I have the first lined out, a 6 burner range from school.

I want to do double stainless steel sink with double drain board for a total of 96 inches.

Most of my small house will be devoted to this kitchen. Since I have been living in a camper for over a year I am dreaming big.

Kim

If I were to build another house, my pantry would be larger for the goods I can and I would have a root cellar built underneath the garage or accessed from the floor of the pantry, even if I was talking just 4-6 bins for things like potatoes, onions, apples, etc. Walk-in would be ideal of course, but not likely.

Another design element I would include is a spot in the kitchen for an easily accessible stool for me to sit on when I am tired of standing for hours on end. There is no place for this in my otherwise wonderful kitchen currently and that is a definite defect.

Great ideas both of you. I knew I had to ask gardeners/home preserves to get the right answers : )

Regular builders/ remodelers shake when you tell them I don't want base cabinets. I always thought they were pointless unless I get on my hands and knees.

I agree with the root cellar/cold preservation area, some things just keep so well when that's available.

I agree on the base cabinets, as a rule, although my bottom shelves are now all on rollers so I can just pull them out to access items in the back, that's much more convenient.

I have a 5 burner Bosch, but not a single burner is low enough to keep my pressure canner from going up and up in pressure, so be sure your stove has that ability, I know the orifices can be changed, and I'll be changing at least one on mine!

Make sure the sinks are deep enough, I had a double stainless steel sink but it wasn't as deep as I liked, and didn't hold many tomatoes to be cooled after blanching or buckets full of beets. My new deep one works much better.

And pantry storage for all those canned goods, of course...

Good luck and happy Canning!

Annie

Don't forget to lay down some commercial anti-fatigue mats in front of the stove and prep counter. The trade off is to buy some professional non-slip work shoes. Both are expensive but so is having knee, or hip replacements later on.

Dave. Definitely huge storage pantry. Designed specifically for my preserving equipment. My nephew is going to build it hopefully. No dishwasher for me tho, I am recycling gray water and I can't afford the space.

Tishtoshnm, eventually?maybe next year I will be redoing the old slaughterhouse and it has 2 huge walkin coolers. They will be my storage. It is stones throw from house so pretty convenient. Stool is a great idea too.

Annie , I will put a picture of the sink setup. It is close to 23x23x23. Big enough to easily submerge my biggest equipment.

Nancy, I am glad you reminded me of that! The floor is polished concrete so it will be necessary to have good mats. Professional shoes are great for anti slip but I found ASICS or Brookes work best for my feet.

Y'all are really helping me. As soon as we get it done I will post pictures

What a fun question. I like roll out drawers or cabinets. I have one in my kitchen island that is opens on both sides. It holds most of my baking needs. Bottom shelf is tall enough for plastic containers of flour, middle shelf just tall enough for the container of sugar, baking powder, etc. Top shelf is short so that's where things like paper muffin cups go.

A good spice storage area. My spice cabinet has clear acrylic shelves on the back of the door. This is where my most used items go. The shelves in the cabinet are inset because of the door but you don't want a deep cabinet for small packages.

I think an island work area is perfect giving you less walking area. Don't forget to have at least one electrical outlet on it. The baking side is opposite my refrigerator area and sink. The next side has roll out drawers for pots and pans and is opposite the stove area.

My dehydrator is currently sitting on a table on our covered porch. It went outdoors when it was hot and since I've been dehydrating hot peppers, the fumes are staying outside, too. Make sure you have electrical outlets on the porch.

We don't have AC but we do have ceiling fans. We use the under cabinet lights as a night light so they are wired separately from other lights.

If you have a microwave, have it at eye level. Over the stove is too high. One the counter wastes counter space.

My kitchen sink faces north with a nice big window. If you have a high tunnel or cold frame you might want to have a remote thermometer in your kitchen. We just got a new one. One temperature sensor is in the high tunnel, a second indoors, and a third outside this north window so we can read the temperature when it's dark out.

We live in a small town with very few building codes so our attached garage has a door into the kitchen without any steps and it's wide enough for a wheel chair. I have shelves in the garage to hold things like empty canning jars.

Happy planning!

Not sure if it is possible for you but with the lower cabinets - they have these roll out and pop-up to cabinet top height shelves for the big appliances permanently mounted to them. Things like food processors, mixers, grinders and such. They pull out and up to use and when finished lower down and slide right back it. Good ease of access and saves counter space.

Photo of what I'm talking about

Like you I hate getting down on knees to search through lower cabinets but it can still be useful storage space.

And for SS counter space the restaurant supply places have neat SS table sized carts with wheels that you can lock in place or move your counter top work space around as needed.

Also thought about vent/exhaust hoods as you'll need a big one to handle all the steam and fumes.

Dave

Ooooh Dave, that link is trouble man! Some of those ideas are just wild.....I like the shoe storage in the slide out stairs. :-)

Regarding that exhaust vent, make sure it is high enough to be able to pull jars out of a pressure canner. I've read of some people who don't have adequate clearance between the top edge of the canner and the bottom of the hood to accommodate the length of quart jar + jar lifter. If you would be canning juices in half gallons, you will need even more clearance.

Should say jar + lifter + your hands.