My custom kitchen isn’t a modern kitchen. It resembles a modern kitchen, but that’s as far as I would go with the word “modern”. It was built inside the house using very few pre-manufactured parts.
Design Ideas
The kitchen was the last part of the house to be completed when we were building our house. We (I and my wife) had plenty of time to think about kitchen design ideas and how our kitchen would finally look.
We didn’t have to worry about cheap cupboards or cheap cabinetry. Everything was going to be made from scratch. I don’t think prefabricated kitchen items like that are even available locally. I consider that a good thing. The house we sold in Arizona had cabinets and cupboards made of laminated pressed wood. Crap wood, I like to call it. The bottoms of each were made of fiberboard, which I quickly found out about when the bottom of the cabinet below the sink collapsed after getting wet.
Wood Cupboards and Cabinets
We had choices. We could have obtained prefabricated stainless steel kitchen cabinets, or cabinets made from aluminum, but they would have required special-ordering. After thinking about rampant corrosion of metal products in the Philippines, we decided against it.
The home my parents bought in the early 1960s, where I grew up, has steel cupboards and cabinets. Other than refacing them with thin plywood in the 1980s, nothing else has been done to them. They lived in the desert of Arizona and corrosion isn’t an issue. If I hadn’t been aware of their cabinetry, I wouldn’t have even considered metal of any kind.
Our cabinets and cupboards are made of solid wood, with only the hinges being made of aluminum. We have both cabinets and cupboards on both sides of the kitchen, lengthwise and even one above the kitchen sink area. Our kitchen is shaped like a rectangular “U”.
Tiled and Granite Counters
Our main kitchen counter is shaped like an “L”. The frame is made of wood, as are the cabinets below it, but the top consists of cement covered in ceramic tile. It’s very easy to clean, although I need to find some grout paint so that the darkening grout color can be made to match the tiles.
We have a bar-type counter at the end of the kitchen, the top of which is made of solid granite. The lower portion is made of both cement and wood. The drawers under one side are solid wood. We don’t have any bar stools to line the outer side of the “bar”, but it isn’t a priority right now.
The Dirty Kitchen
We are in the process of building a “dirty kitchen” on the opposite side of the wall outside the kitchen. In the Philippines, outdoor kitchens are called dirty kitchens by everyone. Other than the fact that people tend to cook the stinky foods in them, I have no idea why they’re called dirty kitchens. They’re really no dirtier than indoor kitchens.
There will actually be two outer rooms when it’s all finished. A little over half will be the dirty kitchen, while the other room will be our laundry room.
Electrical Choices
We have appliance made for the US as well as the Asian countries. This means that some of the appliances require 110 volts while the others require 220 volts. I haven’t found any “autovolt” appliances that work with any voltage from 100 to 220 yet.
Most of the outlets in our home have two outlets side by side, one for 110 volts and the other for the 220. The kitchen is no different. We have two electrical lines fed to the house for that very reason.
Without the proper voltages, we wouldn’t be able to make use of some of the handy kitchen gadgets we’ve become accustomed to. I’m talking about things like our rice cooker, toaster, microwave oven, electric can opener/knife sharpener, water dispenser, tea brewer, electric stove and refrigerator. The rice cooker, tea brewer and can opener were purchased in the US, so they all use 110 volts.
We don’t have a dishwasher, nor do ever intend on getting one. Like the old joke goes, my wife is the dishwasher and I’ll leave it at that.
Everything Including the Kitchen Sink
Our kitchen sink is a piece of garbage. I didn’t pick it, but it looked nice when it was new. It’s chrome-plated something and not stainless steel. The handles of the faucet are already corroded. I will eventually replace the whole ball of wax with a stainless-steel setup, but again it’s not a priority right now.
I haven’t mentioned the ceiling, floor or walls. The ceiling a type of fiberboard embedded with cement and I don’t know what it’s called. It’s definitely not any kind of drywall. In fact, the only drywall existing in our house is the partition between the dining room and the living room — it’s a five-foot wall. I wish I could take decent pictures when the lighting is right because the lower part of my house looks airy and open, even though there are four separate rooms.
We have just a bit of a problem. Because of how our kitchen is designed, there isn’t any room for the refrigerator or the water dispenser. Both of those items are actually in the dining room. We could make the refrigerator fit by moving a cupboard and matching cabinet on the side with the electric stove, but we’ll have to think about it. Refrigerators come in all shapes and sizes and don’t last forever. What happens if we get a wider refrigerator? Again, it might not fit without further adjustments. I think it’s fine where it’s at right now, but the wife disagrees. The water dispenser is portable, so it can be moved anywhere and will probably be moved several times before it has to be replaced.
The walls are the same as the rest of the house, made of cement and painted in an off-white color that already needs to be repainted. The floor is cement covered by ceramic tile, as it is throughout the house. The tile on the kitchen counter matches the tile on the floor.
Our house is designed to withstand an earthquake high on the Richter scale. The kitchen itself would probably be the last room in the house to collapse if the house ever did collapse from an earthquake.
