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KITCHEN GEOGRAPHY
CHANGING THE TERRAIN OF THE HEART OF THE HOME |
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Copyright 2002 Bergen Record
Corporation
The Record (Bergen County, NJ)...12/01/2002
MICHAEL WALSH
Once relegated to the back of the house, the kitchen has in recent years
come out of confinement. But the challenge in creating an open-faced kitchen
- one that's part of a dining area, family room or so-called great room - is
downplaying its utilitarian nature.
Beyond choosing appealing materials and colors, a key factor is combating
excessive uniformity and rigidity by creating a lively interior landscape
and skyline using cabinets and structural elements. Thinking in geographic
terms can help a kitchen relate to the spaces around it and yet set it apart
from them.
If you're remodeling an old kitchen or planning a kitchen addition or a new
home, here are some strategies to keep in mind.
Build bridges, not walls. Islands and peninsulas are the kitchen's new
walls. Because you can see over and around them, they connect the kitchen to
an adjacent dining area, living room or family room and yet define the
kitchen's borders. They also allow the cook to maintain visual and
conversational contact with family members and guests in adjoining spaces.
Create a kitchen canopy. Even with an open floor plan, it's important to
keep the kitchen from spilling over visually into other spaces. What islands
and peninsulas do below, dropped soffits and shallow ceiling-mounted
cabinets do above. They define the kitchen's borders in a subtle way without
blocking views into or out of the kitchen.
A coffered or pitched ceiling can also distinguish the kitchen from
neighboring rooms. Going for a high ceiling in the kitchen can boost the
perception of spaciousness. Going low in a dining area imparts a sense of
intimacy.
Cut back on cabinets. In a kitchen with just one or two walls, finding space
for storage is problematic. But resist the impulse to cram in too many
cabinets. Instead, design a storage-intensive walk-in pantry. Banish rarely
used goods -- the picnicware, the punch bowl, the turkey roaster - to the
basement, mudroom, or garage. Store the good china in a lighted china
cabinet in the dining area.
Stagger the height, length and depth of wall cabinets. The idea here is to
break up the horizontal lines at the top and bottom of a row of cabinets
that can make a kitchen look rigid and static. Insert a plate rack or an
open shelf unit between two long cabinets.
If you have ample work surfaces, put in a couple of extra-tall cabinets that
sit on top of the counter. Using some cabinets that are deeper or shallower
than the standard 12 inches can add more visual dimension to a kitchen.
Stagger the height of base cabinets and counters, too. Not all countertops
have to be at the same height. Lower a cooktop by 4 to 6 inches and allow 15
to 18 inches of counter space at the same height on either side. In addition
to providing some much-needed visual variety, a lowered cooktop can be more
ergonomic, particularly for short cooks.
If you're a baker, consider putting in a baking center with a work surface
at 30 or 32 inches rather than the standard 36. It's a more comfortable
height for rolling out dough or using a hand-held mixer.
Vary cabinet door styles. There's no law that says all cabinets have to be
identical. Use solid doors on some cabinets and glass doors on others. Or
outfit a couple of doors with wire mesh, lattice or even shirred fabric. Use
one style of door for perimeter cabinets and another for the island.
Choose more than one cabinet paint color, wood stain or decorative finish.
For example, use barn-red cabinets for the island and natural maple
everywhere else. Choose light wood stains for some, dark for others. For
just a little rusticity, choose a "distressed" or antiqued finish for just
one or two cabinets. For continuity, choose cabinet styles and finishes
compatible with built-ins and furnishings in adjacent spaces.
Alternate countertop and backsplash materials. Reserve granite for an island
and use a neutral solid surface material for all the other countertops. Top
a baking counter with a slab of marble. Use ceramic tile or laminate in the
wet areas and top a peninsula with maple butcher block. As for backsplashes,
you might want to use stainless steel behind a range but ceramic tile
elsewhere.
Hiding appliances is a matter of personal taste. Some people don't mind
seeing the refrigerator from the family room. For those who do,
cabinet-matching panels can camouflage the kitchen's largest machine. Panels
for dishwashers, trash compactors, and icemakers are also available.
Add a raised ledge or breakfast bar to an island or peninsula to hide the
cooktop. If you can't position tall double ovens so that they're out of view
of neighboring spaces, think about installing a second under-the-counter
oven in an island or peninsula.
Ranges are harder to hide, especially large, commercial-style ranges and the
bulky exhaust hoods that come with them. That's one reason many consumers
are choosing stainless steel models. Stainless steel is a kind of
go-with-anything, neutral material that picks up the colors and tones of
cabinets and flooring and seems to quietly blend into a kitchen's
background.
An opposite strategy is to make a range the kitchen equivalent of a
focal-point fireplace by building an alcove around it. |
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