Ultimate Kitchen

[Soop]

What would you have in your ultimate kitchen, no expense spared?

I'd have a maple finish, with an islan in the centre (with the oven and stove)
I'd have a pizza oven.
Le Creuset casserole and frying pan
Copper saucepan
Non stick teflon pan
Stockpot
Plain white plates and bowls
a cocktail area with some nice but simple glasses.
a window opening onto a window basket with herbs in
a nice butchers block
A magnetic knife rack finished in wood
A big Samsung fridge that makes ice.

[Soop]

Holy crap. I haven't read this for ... well pretty much since I created it.

Let's see how we're doing:
I'd have a maple finish, with an islan in the centre (with the oven and stove) Nope
I'd have a pizza oven. Nope
Le Creuset casserole and frying pan Yep
Copper saucepan Not yet
Non stick teflon pan Getting some today, probably
Stockpot Yep
Plain white plates and bowls Yep
a cocktail area with some nice but simple glasses. Nope
a window opening onto a window basket with herbs in Nope
a nice butchers block Nope
A magnetic knife rack finished in wood Might get this today
A big Samsung fridge that makes ice. Saving for this. Might not fit in the kitchen though O__o

[Cinnamon]

In addition to select items already mentioned:
Big, cookworthy hearth
Flat-screen HDTV with computer keyboard and real computer display, recipe books under it
Root cellar for roots with racks for homemade liqueurs
On-floor elevated (Japanese style?) veggie prep area and cutting block where you can sit cross-legged or on cushion
Atrium with herbs growing
Swim-under indoor-outdoor pool and hot tub, adjacent to veggie prep area - and dry sauna and steam room (hey, it's my kitchen, isn't it?)
Dark-bar grotto adjacent to root cellar, opens to part of pool underground somehow - this is all part of the kitchen because it's where you'd loll reading the recipe books
Soda fountain with perfect shaved-ice-maker

[flourgirl]

I want to live in in this kitchen.

[onocoffee]

My "Ultimate Kitchen" will probably never happen - just because it's unlikely that I would spend the kind of money to build a kitchen that wouldn't generate revenue. However...

Should I decide to build it, my kitchen would feature:

- Garland French Top
- Garland double burners
- Garland deep fryer
- Custom s/s Wok station
- Pizza prep refrigerator
- Brick oven
- Carbon steel and Cast Iron fry pans
- Sitram pans and stock pots
- two very large residential refrigerator/freezers (because the kitchen will be loud enough already!)

[Paulustrious]

I've just 'finished' my kitchen reno. Finished means that I haven't tiled the back splash, installed the new lighting or put in the range hood. But for all that I'm very happy with it. And apart from cutting the granite I did it all. There's a strange feeling of pride being able to say MY kitchen.

The kitchen is a central part of our life. We love cooking - even the disasters. Even more than this we love cooking with friends around. This means the kitchen is an extension of our entertainment space. And we need a place where two of us can cook and prep together.

So that wall there, the one between the family room and the kitchen, ... it's history. Unfortunately it also contained plumbing for bathrooms, wiring, central vac, alarm system, power for the kitchen and upstairs, tv cable, chimney for the furnace and hot water, alarm system plus a few signal wires I didn't understand. So I need to side vent the furnace (= new hi-efficiency) and the hot water heater (= new Rinnai tankless).

Lovingly remove old kitchen, drywall, ceilings, wiring, hvac stuff, floors, wiring. Now we can see the space and change the plan.

First thing was an 8ft x 36 Granite slab island unit with a six burner gas range. Now I can cook while people sit and stand on the other side. This stops the traditional nightmare where everyone piles into the kitchen while you are trying to cook. They still pile in but they are on the other side of the island. We also placed the fridge where people can get to the ice without interfering with the cook. And you can put hot skillets straight on the granite - and anything you take out the oven. So convenient. So easy to clean, so good to look at.

When buying granite try going to a separate fabricator and granite warehouse. The one I went to must have had 10,000 slabs that varied from the plain to amazingly dramatic. The fabricator will tell you what size slab(s) you need for your plan.

Double sink with disposal. I went with Ikea ceramic. $400. It is not very forgiving. A cup knocked against the sink is a dead cup. But it's easy to clean and Ikea have various useful things that fit.

Floor. 16 inch dark-flecked white granite tile laid on a diagonal. An amazingly good accidental choice. The floor always looks clean. You can pour salt and pepper on a tile and not be able to tell anything is there. However, if you drop something small it tends to disappear until you stand on it. This includes pieces of a broken glass.

I hate and despise corner cupboards, so I moved the doors to the other rooms so that there were none.

