I’m working on plans that will result in poor light under the kitchen wall cabinets. There will be 1-30″ wide DH in the center of the 18′ wall. As this is in a rural woodland site I am considering 4-awning or casement windows between counter top and overhead cabinets. Another alternative would be glass block.
Do you find this results in a lot of hard to keep clean glass that wives don’t like.
Use these assembly techniques when installing crown risers and molding to minimize visible gaps and nail holes.
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Replies
I have never done this, but it seems to me that stuff will end up in front of them obstructing their use.
Windows have two purposes - light and view or ventilation,
Light gain from a low shrouded location like that will be minimal, and view would only happen from very limited positions for the cook.
Light can be brought in with a sun tunnel
Some designs would allow a transom window above cabs.
Both light and venting can be done mechanically
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"poor light under the kitchen wall cabinets"
With that being the main concern, use rope or puck ligths, or possiobly new LED fixtures under cabs
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Another alternative would be eliminate the upper cabinets...
I only have 9' of overheads in the kitchen as the opposite side is an island. I am allready planning under cabinet strips for night use. But I'm a daylight freek. I hate feeling like it's living in a cave.
If the wall space where you're considering putting windows passes in front of your kitchen sink, comes to within a foot of your cook top, or is in front of an area where a mixing bowl or hand held mixer are used, these are the three areas where windows at kitchen counter top level will get the most messed up. At countertops where all other cooking and prep work takes place I can't think of any reason why windows should get dirty enough to piss off the person who has to clean them. I would think that the trade off of having to clean glass not-very-often is worth it because IT IS SO TOTALLY COOL TO HAVE NATURAL LIGHT COMING IN UNDER YOUR KITCHEN CABINETS!! While the person standing right at the counter may not be be able to fully see the full height of the window as writer puffin suggest, then just step back a foot. I like to cook alot, like to keep my kitchen clean, and am also a kitchen-designing architect so I've given alot of prior thought to the question you're asking. I say, ask your wife or customer's wife what she thinks rather than trying to second guess her.
Didn't you do something like this with glass just above the counter level?
Couldn't find it with the marvelous search engine here.
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No, we didn't do it. Gave it some thought but our stuck in the hillside house meant looking out at grade in the kitchen. Howeverk, we dug that portion out and laid a stone patio right there. Would have made passing the food out to the table easier with a slideby.
I personally think it would be a nice touch in the right place. Probably have to keep your shirt (females) on in the kitchen tho.
A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Thought I remembered you posting a photo of the idea. Probably my oldtimers acting up again :)'Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt man doing it' ~ Chinese proverb
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Remodeling Magazine had something on there online board and I believe in print too.
Nice look if the inside conditions are considered and the outside can be made pretty.
Nice panorama.
And certainly not the "norm"A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Yeah, I saw that too. I'll try to post a link-
http://dp.storymaker-se.com/DaliDataProxy/x.aspx?cmd=query&id=bcmeta&exp=91767c96-a824-4f1c-9b41-00162b614124&t=exp.htm
did that work?
k
Thanks, that shows the under counter brightness I hoped for.
Cool. As Calvin noted, that was from remodeling magazine. there were probably some notes about structural issues, etc. if you google a little deeper.
k
That's the one. Thanks for the info.And, I agree, it really is a great look.Have to work on those topless chefs, though.'Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt man doing it' ~ Chinese proverb
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Oh man, just the thought of it brings tears to my eyes. The venus de milo
with arms,
right there in the kitchen.
mama mia.A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
So, I guess the link did work?
k
Like a charm. Thanks for posting it.'Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt man doing it' ~ Chinese proverb
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I recall something about a 5'-2" cutie in the kitchen window and a guy gawking from the woods.
Shoot, I'm gawking from most locations........
inside or out.
Ground floor/second floor.
And no, I don't have a "problem". My name isn't Tom.A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Do you find this results in a lot of hard to keep clean glass that wives don't like
The complaint for kitchen users I've heard is about the lack of splash, or in the lip the abbriveated sill has on the back of the countertop.
You also run into difficulties if you do not allow for required electrical outlets. And plugmold at the bottom of the uppers runs into problems with headers, unless planned right.
Now, the biggest Design Committee complaint is in how the short windows look on the outside of the house. Human eye "knows' where the window tops are versus the ceilings, so the shorter windows look "wrong" to the eye. If there is a "traditional" window nearby only makes this worse.
That's my 2¢, others' differ.
We did just this on our house. 3 awnings that go from the bottom of the uppers to about 6 inches above the countertop. The sink is centered on the middle window. The wall faces south and has 48" overhangs at 9'. We haven't noticed any problems with cleanup that were a problem in 5 years of living here. I have to "stoop" to look out the windows but DW has a clear panorama of the entire backyard which slopes away from the house to the kids treehouse, ravines and swamp. Great for watching the wildlife and our semi-domesticated kids. She has told me on several occasions that she loves those windows.
I have not done this but I have seen it done. very cool
in my own house I gave up upper cabinets for casement windows.
go for it!
That idea was in the original drawings I made for my house. A window to the left and right of the window that's centered over the kitchen sink.
I forget why we nixed them. I think it would have looked nice from the inside. Maybe a little awkward from the outside. But, hey, no one can see the back of my house.
The downside? My wife picked out this mini-mosaic for the countertop to upper cabinet backsplash. 3/8" tumbled squares on mesh. Tumbled marble or limestone. Really crappy QC, the mini's are all over the place on the mesh. I have around 24 linear feet of backsplash, 18" high. I dread ever having to set those sheets, only because the mini's are all over the place on the sheets.
Those mini's have been boxed up and in the basement for maybe the past 9 or 10 years. I figure if I can deposit enough layers of sawdust on them, they'll eventually not count as having ever been bought.