24 December 2009

You, me and the kitchen sink

I think today's kitchen comes from America.  Montanasmama doesn't say where she is from, but from the name and the measurement in inches, I'm guessing the USA.  Montanasmama, if you drop by today, please let us know what state you're in.

She writes:

"I know my sink looks huge in this little kitchen but it has the same foot print of a double bowl sink. I have found it SO much more user friendly then the double bowl in my old house. If you look you will see two water taps on the sink. One is for the city water, which is new to me and lovely to have when things get dry but I don't want to drink,cook, or ruin my tea with it. The other tap is for my gravity fed spring water system. I just re-routed the spring water from my old house to the new. If something happens to the city water I can switch the whole house over to the spring system. I chose the high curved taps to make it easy to fill and clean big pots. 

The door by the fridge is a pocket door leading into the walk in pantry. Having a hinged door here would have been very unhandy. Because the kitchen is small the "off the rack" kitchen islands were all too big for the space. To make my little island I took two 18" wide cabinets and attached them end to end giving me a small work area and 8 more drawers. I bought a slightly defective piece of corian counter top for it. I was going to use some kind of stone but just happened upon the corian stuff, it was the perfect size and cheap! How often will that happen? The other counters are laminate and I didn't fell comfortable with putting really hot stuff down on them so the little island takes care of where to put that right out of the oven or off the burner stuff."
 
Please don't forget to comment.  A comment is like payment for the time taken to post, and in this case in sending in the photos.  Many of us were enthusiastic about this series, so make sure all the photos get a good number of comments.  I don't want any of the ladies sending in photos to regret joining in.  Thank you friends.
 
The last two kitchens this year will appear this weekend - Pam's kitchen from Life on a Southern Farm will feature on Saturday and Deb's kitchen from Homespun Living will be our last kitchen for the year on Sunday.
 
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49 comments

  1. What a beautiful kitchen - practical, uncluttered, airy, streamlined and very pleasing to the eye! I am sure that many wonderful meals and food items are lovingly prepared in this warm space.
    Tracy (Brisbane)

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  2. This looks like a lovely kitchen, and sooo neat! I love how the island's been achieved - what a good idea - but I have no idea what a pocket door is. Is is a folding one, or sliding?

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  3. I've never seen a sink with a choice of water -- city or spring. All you need now is a third one for seltzer!

    And I love the improvised island. It looks like a kitchen you can cook in.

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  4. What a clean, spare kitchen! I laugh to see it described as "small", though. A kitchen large enough to accomodate any sort of island seems spacious to me! I like the plants on your windowsill and the solid-smooth countertops. A window over the kitchen sink is such a nice thing to have.

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  5. Beautiful and CLEAN! I LOVE the kitchen island idea.

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  6. I like the creativity with putting the two cabinets together. And the extra drawer space that resulted is a big bonus I'm sure.

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  7. I totally envy that pantry!

    Lovely kitchen, and I like how it opens to the other room, easy to be part of the action while doing kitchen chores.

    Thanks for sharing :)

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  8. Other than because my father was a cabinet maker and he loved corian countertops, I have never found someone else who has even heard of it. Your kitchen is lovely.

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  9. Thank you for sharing, just like all the other women. I really like to take a look at anyone's kitchen. My big favorites are the little cosey ones ;o)

    I hope I'm also able to send you two pictures of my kitchen, Rhonda. Love to share my little one with you all!

    And Rhonda, I want to wish you and all of your readers a Merry Christmas and a blessed 2010.

    Hope to see you soon!

    Love from Mama Monique, Holland

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  10. Thanks for sharing....I love the huge window.Light is a must for me.

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  11. Oh I wish my kitchen were a little more clutter free after seeing yours.

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  12. This looks like a lovely kitchen, everything seems to have a place. I love the pale wood and the dark countertops, I'm it would be lovely to cook in there.

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  13. I'm guessing she is from Montana...by the name..I may be wrong..but it is a beautiful kitchen and what a clever idea of putting to cabs together like that and getting 8 more drawers on top of that..Lisa

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  14. I love your kitchen. I think from your blogname that you are from Montana (USA). Am I right?

