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Building a second floor kitchenette: use cabinets or dresser?


elegantlion
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We have a two story house and one of our projects this summer is to do a dry kitchenette in the upstairs hallway, more like a foyer. We're going to do a smaller but not mini fridge, microwave, and coffee pot (most necessary). We have another about 42" of length for either a dresser or lower cabinet. We will hang an upper cabinet either way. 

 

Has anyone used a dresser for something like that and regretted it? I thinking maybe this from Ikea.  We need a closed space to keep the cats from getting into stuff otherwise open shelving would work. Base cabinets are going to be at least 4" deeper and I'd prefer drawers as we'll mostly be keeping bowls, plates and silverware, Plus if we buy the cabinets then we have to do a countertop. Most food will either be in the fridge or upper cabinet. 

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My step MIL has a dresser for a bottom kitchen "cabinet". It works well, especially for large platters etc.

If i get to totally redo my kitchen, there will be nothing but various sized drawers for the lower cabinets.

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Consider a china cabinet? That has both lower and upper. You might be able to pick up something nice on Craigslist. If you don't want glass in the upper cabinet, consider some spray-frost stuff or paint. Both are easy to do.

 

My thought is that a china cabinet might add some charm to the arrangement.

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My friend is a designer and her last house has no island but had space for it.  She created on out of $150 thrift shop dresser she  did with new hardware and paint and put a countertop on it wide enough to creat a breakfast bar.  It looks fantastic in her kitchen.

 

I love drawers in my kitchen island.  

 

But if you are going to use a dresser, make sure it is a good dresser.  One that the drawers come straignt out and won't do that tilt downward thing cheaper ones will do.  Especially if you have weight of dishes and things in it.

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I have no opinion about a dresser/cabinet, but can I ask.... Why are you wanting to do this?

It's mostly my mom's idea. We already keep a coffee pot upstairs so we don't have to run downstairs to the kitchen for a refill. She wants a place to keep drinks and snacks closer. She's 80 and while she does stairs all right, she is slower when carrying things.

 

We have a decent size space, almost like a small living area, where all the bedrooms open up to and she wants to create a gathering area up there too.

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It's mostly my mom's idea. We already keep a coffee pot upstairs so we don't have to run downstairs to the kitchen for a refill. She wants a place to keep drinks and snacks closer. She's 80 and while she does stairs all right, she is slower when carrying things.

 

We have a decent size space, almost like a small living area, where all the bedrooms open up to and she wants to create a gathering area up there too.

 

How wonderful you have space to do something like this for her! What would be easier for her to manage, cabinets or dresser drawers? What about 5-10 years from now? With her in mind, the ease of opening and closing as well as the weight should be considerations. Is she able to handle opening a drawer that has plates and bowls in it? What are the runners like - is it possible they will get stuck or do they glide well? Handles that are easy for arthritic hands would be ideal instead of knobs, I think. 

 

I'm excited for her! 

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Have you looked at ikea cabinets with drawers? You can have them design something exactly to your specs . Their drawer hardware is fantastic and smoother than what you would find in a regular dresser. I think it is a great idea to do that. Also the moment you spill water there could be a problem. Better to have a surface made for it.

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Since you're going to Ikea anyway, why not look at their kitchen cabinetry?  They have some great, sturdy drawers inside of cabinet doors that I think would be more practical than a dresser, because they have low fronts, so you don't have to lift things straight up to get them out.  Also they have very smooth action, and are very strong.  Dresser drawers tend to tilt down if they are pulled too far out, and the kitchen ones have a better stop that prevents that.  Plus in general I think the cabinet doors would look better for that application.

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Think about how she moves and where she is stiffening up.  My mum (92) bends over easily but her shoulders are stiff and she doesn't want to have the operation to fix that.  She finds putting things away below waist height easy but anything above chest height is hard.  Particularly hard is anything heavy (large plates) above chest height.  

 

Thinking now will make it easier for her in the long term. 

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I'll reply to more of these later, getting ready for work right now. 

