Kitchen Make Over.

[Rajun Gardener]

I like that cooktop, it looks big enough for bigger pots. I was also thinking now that you have the old stove in the garage and you have a new lathe to make things, it would be easy to use to powder coat small parts.

[coronabarb]

Worth, the bread proofing feature...is that a setting on the oven? Didn't see anything about it in the online description.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Rajun Gardener

I like that cooktop, it looks big enough for bigger pots. I was also thinking now that you have the old stove in the garage and you have a new lathe to make things, it would be easy to use to powder coat small parts.

That stove and oven will suffice to bake on a product they call Gun Kote by KG Industries.
I used to use it all the time it is good stuff.
They are right up the road from me about 40 minutes in Taylor Texas.
The top burners can be used for boiling water to slow rust blue.

I have really nice try clad stainless kettles from 22 quart, 16 quart, 12 quart, 8 quart with steamer basket and pasta strainer and 3 quart with steamer basket and pasta strainer.
Not to mention all the other odds and ends.
The 3 big ones take forever to come to a boil on my stove and only with the lids on.
I also need good gas burners for a good sized pressure cooker.

The oven has a built in meat probe and will shut down I think when the temp get to a certain temperature.

All the fancy stuff on it will allow me to very slowly bring my big salamis up to temperature without them being to hot.
I bet I could even dehydrate in the thing.

Worth

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by coronabarb

Worth, the bread proofing feature...is that a setting on the oven? Didn't see anything about it in the online description.

When I look at all of this stuff I look at the owners manual on line and the installation guide.
There is where I am getting all of my information.
Yes it is in the owners manual.
When I buy something on line I will read the manual several times and have it memorized before the product arrives and know exactly what I am getting and how to install it.

Worth

[oakley]

I totally get the two ovens. I've always had two. Even in our old loft in the city we had a small vintage gas RoyalRose, worked like a dream....next to a piece-o-crap bought new GallerySeries 'get-the-extended-warranty' oven with the electronic in back and the entire stove replaced twice piece-o-crap. (junk) But we had two ovens and 8 burners.
Gave that puppy away when we moved.

It was a big kitchen. Big butcher block island on a threaded black pipe DIY base. Welded giant pot rack, yada...good party home. Too big.

Had a small panic when we bought this home. Post and beam 'tree house' in the forest.
Small kitchen has turned into a dream. Galley but open, no blind corners, a chefs kitchen. Everything is steps away with a quick turn. It has taken a while but now near perfect. Not many can say that. Just had my double wall ovens installed a couple months ago, (needed power run and a transfer switch put in for storms)

I bet you will take your time and map out an efficient work space. My ovens were in the garage for two years waiting for the time to install, oy.

Had a big Garland commercial 8 burner in a work rental one fall a few years ago. Hated that beast. And the giant SubZero. It was a fight with that big suction door constantly.

I like my efficient slim fridge with an old 'beer' fridge down stairs next to an upright freezer down in the project room. (seed starting, etc)

My wall ovens are 24". Small is more efficient. No need for a toaster or gasp, a toaster oven...so many never use their ovens and use counter appliances. A good wall oven does it all. With fresh homemade bread i prefer just toasting the top side under the broiler. Convection or 'fan assist' cooks evenly and much better in a small oven. Does a small 10-12lb turkey. Big beast are not necessary with a wood fired grill to rotis a couple ducks or a lamb leg for another meat...the second oven takes care of all the sides since veg is most important. (and the potatoes under the roasting duck to catch the fat)

[oakley]

haha, i thought you were just beginning planning having gone from Garland commercial to kitchen design thinking phase.. Oh well. I just wrote that last night then got busy....

Do try and get that wall oven at eye level. Such a pleasure to actually see what is going on. No bending over to check...

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by oakley

haha, i thought you were just beginning planning having gone from Garland commercial to kitchen design thinking phase.. Oh well. I just wrote that last night then got busy....

Do try and get that wall oven at eye level. Such a pleasure to actually see what is going on. No bending over to check...

The wall oven is going to have the controls knobs at my eye level which will make the bottom at about 36 inches from the floor.

This way I can get heavy stuff out without bending my back and look in it without bending over.
Also when I pull stuff out I can be turning a wee bit to my right and going down instead of up to set it down.
It is going to go where the old stove is because that is where the power is.


Worth

[Worth1]

Now that we/I have picked out the two items, I need to get a move on.
This will require me to get serious about building cabinets and deciding on counter tops.

I am also going to knock out the bar and build a new set of uppers and lower cabinets where it was.
When I do this I will be moving that bar space into the living area 2 feet to give me two more feet of area in the kitchen.'BUT it will only take up one foot of space in the living area.
The reason is there is a one foot wide lip on the bar in the living area already.

What this will do is get rid of the dead space in one corner and allow more space to the right of the oven going in.
None of these dimensions are exact but they are close.
I might even move the oven over 19 inches to the right of where it is now.
If I do this I will have 38 inches of counter space to the left of it instead of 19.

Worth

[Old chef]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Why am I concerned about ventilation?

When I cook a steak in the house my skillets are smoking hot like 600F.

Worth
You should be. If you are going to put in ventilation, you will have to make sure you match incoming and out going CFMs. Commericial hoods have them built in. You could add a vent pipe from outside to make up for some. It is actually called "make up" air in the business. You could also make sure the window is open wide in the same room.

