Customer Reviews

The Complete Guide to Kitchen Design With Cooking in Mind

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Don Silver's book was a well anticipated arrival, but alas much of a disappointment. As one who is designing a kitchen at present for a house to be built in the next few months, I was a let down by the book's content.

Let's start with the good stuff. The first chapter on design basics is great, though Silver's makes a big deal about "breaking free of the kitchen triangle". As one who has lived for the past seven years with an island in the way of the refrigerator, I would have welcomed the "kitchen triangle"! While there are other workable solutions--and he introduces them--the old triangle has survived for a good reason and it is not as bad as he indicates, and is certainly necessary in some cases particularly where kitchen size is an issue or limitation.

Silver introduces some great concepts such as the 30" deep counter, two sinks, etc. but spends far too much time on silly mundane issues like a cursory review of cabinets (visit a Home Depot and or pick up a few cabinet catalogs and you'll get much better and more detailed info) and a tired review of pots and pans (!) which should be very old hat for anyone going so far as to buy this book.

More annoyingly, Silver consciously avoids mention of any brand names! It would be worthwhile to review some, particularly when he has such a penchant for separate "char-grills" (which I have yet to see in ANY appliance store). For example, I'd like to see a review of issues like flame spread and cleanability. My own homework revealed that while a Dacor gas cooktop looked great, the flame spread was too big for normal pots and pans; Viking's non-sealed burners looked "cheap", made out of stamped stainless and would be difficult to clean.

Lastly, the illustrations for the most part looked amateur.

I'll make it simple. Yes, the book is a little short and a little dated. It's not as detailed as I would like. But read the book. Put it down. Pick it up again a week or two later and read it again. After a couple of readings, the subtle ideas Don is trying to impart start coming across. If you are serious about cooking, and are designing a kitchen to cook in, you NEED this book. For example, one subtle theme is that the kitchen should be divided into three work zones: Prep, cooking, and cleaning. Each should have it own tools and appliances available where they are needed. And each should be able to operate without interfering with the other zones. As a professional chef, I can assure that this is the basic division that well designed professional kitchens use. But it is a revelation for home cooks.

How many kitchen designers have the skill and guts to cook a meal for you in your new kitchen after it's built to demonstrate how well it functions? None that I have even heard of, except Don.

After having talked to a bunch of Certified Kitchen Designers (CKD) after reading this book, I have decided that most CKD's are `wanna-be architects' who never bothered to get an architecture degree (because it's too hard?), and wouldn't know the difference between a sauté pan and a fry pan if it hit them in the head.

I don't believe some of the negative reviews this book has received. One reviewer blamed Don/this book because the plumbing leaks, the drawers stick, and the circuit breakers keep tripping in her new kitchen. This is like trying to blame the designer of the Titanic for that catastrophe, because the steel was of poor quality, the captain was an idiot for wanting to set a speed record in April, there were no binoculars for the lookouts, there were no red flares aboard, (only the white practice ones), and the shipping line removed most of the lifeboats to make the ship look better. None of it was the designers fault.

Another reviewer complained that there was still a `kitchen triangle' in the kitchens pictured in the book. The ultimate DUH is awarded to this reviewer. Why? The `kitchen triangle' is an area that is described by the fridge, sink, and range. Last time I checked my 8th grade geometry class, anytime you have three items, they HAVE to be in a triangular relationship, unless they are all in a straight line!

As I said, if you like to cook, and are remodeling or building a new kitchen, get this book. It's not perfect, but it is money well spent.

I purchased this book 3 years ago while planning our "dream" home, to be built in 2000. It has been not only an outstanding resource, but through it I contracted with the author to design our kitchen in our new home. We have just completed those plans and they are FANTASTIC. The kitchen is well laid-out for not only my wife and I, but we also entertain quite frequently with guests who love to help in the kitchen. If you contact the author (or visit his website at donsilvers.com), he will tell you his preferences on appliances. By and large, he distains any equipment from the major manufacturers (GE, Whirlpool, etc.) because they are prone to breakdown. He prefers Wolf, DCS, Dynasty, Sub-Zero, and Miele. The char-grill he mentions in the book is no longer made by Thermador, but several of the manufacturers listed above have built-in BBQ grills in their ranges and cooktops. We are very happy to have found this book and worked with Don Silvers. Bon Appetit!