[Originally published in December, 2008]
It sounds like a great house RT. Everything is so cheap and pre-fab today. I really appreciate well made things that are meant to last. I wish you would post some pictures – would love to see it. By the way – I’m with your wife (women care more about the esthetics) move the refrig in the kitchen.
You have some very slick ideas for your kitchen. That has been one of the recurring themes in my own life–looking for a way to make our bathrooms and our kitchen look really glorious, even though those rooms are much too small. One of the glories of the Internet, though, is there is absolutely no dearth of ideas. I have been looking for ones that seem to me to make sense and posting my results. Right now I have no idea of what I will ultimately do, but I keep hoping I will come up with something really slick.
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I sympathize on the tile grout lines – that’s one reason I would never have a tile countertop, though I love tile elsewhere. If you can manage to get the grout lines clean again, a good sealer is supposed to make them easier to keep clean. Grout paint will just wear off in patches and make them look even worse!
As to moving the fridge into the kitchen, IMO the person who does the cooking should have the say on that! I’d hate to have my fridge in another room.
Kevin
How much did all this cost? I heard Philippines is really cheap. It would be nice to compare it with prices in the US for the same redesign.
I can’t compare the prices. The cost of building my house was less than $60,000 and trying to figure out how much one part was would be next to impossible.
I did not understand why sometimes people have two kitchen in their house. I thought that was inefficient as more space and tools needed. But now I after I get married and use to cook oftenly, I know the reason. By cooking in outdoor kitchen, the house won’t get dirty quickly. Beside, I think it is more save for children as it minimize the dangerous tools inside home.
Sounds like a nice set up over all. I personally like having an indoor kitchen, more practical in winter.
Yeah, not too many wives would be patient about the fridge in another room! I joke my hubby is the dishwasher though. We actually have a dishwasher, its just one of those pain in the neck portable ones that by the time you drag it out roll it to the sink and hook it up, i’m done washing the dishes by hand already.
Your Arizona cabinets reminded me of my old apartment – if you looked at the cabinets from far away they looked like normal wood – but when you got up close they were made out of plastic!
You’ll have to post some pics!
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Really great ideas… i want to design a good kitchen for my new house and your tips will be really useful Cheers
having a very unique looking Kitchen never being easy, i think the best way to have one is by hiring some one specialist in this field.
This kitchen looks great… but i wonder what the costs were. It would be nice to compare the same design with US prices.
Nice setup RT
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I don’t know, last time after spending so much time planning and looking we just went to custom kitchen design and it turned out it was cheaper for us, while quality most definitely higher.
Nice article!
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I love modern kitchen designs. Mine needs an upgrade too :)
I’m redoing my kitchen, and I’m starting to realize that maybe hiring someone to do it may have been better and cheaper. I don’t own a lot of tools, so I had to buy those, on top of the materials. There are also a number of things I’m having troubles with like installing cabinets and counter tops.
Wow, can’t believe you built your house for less than 60 grand.
My counters are tiled as well.It is a pain to keep the grout clean, not to mention sanitary. I use a LOT of raw chicken for my animals and have chicken juice on the tile and grout constantly…
My next kitchen will have either granite or one of the new materials. Anything that looks nice and can be kept CLEAN.
I’m also voting for moving the fridge into the kitchen…
Best of luck with your house!
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I had no idea that in Philippines you have both 220 and 110 voltages. Do you have some big transformator for doing the conversion or the power plant gives cables for both voltages?
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I’m thinking of redoing our kitchen as well, it was built in the 70′s and definitely needs an update, it looks like you’ve got it down, i still have a lot of planning to do but its starting to come together.
We just went through a whole kitchen update, and I’m glad that it only happens every decade or two. The new cabinets look great, and the granite countertops are much better than the old formica, but it sure is a pain.
this site ie giving more tips and idea about kitchen i am using this tips
That picture is not my kitchen. My cabinets are dark and varnished and I have a breakfast bar at the end of the kitchen with a granite counter. I don’t know how much it cost by itself because it was built at the same time as the house.
I wondered if there was any more information available on this? We also deal with these or similar kitchen cabinets. Just wanted to see if maybe there was another option for us cab-net.com is where we are
You could use some concrete stain with water sealer mixed together to stain the grout and seal it. I use water sealer now instead of grout selaer it works better and cost less.
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Very nice set up. When it comes to kitchens I’m always sure to go for solid quality, and I think that this article relays that principle in spaces. Great article.
This reminds me of when I went up to my husband to ask his opinion on kitchen tiles.
I asked him which he prefered.
He replied-that’s why you’re here darling. It’s one of your duties as a wife, to choose the kitchen. Mine is the car.
Happy days.
thats a great article for all us DIY guys.. but the only problem is that such a project requires a sh*t load of money
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They’re called dirty kitchens because a lot of food prepared in foreign countries STINKS when it’s being cooked. So the food is prepared outside of the house proper so that the smells don’t linger or reside forever within the house.
Do post some pictures! I love to see what others have done in their homes. We also have new custom cabinets. Nothing like being able to specify exactly what you want, where you want it.