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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] the homestead kitchen-what would you design?
  • Date: Thu, 15 May 2008 20:44:41 -0500


On May 15, 2008, at 8:04 PM, Roy Morgan wrote:

Memory flash: I calculated for a one-and-a-half-inch plank floor over
the plywood. Somehow that never happened

Another good idea. I have a couple ideas of how to manage that.

Someone mentioned resale value. Countertops can be built at standard heights, which are too low, I think--people today are taller and we wear higher-bottom shoes, especially we ruralites--but kitchen floors can have either wooden or rubber mats, or a combination, in front of counters for shorter users. But as a retired Realtor, I will say that I have never seen a sale compromised due to kitchen counter height.

What I do see as becoming more popular, is mixed-height counter tops. This has become common in upper-end homes, most noticeably in the master bathroom, where his and her sink countertops are fitted to the individual. In kitchens, dough kneading often calls for a lower-than- usual counter-top height, and of course covered with marble, concrete, or granite.

The homestead or farm kitchen has an issue not easily resolved--the floor. We are often engaged in activities that require substantial footwear, whether because of the activity or the weather. When we come in from early chores, or morning digging or mucking, we are often loathe to sit down and take off boots that are heavily laced, for instance, and put on nice, clean house shoes. Even with slip-on boots and Crocs the tendency is to just charge on into the kitchen for sustenance. Especially in springtime boot soles often carry mud and stones. The ideal rural kitchen floor would be concrete that could be hosed out every day or three. Also, the kitchen would be immediately accessible from the outdoors, at most with a mud room as a transition.





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