Today Andre built a mock-up of the "outline" of the kitchen - basically some massive long pieces of wood cut to the correct dimensions, just to frame out the space so we can see (more or less) how it will feel, space-wise. He added some plywood board to serve as the "countertop". I know it doesn't look remotely like a kitchen, but it's the wooden thing at the top of the stairs, in front of "the Box".
Like when we did the trial walls for the bathroom, I was really chuffed with the notion that we could trial the dimensions of the kitchen. As it happened, we thought the size of the kitchen space was fine, but we were both surprised to discover the extent to which we felt it "stuck out" and ate into some of the open space. I guess we've just gotten used to having one big, all-purpose space... and no kitchen.
The mock-up doesn't give us an exact approximation (oxymoron??!) of how the space will feel because right now you have to walk through the "kitchen" to enter the "bedroom" (aka, the Box), whereas when we really build it, we'll be extending the floor at the top of the stairs and the bedroom door will be somewhere over there. But at least it's a step - albeit a small one - towards turning this construction site into something resembling a proper home!
The building of the mock-up also rekindled an ongoing debate about open-plan spaces. In a nutshell: Andre loves them, and I don't! Suddenly, standing in the "kitchen", it hit home that our new dwelling is going to be well and truly open plan... and I wasn't too happy. I have always maintained that the kitchen should be separate from the living area (and everything else)... but I also understand that given the space constraints in this flat, and also the fact that the design was in large part driven by our very special ceiling and the loft extension, we don't have a lot of choice now. In fact, we have no choice! If we build walls to enclose the kitchen, I can see that it will ruin the whole effect created by the ceiling. Maybe I can convince Andre to come up with some sort of sliding screen thing...