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  15. I sure like the idea of the high taps! I'm in Canada and thinking that the pantry door is a swinging one but could be wrong about that too lol. I too would like to know how that one works.
    Rhonda thank you for posting this series, I'm really enjoying it.

    Laurie

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  16. a beautiful kitchen. i love that you supply your own water. we have dam water, but it's full of ducks - so isn't plumbed to the kitchen. euw.

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  17. I've thoroughly enjoyed all the kitchens you have profiled. So many interesting ideas and approaches to the "hub" of the house.

    Given the name Montanamama, I assume that she is from Montana, a state in the Western USA. Plus, a pocket door is one that slides into the space between the drywall on two walls. It is genius as it takes up no room when open.

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  18. This is a beautiful kitchen. I've had the privilege of looking through the album of Montanasmama's whole house in progress and it is inspiring.
    Thanks for sharing it here too, Rhonda.

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  19. wow how do you keep it so neat? Great idea for the island bench.

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  20. Love the kitchen and it is not small at all compared to mine.
    Ithink the pantry door would be a cavity sliding door (it slides in between the walls).
    Have a Merry Christmas

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  21. What a clever lady to make her own island. Love to see this kind of get-up-and-go-ishness. For me the kitchen is screaming out for cluttering up but it would be wonderfully easy to keep clean. Cherrie

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  22. I too have pocket doors- they slide into a "pocket" in the wall, so they disappear when they're opened. They are wonderful, especially in small homes where a door would take up so much real estate! What a nice, clean kitchen!

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  23. Beautiful! Love the simplicity, and the island idea is inspiring. A single bowl sink is a great idea. Thanks for sharing.

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  24. What a spacious, clean kitchen. It's great that you have a choice of city water and your own spring water. Your island idea was a great one. Drawers are great storage and you got the corian at a great price too. Enjoy your new kitchen. I love how it opens to the other room also.

    I need to get up to wash some dishes after seeing your pictures.

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  25. I like your idea for the island. Very creative!
    Your kitchen is noce and roomy (at least it looks like it from the pictures!)
    Thank you for sharing your kitchen.

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  26. What a great kitchen - I particularly like the big sink! Too often you do have pots that barely fit into a normal sized sink!

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  27. What a gorgeous kitchen Montanasmama, you certainly planned that well. Like some other commenters I'm blown away by the choice of water -- wow!

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  28. I love this kitchen...so uncluttered! I guess I'm a minimalist at heart. Looks so neat and easy to work in.

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  29. Maybe Montanasmama could send in a few pics of what the kitchen looks like now. The right after assembly and construction pics are nice but what we really want to see is the clutter and how the kitchen is really lived in. I do love the island idea. I will have to 'shelve' that idea, just in case. I also am very jealous of the pocket door and pantry off the kitchen. My stockpile/pantry is currently located in the basement laundry room. I can tell you that I would really appreciate a more location friendly pantry. Thanks for this series. Love it. Great idea for Spring water vs City water taps.

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  30. This kitchen looks big to me, not small at all. Very user friendly and absolutely spotless. Makes me feel guilty, especially right now when I'm looking at whole heap of breakfast dishes..lol
    BTW could I ask what a pocket door is?
    Carla

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  31. I love your sink! I had a big one like that before and it is great for bathing little kids in as well as cleaning dishes!

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  32. I want the curved faucets just for the very reasons you stated! Your kitchen is lovely & immaculate. Very inspiring....thanks for sharing!

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  33. Your kitchen is wonderful!!! It makes me feel so calm and serene. I am a person who feels anxious and overstimulated when there is a lot of "stuff" around me and your kitchen is very pleasing to my eyes! Thanks for sharing it!

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  34. Great kitchen and thank you for sharing with us. Rhonda, Merry Christmas and enjoy your time with family and loved ones.

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  35. What a great idea on how to achieve a "kitchen island" when space is at a premium and money is tight! Very ingenius and frugal! Good for her!

