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I couldn't live without my gas range. I use all the burners simultaneously and rely on the oven for baked goods and roasting.

If there is such a thing as a self-cleaning blender, I would be all for it! I use my blender a lot and it's such a pain to clean.
 

Ari Meermans

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I've always dreamed of a kitchen with commercial-style appliances: multiple ovens, warming drawers (my last oven had one and I miss that sucker), a walk-in cooler, and the list goes on; I still collect those ideas on my Pinterest board. My lifestyle doesn't support the dream, so I don't know why; I just do. Maybe it's just my current mood causing the article to trigger possibilities. It does make me wonder, though, what future tech holds in store.
 

kikazaru

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I couldn't get the article to load for me (probably on my end since I'm a computer "issues" magnet) but if I had my kitchen to do over, I'd make it bigger. It's fairly small and I hate having cluttered counters which I have always, since storage is an issue. And speaking of storage, I would also incorporate storage in the kickplate. I've seen kitchens that have done this and they are able to store their cookie sheets, short sided pans and the like under there. I think I'd also have a Lazy Susan in my corner cupboard. When we built the kitchen I was adamant that I didn't want one because I knew I needed to store more than they'd accommodate. Well, the shelving is broken from the weight of the crap I've shoved in there and every once in a while, when I can not longer stand the fact that the door doesn't close properly, I have to crawl into it to clean it. A Lazy Susan would solve that. And since we are wishing, I'd also have a pantry and an island. The best kitchen I've ever "worked" in was at a friend's vacation home we stayed at. The kitchen was not particularly large but it was open. It was U shaped with counter and stools on one side, sink/dishwasher in the middle and stove and fridge on the other side. The island was smack dab in the centre and it worked fabulously. I was able to pivot from the sink, to the stove and fridge to the island, it made meal prep a breeze. And lastly, I'd buy a commercial dishwasher - the ones that sound like a brass band marching thru a war zone - but only for two minutes. Mine is not particularly loud but you can hear it for the 40 or so minutes that it's washing. I'd rather have it loud for a short time and just get it over with.
 

Ari Meermans

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I couldn't get the article to load for me (probably on my end since I'm a computer "issues" magnet) but if I had my kitchen to do over, I'd make it bigger. It's fairly small and I hate having cluttered counters which I have always, since storage is an issue. And speaking of storage, I would also incorporate storage in the kickplate. I've seen kitchens that have done this and they are able to store their cookie sheets, short sided pans and the like under there. I think I'd also have a Lazy Susan in my corner cupboard. When we built the kitchen I was adamant that I didn't want one because I knew I needed to store more than they'd accommodate. Well, the shelving is broken from the weight of the crap I've shoved in there and every once in a while, when I can not longer stand the fact that the door doesn't close properly, I have to crawl into it to clean it. A Lazy Susan would solve that. And since we are wishing, I'd also have a pantry and an island. The best kitchen I've ever "worked" in was at a friend's vacation home we stayed at. The kitchen was not particularly large but it was open. It was U shaped with counter and stools on one side, sink/dishwasher in the middle and stove and fridge on the other side. The island was smack dab in the centre and it worked fabulously. I was able to pivot from the sink, to the stove and fridge to the island, it made meal prep a breeze. And lastly, I'd buy a commercial dishwasher - the ones that sound like a brass band marching thru a war zone - but only for two minutes. Mine is not particularly loud but you can hear it for the 40 or so minutes that it's washing. I'd rather have it loud for a short time and just get it over with.

Corner lazy susans are great. Umpteen years ago, I had to totally gut a kitchen (oven fire*) and got to redesign it to suit myself. I installed a corner lazy susan for my mixing bowls and casserole dishes and friggin' LOVED it. Another thing I did—which caused raised eyebrows and which I'd do again in a heartbeat, if I had the money—was to install large drawers under the counters instead of doored shelving. Made access to the back of the storage a snap. I bought an oven-on-top range/oven combo and I loved that thing, and that gave me more storage underneath. I changed the layout too to get rid of wasted space and turned the area where the fridge had once stood into a pantry. I haven't had a kitchen that worked so well for me since. It's probably the reason I focus more on dream kitchens than on dream homes.


* One of the many reasons I haven't owned an electric stove since.
 
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L M Ashton

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I've been using induction burners since, oh, 2012. I bought my first portable one that year - a single burner. I loved it. I paid SGD32 for it, or about USD23. It started failing a couple of years ago, but to be fair, I did accidentally drown it in deep frying oil, so...