I bought this book based on the the fact that the author combines his design expertise with his commercial cooking background and because the book had received such terrific reviews. After reading the book, however, I'm of two minds: On one hand the book was VERY useful for broadening my understanding of what to think about when designing a seriously functional cooking kitchen, and for that I have no regrets about buying the book- and would recommend it to others; On the other hand the book amounts to a very informative 88 page info-mercial for the author's design services. Though he selectivly provides the reader with some very useful recommendations, he takes you only so far in describing how his various kitchen "subsystems" should function. He ends the book with a section on how to choose a kitchen designer where, once you apply all his kitchen designer selection criteria, the author emerges the obvious choice (what a surprise!). (The author's contact information appears conveniently in various places through the book- including the front cover.) The author has even chosen to include several references for his work- in the form of full page letters of thanks from various ecstatic clients. (I must say though, the author is promoting himself only and consistently refrains from product brand endosements, which I appreciated)

Although the book left me wanting more, and I was turned off by its blatently self-promotional aspects, I still think buying the book might be the best $$ you'll spend in preparation for designing or re-designing your kitchen!

This booklet (I cannot call it a book for reasons which will become apparent) is certainly helpful in regards to designing a kitchen remodel, but [the price] for 88 pages is a bit steep. Some 20 pages in the booklet have a function other than contributing to your knowledge of kitchen design. That leaves only 66 pages for Mr. Silvers to impart his wisdom. Perhaps even more significant is the poor quality of the binding.

When I received the book, I opened it from front and back working toward the middle, as you should with any new book. Then I sat down to absorb the information. By the time I was half way through the book, pages were falling out. When my wife got her turn at the book, it was a collection of loose pages inside of the cover, not my idea of a quality publication.

As the saying goes, "you can't tell a book by its cover," and that is certainly true here. Despite my dissatisfaction with the small number of pages and the deplorable binding, the book was worth the price to my wife and me. In particular, the rationale behind putting the traditional kitchen triangle in the corner dustbin was particularly insightful. Another significant bit of information was to plan the kitchen so that there is not a traffic jam between someone carrying food to the eating area and bringing dirty dishes into the kitchen. It would take a kitchen much larger than in the average home to segregate those activities completely, but Mr. Silver gives some common sense tips on how to layout the kitchen to maximize efficiency and minimize conflict. For example, everyone knows that pots and pans, cooking implements like spatulas and spoons, and spices and other seasonings should be in ready proximity to the cooking surface, but are there some guidelines in regards to where these and other activity specific things should be?

Interesting, but not particularly helpful to the amateur designing his/her own kitchen, was Mr. Silver's standard operating practice of preparing a gourmet meal for the homeowner when the kitchen is complete. When I asked the certified kitchen designer here in KC if he would do that, he gave forth with a guffaw that would rattle windows. I took it from his response that this is not a common practice in the industry. That is unfortunate to say the least.

Although the book is less than ten years old, I could not shake the feeling that it was dated in regards to its content. Perhaps that had more to do with the author's style than content, because some of the kitchen devices he discusses are still hot gift items. Information wise, the book's biggest deficiency was the lack of more detailed problem solving examples and guidelines for the placement of specialized cabinets or other items in the kitchen.

If you are into cooking or planning a new or remodeled kitchen, there are some other books that you might find of interest. In particular are the easy to read, exceptionally well-written, informative books by Roy Andries de Groot. They are all out of print, so you will have to find them in a library or through the used book section of Amazon.com or some of the other used book dealers on line like abebooks.com. The best of Mr. de Groot's books are:

1. Esquire's Handbook for Hosts;
2. Feasts for All Seasons, and
3. Revolutionizing French Cooking.

The first two contain lots of practical information about kitchen equipment and segregating activities into work centers in the kitchen. They also have some excellent recipes with detailed instructions. The third could be titled "Getting the Fat out of French Cooking while Retaining the Flavor."

His "Cooking with the Cuisinart Food Processor" is dated, but if you can fined it for $2.00 like the one I did, it is worth getting just to read the account how our kitchens became blessed with the Cuisinart. Another book that I found both interesting and useful was "The Williams-Sonoma Cookbook and Guide to Kitchenware" by Williams-Sonoma founder Chuck Williams.

