Necessary ingredients to kitchen design
The cover of the Boston Globe magazine of Jan. 11, 2008 shows a gorgeous room -- a huge kitchen with enormous windows over the double sink, tasteful slate countertops, a copper pot rack hanging over an island cooktop, open shelves stacked with choice crockery. The wall cabinets have gleaming glass doors. Some people look at it and think, "I wish it could be mine." I look at it and think, "Thank heaven it's not mine."
As an architect who cooks regularly for my family of five, I'm always interested in lavishly illustrated "dream" kitchens. They're beautiful, flooded with daylight, and fitted with the latest appliances -- but too many of them just don't work. Of course, if you get take-out on the nights that you don't dine out, the following observations may not be important. But if you actually cook and clean up afterward, the kitchen layout and product choices are important.
Here's how to avoid some common mistakes I've seen:
1.) Resist installing too many open shelves. Such storage may make the kitchen seem more serious (like a restaurant kitchen), more informal (colorful cans and whimsically shaped pasta on display), or more personal (a place for cherished and handsome serving pieces), but the dust that accumulates on open shelves is not regular dust. It is dust kept in place by particles of grease, a side effect of stir-frying (even when using a hood). Solution Limit your open shelving, and try to place it far away from the active cooking area.
2.) Stick with the shine. Countertops are losing their polish as more home renovators opt for those with a subtle honed finish. The result is a more natural look, but it also makes it easier to see every spilled grain of salt. Even after you clean a honed top, you can still see a few flecks of something you missed, plus streaks from wiping it. A polished finish is more forgiving. Solution Bring home a sample piece of the countertop you have chosen. In bright light, sprinkle it liberally with flour, salt, pepper, wine, oil, and tomato paste. Wipe (don't scrub) it, and make sure you like the result.
3.) Remember: Solid cabinet doors exist for a reason. Everyone loves glass doors in the kitchen. They add lightness and texture, but you aren't going to want to look at a jumble of sippy cups, cereal boxes, and cat-food cans, even through textured glass. Solution Make an inventory of the kitchen items you want to display, and get glass doors only for the cabinets that will showcase those things.
4.) Don't dis the dishwasher. In many homes, the dishwasher (like the one shown above) isn't in the right place; it should always be positioned next to the sink. Another mistake: Siting dishwashers so that clean dishes can't be put away until you place them on a counter, then close the dishwasher door, so that you can stand close enough to the cabinet to put the dishes away, or siting the dishwasher so that you must go back and forth to a distant cabinet to stow the dishes. Solution Locate the dish cabinet near (not above) the dishwasher, and make sure it is placed so you can reach that cabinet easily when the dishwasher door is open.
5.) Skip the island cooktop. You love the idea of cooking on your island cooktop while you chat with guests seated opposite -- but after you make those sauteed carrots with ginger, you notice a fine haze of grease on everything within 48 inches of the burners, including the pans hanging from the copper rack. Hot vapors like to rise; they don't usually cooperate with a down-draft vent unless it's strong enough to pull your apron strings. An overhead hood at an island does a somewhat better job if it's low enough, but then it might block your view. (Wall hoods work best, because they don't have to fight the crosscurrents of air at an island.) Solution If you stir-fry or saute often, the hood should be over your cooktop, preferably against a wall.
6.) Think sink. To drain a pot of boiling pasta, you shouldn't have to walk far from the stove to the sink. Children and dogs like to tag along when you're cooking, so it's safest to keep those hot spots close together. Make sure your layout keeps casual kitchen traffic from crossing critical pathways. Solution Try connecting the stove and sink with a small run of counter, straight or L-shaped, over which you can hold a hot pot if you want to avoid carrying it over the floor.
7.) Make sure your new sink isn't too small to soak your largest pots and pans. This problem is more likely with a double sink -- two identically sized side-by-side sinks, neither big enough to soak the broiler pan. Solution Measure the inside of a sink before you buy it; make sure it's a comfortable depth and at least 20 inches from side to side (more if you have a giant turkey roaster).
Architect Leah Greenwald is working on a book about kitchen design. Send comments to designing@globe.com.
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