Jo Ann wrote in
:

On Jan 4, 10:22*pm, Chris Hill wrote:
On Mon, 4 Jan 2010 17:30:56 -0500, "Ed Pawlowski"
wrote:





Chris Hill wrote:

Depends on what the cabinet situation is like. *If it is short to
begin with, I'd keep the cabinet. *Also, think outside the box;
coul
d
the refrigerator be anywhere else in the house with a nice set of
cabinets where it is currently located?

You mean outside of the kitchen? *That would be nuts considering how
m
any
trips we make to the fridge during a typical meal preparation and
cleanu
p
with leftovers. *Most efficient layout is a triangle composed of the
s
ink,
fridge, stove with some prep space next to each. *My cousin had a
big kitchen with the sink on one side and the stove and fridge on
the opposi
te
wall, 16' away. *It was very tiring to prepare a meal. *The room als
o had
four doors. *To outside, to dining room, to basement, to
pantry/laundr
y
room.

Depends on how close to the kitchen the refrigerator could be placed.
Sounds to me like we're dealing with a sub-optimal situation here to
begin with. *Last time I was in such I moved the refrigerator to the
dining room and put a portable dishwasher in its place. *The main
advantage was that you didn't have to roll the dishwasher over carpet
to get it into the dining room that way. * The second advantage is
that we could use the top for counter space, there was very little in
that kitchen. *If the house would have been mine, I'd have knocked
the wall out and made the dining room into an eat in kitchen.

---
A computer is] like an Old Testament god, with a lot of rules and no
merc
y. -- Joseph Campbell

You're right that it's suboptimal no matter how it's approached.
Here's the layout: Picture long, narrow kitchen with entry doors at
both ends. At one end is the entryway from the utility room (houses
furnace, water heater, washer, and dryer). On the left wall at that
end is the doorway to the dining room; on the right, the stove. Going
through the kitchen from that end, on the right is stove, drawer
stack/ narrow upper cupboard, sink, upper/lower cupboard. On the left
is dining room doorway, refrigerator, upper/lower cupboard. At the
end is another upper/lower cupboard and the door to the pantry,
walk-in closet, and bathroom (picture a small landing with pantry on
one side, closet straight ahead, and bathroom to the right). The
closet is built from the space under the living room stairs and, if
the house had a basement, is where the basement stairs would be (house
is on a stone foundation over a deep dirt-floored crawl space that
looks like it was probably excavated as an after-thought when they
installed indoor plumbing).

Currently, I use a portable apartment size dishwasher that rolls into
the walk-in closet (barely passing through the narrow door; full size
portable would not be an option here). The dishwasher can't go into
the utility room because there are two stairs down from the kitchen to
the UR; it can't go into the dining room both for aesthetics and
because there is about a 1-inch drop between the old wood floor in the
dining room and the new tile floor in kitchen (yes, I know I can fix
the drop-off, it's on the list).

The refrigerator could conceivably go into the dining room, but it's
hard to imagine that a future owner would prefer another cupboard or a
good spot for a full-size portable dishwasher rather than a
refrigerator in the kitchen. Also, keeping in mind that this is a
very traditionally styled, Victorian house, there's not really a good
way to disguise a refrigerator in the dining room without its looking
ludicrous.

Knocking down the wall between the kitchen and dining room is
something I've thought about, as is expanding the kitchen out over
what is now the side porch -- thus my earlier reference to major
remodeling. Neither of those is an option at this point.

So, what it comes down to in my mind is either sacrificing a base
cupboard for a dishwasher or continuing to use an apartment-size
portable that's stored in the closet. Given the options, I'm not
terribly unhappy with the current arrangement, but when the dishwasher
stops working and being repairable (it's OLD), I wonder which would be
better in terms of resale: A built-in dishwasher or an extra base
cupboard.

Jo Ann

Your place sounds really neat although I don't envy your issues & tasks.
As I said previously, my bud has an old house like yours including stone
foundation. Stall is attached to the side of the kitchen and down a few
steps. Has a split door. Horse head often in kitchen. Very social. It's
just a way of life I think is cool.

No digital camera? Might help with some of your posts.