The Anatomy of a Kitchen

After our post on the new kitchen, I had several people ask about different elements of the layout. I therefore decided to share some of the features and explain some of the differences between a common American kitchen and a basic/not hugely expensive Italian kitchen.

To begin with, the cost of the kitchen redo was a fraction of the cost of a typical American kitchen. Kitchens are NOT included in a house sale, so they are typically not built-in, but rather are modular units (think Ikea style). As a result, market forces have driven local costs down over time. For reference, Michael priced a similar set of Ikea cabinets in the US versus here (it wasn't completely available, since not all the appliances are comparable)...and the cost in the US was roughly five TIMES the cost of the Italian version.

Let's start with the fridge. Our fridge is much larger than we had before and is considered a medium-sized fridge by local standards.

The fridge is the right-hand cabinet

It also includes...a freezer! Our former freezer was a corner cut out of the fridge, much like you would find in a dorm room.

Freezer!

Okay, so the fridge is a wee bit small compared to American standards. What do I not like? Well, the obvious: it doesn't hold as much. What do I like about it? We don't waste anywhere near the same amount of food as we did before. We buy daily. The food is fresh. And we generally know what our needs will be for that day. It also uses a fraction of the energy.

Next: the oven. Generally ovens are electric, and generally have a convection setting. Note that ours has a preset "pizza" cooking level. This is a normal oven, and is rather small by my standards. It is plugged into the wall rather than being hardwired, and just has a normal plug.

Pizza: bottom center

Now for the stove. Stoves here are virtually all gas. You will occasionally find an auxiliary electric burner built in. However, there are two considerations: electricity here is rather spendy and you have a limited electrical service (meaning only one major appliance can run at a time...in this case, one burner would be a major appliance). So, gas stoves are the stovetop of choice.

Note the gas hookup in the corner. Yes, it is surface-mounted gas piping. And, yes, that is a non-GFCI-protected outlet into which plug the fan and the stove (for the ignition! No more lighters!). None of the outlets in the kitchen have GFCI protection.

Gas must be switched off if you leave
for vacation

Not required in an Italian kitchen, but considered a major plus:

Yes, that's right. The fireplace. The kids and I did a smoke test the other day and determined that the chimney does draw. So we think we may even learn to cook over the fire this winter!

What do you notice I haven't mentioned? Did you guess? The dishwasher. Dishwashers certainly exist here -- and plenty of people have them -- but they are by no means considered an indispensable appliance. We elected to continue without a dishwasher (or rather, with 5 dish washers), but did upgrade to a double sink: a luxury.  (Oh, and under the sink, they have a metal liner rather than the expected MDF, which should help with the longevity). Our reasoning? Again, a dishwasher is a "major appliance" and we really wanted the cabinet space instead.

Love,

Alexandra