A big surprise...

10 years ago

I'm on vacation and yesterday went to see the remodeled home of a close friend. They bought a very old house that had had minimal remodeling done many years ago.

The hired the most prominent architect in the area - know for his very beautiful (and VERY expensive) reproduction colonial houses. They put the drawings out for bids and hired a GC to build the major two-story plus basement addition. They pretty much doubled the square feet in the house.

Having almost finished my own kitchen, I couldn't wait to see hers. What a disappointment! The cabinets were custom made locally and exquisitely hand painted (I'd have killed to have my cabinets painted by this painter!), but the layout left much to be desired.

In order to not have the major traffic flow right through the kitchen, they moved the island closer to the L-shaped cooking area. And it's WAY too close. She has no big deep drawers in either the huge island or in her other cabinets. When I mentioned that this surprised me, she told me that the builder told them drawers were too expensive for their budget. Instead of typical lower cabinets, they put in multiple shelves that are quite shallow, so that only one layer of anything can go on one shelf, and no, the shelves do NOT pull out - she has to bend down and reach in to find the right pan in the back.

She was very surprised that there was no built-in trash cabinet, but they are planning on ordering a pull-out one for under the sink (her sink is rather small). She has Shaker cabinets and glass doors on most of the uppers - there is a pantry closet for non-perishables, the other side of the island. She wasn't asked but was given glass doors with muntins and boy do they make the glass look even smaller than my Shaker glass doors without muntins. I'm SO glad you all told me to do plain glass doors! She has ordinary white wood painted knobs and is already complaining that they're hard to clean, and with three grandchildren between 12 and 18 for the summer, there will be MANY dirty marks on these knobs.

Her countertop is lovely - It's "Minuet" and it does look very much like Carrera marble. I was surprised that she didn't get a true built-in refrig but said she's never been willing to pay the price for such, so she got a huge counter-top depth in stainless. All her appliances are Bosch.

While this is a predominantly "summer" home, they do use it off-season, particularly at Thanksgiving and might come after Christmas if they don't go skiing. I know the remodeling cost about 20% above their planned budget, and that her husband was the person who was the most interested in the details of the remodeling. I'm just surprised that the kitchen was not more of a priority and that they did so little research on it. And that a prominent architect would put that island so close to the island!

Featured Answer

cpartist

10 years ago

Even if she didn't get the built in fridge, she should have gotten drawers for her lower cabinets. Especially if she's grandma age! And not even rollouts? Goes to show you that money doesn't necessarily buy good design.

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Comments (10)

writersblock (9b/10a)
10 years ago
In my somewhat limited experience, architects are not kitchen designers and often don't care much about the kitchen as long as they squeeze everything in.

Or, in the case of Addison Mizner, if he occasionally forgot the kitchen entirely, it wasn't a big deal.
freeoscar
10 years ago
I'm with her on the no-built in refrigerator. They're just insanely expensive, and they don't do any better job of keeping food fresh than the $1k refrigerator. They do look nice, but for that $10k I can do a lot of other things which have a much longer lifespan to make my house look better - windows, siding, moldings, etc.
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User
10 years ago
"Goes to show you that money doesn't necessarily buy good design."

Nicely said...
PRO
The Kitchen Place
10 years ago
She likely had the cabinet supplier help her with the kitchen design. Typically, in my area, the architect focuses on the structure...blending it with the rest of the house, getting the rooms the right size and proportion, hvac/plumbing/electrical runs, making sure the exterior matches well and specifying construction materials...etc. They really could care less about the layout of the kitchen because most people design the space to fit THEM and use a separate interior designer or kitchen designer. Unless you pay an architect extra to specifically help you with a kitchen design, they don't do it. In fact, most will admit it's not their expertise. If you don't do it everyday, it's not what you specialize in. I have met with plenty of architects that were clueless about kitchen design and current trends.
freeoscar
10 years ago
I get that an architect won't be up on the latest trends, and certainly isn't going to incorporate specifics about how the homeowner stores various items, but it's odd that they would have non-conforming clearances.
PRO
MarkJames & Co
10 years ago
I'm always surprised how many kitchen layouts I get from architects with 36" cabinet to cabinet aisles, effectively 33" work aisles.
Anglophilia thanked MarkJames & Co
just_janni
10 years ago
And honestly - that's exactly why this place is so awesome!
Anglophilia thanked just_janni
AnnKH
10 years ago
Disappointing, for sure! But after hanging out here for a couple of years, I've come to realize that what we consider "common" knowledge about kitchen design isn't all that common.

Just for fun, I like to look at real estate listings for very expensive homes in my area, just to see what the kitchens look like. You'd be amazed at the number of island cooktops with no ventilation; minimal drawers; wonky work zones. These are often custom homes, worth 4 to 5 times the average home in the area. There's a pot filler and a built-in paneled fridge and a wine fridge, but no decent prep space.
Anglophilia thanked AnnKH
PRO
Anglophilia
Original Author
10 years ago
I'm not sure there was a KD in this process. I think the GC built what the architect designed, or designed it himself. And I doubt he's ever cooked a meal in his life! As my friend, their interior designer said, they should have gotten her in on the process MUCH sooner. She may not be a KD, but she has designed her own kitchen in multiple homes over the years.