My mother likes to watch house-selling shows, home improvement shows, things of that ilk.

[conuly]

And she makes fun of how exaggerated these people's demands are - "Oh, I can't live here, the bathroom is the wrong color" and "We have two people, and we NEED three bathrooms" and the like. (These people never consider painting or waiting, apparently.)

One thing that comes up all the time, that I myself simply do not understand, is "Oh, the kitchen is too small". Here they are, looking at a reasonably-sized kitchen, and complaining that it's not big enough.

Big enough for what, I ask! For three cooks, a baker, and a scullery maid? If you're cooking for yourself, why would you want a big kitchen? You want a small kitchen so you don't wear your feet out getting dinner on the table, and so you are less likely to spill your perfect meal all over the floor because you had to run it 20 feet from the fridge to the oven!

But no, they all think they want big kitchens, and I just don't understand it at all. Any insight would be much appreciated.

Edit: Okay, so it's all about the counters, got it. So, how big is your ideal kitchen, and how much counterspace is needed?

Comments

[griffen.livejournal.com]

The pantry is part of every kitchen I've ever used or been in.

My ideal kitchen has enough counter space for at least four workstations, at least one place that has butcher-block counters, and at least one place that has marble counters (for pastry). It also has enough cabinet space that I can have three different kinds of glassware for different kinds of occasions. It has two ovens so that I can make a Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner, and it has at least six burners on the gas stove.

Flat-out, I LOVE big kitchens. You might want to see if you can find and watch the "This Old House" episode where they called in Julia Child as a consultant on what a good kitchen should have. There's an article about it here (http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/article/0,,212070,00.html). You can probably find more articles on it by searching "Julia Child" "This Old House" "Milton House" on Google, too.

[marveen.livejournal.com]

Our pantry is on the porch. You go out of the kitchen, down a short hallway to the back door and out it to the porch. The pantry cupboard is at the far end from the screen door and the house door. It's much cooler there than in the actual house, but never quite gets down to freezing, so it's perfect for food storage.

It used to be a dank, dark "fruit room" before remodeling, but there was rot in all its timbers so when I was thirteen or so my father ripped it off and rebuilt the porch in one long room with a closetlike pantry cupboard all along one side.