# If you could change one thing



## Seoul Food (Sep 17, 2018)

A lot of the time I find myself demotivated from cooking in my home kitchen due to restrictions on space, equipment, etc. Eventually I would like to remodel it but it had me wondering if others find themselves in similar situations and if so what would be one things you would change about your home kitchens?


----------



## ChefRossy (Oct 21, 2018)

I thought I wanted a bigger kitchen but now, I just want really great appliances. Good luck


----------



## sgsvirgil (Mar 1, 2017)

The one thing I would change is the stove. Most residential stoves are overpriced, under powered garbage. That's why I found a small, gas powered, 6 burner commercial stove with a griddle and double ovens and built my home kitchen around it from the vents up. But, I kept in mind that a kitchen sells a home and made it a point to not make the kitchen look like a commercial kitchen.


----------



## halb (May 25, 2015)

sgsvirgil said:


> The one thing I would change is the stove. Most residential stoves are overpriced, under powered garbage...


Amen to that. I just saw the other day that the CEO of Viking said the prices on "luxury appliances" may increase as much as 25% due to the tariffs. Like they aren't already getting too much for them.



> But, I kept in mind that a kitchen sells a home and made it a point to not make the kitchen look like a commercial kitchen.


So, sell to another chef.  Actually I'm not so sure about "kitchens selling the home" after seeing that a good percentage of buyers around here gut the kitchens after they move in. I even saw a very high end one that was only a year old go into the dumpster. The seller redid the kitchen with the same idea as you. So my advice is- you use it, it's your house. Do whatever makes you happy.


----------



## chrislehrer (Oct 9, 2008)

Strangely, "kitchen sells the house" actually goes together with the instant kitchen remodeling. 

I live in Metro Boston, one of the most overheated real estate markets in the country. I was talking to a friend who's a realtor, and she said that once houses get close to the $1million mark -- note that in Brookline, a popular suburb, houses under $750 thousand are rare, small, and have major problems -- it actually makes sense to renovate an old kitchen before selling, as people won't pay big bucks unless the kitchen looks fancy. However, you should choose appliances and things like taps based on what looks fancy for the least money, because the buyers are almost guaranteed to remodel immediately after buying.


----------



## sgsvirgil (Mar 1, 2017)

Its all academic as far as Im concerned anyway. I've lived in this house for over 30 years and don't plan on moving anytime soon. Its all bought and paid for. My wife and I made a deal. I get the kitchen and she gets the rest of the house. ;-) After a while, you get used to sleeping in a bed with a pink comforter. lol


----------



## halb (May 25, 2015)

chrislehrer said:


> Strangely, "kitchen sells the house" actually goes together with the instant kitchen remodeling.
> 
> I live in Metro Boston, one of the most overheated real estate markets in the country. I was talking to a friend who's a realtor, and she said that once houses get close to the $1million mark -- note that in Brookline, a popular suburb, houses under $750 thousand are rare, small, and have major problems -- it actually makes sense to renovate an old kitchen before selling, as people won't pay big bucks unless the kitchen looks fancy. However, you should choose appliances and things like taps based on what looks fancy for the least money, because the buyers are almost guaranteed to remodel immediately after buying.


Yeah, that's why sellers in that price range hire companies to come in and "stage" the house. They will have decorators come in who will have the place repainted, carpet and floors redone, then replace all your furniture with rented stuff to make it look as attractive as possible.


----------



## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Interesting..
I've just bought a piece of land, and will be building next year.
It's mainly going to be a big open kitchen with a bedroom attached


----------



## chefross (May 5, 2010)

Great question...I bought a house 2 years ago and use the kitchen everyday. I love the size but hate the cupboards and stove.
If I had to choose, I'd go with a double oven with options to convect or conventional.


----------



## Seoul Food (Sep 17, 2018)

sgsvirgil said:


> The one thing I would change is the stove. Most residential stoves are overpriced, under powered garbage. That's why I found a small, gas powered, 6 burner commercial stove with a griddle and double ovens and built my home kitchen around it from the vents up. But, I kept in mind that a kitchen sells a home and made it a point to not make the kitchen look like a commercial kitchen.


Did you have to reinforce the floor? I want to get a commercial oven eventually but the difference in weights between a normal residential stove and a commercial one can be quite large. I'm trying to calculate how much pis my floor can handle because it would be awkward to add beam supports under it.