I've used gas as well, and radiant heat burners. My preference is for induction, then gas, then anything else at the bottom. I love induction. LOVE. I don't know that I really care about induction as a set-in piece vs. portable. I only care that I have induction.

Drawers instead of shelves underneath. This is absolutely necessary for me. I have a bad back and problem joints. If something's stuck in the behind of a bottom shelf, I will never see it ever again.

Dishwasher. I would love to have a single shelf dishwasher. There's only two of us, so not a lot of dishes, so this would be ideal.

Oh, I have a much longer list of things I want and how I want my kitchen to be, but...
 

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If space and money wasn't an issue: extra freezer space and a pizza oven.
 

Whiteout

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My stove is crazy, it’s a gas burner but made in 1917!!

But we do not use the antiquated oven, just the stove top burners. Being old, it is 6 inches lower than a modern stove. That is nice. For baking we have a modern electric wall oven

one cool thing we did is put our chest freezer into one of our islands so we don’t have to go to the basement or mud room to get stuff out of it there.

I am a fan of our walk in pantry too but it’s a big kitchen I admit so kind of easy to fit stuff in (24 ft by 24 ft)
 
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Chris P

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I saw the pic in the article and my first thought was "I'd lose my cabinets!"

My appliances are showing their age, so I have been thinking about this.

Biggest wish: perfect layout between prep surfaces, trash, and sink. It doesn't need to be big, it just needs to flow.

Next biggest wish: Under-cabinet lights under EVERY cabinet. I'm tired of these under-some-random-cabinet lights.

Sink: A wider one with two basins.

Range: I would like a burner that goes all the way under my largest, 5 qt/13 inch skillet. No more stuff burning in the middle and not bubbling at the edges!

Oven: One of those with two compartments, a big one and a little one. I so rarely bake turkeys or something big enough to need a full 2 by 3 foot or whatever oven. Just something smaller requiring less juice would be nice.

Microwave: Meh. Rarely use one.

My charcoal grill out back: that's'a stayin'! Although figuring out how to keep the chicken on the rotisserie so it doesn't slip off and burn on one side with the skewer spinning in the cavity is something I'm going to have to figure out.
 

frimble3

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My stove is crazy, it’s a gas burner but made in 1917!!

But we do not use the antiquated oven, just the stove top burners. Being old, it is 6 inches lower than a modern stove. That is nice. For baking we have a modern electric wall oven

one cool thing we did is put our chest freezer into one of our islands so we don’t have to go to the basement or mud room to get stuff out of it there.

I am a fan of our walk in pantry too but it’s a big kitchen I admit so kind of easy to fit stuff in (24 ft by 24 ft)
Brilliant idea about the chest freezer - so many people stick them in the basement, when the chest freezer is usually used for heavy or bulky items that are a PITA to haul up or down stairs.
 

frimble3

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I saw the pic in the article and my first thought was "I'd lose my cabinets!"

My appliances are showing their age, so I have been thinking about this.

Biggest wish: perfect layout between prep surfaces, trash, and sink. It doesn't need to be big, it just needs to flow.

Next biggest wish: Under-cabinet lights under EVERY cabinet. I'm tired of these under-some-random-cabinet lights.

Sink: A wider one with two basins.

Range: I would like a burner that goes all the way under my largest, 5 qt/13 inch skillet. No more stuff burning in the middle and not bubbling at the edges!

Oven: One of those with two compartments, a big one and a little one. I so rarely bake turkeys or something big enough to need a full 2 by 3 foot or whatever oven. Just something smaller requiring less juice would be nice.

Microwave: Meh. Rarely use one.

My charcoal grill out back: that's'a stayin'! Although figuring out how to keep the chicken on the rotisserie so it doesn't slip off and burn on one side with the skewer spinning in the cavity is something I'm going to have to figure out.
Re: perfect prep layout:
How about 'prep area' (big tools on wall behind, little ones in drawers below. Then, a sink-shaped opening with a trashholder w. bag underneath, then a counter/dish area and a sink (double basined) and a drying rack on the far side.
So, you prep the stuff, scrape the waste into the trashholder, put the prepped stuff wherever it's going, and the dishes in the dish area to be washed in the sink. Not to hard to redirect at that stage, wash-by-hand or machine wash if you put the washer under the dish area.
 
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Whiteout

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We have two islands in our kitchen. The smaller one holds the chest freezer and a place for the kids to sit at a stool to do their homework while Mom cooks, but also a double island. The cool part is a drop down counter that can be lowered so we can walk between the two islands to take food to the dinner table...

Or...

When having family over, it can be flipped up giving us a buffet style counter top that is 13 feet long. That really works well.