my wife and i built our house. or maybe i should say 'are building' because i think it's been 5 years and there are still lots of little things left to be done. (never ask the owner/builder "is it done yet?" the proper question is "how is it going?") since we prepare and eat most meals at home the kitchen was the main design issue. the architect favored a smaller pantry and a greater great room. she was the napa valley transplant architect who kept confusing her vision of a wine country farm house with our more rural aesthetic. we eventually parted ways and my wife and i moved walls around until settling on a 8' x 12' pantry (and a smaller great room). it paid off big time...
big pantry=no need for high cabinets=natural light=enjoy the view. lower right 'built-in-place drawers' in process
we were blown away by what a lot of folks were paying for kitchen cabinets. since we were doing everything else ourselves why not cabinets? Sam Clark's 'The Motion-Minded Kitchen' was a huge help. simple design, simple techniques not requiring much more than a skilsaw. the concept eliminates having a custom cabinet guy (or ikea?) building your cabinets off-site. you layout your cabinets and drawer openings on the floor and walls and build up, the partitions between openings support the counter-top. with counter-top installed you fill in with cabinet doors and drawers.
*pantry shot above...the 8x12 footprint includes a bump-in for the fridge.
the big pantry allowed us to eliminate over counter cabinets. this simplifies things big time, gets rid of counter work space lighting issues, improves overall lighting by letting in natural light...a kitchen with a view.
the big pantry allowed us to eliminate over counter cabinets. this simplifies things big time, gets rid of counter work space lighting issues, improves overall lighting by letting in natural light...a kitchen with a view.
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