----------



## jimyra (Jun 23, 2015)

Hire an engineer to make sure you are up to code. They will also be able to tell you what safe loading is. Make sure you calculate the HVAC requirements including the stove. My stove puts out more BTU's than the heating and cooling system.


----------



## Seoul Food (Sep 17, 2018)

jimyra said:


> Hire an engineer to make sure you are up to code. They will also be able to tell you what safe loading is. Make sure you calculate the HVAC requirements including the stove. My stove puts out more BTU's than the heating and cooling system.


Are you referring to the gas emissions? I just figured I'd be okay because my stove is against an outside wall and I would install a better than residential exhaust hood to vent directly outside. Yeah I'd probably need someone to tell me the load capability but the less the codes enforcer knows about the inside of my home the better.


----------



## sgsvirgil (Mar 1, 2017)

Seoul Food said:


> Did you have to reinforce the floor? I want to get a commercial oven eventually but the difference in weights between a normal residential stove and a commercial one can be quite large. I'm trying to calculate how much pis my floor can handle because it would be awkward to add beam supports under it.


No. I was fortunate. But, I did hire an engineer to inspect the floor to make sure that I wasn't exceeding load tolerances. It was money well spent.

I would caution you, however, in regards to a few things. Unless you own your own home AND you are rebuilding your kitchen from the floor tiles up, installing a commercial grade stove in a residential kitchen can prove to be very expensive for a variety of reasons. Whether or not your floor will hold the weight is but one issue that you will have to address.

Generally speaking, zoning laws won't prevent you from having a commercial grade stove, especially if its gas. Electric commercial stoves are different because they generally require commercial grade hookups that are not found in residential homes in the US. Gas hookups in a residential home can be easily and cheaply converted to accommodate commercial appliances. But, I assume you are not talking about installing a commercial electric stove.

The most important issues that you will deal with is venting and spacing. I don't have to explain how expensive this can be. But, your zoning probably will not care unless the output of your stove exceeds a certain BTU level. Even with the lower output standard commercial stoves, you are going to to need a proper vent system. If your stove is located on an outside wall, then, that makes things a bit easier. Generally speaking, however, your zoning will probably mandate that if you are using a commercial grade stove in your home, it can't be placed in contact with wood, dry wall or other flammable materials. You will have to space it a minimum distance from these materials. The wall behind your stove will likely have to be coated with heat/flame resistant tiling or some other material. If your zoning does not mandate these thing, you would dancing with the devil if you didn't do these things anyway.

I understand your concerns about having the code enforcer know as little as possible, but, you should also be aware that if your home is damaged by any factor that is not in compliance with your zoning regulations, your home owner's insurance will likely give you a hard time. Like I said, it is very unlikely that your zoning laws will prevent you from installing a commercial stove as long as you have proper venting, spacing and gas hookups. Having the zoning people involved will probably not create any increased tax liability, if that's what you are afraid of, especially if you are not changing the square footage of your home.

Good luck.


----------



## Seoul Food (Sep 17, 2018)

sgsvirgil said:


> No. I was fortunate. But, I did hire an engineer to inspect the floor to make sure that I wasn't exceeding load tolerances. It was money well spent.
> 
> I would caution you, however, in regards to a few things. Unless you own your own home AND you are rebuilding your kitchen from the floor tiles up, installing a commercial grade stove in a residential kitchen can prove to be very expensive for a variety of reasons. Whether or not your floor will hold the weight is but one issue that you will have to address.
> 
> ...


I guess I can kiss that wok station goodbye.


----------



## sgsvirgil (Mar 1, 2017)

Seoul Food said:


> I guess I can kiss that wok station goodbye.


Not at all. You can purchase commercial grade, portable single and double burners (50,000 BTU's) and place them on a steel prep table for a wok station. I had one in my restaurant and it was the bees knees. I didn't use it as a wok station, but, it could've done nicely as one. You could make that happen in a home quite easily.


----------



## Seoul Food (Sep 17, 2018)

Are you talking about the burners for soups/stocks? How was the heat transfer without having the little indented wok nest area?


----------



## sgsvirgil (Mar 1, 2017)

It worked good. I can't give any real context because like I said, we didn't use woks very often. But the heat transfer was excellent.


----------

