The kitchen

[stewball]

Thanks!

LTS3, my husband works for a kitchen cabinet manufacturer, so we got our cabinets at an excellent price. That cabinet to the left of the fridge is one huge piece; the bottom four drawers do glide out and back and, they're the best things on earth. Before we had that, I had a dark closet with not nearly enough shelf space. And I had to do what you do.....every time I needed something, I had to pull out 30 things to get what I wanted and then put everything away again. It made me crazy. This is so much easier; all I do is pull a drawer out, get what I want and then push it back again (or not push it back, as the case may be). It's wonderful. The top of the cabinet is three shelves; I usually end up having to jump on a chair to get to the very top shelf, but it's OK as I keep things up there that I don't use that often.

When we did the kitchen, we kind of worked with a kitchen designer. The reason I say "kind of" is because I liked the overall concept in the kitchen. I liked the work triangle and I liked the way things were set up. But it was this dull, dingy, dark cave kind of place. So we talked to a designer and he put it all together for us, including spacers (because there were some spaces in between some of the cabinets to get them in fit properly in the space we had). I wouldn't have been able to do. But I wanted to keep the same overall concept.

That pantry cabinet works so well, in fact, that when we do our bathroom over, Rick wants to put one in the bathroom, too, for storage space. Right now, we have a double closet in the bathroom, but it doesn't have nearly the space that he thinks a pantry cabinet would have. There is an incredible amount of wasted space in closets! He is trying to figure out what cabinets will work in the bathroom as it's cheaper to buy them through his work than it is to use bathroom cabinetry. And they have some beautiful designs for their cabinets to use in bathrooms, using drawers and China cabinets with the pantry cabinet, so it will work. Right now we have one sink and the rest of that wall space is taken up by this huge double closet that is in the way more than anything. It takes up an incredible amount of space and our bathroom is small to start with. In the bathroom, the very bottom of that pantry cabinet will be a place for one of the cats' litter boxes. And a complete shelf overtop, so it should be OK. There will be a hole for the kids to hop in and out. 

Another of Rick's ideas was to put more drawers in the kitchen. One of my pet peeves was that every time I needed a pan or Dutch oven, I had to get down on the floor and root around in the cabinet for the pan I wanted and, 9 times out of 10, the pan I wanted was in the very back of the cabinet, so again, pull everything out to get what I needed. Those drawers at the end of the kitchen are for pots and pans. The top drawer is one of my silverware drawers and the bottom two drawers hold pans. All I need do is pull out the drawer, grab the pan I want and go. It's so much nicer. I'm 61 years old now, and it's getting more difficult to get up off the floor some days when my back is really acting up.

We probably should have put in drawers instead of the cabinet to the right of the fridge. The top drawer there holds my rolling pins, candy thermometer, dough bench, and measuring spoons. That cabinet has two shelves for storage containers and, once again, I find myself on the floor, rooting around, looking for the storage container that I want. (Usually with a cat or two, or now The Beast by my side or searching through the cabinet for.....whatever. I don't what it is about furkids who think that their mom on the floor is loads of fun! :lol3:  )

ETA: I love my fridge. Gosh, but I love my fridge.

I love your fridge as well.

 

[stewball]

Nice kitchen Are those glide out shelves in the cabinet to the left of the fridge? Were they custom made / installed? Do they work well? I have this weird cabinet in the kitchen that it bascially a hole where things get lost in. It's tall split into an upper and lower section with doors, narrow (a little more than a foot wide), and very deep (if I stick my arm in I can't reach the back) :doh3: In order to get anything out I have to take out like 30 things get what I need, and then put everything back :doh3: :doh3: Big PITA.  Glide out shelves would be ideal but the cabinet doors are weird in that the door frame is half an inch smaller than the interior width of the cabinet itself. So I lose at least that much cabinet space.

The pretzles look yummy 

My kitchen isn't even worth talking about so I won't.

 

[rubysmama]

 
This is definitely a green. It's called Light Sage and it is an Olympic paint (Lowes)

 Thanks Winchester.  It's a really pretty colour.  I'll have to bring home some light sage paint chips just to see if the colour would work in my kitchen or not.

 

[Winchester]

It's a gorgeous color and I really like it. When/if I find the backsplash that I want for the kitchen walls, it will cover up the paint and I'm probably going to miss that color.

 

[Winchester]

 
The builder put lazy susans in the lower corner cabinets in our kitchen and the top corner one.  They are SO helpful!  I keep my pots and pans in the one closest to the stove.  Baking dishes, mixing bowls and things go in the one next to the island.  I keep spices and some baking things (like baking powder, cocoa powder) in the top one.  I think I have some tea in that one too; on the top level  I need to do some rearranging because I've got more tea in the next cabinet over where I also keep medicines and knives.  We put a magnetic lock on that cabinet; to keep the kids out.  I also have one section that is 3 drawers instead of a draw and a door.  I keep the kitchen linens and some things like my silicone pastry mat in the bottom.  The middle is utensils and cooking gadgets. The top has an extra large unit for silverware and things like that.  It's VERY functional!!

I like the idea of the pantry cabinet in a bathroom!  That could really make things easier!  I had a leak under my bathroom sink and I pulled out all kinds of stuff that got lost under the cabinet.  I have baskets; but even with them; things get "lost."  My kid's bathroom has a nice deep closet. DH wants to make a space for the litter box in there too.  Possibly accessed through a "cat door" in the wall to the hallway; but opening the closet for cleaning.  If/when you get that closet done; I'd LOVE to see pictures!!  

Those pretzels look AMAZING!!

My sister did her kitchen over around the same time we did ours. She kept her cabinets....her house is circa 1800s, something like that and back then, when things were made, they were made right and with good wood. Her cabinets are original, but they are still in excellent shape. So she had a large pantry cabinet like ours custom-made to match her original cabinets. The guy did a beautiful job; the cabinet looks perfect, like it's been there forever, which is what she wanted. She does not have glide-out shelves; she has regular shelving.

Anyway, the bottom of that cabinet (the lower shelf was not used) is a litter box area with the door for the cats at the one end. You'd never really know it, if it wasn't for the door. And the cabinet-maker put trim around the door; the center of the little door is the cats' entrance to the inside. It's big enough for a nice-sized litter box -- you can easily remove the box for cleaning, scooping, etc. -- and on the wall of the cabinet inside, my sister put a hook for the litter scoop. It's really very nice! And it's not hard to clean; I take care of their cats when they go away and I think it's a wonderful idea. It works well. 

That's what gave Rick the idea of doing the bottom of the cabinet in the bathroom as a litter area.

Next time we go over, I'll take some pictures.

 

[LTS3]

Anyway, the bottom of that cabinet (the lower shelf was not used) is a litter box area with the door for the cats at the one end. You'd never really know it, if it wasn't for the door. And the cabinet-maker put trim around the door; the center of the little door is the cats' entrance to the inside. It's big enough for a nice-sized litter box -- you can easily remove the box for cleaning, scooping, etc. -- and on the wall of the cabinet inside, my sister put a hook for the litter scoop. It's really very nice! And it's not hard to clean; I take care of their cats when they go away and I think it's a wonderful idea. It works well. 

That's what gave Rick the idea of doing the bottom of the cabinet in the bathroom as a litter area.

Something like this? http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/freds-diy-self-venting-cat-lit-128782

 

[Winchester]

Kind of....yes.  That looks nice.