👏👏👏 You are the first person I have ever heard advocating for separate kitchen and living space. Western cooking is almost always in (at least partially) in the oven. I watch a lot of home Reno or house hunting shows. Every one wants an open plan kitchen. Imagine cutting onions or even frying them in an open plan kitchen everyone’s eyes would be watering and the smell of food would permeate the upholstery and curtains in the house. No matter how powerful the exhaust. 🤷♀️ at least Asians should understand their kitchen needs and not demand open plan kitchens.
I have an open space above my cabinets. It's where we display our beautiful ceramics from around the world. As for dust and grease, we use our exhaust fan for grease, and we have air cleaners on the furnace for dust. Items which you put in high cabinets for occasional use have to dusted anyway.
i always like open shelving near the kitchen window or glass patio door - because they let in much more light than upper cabinets…it’s amazing how much light upper cabinets block….
I'm with you on everything but the drawers. I find it really annoying to pull out a heavy drawer whenever I need anything. It's slow and everything in the drawer gets moved around. Definitely agree on the no sinks or hobs in island! Really disliked this trend. Everyone ruining a beautiful island 😅
5:43 One drawback to drawers is that they're permanent. They can't be shifted to meet changing needs. If you've got two deep 12 inch drawers and the utensil drawer above that, this is what you must live with. For life. One solution is to secure the shelf so it doesn't tip, then add undermount drawer slides. Now, if you ever need to shift things around so that you have a 16 inch and another that's eight inches, you just raise and lower the shelf pins, secure the shelf, and replace the drawer fronts. MUCH more manageable. I'm constantly trying to come up with strategies to future-proof a kitchen.
Love your videos! Luckily, and unluckily, our kitchen was already in when we moved to our new apartment, so we didn't have much choice. I can't wait to be able to design my own kitchen!
Great ideas. I have an open kitchen, visible from the entrance, with 2 uppers to the ceiling, open shelves, and no vent 😂 oh- and no drawers. The kitchen was opened c 1940s. The cabinets added in the 40s were dropped, and I’m not removing the 80s version as we speak. I have two large 40”x49” tall cabinets with old style twist turn brass latches from 1902 for my 1905 kitchen, so that’s a win over the pressboard oak of the 80s! I’ve taken out the rotten base cabinets in favor of an open (curtained) wood sink table. The 1927 Hotpoint range is from 1927 in b& w and chrome. It’s fab. I don’t do a lot of frying so it’ll be fine. Later, I’ll add a wall fan on the stove side to suck out cooking odors. I DO have 3 lighting sources. And a cast iron porcelain sink with one large basin. I’ll also look for a drawer unit that’s solid wood and old. I’m pretty excited because though I have little counter space, so have a lovely work triangle. And will ❤ my open shelving!
I think the only thing I disagree on is drawers. I understand the advantages of them, and I’m not saying they are bad… but: (1) they’re not reconfigurable. If my husband (and, face it, it is my husband) decides he will be baking bread and needs a grain mill and giant tubs of wheat, I need the ability to reconfigure the cabinets to accommodate this new addition to my kitchen, whatever its height, etc. Things also go in and out of favor. Back in the day, we made pasta all the time, and so pasta materials needed to be convenient; now they don’t. To me, the inability to reconfigure means I don’t want to move to drawers. (2) It often is unpleasant to grip heavy things and lift straight up out of a drawer; I can get a better grip reaching around it. And, sure, I can configure a special cabinet for my stand mixer, but see point #1. The stand mixer went out of favor after a period of frequent use. (In fact, it went so much out of favor that we now have the Ankarsrum instead, which is a different size and shape.). I guess I feel my life and diet have changed so much over the past 20 years, and we’ve rearranged the kitchen to suit every time… I can’t see myself putting in a kitchen so customized to what I am doing now knowing that everything will probably change again in five years. (Because I am never remodeling this kitchen again. Ever.)
We used corner cabinet with sleeves for storage of cooking sheets.. and used both drawers and cabinets with pull out shelves AND HELL NO to sink in island got 4 teenagers they can’t even put plates in dishwasher and all of them didn’t put the dirty dish in sink. And the first think people will see the island with cups and plates on the island
Very helpful video. Drawers for everything didn’t exist in 2008 when wegot our askersund ikea kitchen. If only! Bought in a rush after an extension. What are your views on an island versus dining area?We can’t have both, only one or the other. Which don’t recommend? Thank you
Glad it was helpful! I personally love having a dining table, it feels so much more comfortable, wholesome and family friendly to have everyone seated around a table. Sitting around an island feels more like something only for adults and parties! But that's just my personal preferences, and it very much depends on your lifestyle and the type of social events you want to create at your home :)
Hello, I have an L shape kitchen ( with an island) and my stove is closer to the corner where there is no cabinet on the side wall. I have the recommended minimum counter working space between the stove and the side wall. I am concerned there could be cooking splashes on that side wall. Should I continue the tiles onto the side wall only for the space between the countertop and upper cabinet for the depth of the counter top or should I tile the entire height of the side wall ? Thanks for your tip, really appreciate it.
Hi Anne, interesting question! From what you have described, I assume the tiles do not go all the way up the wall anywhere else, because you have upper cabinets? So then, I think it would look a bit strange for the tile to go all the way the side wall. I would tile it to a level where it matches the other tiles, and for the empty space on top, maybe hang some artwork, so it is not so empty? Feel free to email me a photograph of this room and I can have a better look! hellobaixu@gmail.com :)
Definitely tile the side wall if a wok is to ever be used. A friend caught our side drywall and overhead grease vent on fire, using a wok on a gas burner since it directed the hot flames outward. I added tile to the sidewall after that incident. Also, never leave the area when using a wok (she did).
TIMESTAMPS 0:00 intro 0:48 cabinet ceiling gap 2:10 open plan 4:03 seen from the entrance 5:08 countertop height 5:42 drawers, not shelves 6:23 forgotten corners 7:11 open shelves 8:28 working triangle 9:21 dishwasher and sink 9:53 island hob/sink 11:28 insufficient lighting
I like this channel a lot. Very neat. I thought it would have some 400k+ subscribers but it has only 2.7k as of today. The video quality is great and sure it will be a good one in future
For the kitchen seen from the entrance, a relatively easy fix might be to change the side the front door opens to. It can shift the first thing you see when the door opens.
You have a great presentation style. Natural, pleasant, and to the point. This was a good list. I agree that no appliance should be on the island in an ideal world. If you put one there, you may be tempted to also put a bar height surround, which does not look as good as an all one height counter
I do have an induction cooktop in the island. I love it there because the island is large enough that people sitting at it can talk to me as I cook. The rest of the rules I followed. I do love my kitchen.
I’m glad it’s working out for you!! 😊 probably helps that your island is large so there is some distance between you and the people! I’m very envious that you have a kitchen island! It definitely would not work for me as I fry a lot and it can get so messy 🫣 but one day, I look forward to having a nice big kitchen too 🤩