How wonderful you have space to do something like this for her! What would be easier for her to manage, cabinets or dresser drawers? What about 5-10 years from now? With her in mind, the ease of opening and closing as well as the weight should be considerations. Is she able to handle opening a drawer that has plates and bowls in it? What are the runners like - is it possible they will get stuck or do they glide well? Handles that are easy for arthritic hands would be ideal instead of knobs, I think. 

 

I'm excited for her! 

 

Well she's doing it for herself. Despite being 80, he is more like a 50 to 60 year old in health. She really runs the household now and has no issue with drawers etc. She does have arthritis in her hands, but has had that since she was in 40s, so she manages well. 

 

PS  Also, I would suggest thinking through how those dishes are going to get washed, and where dirty ones will be staged. 

 

really dirty ones will get taken downstairs and run through the dishwasher. For general cleaning, we'll use the bathroom sink. 

 

Think about how she moves and where she is stiffening up.  My mum (92) bends over easily but her shoulders are stiff and she doesn't want to have the operation to fix that.  She finds putting things away below waist height easy but anything above chest height is hard.  Particularly hard is anything heavy (large plates) above chest height.  

 

Thinking now will make it easier for her in the long term. 

 

Right now her only stiffness is in her legs, she injured her leg last year, but her upper body is probably more limber than mine. Long term, however, that is one reason I want bottom drawers, so lifting over our heads is not a burden. 

 

Oh, by the way, Ikea's kitchen wall cabinets (which aren't so deep) can be used as base cabinets too (at least the ones sold in the UK can be - check at your store).  Our island is made up of those back-to-back.  

 

We may end up there this week at some point. We will check those out. It may be we can't use regular base cabinets as I'm not sure we have that amount of depth available for the entire width of the wall. 

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I just want to say that this is a really cool idea. Make sure your electrical is up to code to handle the appliances she'll be using for maximum safety. If a coffee pot is the high priority, does she have easy access to a fresh water supply? Is the faucet in the sink high enough to get a pot under it, for example?

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I was thinking you could put a glass top on a dresser. Probably cheaper than a cabinet and countertop. If there's a coffee machine involved, you need something stain-resistant.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I'm reading and absorbing, I like the idea of a mobile island, that is cool. Unfortunately, we are not going to add any plumbing. The house was built in 1889, so tearing into the plaster walls would be above the scope we want to do for this project. 

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I'm reading and absorbing, I like the idea of a mobile island, that is cool. Unfortunately, we are not going to add any plumbing. The house was built in 1889, so tearing into the plaster walls would be above the scope we want to do for this project.

I highly suggest never mentioning removing walls if you have a family member who loves taking a sledge hammer to walls. I may or may not have experience with this situation.

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Have you looked at ikea cabinets with drawers? You can have them design something exactly to your specs . Their drawer hardware is fantastic and smoother than what you would find in a regular dresser. I think it is a great idea to do that. Also the moment you spill water there could be a problem. Better to have a surface made for it.

 

I would look at additional things in the IKEA line before settling, and I would look at thrift stores/yard sales for dressers you like just to see if something perfect jumps out at you. You might even find a length of countertop at a yard sale or be able to make your own (you can get formica that you cut to size and glue to your own backing with contact cement). If you are not in a big hurry, it's a great time of year to do some looking on a long weekend. And if you don't find something, you can go back to the IKEA stuff easily.

 

PS  Also, I would suggest thinking through how those dishes are going to get washed, and where dirty ones will be staged. 

 

Consider getting a bar sink style faucet for the nearest bathroom to make it easier to use for the coffee pot and for washing dishes. Depending on the faucet/bowl configuration, it doesn't even have to be super tall. We know someone who has a permanent trailer-style MIL suite on their property. They had to hook up to city water and sewer at some point, and they were going to be charged like it was two residences if they had a normal kitchen sink in that little detached suite. They could have everything else, including a full bath, but no kitchen sink. They put a bar sink faucet on the bathroom sink, and it's very useful for filling a dish pan or a pitcher of water.

 

I was thinking you could put a glass top on a dresser. Probably cheaper than a cabinet and countertop.

 

I think glass an excellent option too and likely to be the cheapest option. Also, some of the IKEA options have glass tops you can purchase that are the right size (some are frosted or white). I am pretty sure that most glass places will make custom tops for very little money (my parents got a custom mirror for cheaper than many of the ready-made options in the box stores).

