Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: kitchen design

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Dec 4, 2006, at 12:58 AM, Judy Hecht wrote:

>  The
> large burner size didn't work because they didn't put
> enough space between the burners to accomodate large
> pots. The pots ended up touching and burning the food
> in the spots where they touched.

Our wonderful cooktop also has this problem. It looks great -- strong! 
Our old one smashed when someone put a big pot on it. But the burners 
are so close together that you can only use one or two if you use big 
pots -- like a reasonably sized soup pot -- 14 inches or so across.

In addition the knobs to turn on the burners are on top of the cooktop, 
so close to the burners that they can burn as well if a large pot is 
used on the side burners. We chose top-placed burners for the safety of 
kids but since kids are not allowed in the kitchen, it  might have been 
better to choose front placed knobs. If a knob were burning because of 
the flames that come out from under a pan, you have to put your hand 
into the flames to reach the knob to turn down the flames. They are 
also poorly marked and round so they are harder to grasp and unless you 
remember which way they turn, it's trial and error. Not something you 
want to do in an emergency -- like when your fingers are burning off. 
Or even when a pot is boiling over. Or when you are about to have a 
grease fire.

So look for  widely space burners with not round knobs.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org