Tuesday, May 25, 2010

The Home Stretch

Today was a day of small projects and touch-up details. Having finished all the major pieces yesterday, Keith cut baseboard, tweaked cabinet doors, hooked up the final plumbing and electrical connections, etc. Basically, we have a completely functional kitchen now, with only a few exceptions.

Knowing that the Greek contingent is heading back to the homeland on Thursday morning and that the kitchen, as it is today, looks about as good as it will look tomorrow (apart from some clean-up), I figure we can finally pull back the curtain on the big picture.

First, the cooktop from yesterday again. AP has been fascinated with induction cooktops for a couple of years and this one is her big baby. The concept behind induction cooking is electromagnetism, which is why we had to replace all our cookware. Pots and pans have to be ferrous (basically, a magnet has to stick to them) for the electromagnetic current that the "burners" generate to react with them. The resistance created by metal manifests as heat, which cooks the food. Pretty cool. Super easy to clean up, much more precise than regular electric ranges (as good as gas, most people say) and has some other benefits that I'll talk about in a later post.
[caption id="attachment_545" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Anastasia\'s new 4 \"burner\" induction cooktop."]Anastasia\'s new 4 \"burner\" induction cooktop.[/caption]

Did anyone think yesterday's oven shot looked a little weird? Yeah, this is why:
[caption id="attachment_546" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="It\'s a Two-Fer!!"]It\'s a Two-Fer!![/caption]
[caption id="attachment_547" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Upper and lower ovens return to the PHOP."]Upper and lower ovens return to the PHOP.[/caption]

When AP found out she could still get her double ovens, she was thrilled. The upper is more of a pizza/pie/bread oven, while the lower is (according to the literature) big enough for a 22 pound turkey. We'll find out!
[caption id="attachment_548" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Side view of the cooktop and the cabinet lights again."]Side view of the cooktop and the cabinet lights again.[/caption]

The real reason we haven't shown a lot of wider angle pictures is because we figured out a way to really use the kitchen space that we had available. After some design tweaks and a lot of pretty granite, here is The Peninsula:
[caption id="attachment_549" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="It comes out at a 45 degree angle from the cooktop. You can just see the handles on the oven doors on the left side of it."]It comes out at a 45 degree angle from the cooktop.  You can just see the handles on the oven doors on the left side of it.[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_551" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The view from the living room."]The view from the living room.[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_552" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="From the window. There\'s a ten inch overhang on the side where we\'ll have a couple of stools eventually."]From the window.  There\'s a ten inch overhang on the side where we\'ll have a couple of stools eventually.[/caption]

9 comments:

  1. Wow. I love the counter breakfast spot. Or coffee spot. Or whatever it is. Love the whole thing, actually. Nice job.

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  2. Yeah, that's the centerpiece of the whole kitchen. I'll take another picture of the slab tomorrow, but it's a really gorgeous piece of stone.

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  3. Looks great! When is breakfast? So do you have to turn off the stove to remove the pans?

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  4. Breakfast is at 8:30.

    Heh, no -- you can take the pans off without having to demagnetize the whole thing. I'm probably explaining it less than perfectly... But the cooktop won't activate unless there's a ferrous pot on top of it, so you can't just leave a burner on by accident.

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  5. drool ....

    It looks great! When's the big feast to test it all out? ;)

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  6. The big feast cometh.. I'd like to finish the floor and backsplash before an official kitchen-warming party.

    Q - just look at all the space on The Peninsula for rolling!!! :)

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  7. Now THAT's a kitchen!!!! WOW! I can't wait to see it (and roll stuff in it)!

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  8. Starting on the floor tonight :)

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