I sold a big 100 year old Victorian house to build this. It was mainly for the kitchen . I think this kitchen cuts cooking & clean up time in half. The concrete floor slants to a drain under the sink. The wings of the sink/counter combo drain toward the sink. The slated shelves above & below the sink replace cabinets & drain baskets. I wash dishes, rinse & put them away. I was tired of drying dishes, moving them in & out of a dishwasher, in & out of cabinets. I was tired of wiping up water. And when the cabinets we installed in that Victorian kitchen needed refinishing 15 years later, I didn't feel like sanding wood cabinets or replacing formica again. The comment I like best about this kitchen came from a carpenter, "Now that's a kitchen a man could cook in!"
The 11' wide sink, stainless steel counter combo was made by a restaurant fabricator. Both wings drain to the sink. It could also have been done in Corian. Found the turquoise glass at Wal-mart. magnetic strips hold spoons & utensils. The rack of cutlery hangs on a hook. This kitchen does have lots of storage. The ceilings & cabinets are !0' high. But I'm after simple elegance: one set of dishes & glasses, as pretty as possible, one set of pans pretty enough to serve in.
There were ideas that didn't get into this kitchen. I had intended the bathroom wall to extend over the side of the refrigerator and be a writing wall. When the kids were little it was a life saver to let them draw on the refrigerator while we cooked dinner after a tiring day at work. We could watch them and they were not underfoot, but occupied. Having taught children art and seeing how creative they get when given big surfaces to draw on, I wanted to give them an entire wall. I also thought it could be a handy central message center if the phone hung nearby. "Dear, call your boss." could be scribbled hurridly where it could be readily seen. The space proved a little less in reality than on paper!
