Kitchen

Reply to: About the range. Yes, it has to be raised, or you buy one of those Euro ranges with adjustable heights. The platform we usually build contains a shallow tray drawer very useful for storing cookie sheets, etc.But, it can be built without a drawer. One customer decided to face the front of the platform with the same tile she selected for her backsplash -- looks great.

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Reply to: My counters are all 39" high (kitchen and bathrooms.) I'm 5'11" and I'm the shortest in the house. It is so much more comfortable for me to work in the kitchen now - and the bathrooms are much better for all of us. (My old master bath counter was ridiculous - 33" or something - like washing my face down by my knees.) Our cabinets are custom built to be taller, not just taller toe kicks, so we have more cabinet space. I'm not that worried about resale because I hope to be here a long time, and by then new buyers a) might want to renovate anyway or b) be taller than me (my grandma was 4'11" so who knows how tall the next gen might be?!) My mom and aunts are petite (5'3" or so) and they like the counters too, although my mom doesn't like to wash dishes in the deep sink at the high counter. That's OK - I don't expect her to! FWIW -- I used to get back aches sometimes after working a long time at my old standard counters. Never happens now that my counters are taller. Also I got a drawer MW - it's nice to be able to open the drawer and load it from above - no bending and it doesn't take up counter space.

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Reply to: That is a great article oldtimecarpenter. Johnny Grey also writes in his kitchen design books about proper counter heights. I measured my elbow distance to the floor and found 39 inches to be what was recommended. However, I will only have one section of counter top set at 39 inches as I feel nervous to deviate too much form the 36 inch norm. At a high end kitchen appliance store near us, they had a cooktop set a few inches lower than 36 inches, but I was not sure that was comfortable. However at the same store they had a sink at 39 inches and that did feel more comfortable than a sink set into 36 inches (not that I did any dishes at the store mind you). So, you really need to try different counter heights and measure to give you the best idea of what is best for you and other cooks in your kitchen. Carol

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Reply to: For determining the height of work surfaces, we don't care as much about the height of the user as we do about the distance of his or her elbows from the floor. The elbow is the critical hinge of all lower arm movement" and it's mostly lower arm movement that does the work in a kitchen. If your elbow is too high above the work surface, you tend to lean forward to put your elbows back in an optimal relation to the countertop. If your elbow is too close to the work surface you tend to either step or lean back to being the elbows back into the correct position. In either case, the back suffers. If after preparing Thanksgiving dinner your lower back is killing you, your countertops are too low. If the pain is in your upper back and shoulders, they are too high. For most people, the standard countertop height of 36" is too low. It was set in the 1930s when people were on average shorter than they are today -- and it was probably too low even then. For most cooks the optimum height is between 37 and 39 inches, and we have made countertops as high as 40 inches. Your base counter height is found when, with palms on the counter-top, your arms rest at a 45 degree angle to the countertop. For chopping, slicing and most food assembly, this is the optimum height. But different work surface heights better fit other kitchen tasks. * Hand mixing, for example, should be at a lower level for better leverage and proper ergonomic alignment. * For washing dishes, the working surface is not the countertop, but the bottom of the sink. So, sink depth is the issue. For a tall person the best depth might be 10 inches, but a short person needs a shallower sink to be comfortable, as little as 5" in some cases. * Baking also requires a lower working surface. When rolling out dough, you want to lean forward a little to put your back into the process so your arms and shoulders do not have to do all the work. Cooking surfaces are usually set at countertop height. But, many ergonomists believe they should be set lower to make it easier to peer down into pots and pans. How this is done with standard ranges we don't know, since they are always set at about 36" to match the factory standard countertop. With a cooktop, set into the countertop, it's fairly easy to lower the cooking surface by lowering the countertop. For more information on ergonomic kitchen design and countertop height, see the link. Here is a link that might be useful: Mise-en-Place: What We Can Learn About Kitchen Design from Commercial Kitchens

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