Talking kitchens

[idun]

S17, you'll need a good store over the french windows, sticking out quite a distance and that should help enormously, plus a ceiling a fan and I reckon it is workable.

I still believe that west facing is worst in summer if you eat a main meal on an evening at french times and remember that midday in summer in France is actually approx 2pm  GMT so if you eat lunch at 12'ish then the kitchen will not be too hot by then.

Don't give up on your new kitchen and what about a clim' unit?

[partout]

Re ceiling fan

My husband fitted ours, and apparently if the fan contains a light  you can wire this to a light switch, if it doesn't I don't know where you have to find the power, this is all rather confusing when it comes to English let alone French electrics...

[mint]

Aw, thanks, guys, for your patience and for sticking with me!

Nah, no point hankering after the impossible.....but I am not completely down about it because I have found many times in the past that what seems an insuperable problem can produce a very good outcome because you have had to think laterally and work hard at a solution.

It's just that I won't now have this super-duper showpiece but that's fine because I will still end up with a functional kitchen.  I shall now be able to have better quality because I shan't have room for so many units [:D]

It's unlikely that I will now get everything I need into the smaller kitchen but I do have a very large, multi shelved unit with sliding doors.  I will get rid of the sliding doors as the tracks are dirt traps and have proper opening doors, in a material that will marry in well with the new kitchen.  I might reduce the depth of the cupboard and replace the shelves with nice real wood ones.  It's a floor to ceiling cupboard and takes an enormous amount of stuff.  Because things tend to get lost in it, I have categories of "stuff" (eg baking things, breakfast cereals, seldom used dishes, etc) in plastic see-through boxes in the cubpboard so, although it's not pretty, it's useful!

I now have to re-think completely and will still need a new floor (the present tiled floor is a bit pitted in places), all new units, worktops, bin unit, dishwasher, oven, etc etc.

Just need to draw in my horns a bit and find out how much equipment I can squeeze into this small space.

Onwards and upwards.........   

[mint]

Aw, thanks, guys, for your patience and for sticking with me!

Nah, no point hankering after the impossible.....but I am not completely down about it because I have found many times in the past that what seems an insuperable problem can produce a very good outcome because you have had to think laterally and work hard at a solution.

It's just that I won't now have this super-duper showpiece but that's fine because I will still end up with a functional kitchen.  I shall now be able to have better quality because I shan't have room for so many units [:D]

It's unlikely that I will now get everything I need into the smaller kitchen but I do have a very large, multi shelved unit with sliding doors.  I will get rid of the sliding doors as the tracks are dirt traps and have proper opening doors, in a material that will marry in well with the new kitchen.  I might reduce the depth of the cupboard and replace the shelves with nice real wood ones.  It's a floor to ceiling cupboard and takes an enormous amount of stuff.  Because things tend to get lost in it, I have categories of "stuff" (eg baking things, breakfast cereals, seldom used dishes, etc) in plastic see-through boxes in the cubpboard so, although it's not pretty, it's useful!

I now have to re-think completely and will still need a new floor (the present tiled floor is a bit pitted in places), all new units, worktops, bin unit, dishwasher, oven, etc etc.

Just need to draw in my horns a bit and find out how much equipment I can squeeze into this small space.

Onwards and upwards.........   

[mint]

Aw, thanks, guys, for your patience and for sticking with me!

Nah, no point hankering after the impossible.....but I am not completely down about it because I have found many times in the past that what seems an insuperable problem can produce a very good outcome because you have had to think laterally and work hard at a solution.

It's just that I won't now have this super-duper showpiece but that's fine because I will still end up with a functional kitchen.  I shall now be able to have better quality because I shan't have room for so many units [:D]

It's unlikely that I will now get everything I need into the smaller kitchen but I do have a very large, multi shelved unit with sliding doors.  I will get rid of the sliding doors as the tracks are dirt traps and have proper opening doors, in a material that will marry in well with the new kitchen.  I might reduce the depth of the cupboard and replace the shelves with nice real wood ones.  It's a floor to ceiling cupboard and takes an enormous amount of stuff.  Because things tend to get lost in it, I have categories of "stuff" (eg baking things, breakfast cereals, seldom used dishes, etc) in plastic see-through boxes in the cubpboard so, although it's not pretty, it's useful!

I now have to re-think completely and will still need a new floor (the present tiled floor is a bit pitted in places), all new units, worktops, bin unit, dishwasher, oven, etc etc.

Just need to draw in my horns a bit and find out how much equipment I can squeeze into this small space.

Onwards and upwards......... 

