apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I am having an old house moved to restore and would like to blog the renovation. Does anyone have any recommendations for which camera I should get? Weather permitting, the house will come rolling in this Sunday.

for those hip AT'ers with tiny kitchens...

i am moving into a small condo with a very small gallery kitchen. it is driving me insane, especially the regular sized fridge which sticks out to the point where when the door is opened, it blocks off the entire kitchen.

any design tips, tricks or inspiration that i can turn to?

hi big d. you didn't mention budget, but home depot has a skinny, skinny stainless(like?) fridge for about $1200. hope that helps.

well, since it's such a small space, i wasn't thinking about going over 5k.

i've already looked at the summit fridges and that's one thing that i'm purchasing.

also, my partner and i are looking at either granite countertops or silestone.

but just in general, i wanted to see if anyone has any interesting pictures, ideas, reno stories to share especially regarding a gallery kitchen.

big d- i had a dining area directly next to my galley kitchen, and I made a kitchen extension for $200 dollars- got some metroshelving, just placed a 6-foot slab of counter (it was $30 at home depot- just formica) on top, installed some shelves on top; and voila- 6 feet of storage and counter space.

i had 1 foot (if that) of usable counterspace before that.

it helped that I had a friend with carpentry no-how and a table saw; we traded food (i cooked him lunch 3 saturdays in a row) for carpentry help :)

jillrenee -

that's actually a great idea - I have metro shelving doing double duty in my loft kitchen. i was going to sell it all when i moved in the condo - but that's a great possiblity.

i just need to see about removing a wall or something. aaaaaargh!

Kate (NC)
you may want to check out houseblogs.net for camera suggestions. They have a discussion forum where you might get experienced answers to your question. They have over 500 blogs going so far!

It was started by the folks at HouseInProgress.net who were also mentioned in the NYTimes this past week in a story about couples disagreeing on Home Improvements and Decorating decisions.

the big d.
Though not a cheap solution, you could buy a french door fridge which has a pair of narrow doors instead of just one big wide door. A client bought one from Jenn-Air for a narrow spot in her kitchen.

I'm trying to find wooden poster hangers. I remember seeing them in TONY about 18 months ago, but forgot to clip out the article - and can't find them with Google or eBay. Has anyone seen anything similar?

Jillrenee,

That's a great idea. We've got less than 3 feet of counter space and not enough room for an island. What is metroshelving?

Sophie,

These poster hangers from Rare Device aren't wood, but I've seen them in person and they are quite attractive.

http://www.raredevice.net/detail.php?id=34&cat=2

big d- I have a narrow kitchen, too, and the fridge opened in the direction that cut off the rest of the kitchen. i.e. if I was standing in the kitchen and wanted to get something out, I had to walk around, open it, close it, then walk back in the kitchen. My dad, a great handyman, just switched the handles and hinges so that the fridge now opens the opposite way. It's not hard to do and most fridges are equipped to open either direction. You just remove the hinges and handles and switch them.

click on my name for a link to metro shelving's site.

I got four 3 foot long shelves (forgot how wide- I got the standard width for a counter).

then, I got 8 posts, at standard counter top height.

that way, it was more structurally sound (there was no sagging in the middle).

also- what I wish i would have done- is put down some plastic on top of the carpet that happened to be under my kitchen extension.

oh- and i mounted a cookbook shelf above, plus a very shallow shelf (8" wide?) the length of the extrension for spices, gizmos, etc. plus- i got lights from ikea that I installed on the wall.

i loved my improvised kitchen :)

big d:

I got one of the Summit counter-depth fridges for my galley kitchen, and I love it! At about $650, it was way cheaper than some of the others.

I also extended one side of my kitchen into the adjacent dining area. The two areas are separated by a little archway, which I didn't take down (would have been more expense, and I also wanted to preserve the architectural detail). But I love having the extra cabinets and counter-space in the other room, especially with the warm wood and classy granite. Don't forget to add an outlet to that wall, if there isn't one to begin with.

Jane

I just moved to Brooklyn from Oakland and I was hoping for some recomendations for house cleaners in Brooklyn. In Oakland I used the cooperative housecleaning company Natural Home Cleaning http://www.naturalhomecleaning.com. I was hoping somebody could recomend a cooperatively owned service or a service they know pays fair wages to their house cleaners.

Thanks!!!

I have a tiny galley kitchen, too, and all the ideas posted here sound interesting, so I hope you all provide pix in the future. I'd love to see the results.

Jane........
i have been wanting to get a Summit fridge this year. someone told me that they make too much noise and hum too loudly. Is this the case with yours? also can you manage with a smaller fridge? i have an 18cubic now and i want to get a 10 or 11 to make room in this tiny place. i just need to keep food for one, and i cook about 4 nights a week.

Sophie,
These also are not wood, but they look very nice:
http://posterhanger.com/

Big D.........
i too have a tiny galley kitchen, and in March or so i'm going to remove the top cabinets on one side and replace them with open shelves. today i freecycled a bunch of mismatched dishes to make room for something that matches.

also considering a 24" oven to squeeze a few more inches of counter space. and the cabinet between the stove and fridge, to pull that out and put it on casters. When the service man had to come in and crawl over top and jump behind this little space i felt so bad. at least if it's on rollers i can roll it out to the dining room to get to the stove or the fridge.

carolynapplebee:

Alas ... yes. It's on the noisy side, compared to my old fridge (can't even remember what that was now, since I didn't buy it; it was here when I moved in). And there's sort of a high-pitched noise, which might be at least partly due to the fact that the floor isn't level. But size-wise, this fridge wasn't much of a sacrifice; it's 12.6 cu, I think. (My old one was probably 13 or 14, I'm not sure.) I think it's adequate for one person who likes to cook, and might only get to be a challenge when I give a large party. Mine is model FF1425SS ... I think there's one that's just a tiny bit bigger, too, but the door hinge on that one would have bumped the archway between my kitchen and dining area.

Jane

big d:

Another thing to point out: I wanted a dishwasher, and thought I was going to have to settle for one of those 18-inch apartment-size ones. But at the very last minute, I realized I could go from a 36-inch sink-base cabinet down to a 30-inch one (finding a nice Blanco silgranit sink that was practically the same size as the sink in my old, larger cabinet), and gain enough width for a full-size dishwasher. The only thing I sacrificed was 6 additional inches of storage under the sink (wish I still had it, but everything in a tiny galley kitchen's a trade-off!). If you don't plan on cooking a lot, then maybe the small dishwasher would be sufficient. But if you can put in a dishwasher ... do!

I love the "overlapping squares screen" room divider at West Elm, but I just wish it was a few feet wider. Does anyone know of a similar room divider that is just one panel with feet, but somewhat wider? Thanks in advance!

Big d, I also have a galley kitchen. It doesn't belong to me, so I couldn't do any renov. on it. My fridge is on the opposite side from the sink/counter/stove between the closets for laundry/hot water/furnace, so it doesn't stick out, and opens in the direction from when you enter the kitchen. It does block off the pathway which hasn't been a real problem for me, but I can imagine it would be if I had other people in there with me every day. This was an absolutely pointless posting by me, as I don't think I'm doing anything but being sympathetic--but I would be interested in seeing your "afters" or other unique solutions by others!