Parlor Kitchen #5: Where the Party's At
This may be our favorite one yet: This kitchen was designed to be at once functionally and aesthetically pleasing. The house is 22 feet wide hence allowing us to have a rather decent sized room of approximately 16×15. It’s so true that everyone congregates in the kitchen while the living room remains empty during large…
This may be our favorite one yet:
This kitchen was designed to be at once functionally and aesthetically pleasing. The house is 22 feet wide hence allowing us to have a rather decent sized room of approximately 16×15. It’s so true that everyone congregates in the kitchen while the living room remains empty during large gatherings. We had to sacrifice the dining room by about 1 foot to give it to the kitchen and I think the move really paid off. We’ve also tried to maximize storage space by framing an sitting nook with cabinets overhead.
If size was no object, I would have a kitchen island as long and large as possible. There’s something so cozy and functional about being able to carry out tasks on a surface in the middle of the room, be it cooking, eating, working, or simply hanging out. Outside the French doors is a slim balcony that leads to a staircase that goes down to the garden. We attach flower baskets to the balcony rails and put some fruit/herb planters on the deck. I’d highly recommend your friends to add some exterior focal point outside their kitchen as it’s the best way to take advantage of a parlor level kitchen layout.
It’s been about 3 years now and I can’t think of anything else I’d change about the kitchen. And oh yeah, the AGA rocks.
Bootyful.
Update: Check out more pics and description of the project on the jump.
Ideas for the Parlor Floor Kitchen? [Brownstoner]
Parlor Kitchen #1: Architect-Designed in The Slope [Brownstoner]
Parlor Kitchen #2: Contractor’s Own Kitchen [Brownstoner]
Parlor Floor Kitchen #3: Jeffrey’s 35-Footer [Brownstoner]
Parlor Kitchen #4: Spreading Out in a 22-Footer [Brownstoner]
….a couple more photos to help put the kitchen in perspective. The parlor layout (22×50) is living room in front, dining room middle, and kitchen in back, plus hallway, staircase, powder room, the usual suspects.
As for materials – kitchen is rather straightforward and I think can be done to fit a range of budgets. Cabinets are paint grade wood with BM Dove White, floors are black slate from Home Depot, countertop & backsplashes are Carera grey marble, farmhouse sink, etc. The only statement piece is the AGA, but otherwise, the other components are run of the mill and don’t need to be expensive.
Having said that however, it really pays to have good carpentry, good painting, good lighting, and lastly, a good eye.
Blimey, all we need now is for a British novelist to base an aga-saga on this silly, overwrought thread!
But for the historical record, the invention of the aga and its cousin the rayburn caused quite a domestic revolution in the UK. In the ’50s and ’60s the average Aga had a burner and two ovens — one for roasting and one for simmering. There were just two hotplates on top. The burner could not only supply a house’s hot water but also the central heating via radiators. They ran on solid fuel (wood, coal, even peat).
Nowadays they can run on almost anything (gas, electric, kerosene, diesel, biofuel, etc). That doesn’t change the fact that they are anachronistic fuel hogs when used just for cooking. ‘Course, I still love ’em, especially in that pretty blue color!
Don’t quit your day job, if you have one.
(sung to the tune of Volare)
my AGA, oh oh
my AGA, oh oh oh oooohh
Lets fly away, up to the clouds
Away from this piss-taking crowd
We can sing in the glow of your 4-oven juices
Where I can broil 1 wing if I choose
Let us leave the hand wringing and fake playa-hating behind
With my wad up my behind, to EXPO together we’ll find
My Aga oh oh
My Aga oh oh oh oooohhhhh
people, this is a KITCHEN. i like it. it’s cool. I don’t have enough money to do it, but I can still like it w/o resenting it or the people who own it. get a grip. ironically all the people pumping their fists about cc are the types who in same methodology, different cloak contribute to the world’s ills.
I love the posters who tell other posters they have no business posting.
What nitwits.
10:12: Can you give me the list of nice things that are okay to like, as opposed to the smug consumerist kinds? I must have missed class that day.
As far as my other qualities, they’re ones I aspire to and work hard to reach, as everyone else does who wants a better world for themselves AND for others. It’s the smug elitist sanctimonious self-righteous goons who make this world a war-ravaged religious hell. Please don’t lecture me on what is okay to feel pleasure about and what isn’t. If I wanted that kind of judgement from my peers, I’d live in Afghanistan.
to all the haters out there: go to your OWN site. this is a thread commenting about parlor floor kitchen design – if you don’t like it, move on. create your own “i hate conspicuous consumption” website. why are you tweaking here? I’m sure plenty of the people commenting about their kitchens and what they like here are quite clear about their contributions to social justice on other sites. don’t be so whack.
hate to break it to you (actually no, i don’t) but you 10:12 just managed to show the least amount of “spirit” of any poster on this thread.
i don’t think there was a more disgusting comment made than yours.
not to mention absurd.
I’m hardly a communist, and I like nice things as much as the next person, but this smug consumerism is really pretty disgusting. Oh, and I’m curious, 9:21, just what sort of “heroism, self-sacrifice, ingenuity, generosity of spirit and openness of mind” do you balance all this glorious superfice with?
And, right, 9:47, why SHOULD you feel bad? You can just escape into your AGA warmed kitchen. And by the way, what “spirit”? Nothing there to break.