Fridge + Freezer. I am used (I'm European) to these being two separate appliances. That way there are two condensers + evaporators, each of which is tuned for the job. Oddly enough they cost less than a combined unit. Kenmore 32 inch counter depth stainless fridge and freezer cost $800 each on sale. Looks more like a commercial unit. The big advantage of counter depth fridges is that there is less space at the back for Rubbermaid containers of leftovers to migrate to, to resurface during one of those "what's that funny smell" incidents.

A narrow (14 inch) counter along another wall which is the appliance gallery. Toaster, small microwave, blender, food processor, coffee machine, Kitchen-aid mixer. I don't have to put them away, they are not in the way and easily accessible.

Goose-neck faucet. Once you've had one you never want any other.

In the other room the flat screen TV. I can watch it while cooking. My wife or friends can sit in the armchairs or sofa and talk while the hi-fi is playing. There is a complete wall cupboard covering one wall. It looks like it should contain 'living-room stuff'. However it is my second level kitchen stuff. Tins, baking stuff, the number two mandoline, second blender, espresso makers, champage flutes, you know the stuff.

Some other decisions we made. Ikea cabinets. Very impressed. I've done about ten kitchen renos in my life. The Ikea cabinets are easy to install and have a better quality than most others. (thicker chipboard than normal) The hanging mechanism for the wall cabinets is simple and flexible. Decided to tile the complete floor before installing the cabinets and then put the cabinets on legs. Great choice, easy to clean and looks great, especially for the island unit. I regret not putting a floor level connection to the central vac. And in hind-sight maybe I should have put in underfloor heating.

Re-used my cabinet mounted double oven. Looks out of place as it is not stainless. Unlike the title, expense had to be spared.

Wood floor for the family room. Hi-efficiency gas fire to replace previous hole-in-wall wood-burning air-leaking brick monstrosity.

And we now have our space. The place where we live and entertain. $55,000 plus 5 months living in a hell hole.

I'd do it again.

Al-in-

[Soop]

Your "appliance gallery" gave me a good idea. I'd like a second bookcase like the one I already have, comprised of 5x5 cubes. Then I could put the appliances, cook books and stuff in there.
I could even put the plates in, the glasses, cups, pots and pans!

[dmd_kc]

Six-burner continuous-grate gas cooktop
Separate two-burner induction cooktop alongside
One full-size electric convection oven with a built-in probe
One GE Trivection oven
Deep two-bowl stainless sink, one side with disposer
Separate deep one-bowl stainless sink in another part of the kitchen with disposer
Two dishwashers
French-door fridge with no water or ice on the door (they always break)
Walk-in pantry
Combination of soapstone (around sinks and cooktop) and maple butcher block (everywhere else) counter tops
Two windows
Cork flooring
Powerful exhaust system
LED under-cabinet lights

I'm in the middle of a whole-house remodel, and my final kitchen might come close to this, but nowhere near all the way. Realistically, I'd need more room than I have for this to be real anyway, regardless of budget. I guess if money were really no object, I could pay to have one wall blown out and extended about six feet. Wow, that WOULD be something.

Gotta go buy a Powerball ticket...

[gordeaux]

I'm a simple person with simple tastes:

A table, 6 chairs.
A 25 cubic foot french door fridge
A two burner gas cooktop with a range of 200 to 20,000 btus.
A small microwave
A small sushi bar and itamae,and whatever he needed
Rick Bayless and whatever he needed
Grant Achatz and whatever he needed.
Oh, Gale Gand for desserts.

That's all.

[chicaraleigh]

that's awesome! who needs to worry about what to buy for the kitchen - let the hired help worry about it!

[polish_girl]

I am happy with the one I just finished (haven't used it yet, we are moving this weekend). And it has a few items from from your wish lists.....

[chicaraleigh]

I was just thinking about this when I read the $2500 post the other day......so I've been thinking about this for a bit...I leave brand names out because it goes without saying, that I'd have the "best"

*3 sinks - 2 full and 1 prep sink in the island
*8 burner gas range w/ grill area
*2 ovens
*2 dishwashers - 1 mechanical and 1 human that is young & good looking - for the crystal & knives, of course!
* GREAT lighting - task and ambiance
*Large prep Island with butcher block top (mahogany or cherry)
* A marble dough island
*Cocktail/Bar area fully stocked with seating for at least 6 far enough out of my traffic pattern (wet bar with refrigeration, ice maker and a dishwasher so i guess that's 4 sinks and 3 dishwashers)
* Walk in pantry
* A paella pan (just about the only thing I'm really missing in cookware)
* Extra storage for all of the stuff I just realized I needed when I said I already had it all
*A pastry chef (still can't make pie dough....)
* Espresso machine
*Built in deep fryer
*Huge Freezer
* Storage for full formal place setting for 24 people
* Matching everyday flatware for 24
* A GPS tracking system for all those spoons that go missing
*Proper wine storage for white/red/sparkling - fully stocked
* A range hood that actually vents and doesn't just push the air around
* Slide out drawers for pots and pans
* A year round herb garden
* A "secret cubby" to hide my gardeto's snack mix from people who just don't need to know about it
*A sensor that recognizes & catalogs to a database when something is empty or thrown away (called a LIST in most houses but not here)
* A knife sharpener that I can actually figure out how to use without a lesson in geometry
* A place to display all of my cookbooks - categorized by the dewey decimal system <JK>
* A wood burning oven
* An entire closet for plastic storage containers
*Kchurchill's freezer full of stone crab :-)
* And my dream kitchen would not be complete without all of my family and friends (old and new) to share it all with - because I hate leftovers......

