My mom and my friend Ivy both suggested a free-standing island for the kitchen. My neighbor does have such an island in her kitchen, BUT she also has a rectangular table next to that wall of windows, whereas we have our old round butcher-block table, which sticks out more into the room. I'm not writing it off, but I don't know that it's my first choice.
Ivy asked if that was it for cabinets. No, there are two small cabinets over and one skinny cabinet next to the fridge, which is directly opposite the sink and right next to the pantry. Speaking of pantry, that is going to be a good place to put stuff, but I need to do some serious organizing in it. The previous occupant had a rack in there for storage containers:
I'm going to add a couple more photos that my friend took when the last occupants were moving out, just so you can have all necessary information to keep the good ideas coming. This is in the butler's pantry, which is right outside the kitchen. I wish it came with a butler! I like the idea of putting pots and pans in that top cabinet, but I'm not sure how to use all those drawers. Annabelle unpacked my cookbooks last night, and instead of taking up precious kitchen counter space like they did in Kentucky, they are neatly lined up on this counter:
The dining room also has a really nice built-in cabinet (the white one on the left):
We also have the china cabinet that goes with our dining set, as well as a smaller cabinet that belonged to my great-grandfather. I generally keep a lot of Polish pottery in those.
One other bit of information that might be helpful! Take a look at the floor plan for the first floor of the left side of the duplex (click to make it bigger):
See the butler's pantry (called "hall 1" on the plans)? You can see where the cabinets are; now look directly across at that little alcove. SOMETHING could go here to help with storage. For now it's just going to be my microwave cart with the cats' food on it (in order to keep the dog out of it), but I'm thinking I'll look around for something with extra cabinet space to go there.
While we're on the topic of decorating, check out the "reception" area on the floor plan. See the coat closet that backs up to the butler's pantry? Yeah, it doesn't exist in this particular house. I have put a European shoe cabinet behind the front door in the "vestibule," but we are going to need a place to hang coats! I want to get a second-hand armoire to put on the reception wall that backs up to the living room. I am lusting after this one that I found for $160 on Craigslist, but really getting the coats put away is the least of our worries for the next 2 days:
4 comments:
I thought your old butcher block table was rectangular. I can recall seeing the kids sitting around it in Hawaii.
gor.geous. I love love love the built ins. have fun!
I don't think I'd want to look at my pots in a glass cabinet. If my pots and pans would fit and the drawers slide easily (always a concern in an old house) I would put my pots and pans in the drawers if they don't fit in the kitchen anywhere. Otherwise I'd line the glass with something attractive (fabric?) to hide the pots and pans. Or hang a pot rack in the kitchen if possible.
I agree with phdrwd about not wanting to see pots and pans in a glass cabinet. You can get something like contact paper that would give the glass an opaque look or frosted glass, or fabric could be a good idea.
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