I like the electric oven. Much more even for baking. Could have a convection setting.
A propane stove top will get you all the heat you need. I use propane exclusively when doing sugar work. It gets much hotter than natural gas.

Old chef

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Old chef

Worth
You should be. If you are going to put in ventilation, you will have to make sure you match incoming and out going CFMs. Commericial hoods have them built in. You could add a vent pipe from outside to make up for some. It is actually called "make up" air in the business. You could also make sure the window is open wide in the same room.

I like the electric oven. Much more even for baking. Could have a convection setting.
A propane stove top will get you all the heat you need. I use propane exclusively when doing sugar work. It gets much hotter than natural gas.

Old chef

Your right Chef.

I used to work for a company here in Austin as a fire alarm tech supervisor.
The company also did HVAC controls.
Sometimes the operations manager would ask me to go help him in SA.
From past experience controlling these systems with our fire alarm systems and working with him I learned a lot about HVAC systems and how they work.

They can be complicated or very simple depending on the application.
There is a thing called air balancing they do at each vent to a room.
The system will have return air supply air and make up air.
Return air can be an open plenum, (attic or above a dropped ceiling) or ventilated through vents.
Supply air come through vents and can be controlled with a thermostat in that room.
Make up air comes from outside.
All of this stuff has to be balanced for proper room pressure.
You dont want it on vacuum or too much pressure.
With modern systems you can pop peoples eardrums and even blow out windows.
If our system shuts the dampers but doesn't shut of the HVAC unit it will blow big 48 inch ducts up.

These system controls have went from pneumatic to analog wiring with relays to LAN wires and a little circuit board.
Some rooms are set up to have a higher pressure than the outside to keep out gasses.

Where did I learn all of the things I know how to do.
I have had an eventful life and am willing to learn out of curiosity an necessity.
If I were to need a make up air vent I would need to put it as far away from the exhaust vent as I could and nowhere close to a sewer vent.
This could be as simple as a gravity damper on the outside of the house to something ducted to my HVAC system.

You want at least 100 CFM for ever 1000 BTU's the cook top at full power has 44,700 BTU this divided by 100 is 447 which would mean I would at least need that many CFM.
I have picked out a 760 CFM vent hood that is 313 CFM over what I need due to my cooking habits.
This doesn't mean I have to run it at full power but it is there if I need it.
The hood has 4 settings 280 CFM (1,2 sones) 400 CFM (2.6sones) 580 CFM (4.2 sones) and 760 CFM (5.8 sones), it can be vented outside or ran through a charcoal filter and vented back in the house.
It has baffle filters and a grease trap at the bottom of the motor.



Worth

[Worth1]

I know it is wood wood and more wood but it is all I can afford because I either have it or can make it.

I have more the enough hand scraped solid teak flooring stacked in one room I need to use.
I am going to have to put in a new floor when I am through.
This is the color and about what it looks like that I have.


They cabinets are going to be about this color also.
I have decided to buy 3/8 thick stone tile for the counter tops.
My other option is wood but to me that is just too much wood.
The tile I can afford is either going to be black granite or a light colored marble.
Marble stains and I cook it isn't a show kitchen.

My Idea is to if I get the black granite is to use white grout to off set the darkness of everything else.
Maybe the stainless oven cook top and kettles will help also.

Why I like the black is if it is dirty you know it is dirty but I really like the white marble.

I am not going to use Formica.

Worth

[Rajun Gardener]

Worth, I have a suggestion, again. When I built the house I looked around for a solid surface top and found a company that sold slabs of finished granite. They sell 8' lengths with the finished front and either the left or right side and they sold a 4" back-splash, they also sell a finished bar top, I bought a 3'x10' for $350. The top was $250 each and the back-splash was $45 each 8' piece. These are prefabbed and polished to fit normal cabinets and it goes together so fast. I'll check with the shop and see if they sell in Texas if you're interested.

I don't know if you've ever worked with granite but if you can do woodwork you can do this and there's a bunch of youtubes.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Rajun Gardener

Worth, I have a suggestion, again. When I built the house I looked around for a solid surface top and found a company that sold slabs of finished granite. They sell 8' lengths with the finished front and either the left or right side and they sold a 4" back-splash, they also sell a finished bar top, I bought a 3'x10' for $350. The top was $250 each and the back-splash was $45 each 8' piece. These are prefabbed and polished to fit normal cabinets and it goes together so fast. I'll check with the shop and see if they sell in Texas if you're interested.

I don't know if you've ever worked with granite but if you can do woodwork you can do this and there's a bunch of youtubes.

I can work with it and have the stuff but it is about 3 times as much as I want to spend even if I do the work.
They have several;l places around me that sell the stuff and I will check on them again.
It seems the black was pretty cheap when I looked the other day.

[Father'sDaughter]

If money was no object, I would go with silestone. We have a silestone sink which looks just like black stone. It really takes a beating between cooking prep, seed starting and up-potting, manual dishwashing--basically everything you would need a sink for. The thing still looks brand new.

[Worth1]

If money were no object I would hire someone to build them according to my specs not theirs and sign my contract if they didn't like it they could take a hike.

Everything I build for inside is built to last hundreds of years not till the next fad comes along.

Home.