[flourgirl]

This was a really fun post to read. :) I loved the line about the gardeto snack mix - I have to hide certain things out of self-defense or the locusts (otherwise known as my husband and son) would descend and I would be left with a few pitiful crumbs... I also can appreciate the GPS tracking system - I fortunately haven't had such a problem with this, but I can remember my mother always rushing to stop guests from helping to clean up at holidays because she said they always threw away the silverware.

[RShea78]

Aren't you forgetting the new 100,000 sq foot house to put all that stuff in? ;-)

[chicaraleigh]

that's just the outside kitchen......... :-)

[Romanmk]

Fifty-seven microwaves.
OK seriously now: Thomas Keller.

[Demented]

Lacanche Sully range, classique configuration – 6 burner, built in wok ring and cast iron simmer plate. Matte black with brass trim.

Danze, single handle brass wall mount pot filler.

BlueStar, 60” Wall Mount Pyramid Chimney Range Hood with Internal Blower & Halogen Lamps, powder coated mat black.

Two Monarch meat blocks. A 30” X 36” butted end to end with a 30” X 60” cutout, drilled and plumbed to fit a 36” cooktop for an 8” island.

Viking Designer Series, 36” 5 burner, continuous grate cook top, black with brass trim.

KitchenAid architect series 36”, island mount canopy hood, black.

A second Jenn-air bottom mount freezer, stainless door refrigerator. One that opens to the right.

Blanco, 47” triple bowl under mount sink.

Danze, concealed deck mount brass faucets.

Cambria natural quartz coutertops.

Climate controlled, walk in pantry/wine room.

The last 9 pieces of Falk copper cookware needed to complete my collection.

The entire line of Kaiser's La Forme bakeware.

And a custom home to put it in.

[Demented]

And an induction wok hob.

[jaykayen]

Kaiser La Forme is amazing. I only have the 9" springform, but it's probably the best piece of bakeware I own.

[masteraleph]

ULTIMATE ultimate?:

4 dishwashers (2 meat and dairy, 2 Passover meat and dairy- no expense spared, remember?)
2 microwaves
2 ovens
Large fridge
large separate freezer
All stainless counters
3 stainless sinks
Crockpot
2 full sets of knives plus a couple of santokus
6 sets of dishes (regular meat and dairy, nice meat and dairy, Passover meat and dairy)

I'm sure that there are other good ideas here too, but i'm out of them for right now.

[RGC1982]

You have more or less doubled my requirements with the meat and dairy/Passover requirments. Wow, I would have trouble keeping them straight!

[toomanypots]

A vegetarian Kosher kitchen would only need a dairy, and Passover dairy dishwashers, and one set of knives. And only Three sets of dishes! *stirs the pot...* (respectfully)

[Demented]

Yo TMP,

May I offer you a bigger padle?

[Mordechai]

Once you start doubling up for Passover, you might just as well have a whole second kitchen. I know people who do have a second kitchen for Passover, though a scaled down one.

[ATaleOfFiction]

Cork flooring
Paperstone cabinetry
Three island design - 1 cooking, 1 cleaning/prep, and 1 buffet
Zodiaq counterops
Built-in Sub Zero All Freezer and All Refrigerator, and under counter wine storage
Dual 36" BlueStar ovens
48" BlueStar cooktop, hood required
Dual dishwashers
Revol dinnerware
Perfex salt & pepper mills
Falk copper cookware - everything
Except maybe a Le Creuset dutch oven
Knives, knives, knives... maybe Ryusen Blazen, Misono UX10, or the Hattori JCK Cowry X set

[RGC1982]

Nice start, but I must be better at spending imaginary money than you are!

Multiples: Two ovens, two dishwashers. I already have two ovens and two microwaves, so this is a given,
A second sink. Not small prep sink, but a full size one.
A marble top for dough and baking. For those rare times I do this.
An ice maker.
A larger cooktop
A built-in deep fryer
A wok ring over a gas burner
Two auxilliary induction burners
Ventilation strong enough to threaten small pets when they walk by.

I do really like your idea of the cocktail area. I need one of those too.