NEW KITCHEN ADVICE

[Amanda]

It's beautiful Andie. Looks very useful and comfortable.

I wish I had had drawers when we built 5 years ago. Too late now and I don't think I will be getting it remodelled.

Cookie, any half decent cabinet maker can take out your shelves and replace them with drawers relatively inexpensively!
That is what I had done to an existing kitchen and I've never regretted it.

[quirkycooking]

Andie, I LOVE your kitchen!!!!  Thanks for the great ideas - we're hoping to build in the near future too.  I had wondered about a butcher's block counter top - I've seen the one Jamie Oliver has and thought it was a great idea.  Our counter-tops here are polished wood, which looks nice and old-fashioned, but you can't cut on them of course.  Do you find the butcher's block ever gets mouldy?  That's a big problem here in the wet tropics - everything goes mouldy.  Wonder how you would clean it off if it did?

[andiesenji]

Andie, I LOVE your kitchen!!!!  Thanks for the great ideas - we're hoping to build in the near future too.  I had wondered about a butcher's block counter top - I've seen the one Jamie Oliver has and thought it was a great idea.  Our counter-tops here are polished wood, which looks nice and old-fashioned, but you can't cut on them of course.  Do you find the butcher's block ever gets mouldy?  That's a big problem here in the wet tropics - everything goes mouldy.  Wonder how you would clean it off if it did?

I routinely wash the butcher block with hot water then scrape it with a bench knife (dough scraper), wipe it clean and after it dries I dress it with mineral oil, rubbing it in and letting it sit overnight and then simply wiping it with a dry cloth.   
I had commercial certification for my kitchen for ten years and the butcher block is considered easiest to maintain and surprisingly seems to be naturally antibiotic.   After cutting meat or chicken on it, I wipe it clean and then spray it with bleach in water (10% solution) and wipe it down and then oil it.  In recent years I got a hand-held steam cleaner which does a great job and was relatively inexpensive.   Bleach kills and prevents molds. 
I have friends who live at the beach where the humidity is very high and they have no problems with butcher block either. 
According to the scientists that test various surfaces for bacteria and/or molds, etc., the most questionable surface in a kitchen (or bathroom) is the grout between tiles.  It is porous and harbors many pathogens.   I had the grout in tile backsplash and in the surround of the oven in my kitchen sealed with a clear epoxy compound.   

[Depome]

Andie, there is evidence that bleach actually increases the colony forming units (CFU) of mould because it provides a food source. This may well be part of what is behind the urban rumour (not really a myth) that bleach merely removes the colour from mould, without actually killing it. Vinegar is considered the most effective means of killing mould, with the added advantage that it doesn't pollute the air. For what it's worth, I have kept an old squeezy sauce bottle and filled it with straight white vinegar, and I now pour a little of this onto bench tops and chopping boards to wipe them over. I only use timber chopping boards because they're nicer on knives than anything else, and much more hygienic than plastic. They can't go in the dishwasher though, obviously, but then I don't have one anymore 

For those interested, here is the conclusion from an episode of What's Good For You (Australia) that I remember seeing:

So on our chopping board scorecard, plastic comes a definite last and that's because bacteria are able to breed in the cuts left by knives.

Marble came in second because bacteria spread everywhere. Marble also loses points because it's tough on knives.

In the final wash-up, it was wood that blew the competition out of the water. This is no surprise to Professor Cliver. In many similar experiments, wood's always been a winner.

http://health.ninemsn.com.au/whatsgoodforyou/theshow/694161/which-chopping-board-is-worse-for-spreading-germs

[cookie1]

Amanda I don't think I would dare suggest it at the moment. When I do I'm sure DH could do the job as he used to teach woodwork etc.

[andiesenji]

I use a fresh bleach solution made with distilled water because that was mandated by the L.A. County Health Dept. when I had a certified commercial kitchen license.

I use vinegar (distilled white) for cleaning and it works quite well but there are other organisms that like an acid environment, particularly some that affect cheese and I make cheese in my kitchen.  I have a separate refrigerator for the cheeses because I want mold to grow on some of them. 

I don't have to worry too much generally about molds because this is the desert and the humidity is usually quite low.   

