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I just thought I'd share a project I have been working on with a client. It is a great example how rearranging to space can lead to a great kitchen.
The old kitchen was a cramped u-shaped kitchen with an eating area at the other end. By taking out the eating area and the wall to the dining room, we plan for the space to be a modern, open plan, family friendly design.
Here is what the kitchen looked like before we started. (it actually looks nicer in these photos!)
Here is the wall to the dining room:
So here was my plan:
I moved the kitchen out of that back corner where the U-shape was and moved the deck access door from the eating area end to the old kitchen end.
Here are some rendered images. (imagine no hood - we're going Dacor rise-up downdraft venting)
A nice idea from my
SIL
's kitchen...have a cover made (hers was wood) to turn the cook top into a serving area for parties where the cooking is already done...You could do wood with a matching top in the counter top material...
The renderings are top drawer, and the kitchen will be fabulous!
Wow Kelly, that is an awesome idea! She is going with the Floating Glass Suite from Jennair instead of stainless. I thought the black would look great with the Brown Black Tidaholm, but the cooktop is tricky. I thought we should go with the White Glass on the Swan Cotton quartz counter for a more seamless look.
Do you think the quartz they cut out for the cooktop could be somehow fabricated into a cover?
Hmmm, I don't know about the whole thing being made of it, but certainly, you could use the cabinet material as the sides, and see if you could "tile" the "bottom" in the countertop material- that seems achievable. If you put cut outs on the sides, you could even flip it cover and use it as a big ole tray when it's not covering the cooktop!
I've been over at the job site everyday this week dealing with issues over the kitchen. In correct deliveries and other mistakes all needed my attention.
The contractor had all the boxes sorted nicely - drawers in one pile, doors in another, etc. But with the mistakes, it made things very confusing.
And it just so happened that I used a lot of 24" base units in the plan (5 to be exact). It was just an accident. It really didn't work out to use 30" or 36" ones. Plus there are 2 24" pantries that I have modified to have pullouts and drawers etc.
Well, you should see the stack of 24" wide drawers that needed put together. It was as tall as me! It looked insane. And the contractor definitely thought I was insane.
"Who needs that many drawers in one kitchen?!"
He'd never seen anything like it. I know it is going to be fabulous and the client is going to love to store all her stuff in those drawers, but I have to admit, when stacked up that way, it does look a little bit crazy.
I certainly need that many drawers in a kitchen! This is why kitchens should not be designed by people who never use them except to get beer for themselves. OK, that's possibly an overstatement, sometimes they use the microwave. For nachos.
Anywho, I certainly had to work in a kitchen that was not at all well designed for cooking. And it was vastly improved by A LOT of drawers!
I agree - there is not such thing as too many drawers! There are been too many kitchens designed and built by spec contactors building en masse.
I just visited a whole series of high end homes being built in my area. There were really beautiful and the layout was very sensible.
But when I took a close look at the kitchens, they were built for looks not function. The corner cabinets didn't have lazy susans, just a stupid corner shelf. There were no drawers except above doors with shelves behind.
I am appalled by some of the kitchens in expensive new homes- once again built by people who DO NOT COOK. They build kitchens like it's a man cave- full of expensive machinery. Way too full of expensive machinery. Some of them are absolutely squatty and complete afterthoughts- like a 15x 15 kitchen in a 7,000 sqft home. In the big kitchens, the counters are broken up, island downdrafts are used in wall installs so the range jutts out 8" too far and there's a fake wood hood above it that's empty. The centerpiece is always a GIGANTIC glacial island in granite that you have to climb up on to reach the middle of. Seriously. You can land a jet on it, but you can't use it to cook on. SIGH.
I was shocked at the number of giant islands that served no real purpose except to cut up the work triange. They never had prep sinks, warming drawers, bar fridges etc. Just cabinets with shelves underneath.
And the bigger the kitchen, the more useless it was. In one, I had to go 8 big strides to get from the frdige to the sink. You'd be exhausted preparing a meal.
In one, there was a hallway to the dining room from the kitchen that was called a butler's pantry. But it just had base cabinets on one side and nothing else. No wall cabinets for china, no 2nd dishwasher or sink. no bar fridge, no warming drawer - nothing! What is it good for?! So stupid.
There are so many great ideas and products out there, yet none of these kitchens used them. It was ridiculous.
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Treasure the people in your life, not your possessions. 
that being said....I sure treasure my new Adel White Ikea kitchen 