One final note, If you are really into high quality pots and pans, i.e., copper, but the price tag on those items gives you a severe case of sticker shock, there is a possible solution. If you like to travel and are planning a visit to Paris, E. Dehillerin (www.e-dehillerin.fr) is nestled in a cozy corner just two blocks from the Châtelet/Les Halles métro/RER station. Although they do not have a complete collection of the Mauviel copper cookware line, their inventory is impressive, and their prices are significantly less than you will find either online or in your local gourmet kitchen shop. For example a 6L "Dutch Oven" (more properly bassine ragout) is $260 here in the US and 147.29€ in Paris after the VAT rebate. They have been in business since 1820, and, in case "vous ne parlez pas de tout français," the sales clerks speak excellent english.

Hope this helps, and good luck with your kitchen.

Bob

This is not a pretty book; you wouldn't want it on a coffee table, but if you are interested in redoing your kitchen, or making one from scratch, this is the book to get. It has pages of ugly little drawings which actually show you how things work and how they're set up. The text is written plainly too, with no flourishes and no attitude. No name dropping, posing, no preening. It is full of nice tips too, like how to clean the porcelain finish on a char-broiler in a self-cleaning oven. This alone is worth the price of the book. If you want information, buy this book. Oh, and I think that this fellow actually cooks. Real food.

I first used 'Kitchen Design with Cooking in Mind' in 1987 when we restored a house in South Carolina. The book with it's step-by-step logic made the process of designing a kitchen truly a pleasure and painless, too. I can't think of any aspect of kitchen design that is not covered in an easy to understand manner. The completed kitchen is extraordinarily efficient. We never said "if only" or "we should have"- we enjoyed it and it met our needs.

In fact, the kitchen worked out so well that when we recently purchased a new, old (1780) house, I reached into my files and started reading Don's book again. Our latest kitchen is now under construction and I am sure it will be as fine as the first. I must have read all the kitchen books available and, in my opinion, this is the best resource on the market today for anyone who cooks and wants to create a kitchen that will meet their needs and highlight their culinary skills. Thanks to Don, cooking is the pleasure it should be.

Nearly all the books and magazines I read on kitchen design as I was planning my own renovation seemed to only address aesthetic issues -- they do show beautiful photographs of elegant kitchens--with a smidgen of design ideas anchored on the sacred magic "triangle."

As an engineer, I was despairing of ever finding a book that would base kitchen design on the true needs and requirements of a very active cook who also enjoys diverse company.

The short opuscule by Don Silvers turned out to meet all my expectations (it does not have beautiful photographs). I found myself nodding, grinning and applauding as I turned page after page and discovered that common sense had finally triumphed in kitchen design. As an example, Silvers recommends the use of 30-inch countertops providing ample elbow room and space for tools and small appliances. While nearly all laboratory cabinets have a 24-inch depth (for the same historical reasons than kitchen cabinets), the tops are always a minimum of 30 inches. It is unfortunate that many of his brilliant ideas will probably never be implemented because the kitchen industry has set standards that will be difficult to change. For example, the narrow depth of nearly all residential ranges and cooktops prohibit the use of several large pots and pans at the same time.

I will incorporate many of Silvers' design concepts in my new kitchen. I actually think that I will also generate my own cabinet lay-out as well as lighting and electrical schemes.

Bravo!

The most useful and practical kitchen design book of all. I have designed cafe kitchens for commercial use and done a small amount of residential work. I found Don Silvers book to offer the kind of practical and useful advice that is priceless if you share his point of view: a kitchen should be a place comfortable for people and cooking. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I believe it will be especially appreciated by those with some design or culinary experience.

Do not design, or let anyone else design, a large kitchen (over 180 sq ft) without reading this book. Don Silver has got it right. The rules change as the kitchen grows, and everything functions differently. Don's experience in commercial design is very transferable to the large home kitchen.

We used his principles to design a 224 sq ft kitchen, incorporating preparation and cleanup areas with proper entrance and egress to and from the dining room. The results are spectacular. Yes, guests still congregate in the kitchen, but this becomes one of the design parameters.