|
DIY kitchen storage - design help please
QUESTION:DIY kitchen storage - design help please
I have tried in vain to find anything on Google about kitchen cupboards
beyond "Shaker-style" or "solid wood doors".
Having once lived in total hoarding chaos, as I redesign my life, my
instinct as my kitchen evolves is to have everything on hand and in view to
prevent clutter building up ... and as the most important workshop in our
lives with great accident potential I want to make it almost useable in
total darkness. I don't subscribe to the view that one can simply hide stuff
away behind acres of cupboard doors.
By the way I DO cook - being vegan I'd starve if I didn't ! I make my own
bread (using a bread machine), cakes and soya yoghurt and plan to do more in
the future.
So I decided to replace my 5 feet of white melamine wall cupboards with a
spur sheving system using slatted wood shelves (IKEA hat racks chopped in
half !) for my jars of flour and grains and proprietary chrome / stainless
steel components below those for jars of jam etc ...
The open plan approach is fine with the chrome rail of continuously used
tools hanging over the cooker hood, but less-frequently accessed containers
on open shelves are likely to get gungy ....
So I thought of retaining the existing carcasses (but slimmed down to 6 or 9
inches - any deeper being impracticable) with custom safety glass doors ....
Then I thought, rather than all that horrible contiboard, why not have glass
carcasses made using display case techniques - the weight of those doors
dictates something stronger in any case .
But should cupboards be sealed ? should they not breathe ?
perhaps insect-proof perforated metal sides would be a better bet ?
Has anyone here ever thought along similar lines ?
ANSWER: I've done my kitchen with a little of both open and closed storage. The
kitchen walls are 9 ft high, so I have standard height solid wood wall
cabinets mounted right up to the ceiling, for items which get infrequent
use, with narrower open shelves below, for stuff which gets used daily.
Pots and pans are mostly hung within reach (except for seldom-used
items, which are behind doors). The larder door is a heavy-duty
exterior grade french door, with shallow wire shelving hung on its
inside face, deeper adjustable shelving on one side and pegboard on the
other. I can easily see where most things are, and seldom used items
are kept clean on the harder-to-get-to high shelves of the wall
cabinets. The microwave, toaster, and kitchen radio are all mounted on
the wall above the counter, keeping them accessible, and reducing
counter clutter.
|
|
|
|
