Why I hate my Kitchen...

So, Our Kitchen is a kind of neat layout.

However, there's three things (maybe even three and a half things) that I hate about it.

I've drawn a picture in Paint. I'll refer to this over the next couple of posts (never learned autocad, sadly...)

We have One drawer.(beside stove, facing sink near Orange star)

That's it. One drawer. It holds all our cutlery, Most knives, all of our cooking utensils, measuring devices, chop sticks, Lighters, Birthday Candles, Serving spoons etc. its a PITA to close, and things like tongs always get in the way.

I can't open my freezer door (Red Box with yellow star)

We have a "vertical split" freezer, with a ice/water dispenser in the freezer door. The breakfast bar is flush fit against the freezer, so when I open the freezer door, it hits and is stopped by this breakfast bar (which is bolted into the wall) and I can't open my Freezer door more than about 8 inches wide. Very annoying!

When I cook, the whole house stinks (Yellow stove, Green Star)

There's no Smoke Hood.
As a result, anytime I make something that requires a bit of smoke/frying, the whole house stinks for days. I'm a poster child for Glade Plug-ins (at 5 watts of power each, we've got 4 around the house... they last a month... its costing me about 20 bucks a month to counteract cooking/garlic/oil smell with linen and apple pie smells..)


The Water from the fridge tastes a bit off sometimes... (.5) (Fridge is Red with Yellow Star, blue star is water feed)
The water line from the fridge actually is routed through the floor, across the basement, back out where the stove is, and then through the wall (green star) into the bathroom sink plumbing. (Blue star)
I'm assuming that the 25 feet of plastic tubing means that there is water sitting in there for a while before it actually gets all the way to the fridge.



What am I going to do about it?

Well, I have 125 dollars in home depot money from Christmas.

The most efficient way I can improve the kitchen is to have the stove and the fridge swap places.

Logic:

• The Fridge blocks off the breakfast bar from the rest of the kitchen
• The fridge is too far from the water feed.
• Moving the stove next to an outside wall will make it easy make a hole to outside to vent a fume hood when funds permit me to buy one.
• Eventually, I'll get a Microwave cabinet over top of the stove, mount the fume hood to that, and have more storage space, AND more counter space. (win win)
• The stove currently is beside a full height pantry cabinet, so the fridge being there won't "close off" any of the kitchen.
• The fridge is 1.5 inches deeper than the cabinets. this 1.5 inches will allow the door hinges to be unobstructed (and I'll be able to open my freezer)
• The watefeed is behind where the stove is anyway, so I'd be cutting out 15 feet of water-line to the fridge
• There's a electrical socket behind the stove already - Easy to do.
• The Fridge is over top of the Electrical panel in the basement - Easy to wire!

The Only negative aspect I can think of is that the "hallway" between the two counter tops will be a good 4 inches narrower because of the fridge/Fridge door Handles.  It will also mean people have to come into the kitchen "more" to get water... but it does make it easier to access from the dining room. All in all, An easy compromise.


Here's the plan, and the topic of my next 3 posts, as I do this over the next week (with lots of pictures, and maybe even video!)

Step 1:
Make room for the fridge!
Step 2:
Plumbing for the Fridge
Step 3:
Wiring in a 230v Plug for the stove
Step 4:
The Before and After, Conclusion, and Lessons Learned, and Next Steps.


Stay tuned! I start this weekend!