More Cabinet Stuff and Range Hood

I'm pretty sure this will be boring for many of you but I believe that the heart and soul of the home is the kitchen.  At least for me it is.  It's where I best express my love for my family in the food that I make and prepare for them.  It's the room I spend the most time in and the room I am most comfortable in.  That being said, the cabinets cannot be just a mishmash of whatever fits goes.  It has to make sense and it has to be in the right place for the task I am performing.  So like with the old house I took my time designing my kitchen.  I needed it to make sense to me and the way I go about working in it.

Now most professional designers will talk about the work triangle, and that is sink, range and refrigerator.  For me to have the smallest triangle doesnt make any sense.  I want the stove and range as far away from each other as I can get them and the sink in between the 2.  I loved, loved, loved my old kitchen.  It was perfect for me and a LOT of food came out of that kitchen and I fed literally hundreds of people in the 20 years we were there. 

So the old kitchen was an "L" shaped affair and this one is similar but a bit abbreviated in that it's got a shorter upright.  But I also have a whole room that is a pantry and a much larger island so I have plenty of counter space.  

So this is my old kitchen set up.  I had to take this from the AirBnB page cause I couldn't put my hands on a picture that I had.  But you get the idea of a backward kind of L.

Hers the new kitchen.  On your left in the empty space between the 2 cabinets will be my range.  Sink is under the window and fridge goes in that big hole to the right of those 2 upper cabinets.  Island is front and center.  

Heres a picture with the range hood now in place.  

The cabinet to the left of the range is for cookie sheets, cupcake tins and cake rounds. 

Here is a picture from the top.  And this "drawer" slides out.  

The side of the island that faces out toward the dining and living area will hold most, if not all of my cookbooks.  Overflow can go into pantry if necessary.

On the other side is two cabinets with 4 sliders in each.  One cabinet will hold all the baking supplies, measuring cups, spoons, specialty tools, rolling pins and parchment paper.  Other cabinet will hold nothing but cooking items and the lower levels will hold casserole dishes, pyrex bakers and my 2 cutting boards by Boos.  

Next to that will be my undercounter fridge and freezer drawers by Sub-Zero.  Go big or go home!

Directly across from that is my stand up pantry with various adjustable shelves and several drawers.  This will hold Flour, sugars, spices and herbs, salts, peppers, oatmeal and cream of wheat.  The drawers will hold some pots and pans and their lids.  To the right of the dishwasher are drawers that will have silverware, napkins dish towels and probably a drawer devoted to wax paper, aluminum foil and plastic wrap.  Next to the stove to the right will be all the cast iron skillets and stock pots and the cubbie in the corner will probably house the  food processor, my second kitchenaid stand mixer, blender and whatever else I deem necessary.

Upper cabinets will be dishes, everyday and good China.  Above the cubbie for the microwave, to the right of the stove is for the mishmash of plates and bowls that can be used in the microwave.  My everyday dishes I received after my mom.passed.  Its Wedgewood and made long before microwaves were an everybody has one appliance.  I may change my mind about some of these things once I start working and find somethings make more sense over here rather than over there but for right now I think this is the plan going forward.

So something else that we found out much later than should of happened was that we were going to be responsible for putting up the range hood.  Once again, thank you Ronnie!  Normally this is not that complicated of a job BUT because our home is so tight ventilation wise and we use a wood burning stove for heat we have to have something called return air.  That is air that can naturally enter the house, not sucked in.  So in order to do this without making yet another hole in the side is to share the same space that the vent hood uses.  So you have a pipe within a pipe.  The inner pipe is the exhaust from the range hood and the outer pipe is where the return air enters the house.  

Heres a picture of bob installing the inner pipe that carries the exhaust from the range to the outside.  

This is up in the attic where you see that big shiny smooth sided pipe that has the smaller exhaust pipe inside  it.

And there you see it where it hits the wall.  

And that dryer looking vent thing is where it vents to the outside.  Another job we were both dreading finished.  

Granite people are supposed to be here this week measuring.  Our well man Charlie should be here midweek to install water conditioner and the paint crew will finish up with the little bit that they have left to do.