 

I think the whole idea sounds lovely and fun! If you don't mind the (slight) inconvenience of having dishes sometimes go upstairs and downstairs, I think you can make this work with little fuss. You could potentially have a hot plate as well--something like one of those induction burners that is for one pot or pan at a time. 

 

We have a little dry coffee bar that gets used all the time, though it's not upstairs. It's an IKEA sideboard with a glass top. We got it for storing dishes though, not a kitchenette. It was more $$$ than what I would spend for what you are doing, but for us, it's helping us put off some remodeling that would be a lot of $$$, and we did get part of our sideboard from the scratch and dent section (no damage that shows or makes things less functional). 

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really dirty ones will get taken downstairs and run through the dishwasher. For general cleaning, we'll use the bathroom sink. 

 

 

So then my suggestion would be to think through where they will be stashed while waiting for cleaning.

In general given aerosolization I'm not a fan of cleaning dishes in a bathroom, but with reasonable care I'm sure it would be fine.

So would there be a rack somewhere for them to dry on?  Or would each need to be immediately washed and dried by hand?

 

My vote would be to get a small dish bucket, put it in one of the drawers, and bring it downstairs every day or two for the dishwasher.  It can then also be the carrier to bring dishes back upstairs.  Getting two would be ideal--one in transit and one upstairs would make good sense.  I do this at my office.  I have a minifridge and microwave, plus an Alhambra hot/cold water dispenser.  I use two buckets, and bring dishes back and forth to my home in them.  I have inexpensive, specific dishes for the office so that they don't get mixed up, and always make their way back to the office after cleaning--that way I don't run out.

 

What I think you won't want is a bunch of dirty or clean but wet dishes sitting around out all the time either on the shelf or on the bathroom counter.  That is kind of ugly.

 

Edited by Carol in Cal.
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A dresser with some sort of heat/stain resistant top sounds perfect to me. When we remodeled our last kitchen, we had the regular L with cabinets/appliances and then a bank on the opposite wall that was all drawers on the bottom with upper cabinets. I loved the drawers! They're expensive compared to base cabinets, so we will be doing a mix of them when we redo this kitchen. For your needs, a dresser sounds like a fantastic and attractive option.

 

(We got a mini fridge for our upstairs bedroom. It's really handy to have some drinks and snacks available at night without having to go downstairs. This sounds like a lovely setup for your mom.)

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How wonderful you have space to do something like this for her! What would be easier for her to manage, cabinets or dresser drawers? What about 5-10 years from now? With her in mind, the ease of opening and closing as well as the weight should be considerations. Is she able to handle opening a drawer that has plates and bowls in it? What are the runners like - is it possible they will get stuck or do they glide well? Handles that are easy for arthritic hands would be ideal instead of knobs, I think.

 

I'm excited for her!

Neat! With your goal in mind, I'll echo what others have said - make it easy for an aged person to use. Easy, strong drawers, even if they cost a bit more. IKEA would be a great source for economy but high functionality.

 

ETA - IKEA also has some neat kitchen solutions for not traditionally plumbed areas. Be sure to spend time in the kitchen section.

Edited by Seasider
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PS Also, I would suggest thinking through how those dishes are going to get washed, and where dirty ones will be staged.

Get a restaurant style bus tub to go in one of the deep drawers. It can be emptied nightly/as needed by one of you younger folks.

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Cleaning dishes in a bathroom just screams E.coli nightmare to me. Surely the family member will go downstairs. If the wall for the counter backs up to the bathroom, or is close, adding plumbing might not be as big a deal as one thinks.

Edited by Minniewannabe
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When we toured new townhomes, some have a kitchenette in the upper floor foyer area. Similar to photo number 12 of 31 of this Hilton hotel link http://hiltongardeninn3.hilton.com/en/hotels/ohio/hilton-garden-inn-columbus-dublin-CMHDHGI/index.html

 

ETA:

It typically has a bar fridge, microwave and coffee maker sitting on a three cabinet door width narrow/shallow cabinet. Some have cabinet doors that has pull out shelves, some have shallow drawers.

Edited by Arcadia
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