Edit:  Forgot to explain the position of the proposed room so that you could understand the u-turn.  It's a room with full-length double glazed French doors opening onto a veranda that is also double-glazed from floor to ceiling and faces south!  It's a charming room in the mornings and evenings in summer as the glazed units in the veranda open up completely and there are nice views of the garden and fields and a couple of country roads beyond.  I don't think it's possible to cook in it however and I am not that keen on clim as, for some reason, it always makes me sneeze.

Once partout talked about cooling the room, I knew it was just wishful thinking on a cold winter's evening.  

[Bill]

Good afternoon Sweet,

 

only contribution I can make is , when we last did our kitchen we had granite surfaces , It's a real slab of polished granite. light and speckled, but lots of colours to choose from , We are supposed to  wax them once or twice a year, but failed miserably, ten years on & still as good as new . Worth pricing up .

  

 

the joy is , u don't need a cutting board ever again, whilst we use boards , on the odd ocassion I don't , it doesn't matter. Hot pans out of the oven , no problem .

 

we are about to move into our french house which will need  a kitchen ,  so this thread has been of interest

good luck,

Bill

 

 

 

[mint]

Hi, Bill

When you come to France, BEFORE you consider the kitchen or anything else, make sure you bring plenty of warm clothes![:D]  See discussion on thread entitled "snow......"

It's sooo exciting making that move, Bill, and all the very best.  Don't forget to come back to tell us about your kitchen though!

I've sort of put the kitchen thing on the back burner literally as I am now only going to pull out the old one and replace it with something suitable and not re-design a whole new one in another room.

Nevermind, that's how it goes sometimes and I still hope to end up with something slick and functional.

Oh, forgot to ask, don't the granite worktops blunt all your knives if you cut things on them?

[Chancer]

Absolutely! Just as do the tempered glass chopping boards, another chocolate teapot, what people have forgotten now that kitchens are some fashion/status symbol rather than functional is that the original puprpose of a chopping board was to protect the knifes from the surface underneath, not the inverse.

Mind you most people who use glass chopping boards or cut directly onto granite probably dont know what a sharp knife is, including the so called chef (French) who gives the cookery lessons that I used to go to.

[Pads]

Yes I totally agree , we had a stone composite surface but also had a built in chopping block to the left of my cooking area. which is well used . 

[BIG MAC]

We just use the commercial colour coded nylon ones....and proper Sebatier knives which get placed blade up in a wooden knife block. A chef told me once...' Why would you put and edge on a blade then slide it into a slot in a wooden block'? his point being it dulls the knife and cuts the block over time....I expect a France Forum revolution of knife in block turning! ;-)

 

[Chancer]

Blimey!!!

I had better make a granite block then to store my knives in [6]

Dont the plastic blocks dull the knives more than a beech one? [:P]

Enough of this stupidity!

Sad thing is most people never sharpen their knives these days which is why they cut themselves so often, as my dear Dad sad, "you will never cut yourself with a sharp knife son!" of course I have managed to prove him wrong on many an occasion but there is a lot of sense in what he said.

[mint]

Goodness, the info on this thread gets more esoteric by the day!

But I guess I'd better join in so as not to be left out![:D]

I do have a wooden knife block (two actually) so I checked the slots after Big Mac's comments.  How reassured I was![:-))]

My knives go in vertically: each knife has its own purpose-made slot (I kid you not, ask OH, he's always getting told off for putting knives into the wrong slots!).  The slots are marginally wider than the knife blades.  Therefore, if I slot in the knives carefully, holding the upper blunt side of the knives tight against on side of the slots, they shouldn't cut the block, should they?[:D]

Whilst we're on the subject of knives, I think I have read that "sabatier" is just a name for the type of knives with the rivets in the handles and are not what you might call "AOC".  Any knife made in that shape and with that handle can be called a sabatier.

Don't know about laguoile knives though, I think they have to come from the village of that name.  Clair Clever Cloggs might know![:P]  She'd also know if I have spelt the name correctly; it doesn't look "right" somehow.

[Chancer]

Nope Laguiole is not brévété, anyone can make and sell a knife of that style and label it Laguiole.

Most are made in Pakistan, the majority of French production is mass assemblage in factories in Thiérs using parts made in China or Pakistan.

There had not actually been coutelerie in Laguiole for a few decades until one was recreated for markettin reasons.

I like Laguiole, all but the very cheapest are a pleasure to use and all but the very expensive are  good value.

[idun]

OK, a question, please, how do you sharpen your knives ?

[Théière]

I use a fine wet diamond sharpener. Some very good knives are also made in Indonesia from quality imported German steel from Soligen but emblazoned with who ever is paying 's name.

Any one used or own a ceramic knife?

[Jo]

[quote user="idun"]

OK, a question, please, how do you sharpen your knives ?

