Kitchens for Cooks: Planning Your Perfect Kitchen

by Deborah Krasner

Book Overview

Offers detailed instructions and plans on how to replace an obsolete kitchen with a functional and professional work area that suits the needs and cooking habits of the individual chef. Reprint.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140248110
• ISBN13: 9780140248111
• Release Date: July 1996
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam
• Length: 151 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.5" x 11.0"

Customer Reviews

For those who don't have $100,000 for a kitchen remodel

I was very confused trying to find a good kitchen book. They all seemed to be useful only if you had $100,000 to spend and want your kitchen to be in style for a year. Somewhere I had read a wonderful review "Kitchens For Cooks" by Deborah Krasner. I purchase it and found it to be exceptionally helpful.She takes you by the hand and forces you to think about-Here are your choices of countertops, which one do you want...Here are your choices of sinks...Floors...How do you deal with garbage?... Ovens, rangetops, etc.It provides you with a checklist of what you want. I had the kitchen cabinet maker put in pull out steps so visiting children could help too.The choices can be overwhelming. This book allows you to make the decision before hand. Not in the showroom. Read this book with a pad of Post-Its nearby.

Take a Calm, Centering Breath

Except that I know how important and challenging kitchen design can be, I would be tempted to say, "relax and chill out." Even so, I'm not sure this book is worth all the anger. Planning a kitchen takes all kinds of insight, delivered at all levels of complexity. Some people are actually beginners or in other ways insecure; others passionate about being "green." They, too, deserve books that serve their needs. When my wife and I recently remodeled our kitchen, we used this book, among several others, to inform and inspire us. Taken collectively, they allowed us to achieve a kitchen that we think, after six months of use, is pretty much exactly what we wanted. Kitchen for Cooks more than held its own with these other volumes, filled in gaps in the others and left us grateful for buying it. We have no complaints. (Just don't get us started on the plumber.)

Kitchen solutions: yes and no

The author's preface gives you the most concise description of this book: it is a "how-to-think-about" book. It is design book. It is meant for people who really cook in their kitchens and would like the kitchen to support--not hinder--their cooking efforts. This book is not for microwave cooks or folks who want a "show-off" kitchen. The author asks many questions about current kitchen design standards. She also offers many possible solutions to the questions she poses.There are a number of things which make this book valuable: 1) most home-builders, architects and even many kitchen designers are not real cooks hence their designs do not usually work well for cooks; the author is a cook and that perspective influences the whole book. 2) The author considers the kitchen not only as a gathering place but as a place in which it is very likely that there will be more than 1 person working (2 cooks, children helping mom and/or dad, guests, etc.). 3) The author realizes the need for kitchen to fit to their users. 4) The author tries to shed light on making the kitchen flexible.Some of the many kitchen standards the author questions (and offers solutions for) are: the kitchen triangle, single counter height, countertops made of one product (e.g. all laminate or all solid surface), traffic flow, realistic appliance usage, cabinet types and many others.I do not necessarily agree with her WET/DRY/COLD/HOT solution to the kitchen triangle but it was a useful tool in thinking about kitchen design. Probably the most useful aspect of the book is that it made me really think about how we use the kitchen and how it could support our work and fun in it. Also extremely useful was the look at a number of real kitchens used by real cooks (chefs, cookbook authors, etc.). The photos, though they were not coffee table book quality, were very helpful in seeing actual examples of some of the suggested solutions.The text is as boring as a high school textbook, but this book is not meant to be a novel. The are a some hokey "green" suggestions, but some are at least a little valuable in making one think about environmental issues. Unfortunately, the author glosses over the most important environmental solution: a well-designed kitchen is one that is not wasteful. It will not waste appliances (e.g. having unused appliances or having appliances that are too large or powerful for what you need or vice versa). It will not waste electricity in ineffective lighting; task lighting is energy efficient. Unused extravances are a waste of building supplies. Etc. As to the reviewer's comment that this book is a "green" tract, I disagree. I am not "green" by any stretch of the imagination; I simply believe in sensible, realistic care for the environment we live in. The book does not spend that much time on "green" issues: most of the text and illustrations are about DESIGN issues. As I mentioned above, there are some hokey

Some limitations, but well worth it for design information

Kitchens for Cooks is an excellent resource for people who are passionate about cooking, and want to design a custom kitchen that works. It isn't for the everyday remodeler who wants some design tips or who would be most comfortable in a traditional kitchen. Breaking up the zones into hot, cold, etc. seems obvious upon first read, but it makes sense when working with either unusually shaped kitchens, or when building multiple work stations for family cooking. The author breaks away from the traditional triangle theory - about time! - and shares how professional kitchens are laid out based on the type of food preparation for each area. Some of the ideas, while intuitive, were groundbreaking for me, since the book opens up the options of multiple height workstations, different counter materials throughout the kitchen, open shelving and/or drawers instead of cabinets. Much of what I'd read in other kitchen design books was standard old-kitchen design. I also appreciated the author's suggestions on incorporating green design into new kitchens. For those of us who live in towns with well water and septic tanks, these considerations aren't optional, since poor kitchen design can have a large impact on your water supply and disposal. If you are starting from scratch in either a new home, or scrapping your existing kitchen, I highly recommend this book. If you're looking for quick remodeling tips or traditional design, this isn't the book for you. The example kitchens are a bit lacking, and don't use many of the author's design ideas, but otherwise the book is a unique addition to kitchen design.

Finally, a kitchen book without the "Magic Triangle"!

This is truly a book tailored to individuals. Deborah Kraser throws out the convential 36" counter height and magic work triangle and has written a book that is truly for people who cook! The book is divided into two sections, detailed tips on how to plan a kitchen just for you, and examples of kitchens that have used this type of method, including Chefs, Cookbook Authors, Caterers and Avid Cooks. I do not claim to be any of the above, yet I have read this book many times and am still learning from it each time. To quote from the introduction, "This is not a how-to book. Rather it is a 'how-to-think-about' book designed to provide ideas for creating well-planned and comfortable kitchens. Such personal, well-fitting, and idiosyncratic spaces can only enhance our ability to work well within them."Since purchasing this book several months ago, I have designed and built my dream kitchen, which functions beautifully and looks great too! "Kitchens for Cooks" is a great book for anyone who spends time in a kitchen, not just cooks!