Cass’s apartment…part 2 * a how-to * kitchen pt 1

Ok, here we go again–another post on the apartment in progress!

The Kitchen:

I know, you’re probably wondering what there is to consider when it comes to putting the kitchen together, aren’t you???

Well, I have to put a lot of thought into just about every room. Mostly because once it’s done it’s done and I hate having to re-do anything (so much so in fact that almost nothing gets a 2nd go round with me).

What I had to consider:

1. Was the kitchen going to be an eat-in kitchen or not?
2. What furniture was I going to use for the room set?
3. How will the kitchen furniture affect the finished size of the room? Will there still be enough space for it to be an eat-in kitchen?
4. How big and where exactly did I want the windows placed?
5. Where exactly did I want the doorway into the hall placed?

You really wouldn’t think that the furniture would be a big consideration, would you? But it really was for me. Since I don’t plan on having tons and tons of room sets I want to have furniture that is dedicated to each one. (I’d like to do that with re-ment to, but frankly I don’t think that’s as practicable as dedicated furniture). So by dedicating furnishings to a given room set or diorama I am placing some limits on my options. I’m willing to put up with that as I also think it will lend some authenticity to the rooms.

Furnishing The Kitchen:

I only have a few pieces of kitchen furniture that I’ve picked up off of feebay the last 2 years.  I have the ever elusive (and ever-so-over-priced) Kenmore kitchen set, and I have various pieces of Sindy furniture. I also have a barbie wall unit kitchen, but frankly speaking it’s so out of scale it isn’t even funny.  Plus who ever heard of a sink with the over directly under it? (I ask you, WTF was Mattel thinking when they came up with that one???)

The kenmore kitchen set is nice (with some work). If I could I’d have multiples of that–however, I don’t.  I have one, I’m happy to have it but that also means that I’m saving it until I have the right set up in mind for it. I’m pretty sure that it’ll get used when I do the Loft apartment set, and I don’t want to “waste” it before then. Kitchens in 1:6 seem to be very hit or miss…and at least when it comes to my characters I know what they want in that room. (I wish their preferences were half as clear when it came to livingrooms, offices & bedrooms!)

When I get around to doing Viv’s place I’ll be making her kitchen from scratch as I want hers to be ultra modern & very trendy *something that Cass’s definitely is not*

So back to those questions:

• Was the kitchen going to be an eat-in kitchen or not?

Yes.  Definitely eat-in. I have already written scenes in the Quinlan-chronicles that take place in the kitchen, and I think it’s probably one of the rooms that will see the most use.

• What furniture was I going to use for the room set?
  

Sindy’s eastham furniture set with some modifications.  It looks like this:

What it needed:

1. first off, it needed to be raised about a cm to make it the proper height for Cass & co.
2. it needs to be primed and repainted (there will be NO bright yellow or mustard yellow kitchens in my photostories or dioramas! Sorry you yellow lovin’ folks. it’s just not gonna happen! *I am not sure at this point what color the kitchen appliances are going to be, though I’m leaning towards browns/wood look*
3. because of the market, and sindy stuff being “vintage” I haven’t been able to get my hands on the additional floor cupboard/cabinet that matched the sink & stove.  The kitchen looked weird with just the sink, stove & oven (and barbie fridge) Sooo… I took a spare sink & popped the sink out of the base and converted into a floor cupboard/cabinet. Removing the sink was easy because the glue that they used in manufacturing was old and gave very easily. It was then covered and then covered with thin wood (from Mark’s model airplane stock).



4. I still need hanging cabinets. I’d hoped to snag those off feebay but I’ve been unsuccessful so far. That means I’ll need to make them at some point. Probably in a week or two. I’ll make them out of styrene and paint them to match whatever color I make the units.

• How will the kitchen furniture affect the finished size of the room? Will there still be enough space for it to be an eat-in kitchen?

There’s still plenty of room for an eat-in kitchen. I can comfortably fit a table in with chairs.  It also seems likely I’ll be able to fit in some of the inevitable kitchen clutter.

• How big and where exactly did I want the windows placed?

This was a sticky point. I don’t really want the windows to be a focal point of the room, but I didn’t want to leave them out (even if it does mean that the room would be finished more quickly. I decided to emulate the windows that we had in the kitchen in schoharie and see how it goes. I pretty much figure they’ll be partly obscured by window treatments anyway.

• Where exactly did I want the doorway into the hall placed?

Weeellll…..I didn’t have a specific spot per se, just a general area I wanted it. I wanted it much closer to the apartment’s front door, so that the kitchen’s insides couldn’t be seen from the living room. On a practical point, it’d be nicer having that distance so that food cooking/smells etc wouldn’t fill the livingroom. I wanted the doorway from the kitchen and the doorway leading to the livingroom to be arched. I had an apartment that was like that and I really think it was the nicest feature (aside from the beautiful wood floors).. This is how the doorway has begun… (mark & I are discussing how the edge treatments should be…my apt just had smooth plastered sides, but he wants to put a molding around it… guess we’ll see