Cote's Kitchen Problem

Hooked on Houses is hosting her "Hooked on Fridays" blog party; I hope y'all will click here and have look. This week I'm hooked on kitchen psychology.

Joni at Cote de Texas is bucking the open kitchen trend. Well she is. If you don't believe me, listen (again) to the latest at the Skirted Roundtable: "Blogging and Design with Susan Serra, CKD." It's not the first time she has let this slip out.

We all want our real estate ads to be proud of us. Don't we?

Honestly, who doesn't want an open plan and granite and 10' ceilings and stainless and farmhouse sinks and sconces and chandeliers and... for our kitchen? At the Architecture Tourists' house we at least have an open plan and it worked very well on Independence Day.



So what can WE do to help Joni. I don't think she feels the least bit guilty about it.

In this very polite universe of design blogging a bucked trend or a critical comment is a delightful breath of fresh air. So I'm helping Joni by saying big thank you.

TV shows, magazines, the books, and the blogs can make design fans feel very small, very dated, very out of style, very poor, and worst of all, very un-cool.

I decided to followup with a little reading in "A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction." There is quite a bit about kitchen psychology. Try this pattern. I'm teasing you with a few quotes.

139. Farmhouse Kitchen

"In many cases, especially in houses, the heart of this common area is a kitchen or an eating area since shared food has more capacity than almost anything to be the basis for communal feelings."

But Joni specifically mentioned caterers and wanting to keep the mess away from guests.

"The isolated kitchen, separate from the family and considered as an efficient but unpleasant factory for food is a hangover from the days of servants."

The Architecture Tourists will volunteer anytime anywhere to test the "unpleasant days of servants." A bit of history:

"...in the middle class housing of the nineteenth century, where the use of servants became rather widespread, the pattern of the isolated kitchen also spread, and became an accepted part of any house. But when the servants disappeared, the kitchen was still left separate, because it was thought "genteel" and "nice" to eat in dining rooms away from any sight or smell of food. The isolated kitchen was still associated with those houses of the rich, where dining rooms like this were taken for granted."

"...there is in this kind of plan still the hidden supposition that cooking is a chore and that eating is a pleasure."

Well maybe I can help. I think maybe some folks need both a family kitchen and a catering kitchen.

If you can find A Pattern Language you might check these 2 other kitchen patterns.

147. Communal Eating

"Without communal eating, no human group can hold together."

182. Eating Atmosphere

"Put a light over the table to create a pool of light over the group...(so that it) lights up people's faces and is a focal point for the whole group, then a meal can become a special thing indeed..."

Thanks,
Terry

P.S. Did you get the word about wearing blue?

Atlanta's Highland Walk Becomes Morningside Village

Here is the new sign in front of Doc Chey's. How about that yellow house? It's a good one.

The corner of Highland Avenue and University is the one and only commercial area in Atlanta's Morningside / Lenox Park Neighborhood. Most suburbanites don't want to live near "the store" but in urban neighborhoods, these commercial areas add the the walkable charm. That is, if you don't have music blaring until midnight.

They've just refurbished some of the buildings. Today they are adding new sign and a new name. Maybe the Highland Walk Apartments far from here had a problem but I'd think the new name reflects the location and the vibe. This is one great neighborhood. Merchants need to take advantage of the Morningside brand.

For design fans "Morningside Village is the home of Providence Antiques; for food fans: Alon's, Caramba Cafe, and Doc Chey's Noodle House and more; for film buffs: Movies Worth Seeing.

Anyway this is new urbanism in an older location. It's not dense but there is walkability in a neighborhood with good schools and relative safety.

When I moved here (1977) it had passed it's prime but it was a genuine neighborhood shopping center. There was a Kroger, gas station, hardware store, paint store, seafood store, shoe shop. No restaurants. As smaller neighbor hood stores fell to the larger chains, the main commercial building on the east side of Highlands burned down. Most of the tenants never came back.

But the famous (in Atlanta) Partners Restaurant and Indigo Coastal Grill took up residence in the unburned south end and became "in" places that mirrored the comeback of Morningside and Virginia Highlands. Partners and Indigo became destinations for our neighbors and for foodies citywide. We used to order spicy conch fritters and the very tart "Dan's Mom's Key Lime Pie" for takeout.

When they closed the Kroger, they sub-divided the building and gave it a modern facade. Over the last year they've removed the metal/modern look and gave it a stone/tile look. Today we have a new sign and a new name.

Real estate ads can now say: "just 4 blocks from Morningside Village. This is the sort of thing that keeps home prices high.