Besides being an x-ray technician, I also trained as a medical laboratory tech and know how to avoid the nasty pathogens that can hang around homes.   I routinely clean my phone handsets - something that most people ignore - because they can harbor some things it is better not to think about - especially if other people use them.   I am not a fanatic about it but I do use one of my disposable gloves when I have to touch the keypad on an ATM.  A local news station did a study a couple of years ago and the number of pathogens one could pick up there was scary.
I haven't had the flu or a cold in more than ten years. 

[gertbysea]

Hi Dublin girl. I live in Cairns and moved into a new house 8 years ago. Overtime one by one the vinyl wrap has peeled away and the kitchen people always come back to glue it back together because they talked the builder into doing it at the time as it was a newish product they wanted to sell and  this was  former display home. I think it peels  because of the high humidity here. The fin sh is great but I would go for the 2 pak. I have black granite bench tops which are amazing and indestructible and they do not stain. Straight from the oven go the pots on top and no scratching if I happen to slip a knife on it. Glass splash backs are easy and lots of drawers rather than cupboards. I have a friend who had a slide out shelf  for her thermomix built in so it did not heat up any overhead cupboards.

Then again andiesenj'is kitchen is hard to beat.

Andiesenji I used to run the sterilising unit in a private hospital in Sydney and the rule is that 85% of most bacteria can be washed away with cold water. I live in a mouldy environment which can be a pain but most can be easily cleaned with mild bleach. You are right vinegar is a simple easy and cheap cleaning solution. Never touch the handrail  on as escalator!YUK

[andiesenji]

I agree about the handrails.  I am one of those "nuts" who carry a packet of  disinfectant wipes everywhere with me and swipe everything I have to touch.  I think it's one of the reasons I have avoided colds and the flu in recent years. 
Now even WalMart has a dispenser of the wipes at the front doors so people can wipe the handles of the shopping carts. 
I also have my own shopping bags and I don't put any produce or other "bare" food items in the upper basket where kids are seated, just in case my d-wipe misses something.  I reserve that space for household items, soap, etc. 

[darls]

All good advice above.

I dream of improve my kitchen too but will have to be contented with what I've got.

My advice is to not have stove/oven right next to both food pantry and fridge - at the last house, the pantry was next to the oven and we have high rate of weevils which drove us crazy. At this present house, we've got it next to the fridge which send the bill high as the it works overtime to cool down when the oven's on! 

I dream for this kind of kitchen done by Blum: http://www.blum.com/au/en/index.php

I love the one that has drawer just under the sink, perfect use for wasted space there! As well the corners - I hate the corner cupboards! lol... you can see by now that I've got the kitchen I dont really like, eh?

Oh by the way, ensure you get to check how high the overhead cupboards are going to be put up - for two reasons, I'd go with full cupboards that goes up all the way to ceiling, rather than under the cornices - the cleaning up there is really painful! And that you can really reach it with a suitable kitchen ladder - some sizes requires a full scale operation to get some containers out of the cupboard... 

I do recommend drawers as much than cupboards, especially with the oldies complaining that they can't bend down far enough to reach the bottom under the bench. IKEA's kitchens has some great stuff too.

Let us know how you went with your new kitchen!

Cheers!

[gertbysea]

darls I am not even going to look at that link. I have a friend who has a Blum kitchen. Sigh .

Living in the tropics weevils are a regular problem but my second pantry is a refrigerator where all rice pasta flour and many other things are stored. Cooling these things kills the weevil eggs.I hate weevils but they can be passed off as  ground pepper. LOL!

Gretchen

[Dublin Girl in Oz]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all your advice - I'm having a kitchen designer/company come over next week for ideas of design and cost.  I still haven't decided on the finish for cupboards - hearing good and bad about both 2pak and vinyl???  Maybe I should consider laminate?

I let you all know how I go and if and when I get the kitchen will post a photo.

Thanks,

Sylvia

[gertbysea]

Forget about laminate if you can afford  2pak.

One kitchen I built had no doors at all except on the drawers of course. Saved a lot of money and looked great but I had to keep it tidy. Well,not a bad thing.

And then there is the industrial style with everything on wheels and opened from both sides. Next time I will do that wth one big cental bench top of granite.

Gretch

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

My sister has laminate in her new kitchen and to be honest it looks a little average.  If you can afford 2 pac I would probably go for it.  I had 2 pac in my last kitchen (in our brand new house - which we hated).  You just need to be careful (especially if you have little tots) as it does chip though.  In our country house we have a blackwood and cedar kitchen with laminate benchtops.  It has a very rustic and warm feeling that I love.