Open letter to homebuilders

[gemfyre]

Kitchens need storage and prep space - plenty of it. Too many houses have neither.

Comments

[stonelizard.livejournal.com]

Ugh, tell me about it! Love my house but good god, whoever designed it obviously didn't cook - there is just NO SPACE :)

[daynavon.livejournal.com]

Ugh yeah, our's has noooo storage and if we even want to put a small kitchen table in there we'd have to squeeze around it.. wtf home designer.

[stawberi.livejournal.com]

Thank goodness for building your own home - our kitchen has loads of bench space, and room to put more cupboards in if we wanted to. <3

[jet-ski.livejournal.com]

some people don't cook though....

but it explains why renos in kitchens and bathrooms add the most value to a tired old house...

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

THIS. THIS THIS THIS. THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS. THIS. OH MY GOD THIS.

Seriously, we asked for a heap more bench space when we saw our plans, twice as much as what was there, so much more we couldn't actually fit *more* in if we wanted to because of the size of our house.

It is still not enough.

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

Seems to be an inordinate amount of crappy kitchens compared to the number of people who don't cook.

[jet-ski.livejournal.com]

maybe, I'm trying to figure out if people don't cook because their kitchens are too crappy :P

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

Possibly. I know in Narrogin my kitchen was crap, but with a few tables and low cupboards I arranged things to make it usable for me, because I NEED my kitchen.

[pooxs.livejournal.com]

not just bench space, *USABLE* bench space. my kitchen is a u shape, and of course there is heaps of bench space in the corners, but it sits there empty as I can't use it!!

benchspace sink benchspace
benchspace oven/stove
pantry benchspace <-- the only bit I can use!

[pooxs.livejournal.com]

but some people don't cook because they have crappy kitchens in which it is impossible

I hate cooking so I'm probably a 'don't cook' type person, but I would be more inclined to cook if there was a better area to cook in

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

If I end up building I imagine I'll do the same.

[firvulag.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of the extension kitchen in a place I grew up in. You couldn't be sitting at the kitchen table and open the oven. you were either cooking or eating. not both. and the table doubled as the prep area. and dinner table as it was the only eating area.

Though it was a big old 4 room colonial house that had had a kitchen laundry bathroom extension added to it, but it was certainly a shoddy job in the design department. we got it extended again to double the size of the kitchen/dining area, and it worked wonders for the workability of the house.

[firvulag.livejournal.com]

yup, this also is a major problem. there is little point to benchspace you can't reach. It's great for kettle/toaster/whatever you keep out appliances, but you can't make stuff on it. and enough room to cut a sandwich isn't prep area to make dinner that's for sure.

[pooxs.livejournal.com]

yeah, I've got my microwave in one corner, and my toaster and dirty dishes in the other corner.

I usually put my chopping board on the stove top to cut!

[firvulag.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of when a friend of mine did the renovations of their kitchen, he went to IKEA and drew up the plans of what he wanted. They were shocked to see how he used up the space and said they hadn't seen anyone use that small a space so well before. But he loves his cooking too and plans on having a 2 oven kitchen when he builds.

Half depth cupboards ceiling down to ~2 ft above the bench. full depth cupboards from bench to floor. Single sink with just 1 side drainer. dishwasher and oven below benches. hotplates very near one end of one side of the U shape. small but workable, rather than large and unmanagable.

[firvulag.livejournal.com]

Our microwave hasn't been in the kitchen proper in our last 2 places. Here it's more in the dining side of the kitchen/dining room, and in the previous place it was in the wall unit (of ours) that was on the other side of the dining room cos it couldn't fit into the microwave alcove. (my pet hate in kitches - microwave nooks that would only fit the smallest of microwaves, and are above my shoulder height)

[lotus79.livejournal.com]

Looking to grab first homebuyer's at the last minute?

I hate my kitchen for that reason. And the wtf of the powerpoint placement--TWO powerpoints in the whole kitchen, and diagonally opposite to the fridge alcove. Good thing I have a handy live-in electrician to add extra ones.

I've always said if I owned this house number one thing would be rip out the kitchen. And I don't even cook. (Number two thing would be the bathroom.)

[lotus79.livejournal.com]

Don't even have a microwave nook - ours is on top of the fridge. I hate standing on tiptoes to get things in and out of it, and it means it doesn't get cleaned nearly as often as it should because it's a pain in the ass to find a chair to stand on.