Chapter 1

If you have ever lived in an apartment you have probably experienced a kitchen very much like this one. 

The pipe shows up better in the color photo. The metal pipe entered the home on the right, fed the sink, made a right turn and headed to the toilet. This is the section between the sink and the toilet. The pipe had foam insulation on the interior of the home but not the long trek around the house on the exterior.

What were they thinking!

You are looking at a load bearing wall. This wall supports the roof above. As you can see, there are several roof lines that intrude into the wall cavity. The lower roof line, about 6″ above the floor was the original roof line.  The peaked roof line goes to a 1st floor addition. The topmost roof line is just below the window, and represents the second-floor addition.  Look closely and you can see the 1st floor room below in the gap between the intruding gable and the floor.  Also note the window is framed totally wrong – this is an error that was too much to correct.  Finally, the wall leans out 3″!

What were they thinking!

The edge of the soffit in the upper right corner. It is the portion of ceiling with the recessed can light. 

This picture also highlights how recessed lights installed close to the wall cabinets can ‘wash’ the front of the cabinet and provide lighting in the cabinet when you are hunting around in there.

Kitchen Use Checklist

How you function in your kitchen
  • Create full meals
  • Warm up left overs or frozen dinners
  • Create quick meals like sandwiches
  • Bake extensively
  • Make bread
  • Formal dinner parties
  • Informal parties
  • Family time 
  • _____% Create full meals
  • _____% Warm up left overs or frozen dinners
  • _____% Create quick meals like sandwiches
  • _____% Bake extensively
  • _____% Make bread
  • _____% Formal dinner parties
  • _____% Informal parties
  • _____% Family time 
  • _____% Cleaning up
  • _____% Other activities

Mark all that apply.

  • Limited cabinet space
  • Limited counter space
  • No pantry
  • Appliances in wrong position
  • Just not enough room
  • Some appliances don’t work the way you want
  • Plumbing inadequate 
  • Hard to see in the space
  • Too many steps required to do anything
  • No room for cookbooks
  • No space for multiple cooks