[/quote]

I bought a knife sharpener from Lakeland, it has 3 slots weird looking thing with a black handle[blink] it is marvelous, and sharpens any un-serrated knife[:)]

[mint]

[quote user="Théière"]Any one used or own a ceramic knife?[/quote]

Yes, used one in someone else's house and I thought it quite good.  Don't know how you'd sharpen it though.

I've also got a potato peeler with a ceramic blade but the blade is quite thick in comparison to my "normal" one and it's only used when I can't find my metal blade one.

[pachapapa]

[quote user="Théière"]I use a fine wet diamond sharpener. Some very good knives are also made in Indonesia from quality imported German steel from Soligen but emblazoned with who ever is paying 's name. Any one used or own a ceramic knife?[/quote]

If the knives were made from quality imported german steel then they would be more likely to bear the name Solingen.

As Remscheid, Solingen and the Wüppertaln area are renowned for their quality.

Bit like Sheffield, Dannemora and Eskilstuna.

[woolybanana]

Isn't S'heffield in Canton somewhere?[6]

[Théière]

[quote user="pachapapa"]

[quote user="Théière"]I use a fine wet diamond sharpener. Some very good knives are also made in Indonesia from quality imported German steel from Soligen but emblazoned with who ever is paying 's name. Any one used or own a ceramic knife?[/quote]

If the knives were made from quality imported german steel then they would be more likely to bear the name Solingen.

As Remscheid, Solingen and the Wüppertaln area are renowned for their quality.

Bit like Sheffield, Dannemora and Eskilstuna.

[/quote]

Apologies it was Taiwan, memory getting rusty unlike the knives.

"Atlantic Chef uses German Steel 1.4116, which consists of Carbon, Chromium, Vanadium, Molybdenum and several other materials. After hardening/tempering, grinding, sharpening and some other major processes, the hardness of the blades can reach as high as HRC 56 degrees and above".

 

[pachapapa]

Kitchen knives...a salesmans dream.[:)]

http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/misc/articles/kkchoser/kksteelp2.shtml

I can hear martensitic cracking from the heat near the stove.

[mint]

[quote user="pachapapa"]

[quote user="Théière"]I use a fine wet diamond sharpener. Some very good knives are also made in Indonesia from quality imported German steel from Soligen but emblazoned with who ever is paying 's name. Any one used or own a ceramic knife?[/quote]

If the knives were made from quality imported german steel then they would be more likely to bear the name Solingen.

As Remscheid, Solingen and the Wüppertaln area are renowned for their quality.

Bit like Sheffield, Dannemora and Eskilstuna.

[/quote]

Pacha, mine are called Henckel bought from Harrods (BEFORE it was Egyptian!)[:)]

[BIG MAC]

Apparently our 'Sabatier' knives are 'Diamont' and that is one of the genuine French manufacturers..regardless of where they come from ...they hold a very nice edge....almost in a par with my normark filleting knife...

[mint]

Well, well, well, here I am back, en fin!

The kitchen's been a long time in the planning on account of all sorts of different reasons.

However, an update!!!

The kitchen installer has visited today..............only taken him a few months since first contact.  All that is fine because I just want somebody who will plan it with my requirements, order it and install everything including electrics and plumbing.  If they need other trades, then I expect them to organise them and, in the final analysis, give me a kitchen that is ready to go.

I have more or less decided on Ikea, if only because I can whip down to Bordeaux if anything is missing or needs changing.  Having said that, I might consider one shipped out lock stock and barrel from the UK.

Oven at waist height and GG, please give me the name and model of your oven with the telescopic shelves.

Chance, I have noted the crédances and the floor of lames seseo from Leroy Merlin.  Please tell me if details aren't right.

Island with the hob on but the jury is still out between gas again or induction.

I have mentioned that I have a massive cupboard which is between the kitchen proper and the dining area.  The cupboard will be removed completely and larder type units put in to exactly fill up the space.

The installer is able to customise whatever units I buy, so either enlarging or reducing but all to fit seamlessly.

Any more up-to-date ideas, etc very welcome and thanks for accompanying me on this project.

[idun]

What height are you having your work surfaces?

The UK ones are a xxxxx awful height, far too high for any sort of comfort to rub in or knead anything, that is, unless I was about 5'9......... and so I have one work surface UK height so that I can get my dish washer under it, and another we've had short stubby legs fitted onto the units, so a good work height for me at 5'4 and probably shrinking with age... in fact the short stubby legs are probably a good description of me too!

A friend had mixed height work surfaces as a feature along one wall.

My greatest wish for you is a good oven. IF I was still in France, I'd be looking at de deitrich, hoping that they were as good as the last one I bought in 1981![Www] (as if eh!)