Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: kitchen design

[ken (gebser]

My grandmother had a pantry when I was a kid and it seemed really handy.
 She was always cooking up huge meals for people-- thirty or fourty or
more-- so so needed lots of "refrigerated" space.  Personally, I'd
prefer it to be located on the exterior rather than interior of the
house and on the north side.  All this in order to keep it cooler.  In
fact, the entire pantry will serve as insulation in the winter time, a
buffer between the cold outside and the warm inside of the house.

Also, I wouldn't forgo having a window in the pantry just because I
wouldn't want to use-- indeed, depend on-- electricity just to go into
the pantry to get a handful of potatoes.


heidinys [at] aol.com wrote:
> Dear Jenny et al,
> 
> Our kitchen streams with light every morning, and it is glorious.  It
> faces East;  even if your kitchen won't, face East, I'd agree with Ken
> on windowing the kitchen.
> 
> We were able to manage to have only lower cabinets,   allowing for
> maximum 'windowage' [windowization?].  We did this thanks to the
> brilliance of a friend who recommended a pantry.
> Pantry is essentially a windowless [in our case] closet with floor to
> ceiling shelves. The pantry  is on interior side of kitchen, allowing
> exterior to have windows.  We love the pantry, as does everyone who
> peeks in.  I recommend it.  Ours holds everything, almost.  In pantry:
> un-refrigerated foodstuffs,  platters, some pots, most small appliances
> [eg, waffle iron]
> Stuff we use daily is stored either in a wonderful olde Hoosier or in
> Kitchen cabinets all of them made up of wide drawers, as rec'd by SV.
> 
> BTW, while it is a co-ho norm to have kitchen face public area, in our
> earlier home [I married, and built another house within our CoHousing
> community]  in our initial home, I had my desk face out toward public
> area.  I loved to sit at desk and see the kids run.  And I don't much
> like desk work, so it was an inducement to my spending time at desk.  I
> hope I don't stir up a nest o' bees with this unorthodoxy!
> 
> Anything else you want to throw 'round, let me know,
> all best,
> Ruth J. Hirsch
> 
>> Steve Faber wrote:
>>> I think in an urban cohousing community the kitchens on the "active
>>> side"  might mean something different if you are trying to be a
>> little
>>> village in a bigger village of a neighborhood.  One of the  issues we
>>> had with our Michigan, medium density design, was the  compromise of
>>> kitchen orientation and getting light into the units.  If your kitchen
>>> is on the south side of your home.  Typically, much  of your wall
>> space
>>> is taken up by cabinets and you can't put in the  larger windows to
>>> maximize passive solar.
>>>
>>> Steve
>>>
>>>
>>> On Feb 24, 2006, at 1:39 PM, Chris ScottHanson wrote:
>>>
>>>> Rodney,
>>>>
>>>> My view is the green sustainable community must include, but not be
>>>> limited to the following:
>>>>
> 
>>>>
>>>> All private kitchens and the "active side" of the private dwelling
>>>> units on the entry (community) side, toward the pedestrian  walkway.
>>>> This allows for "eyes on the street" (pedestrian street,  of course)
>>>> and "ownership" of that street.  Safety and a sense of  belonging
>> result.
> 
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