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Lisbet
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| Posted: Aug 14 2010 at 10:45am | IP Logged
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In our seemingly never ending house search, my husband looked at three houses last night and is scheduled to look at 7 more this afternoon. (I'm not looking with him any more - I just can't.) Out of the three he looked at last night, one has some possibilities.
It is a raised ranch with a finished walk out basement on 8 wooded acres. The upper level has a nice updated kitchen, three bedrooms, two full baths, dining room, living room and sun room. The lower level is interesting because it has a big family room, two more bedrooms, a full bath, laundry room, and a fully functional second eat in kitchen. There is a wrap around porch with 5 sets of patio doors, three up and two down that open to the porch. (Both levels have pot bellied wood burning stoves - very cool!)
So we'd put the boys in the downstairs bedrooms, the girls and ourselves up. Use the downstairs family room as our school room. While the idea of a second kitchen for our big brood sounds intriguing, I'm not totally sure how we'd use it? The laundry room is right off of this kitchen, so I see possibilities there. And I certainly see the benefit of a second fridge, but I'm unsure of how/if we'd use another stove, oven, and sink? The storage would be great too, but how practical to store kitchen stuff both upstairs and down?
And thoughts on this? Dh is looking at 7 more homes today, so he very well may find something else, but both of us have been mulling over this house all night.
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Aug 14 2010 at 10:58am | IP Logged
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canning.. one of the hardest things about canning is that it takes over the kitchen and then doing regular meals is a real difficulty.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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St. Ann
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| Posted: Aug 14 2010 at 11:28am | IP Logged
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I second Jodie.
For grand feasts like Thanksgiving ... when you wish you had 2 ovens.
Otherwise, it could be used as a science lab and home economics class room with a sewing corner??
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Stephanie
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: Aug 14 2010 at 11:53am | IP Logged
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JodieLyn wrote:
| canning.. one of the hardest things about canning is that it takes over the kitchen and then doing regular meals is a real difficulty. |
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Yes, this.
Also, I'm pondering the notion of a decoy kitchen. Your friend stops by for tea, and you take her to the "decoy" kitchen...I haven't thought it through completely, but it could be useful 
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Lindsay
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amyable
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My personal feelings on this - with young kids I would always fear that someone somewhere was getting in trouble (i.e. turning on burners or whatever) in the kitchen that I couldn't be near, because I was on the other floor (keeping an eye on the other kitchen ). AND, we live in a raised ranch and I hate it with a passion of a thousand suns. Our particular one has a lot of wasted space, although yours sounds set up a bit better and may very well be much bigger than ours! And things are always where I am not, I am constantly up and down the stairs. Not huge deals, I suppose, so I don't want to dissuade you from what might be a great house! 
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Amy
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stacykay
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My sil and bil have a full second kitchen in their basement. It gets utilized by her older dc and their friends, during canning season, and holiday preps. (They have 6 dc from 15yo-2yo.)
A friend has a second kitchen that she uses to make up pierogi, galabki, holiday baking, extended family dinners when you need the extra ovens and burners for all the extra people, plus the canning. (She has 2dss.)
Both instances, they LOVE their second kitchen!!!
And I agree, I would love that second fridge (another family around the corner from us who also has 6dc has two fridges in their kitchen. I tell you, that is more appealing to me than granite counters!  )
In Christ,
Stacy in MI
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kristacecilia
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I would love having a second kitchen close to our learning area to use for science experiments and art clean up!
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MaryM
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kristacecilia wrote:
| I would love having a second kitchen close to our learning area to use for science experiments and art clean up! |
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This is what first came to mind for me as well. The other ideas for canning, other specialty food preps, big meals also make it sound attractive. I probably wouldn't keep both stocked though (except with art and science supplies ).
And as far as concerns like Amy mentioned - you could keep the stove/oven unplugged when not in use if that was a concern.
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Mary M. in Denver
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guitarnan
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| Posted: Aug 14 2010 at 9:11pm | IP Logged
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LOL Amy!
I had the same thought as Mary...unplug or shut off gas when the second kitchen is not needed.
Three of the four of us love to cook and my dd is always talking about when she has her own kitchen and "kitchen toys" (that's what we call utensils, bowls and hand appliances)...she would so love a place where she could bake and cake-decorate without worrying about stepping on my toes.
I love the idea of two woodstoves!
One other nice thing...you could host guests and they could cook for themselves if their dietary requirements didn't match yours. My brother is vegan and I'd love to offer him and my SIL a cooking space of their own.
And then there's the whole holiday/entertaining thing. We're very casual entertainers but I would love to have two ovens and two refrigerators! (Dd would get dessert duty and I could make roasted veggies...at the same time!)
I don't mean to sell the house to you - as you say, there are many homes for sale right now - but I can see many advantages to having two kitchens.
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Erin
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Wow what an intriguing thought!! Such vivid imaginations, love it 
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Carole N.
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I so agree with all the reasons given for a second kitchen. And in addition, you could use it for any hobby-type activities such as making beer and wine. I know when my dh is in the kitchen brewing or distilling, he pretty much needs the whole kitchen!
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 Carole ... in Wales
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Martha
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It would be in near constant use here. I would make whichever is not the main floor that company would enter the one we'd use for schooling.
If you are worried about the oven/stove, it's simple enough to remove that and replace with a counter/desk type area. Maybe you could even move the stove/oven to the other kitchen?
Now, I'm daydreaming about how much easier high school chemistry would be, wine and beer making, canning, a place for all the dissections and microscope stuff.....
Unless the upstairs has a main company entry, the downstairs would be my main living and dining area. It is very hard for some company to traverse stairs. Elderly for example. And it's easier to keep littles from getting on the stairs when the main area they need to play is downstairs.
Just my .02 that I couldn't resist contributing bc I really really want you to get an awesome house soon!
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JodieLyn
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Not to mention if you end with a situation where a family member (adult.. maybe even your own child) needs a place for a time (a parent could be permanant etc) that you'd have a seperate kitchen area for them to use and be a bit more independant if they want to be.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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hylabrook1
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I think it would be a really valuable resource to have a second kitchen, especially since the one you're talking about would be right there near the schoolroom! Running water, cabinets, counters, woo-hoo! Great place for art projects, leaving things out that need to dry (clay, paint, etc.) - the kinds of things I think twice about doing because, "where can I leave them while still in process that nobody else will disturb and we can still fix dinner?"
I am definitely in the camp that advocates turning off the stove, especially if you could still turn it on if you need to heat something up as part of a chemistry lab or something. A second electric kettle in the basement kitchen will make it easy for you to have tea during school time.
Peace,
Nancy
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sewcrazy
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I grew up in a house with 2 kitchens, and after almost 15 years of living in this house, I am finally getting my basement kitchen 
As others have said, we used it for canning, holiday baking and "messy" projects.
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LeeAnn
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Michiel
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We have a second kitchen in our basement. I use it for canning, and it and the adjoining "bar" is our Art Center. Very handy to have counters, sinks, etc. for cleanup, and we can leave stuff out. I use the stove and oven at Thanksgiving and other big meals, and don't use it any other time, but it's not in the way, so it's not a bother. The second fridge is nice to have. All my cooking stuff is upstairs in the regular kitchen except canning equip. and weird esoteric items that only get used once in awhile.
As far as kids and safety are concerned, I have a fairly dangerous kid and there has been no problem. If there were, I'd probably remove knobs from the oven and stove. My older son uses the kitchen when he has sleepovers to store box juices, for pizza, and whatever. It's sleepover central down there.
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Michiel
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: Would you find 2 kitchens useful?
