Sucks less

As I mentioned in my earlier post about my kitchen, I've been working on improvements. I just finished installing a set of large (24"x24") drawers in the cabinets I set up earlier.

I think of kitchen design in terms of efficient layouts: it's a workshop, but for food. It should feel like an air traffic control station, with everything at your fingertips. The core idea is reducing unnecessary steps around the kitchen. Therefore, a correct layout compacts vital items to within arm's reach; less-often used items can be de-prioritized (placed on further away shelves, pantry, etc). Also, things should be located where they will be used: pots and utensils by the stove; plates where you serve, etc. All this seems pretty obvious to me, but I often see kitchens that painfully demonstrate otherwise (e.g., "Mom... you make coffee every day, and it's not like the coffee maker has moved in the past fifteen years... so why do you have the filters in the cabinet ten feet away?").

The down side of a "power area" kitchen (like I had at Pemberton Street) is that it's difficult for more than one person to work there--if it's within arm's reach of one person, he/she will probably be in the way of the other person trying to reach those vital items.

For the past five months (wow, it's been that long already?), it's been incredibly painful to work in a kitchen that fails this layout test miserably: I had to step away from the "power area"/work station (countertop by the range, where I spend most of my prep time) in order to use the toaster oven or microwave, get pots or pans, grab salt and pepper, get a ziploc baggie, or use tupperware.

But now, witness the power of this fully armed and operational work station!



Okay, so it's not that big of a deal. But at least it now holds all my pots and pans, roasting pans, prep bowls, spices, aluminum foil/baggies/wrap, and most-used tupperware. Plus, I think it looks pretty decent.

The upper door hides two drawers: I realized that the lower drawer doesn't hold anything that requires the full 15" height, so there was room to add another short drawer. Yes, I do have to open the middle one to get at the top one, but I can live with that.



The bottom two drawers are on 22" (oh yeah!) full extension slides. The drawers are made of 1/2" Baltic birch plywood (joined with #0 biscuit plates and finish screws), with a 1/4" masonite bottom dadoed into the sides. All that without my table saw or compound miter saw. Yeah, I miss the tools I left behind in New York. Some people carry photos of family with them; I have snapshots of my table saw.

The next piece (almost done) is a wall shelf over the cabinet. I really should be tooling, but this kitchen has been bothering me every time I use it: I actually bought all the pieces last semester, but didn't have any time to work on it. I think it helps my psychological health to walk into the kitchen each morning and think, "Yes. I'm making forward progress. The kitchen is set up right." (However, you could definitely question my psychological health with the fact that I open and close the drawers for satisfaction almost every time I walk by the cabinet).

In case I haven't made this statement enough times, my ideal retirement will be to load up a truck with my tools and drive around the country fixing up the houses of my friends. I figure my plan is to exchange work for beer and crash space. I got to do a half hour of kitchen improvement while visiting Jofish; I get a real kick out of this stuff. This plan assumes that I make it to a healthy and financially sound retirement, and I'm in a situation where I can pick up roots and roam the country. But hey, based on my social life, looks like I can pull of the latter for sure.

But it kinda makes me wonder--am I looking forward to retirement a lot more than a productive and illustrious career, and am I an exception or pretty common? I don't honestly care about "having an impact on the industry," or having my name referenced due to this or that paper. I pretty much want to keep my head down, make a decent living, not get too stressed out, and have nice breaks and vacations to enjoy life with friends. Don't get me wrong--I find work fulfilling and interesting, and on good days I walk out saying, "Yeah, I kicked some ass there." But I also find solving problems by building things by hand very fulfilling and interesting, and I also walk away saying, "Yeah, I kicked ass."

Back when I was suffering through my undergrad days, I thought it was unfortunate that given my intelligence and high school grades, it was assumed I would head to college to be an engineer/scientist/insert-high-brainpower-job-here. It was never considered that the fact that I liked to fix and tinker with things might mean I like to fix and tinker with things, rather than solve differential equations about them.

However, apparently, I care enough about this field of study to go to graduate school for it. Funny that.