Replies

1. 
   mike_maines | Sep 18, 2007 01:07pm | #1

   Here's one I did a couple years ago:

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   The counters are marmoleum.

1. 
   Gene_Davis | Sep 18, 2007 04:18pm | #3

   Mike, if you opened the link, tell us what you think of the curved-front entertainment system, the one with the bifold doors and the pocket hardware to get them out of the way.

   That is a nice one you did.  I like the fan.

1. 
   mike_maines | Sep 19, 2007 01:00am | #6

   THAT is a clever idea.  It's hard to hide flat screen tv's with regular pocket doors, the proportions just don't work with the hardware.  I don't usually like flipper doors, or bifold doors, but that's a perfect use for both of them.

   The rest of the cabinetry is nice too.  I love "cleaned up classical."  I like the shelf edge detail too.  I think I would have made the baseboard a little lower below the cabinet doors.  The TV looks kind of lonely, needs a shelf or something.

   Did you have anything to do with it, or the retro kitchen?

   I probably shouldn't say "I did" the retro one.  I was the foreman on the project.  An architect designed it, and a local cabinetmaker built it.  I did install some of the "nickelgap" boards on the wall! 

1. 
   Gene_Davis | Sep 19, 2007 02:30am | #11

   Did you have anything to do with it, or the retro kitchen?

   No, nothing at all, Mike.  I stumbled onto it when surfing for how to best price your work.

   But I am into kitchen design in a big way lately, and the retro look really hit me.  I liked it.

   Re the entertainment center, after a second and third look, it now strikes me as a pretty handsome piece of cabinetry work, and it partly addresses how best to deal with today's TVs, but there is a lot that is wrong.

   I'm talking about how good the piece looks when closed, but how silly it looks when open, with the TV using less than half the height of the box.

   Today's bigscreen TVs are all flat, which means that to hide them away behind beautiful millwork, we need cab depths of less than 12 inches.  When those TVs are in the 60- to 80-inches of width range, we need groups of doors in that same width range.  Furthermore, with the 16:9 aspect ratio of many of the bigscreen units, a huge screen of 80-inch width needs less than 48 inches of height for its enclosure.

   A lot of interior design people, and I they are the origin for many of the "entertainment center" designs that get built, have an "armoire" mentality when it comes to doing up a box group design to house equipment.

   Thus, the one in the price survey.

   The bifolds-with-pocketslides idea is a good one, however.  It is a pretty good way to deal with door width and door packaway.  Plain old pocket doors don't cut it anymore, especially when you get trying to house big wide screens.

1. 
   mike_maines | Sep 19, 2007 03:08am | #12

   I did my first 50's retro kitchen in 1998 or 1999.  It seemed funny after how many old kitchens I'd ripped out.  Can't say I love it, but the 3/8" overlay with face frames is very forgiving when you're used to frameless with 1/8" reveals or inset doors with 1/6" reveals.

   You're right, the "armoire approach" doesn't work anymore.  I don't know what the best approach is.  I almost got a chance to build one that rose up out of a furniture piece, close enough that the AV guys have the $2K lift sitting at their shop, but the owners' interior designer changed their mind at the last minute.  It was for a 30" or 40" wide unit.  If the lifts were cheaper I would think that would be a good option for more projects.

2. 
   DougU | Sep 18, 2007 01:59pm | #2

   Gene

   I guess they've achieved their objective but I never liked any of the kitchens from the 50-60's and they don't do any thing to change my mind.

   I've never been a fan of the plywood slab door so that's probably got more to do with it then anything.

   Doug

3. 
   marv | Sep 18, 2007 06:42pm | #4

   This link is to pricing survey???

   You get out of life what you put into it......minus taxes.

   Marv

1. 
   Gene_Davis | Sep 18, 2007 09:38pm | #5

   The link worked for me.  It brings up a 21-page document in .pdf format.

   The retro kitchen begins on about p. 5, and the entertainment center I cited begins on p. 16.

1. 
   BillHartmann | Sep 19, 2007 01:08am | #8

   Are they building it to 1960's code?Note the stairs in the kitchen..
   .
   A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.

1. 
   Gene_Davis | Sep 19, 2007 01:31am | #9

   Every time someone on one of these forums questions whether a detail meets code, it gives me a chuckle.

   I've only built in two little parts of the country, NE semi-rural Indiana and far upstate NY.  In both locales, code enforcement was and is scant to none.  Only commercial work gets inspected here, and that just barely.

   I cannot imagine life under the thumb of a vigorous AHJ, with someone running around with a 4-inch ball examining balustrades, and micro-measuring stairs to ensure rise varation is within some number, etc., etc.

   In fact, when you fly over this great nation of ours on a clear day, and look down from 35,000 feet, you can think about this:  only a tiny fraction of all those hundreds of thousands of square miles below you are subject to building inspectors.  Many of us just do what we want, to the standard of "whatever looks good."

   Didja like the retro kitchen?  How about the appliances?

1. 
   BillHartmann | Sep 19, 2007 01:48am | #10

   Well we have somewhat limited codes here.But that stairs is completely open on the side. Looks like a mistep 1/2 down the stairs and you can endup face first on the middle of the kitchen floor.I kind of like the cabinets and appliances. But you would not get me near that counter top detail.The metal edging over the edge of the countertop is just a place for dirt and grim..
   .
   A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.

2. 
   BillHartmann | Sep 19, 2007 01:03am | #7

   It is a pricing servy. To price the 5 projects that are show later in the docutment. The Retro kitchen is on of the sample projects..
   .
   A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.

4. 
   ZEEYA | Sep 19, 2007 03:12am | #13

   Gene I like the entertainment center height better on the left . The tv doesn't look lost in it

   Zeeya

   "If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried."

   Steven Wright

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