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  36. What a beautiful and neat kitchen!And with a choice between two kinds of water -
    so great! And for european standards, it is by no ways small.

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  37. I like the timber look too. And it looks so spacious. Not sure what is a pocket door?

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  38. I would guess that a pocket door is a sliding door...?
    Merry Xmas Rhonda and everyone who reads the best blog ever!

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  39. Montana,

    Where did you get that big sink? I have been looking for one, hopefully porcelain, ever since I moved out of my old house that had one. So much more useful and easier to clean than a double stainless. Thanks.

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  40. This kitchen looks lovely! I have tried for years to keep my counters clean and just haven't gotten there yet. One day!

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  41. Love, love, love these kitchen sink posts. How clever for Montana Mama (from Montana, I assume) to use two cabinets and a piece of corian to make her island. Love it!

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  42. I love that big sink - I'm hoping to switch to one next year. And to have the kitchen open to living space - how friendly :)

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  43. Dear Ladies;
    Thank you all SO much for the positive comments on my kitchen! I don't post often on the blog or forum so let me introduce myself. I'm Leslie, AKA Montanasmama, I live in Central West Virginia a long way from Montana. My donkey jack's name is Montana Jack, he is from Montana and was already named and registered when I got him. He became famous and I became Montanasmama in cyberspace.

    This house was designed with ease of cleaning in mind since I have a pretty big slob gene. Being that the kitchen is right in your face where ever you are in the house I try to keep it always looking like the pictures except when I'm cooking. That's easy because all the extraneous stuff that usually lives on ones counters is in the pantry. I have towel racks and hooks right inside the door on the left for towels and dish rags to dry before tossing in the wash or hooks to hang ones I'll reuse that day on. Under them are hooks for the broom, mops and my window cleaning poles. The toaster, sprout jars, kitchen compost can, trash can, ect. all live in the pantry. I don't have a microwave or toaster over. Even on the days I would leave a couple of greasy frying pans in the sink for "later" Rhonda Jean makes me do them up! LOL I think well, Rhonda Jean would never leave this in her sink so I do them up and feel better. Thanks Rhonda!

    A window over the sink is wonderful, the little plant is my aloe vera for kitchen burns. I fry a lot! The other pottery pieces hide my pot scrubbers and nail brush. The spring water system is probably 70 years old and still works a treat. I sure wasn't going to give that up I have the best water in the county. I thank the man who built this place for it everyday.

    Thanks again Ladies, it's an honor to share my kitchen and a pleasure getting a peek into yours.
    Leslie.............L

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  44. Karen Ann, I got the big sink online. I bought a lot of the fixtures for the cabin online. My sink is vitreous china. Do get porcelain if you can. I'm not happy about the way the finish is holding up on the china one.

    Pocket doors slide into a pocket in the wall, very cool! When I cook I just slide the pantry door open into it's pocket and I can buzz in and out of the pantry with no door in the way.

    Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy, Healthy and prosperous New Year.
    Leslie.. not from Montana LOL

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  45. Hey, thanks for answering my query about the pocket door. Ir's a great idea for that sort of a situation!

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  46. wow! Love this kitchen! what a great systeem, the one of the two water taps! Are you allowed to drink filtered rain and/or spring water over there? (in France, and I think all over europe it's illegal, hélas!)

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  47. I really like the kitchen..just got a call that my showerstall unit, ordered in the summer, is finally in. I was afraid to say it after all this time, but can they wait until next Monday to rip me up?
    The kitchen is the next renovation on the list and the cupboards were cheap and are starting to fall apart. Not really worth trying to fix them. I've been looking over the kitchen sink picture for ideas. I had a pocket door on the bathroom of my old house and it was great. Wish I had one on the hall bathroom here...seems the door is always in the way. Not sure that is an easy fix. I like a close-by pantry to stash the stuff, but since my extra space is downstairs, I have to be neat in the space I have...Thanks for the island idea, too. I've been toying with putting one into use..I have a nice sized kitchen, but not much counter/workspace if 2 are doing things in there. Never enough drawers.

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  48. Gorgeous! and so roomy!

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