Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with kitchens

Where to go on Thanksgiving Day?

SoftSummerBreeze — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:20:22 -0800

Where in the San Francisco Bay Area can I be of service on Thanksgiving Day? I want to give to those less fortunate than myself on Thanksgiving. I want to be a part of food service, but don't know where to look. Googling 'food kitchen' brings up results for California Pizza Kitchen and the like.
I live in the North Bay, but would be willing to drive to SF, East Bay locations or places along 101.
Thanks for your help!

Is the ultimate kitchen really called a "kitchen" anymore?

Kololo — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:56:17 -0800

I'm doing a research project where I'm trying to envision the 'kitchen of the future' - the way to organise your kitchen/eating/etc area so that in 5, 10, and 20 years that it will work well for a busy family with kids. We do so much in our kitchens! A lot of people already consider it their homes' "command centre", where they spend a lot of their time and where people congregate. Help me out (please!) and let me know: - What do you do in your kitchen/eating area? - What do you wish you could do? Better, more easily, or at all? - What would your ultimate kitchen have - as far as setup and 'stuff' - to make it the ultimate centre of your home?

Real kitchen renos!

phoenixc — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 19:13:25 -0800

What do I need to know about renovating a kitchen? We're planning a complete renovation of our kitchen and not having had any experience in this area, what do I need to know? I've flipped through various kitchen design magazines and have an idea of what I'd like the new kitchen to look like but I don't know where to go from here. Do I go visit kitchen showrooms to pick out the cabinets and tiles, etc and then contact a contractor to make my dream kitchen a reality? Or do I talk to a contractor first who will have access to various supplier samples?

Also, any advice on what to look out for or to avoid would be greatly appreciated.

How do we find out what an old house originally looked like?

tomorama — Fri, 28 Jan 2005 17:24:05 -0800

My girlfriend lives in an old house in an even older city (Poughkeepsie, New York). The building has obviously been subletted and then rebuilt. We think it was a one family, then a two-family, and now it's a one-family again. The layout is so weird with five bedrooms (one being in the attic), two kitchens and no living or dining rooms that we're really curious to find out what looked like originally. How can we go about digging up these kinds of records? Is there any way to find old floor plans or building codes from public records online or off? Further, can we find out about past owners and tenants?

Present for a Kitchen Pro

mathowie — Sat, 04 Sep 2004 20:58:36 -0800

I need some help looking for a present for a kitchen pro [more inside] My wife is passionate about cooking, and although I hate to give her kitchen-related gifts (seems too cliched), I thought something special would make up for that. She's always impressed with the knives seen by Malto Mario, Alton Brown, and the Iron Chef guys, and though she's got pretty much every kitchen gadget in the world, she's never had high quality knives.

So I was thinking of spending a few hundred bucks on some really kickass knives, but looking around there are all sorts of different materials, countries of origin, and brands. I see that even a single knife can run hundreds of dollars, but say I was spending $300-500. What's a good brand to look into that would be a good start for say 2-3 different sized knives?

Is There a Cultural Meaning Behind Pig Paraphernalia in Jewish Households?

Ufez Jones — Mon, 02 Feb 2004 10:55:58 -0800

Odd question: In high school, I went to the house of a Jewish friend. The kitchen was completely decked out with pig paraphernalia, which kind of surprised me, given kosher living and whatnot. In the grumble grumble years since then, I've met a couple of other folks that have seen similar motifs in Jewish kitchens. Is there a reason behind this, or is it just random decorating?

Covering countertops

davidmsc — Fri, 26 Dec 2003 00:17:31 -0800

My wife hates the countertops in our kitchen. Short of buying and installing new countertops, does anyone have any other solutions for making them look different? Coverings, paint, anything?