Finally Recovering!!

Hi Erin,

Thanks for your patience while I recovered from that sinus infection. I'm feeling much better and looking forward to our meeting!

I have a few questions that we can resolve in our meeting, but I thought I’d give you an early start in thinking them over, and some may be simple confirmations that Ryan was entirely clear on, but I’m still making sure I understand:

Beverage refrigerator & Dishwasher Drawers:

We have a few questions on these in regard to placement and how you plan to use them, in order to be sure we’re designing for that use!

1. We have this replacing the warming drawer, which as I understand is currently located next to the sink.

2. It appears that there is storage under the warming drawer, are you ready to sacrifice that storage for this new appliance?

3. Is there a reason you don’t want to put the dishwasher drawers in this location, next to the sink? I would recommend this location for both plumbing ease and functional reasons.

4. I would then suggest putting the beverage refrigerator where Ryan is showing the dishwasher drawers, on the island with the caveat that it is not typically recommended to put a cooling element next to a heating element. I do have a proposed solution for this in my updated plans.

Beverage Refrigerator Use

• Will this be accessed from within the kitchen most of the time, or from kids grabbing from the dining area? This will help us establish the hinge side of the refrigerator.

• Will this be storing various beverages, or will the focus be on wine/beer? Right now, it’s a generic beverage refrigerator and is not specialized for wine storage temperatures.

I have shown my suggestions in the updated drawings, and have provided notes on these drawings for the reasoning - these are straightforward adjustments.

Cooktop

Again, I’d like to understand your use preference a bit further.

1. Our rep sent us an electric downdraft. It is NOT induction. Did you have an induction preference (we highly recommend induction for sustainability and safety). This may require a review of the electrical panel to ensure that it is up to speed. I will have the specifications for each at our meeting.

Oven/Microwave

Updating the equipment here when it is not the exact size gives us some opportunities that we’d like to cover.

1. An oven and microwave will not take up as much room as the double ovens you’ve been using in that cabinet, which leaves us with about 9-10” of space below them.

2. Ideally, installing a drawer inside this cabinet below the oven and microwave would work, but matching existing cabinetry is quite challenging and could prove to be an awkward slight mismatch.

Contractor Notes

• As we review general contractors to handle this job, we want to make sure that this is someone who has strong cabinetry expertise, and we’ll want them on board ASAP. We need to consult with them to ensure that appliances selected will, in fact, fit the openings provided. As far as I can see, you have a 30” cabinet for your wall oven and microwave. This currently has support for a double wall oven, not for two separate units, so you’ll need either 1- Cabinetry modifcation or 2- The ability to replace this cabinet as a standalone replacement.

• The solution I’m providing for the beverage refrigerator next to the cooktop will also require ability to work well with cabinetry.

• In the above considerations, take some time to think about how much modification you’re open to making. Are you open to putting in a unique cabinet piece in feature areas- perhaps one that pulls from the furniture piece in terms of coloring?

Do not feel the need to answer any of these questions now! This is simply provided to allow you some time to think a bit on how you might like to approach this.