[club411]

So the time has come for me and my loft to grow up. I am done with having hundreds of party goers at my house. Pool table area turning into dining room and games moved to office.

With the untimely departure of my beloved great dane - chloe I have decided to repriortize my life starting with my house.

All new hardwood floors throughout. This is bitter sweet as the original 100 year old factory floors have so much charm but at this point are unrepairable.

The new floors will looks like this



The kitchen is a total gut. However the appliances are all new. I am going with the Ikea Black Brown kitchen cabinets. This is the kitchen that inspired me.

Plus I am a bachelor that doesn't cook, I "warm or reheat". I also know that 90% of homeowners wouldn't know an Ikea cabninet from a Snaidero if it hit them in the head. I will spend my $ on countertops and appliances. I do need some major help with the kitchen design as I am trying to make it bigger and change the layout a bit. Any Ikea master designer in the Chicagoland area?



All Viking, Subzero and Bosch appliances.

The new bed will be a modern low platform bed to give the illusion of more space.



This is the new dining room chandelier - The 85 Lamps Chandelier is a classic in the history of modern lighting. The lamp is featured in numerous museum collections including the permanent collection of the MoMA and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.



The end table lights are also by the same designer :The Milk Bottle Chandelier



The new dining room table is the smaller version of this

.

Pics of unit from last week.




Wish me luck - pics forthcoming!

******END RESULTS******

[Susan]

Wow, awesome pics! That's going to be a really fantastic space.

If you have the measurements of the room, along with the locations of windows, doors, steps, utilities, etc. there are folks here who love to help with arranging cabinets and helping you to utilize the space most efficiently and effectively.

Good luck! I'll be watching.

Susan

[club411]

I used the design service from Ikea an was pleasently surpised how much help they were. It's an odd space that I am expanding and Eric from Neutralinteriors.com was a great help.

He spent a few hours coming up with different designs and ways to incorporate everything i was trying to do. Here is the rough draft I am working on over the weekend and will approve the final drawings Tuesday.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

[Dave of the Coonties]

The existing loft is already interesting.

I don't see anything in the kitchen layout that clearly and obviously won't work.

Does the stovetop get a hood or other venting? I take it that you won't be doing anything that spatters grease all over the place.

[Susan]

Are the double ovens something you already have? If not, I'd consider putting a single oven under the cooktop, and using the space where the double ovens are for a high cabinet, aka pantry unit.

Being the bachelor type, I'm guessing you're going to be eating more cornflakes than 4 course meals.

Of course, if you already have the double ovens that may change things.

Susan

[club411]

I have the viking downdraft that will go behind the Viking cooktop.

I do not have a double oven; however I have the Viking 30" oven, 30" viking warming drawer and 30" viking micro hood (for microwave).

The cabinets are the black brown with the abstractk white
island.

I am just trying to figure out if I want to swap the sink and the cooktop. I would have to do some extensive plumbing work.

Thoughts?

I am also putting the Kohler Crevasse inside the island! WOOT!

[zeuss]

I love that sink! I had a client I tried to get to do that sink as a prep sink, but he ended up going with the regular trough sink and faucet. It is the ultimate in modern prep sinks. It think it is best when it is set back from the cabinet front so you can chop in front of it.

You should be able to put a full set of drawers in front of that sink, but they will have to be the kind that fit the 12" deep cabinets rather than the regular 24" deep cabinet drawers.

Otherwise, I think this kitchen plan looks really good. I like the big cleanup sink and dishwasher tucked into the corner, but a good prep sink near the stove. Ventilation is a concern for that stove as drawn. But it looks great! How exciting!!!

[zeuss]

I wouldn't swap the cooktop and sink. I think that sink is great in an island. For entertaining, you can fill it with ice and put drinks or sushi in it! You can even have lighting install around it so the ice glows! very cool.

Your downdraft and cooktop would work at the island, but there are a lot of reasons to not have cooktops in islands. Myself, I"m putting a cooktop in an island despite the reasons against. In my case, the island is wider than yours so the guests sitting at the bar seats are much farther away from the steam, smells and flames etc.

But the main reason I'd keep it the way it is the aesthetic reasons. The island looks so sleek and contemporary with the sink in it. The cooktop, despite how cool the Viking is, won't have that same sleek look.

[Dave of the Coonties]

Agreed. The prep sink is maximum cool. You can make guacamole as hungry guests watch (um, I'm spooning out a nice Florida avocado dusted with chipotle pepper powder right now).

Along those lines, Williams-Sonoma has unveiled the mandoline slicer to beat them all.

More generically, having any kind of sink that aids prep work is really handy. My monster Blanco sink, with its own drainboard, looks entirely different to that Kohler, but it's been extraordinarily handy. And the built-in drainboard can indeed be filled with ice, just as Zeuss suggests for your Kohler.

If Zeuss likes your kitchen, it has to be good.

______________________________________

On the side, I'm wondering about what should be an eventual transfer to LED will do to lighting design.

Bedroom: Any thought of using Ikea wardrobes? I bought PAX sliding doors with polycarbonate plastic panels because they were cheap, and am starting to think they're cool.

Getting really far afield, your corner of the midwest should have quite a bit of used midcentury modern furniture available. Some high quality stuff was made in Grand Rapids.

[zeuss]

Aw come on....... you make me blush. My opinion is just like everyone elses!! One voice only.

I just think the whole idea of loft living is so cool. Usually downtown with all that open concept space. And then to add these high-end appliances - it all adds up to total awesome-ness.

So different than my suburban life - 2 kids, 2 dogs, and a minivan! That said, this suburban housewife is still putting an uber-cool prep sink in her island! Albeit, it allows the kids to help prep dinner rather than presenting sushi on ice for the guests at the cocktail party.