The Off Topic Topic

[Admiral Yi]

Plenty of room for an island or bar.  Builders fucked up.

[DGuller]

Plenty of room for an island or bar.  Builders fucked up.

The problem with islands or bars is that they're wasting space, just like a separate kitchen does.  Here, when you don't need that space for kitchen stuff, you can use it for other things, or just to feel like you have a lot of space in your apartment.  The island would block off the space opposite the counters, so it's not useful for anything else.

[DGuller]

That's kinda like what my brother has at his place, and it's more convenient that you'd think. It's not as if you need a humongous kitchen or anything.

Until I started living in a setup like this last year, I thought this was one of the modern ways to cheapening out on construction.  I didn't realize it's a more practical layout, especially for apartments, where square footage is limited, so whatever you use for a separate kitchen you cannot use for something else.

[Syt]

Open kitchen integrated into the living area is quite common in apartments here. The setups can vary. E.g. in my current apartment it's a small "annex" to the living area, in some it's completely open, in others you have a counter top between kitchen and living area. I was highly skeptical at first, but it is pretty convenient and saves space.

[celedhring]

I have a similar arrangement with a kitchen island and it works great. The island also provides additional storage space.

[Razgovory]

I'm like Dguller, I don't need a big kitchen because I don't do much food prep.

"hmm, I ran out of space.  I'll just set the blueberries down on the raw chicken.  Nobody has to know".

[Habbaku]

That is a frighteningly small amount of counter space for that "kitchen".

That's exactly how much counter space I have in my kitchen.  Which incidentally is also part of a living room wall.  In practice, that's a much better arrangement than having a separate kitchen, IMO, I enjoy my kitchen in the living room a lot more than I ever enjoyed separate kitchens in my previous apartments.

Don't get me wrong, I like the design and doing away with a separate kitchen that's walled off, etc., but that is nowhere near as much counter space as I would need for a typical meal.

[The Larch]

How much space do you need for a normal meal, really?

[DGuller]

You must have a much bigger appetite than I do.

[The Larch]

We've done a couple of Christmas dinners at my brother's place. It's perfectly possible to make a large meal in that amount of space. You have to be efficient and can't leave tons of stuff lying around, but it's doable.

[Habbaku]

You must have a much bigger appetite than I do.

More like more appliances.

[DGuller]

You must have a much bigger appetite than I do.

More like more appliances.

Good point, you have to be very selective with appliances, those do kill valuable space.

[Admiral Yi]

The problem with islands or bars is that they're wasting space, just like a separate kitchen does.  Here, when you don't need that space for kitchen stuff, you can use it for other things, or just to feel like you have a lot of space in your apartment.  The island would block off the space opposite the counters, so it's not useful for anything else.

Other things like what, a dance floor?

[DGuller]

The problem with islands or bars is that they're wasting space, just like a separate kitchen does.  Here, when you don't need that space for kitchen stuff, you can use it for other things, or just to feel like you have a lot of space in your apartment.  The island would block off the space opposite the counters, so it's not useful for anything else.

Other things like what, a dance floor?

Pacing around, for example.  Putting up a temporary table and giving people on all side enough space (obviously more of a consideration in non-Covid times).  Assembling your Ikea furniture.  Getting a sense of roominess.

[Admiral Yi]

Pacing around, for example.

You wiin.