Dumb ideas in kitchen design, part 17
Every “high end” kitchen I see these days has a pasta faucet in the wall behind its Viking stove. Why? Presumably, the idea is that the happy housewife, who in real life will come no closer to cooking in her home than to ring the caterer or stop by Balducci’s for take-out, will be spared lugging a big heavy pot of cold water to her stove and can fill it on site at her range.
Okay, but what then? Spared from dealing with a gallon of cold water, Suzy Wafflebottom must still deal with that same gallon, now boiling, and a pound or two of steaming spaghetti which she must drag across her 30-foot-wide kitchen to dump the contents in her farmhouse sink. And she has benefitted how?
But I guess these things look cool, or something.
For What It's Worth 
I had one behind/above my commercial stove in OG and people always commented on it and I would say the same thing: you still have to lug the boiling pot of pasta to the sink.
Now, if it was one of those in the counter, all in one induction cookers with a fill and drain, well then …..
In restaurants pasta is cooked right in the mesh strainer, like french fries are done in oil, and the water is kept boiling the entire shift. The faucet allows the boiling pot of water to be topped off during the shift. Yes, you could just use a smaller pot to fetch water to add. Even in a restaurant it is a hardly used luxury.
Dude –
In my bathroom, I have one of those things that shoots water up your hoo ha. I have never used it. I actually didn’t know what it is was for the longest time. I played with it once and shot water in my face.
Never touched it since. You can use it if you want to. But I think you need to take your head out of your ass first, so you don’t drown.
Your Pal,
Walt
I believe that’s a foot bath, Walt. At least, that’s what I use mine for.
I want one! Just because it looks cool…. however, I know someone whose pasta faucet leaked and flooded the kitchen….
p.s. Walt: bidets are fabulous
Too funny. The reality of luxury items vs function?! Also, I have wondered about those 10 by 12 showers w/ all the nozzles – seems like just getting caught in the rain
Oh for the days when kitchens were walk-in fireplaces like the one I saw today in Wilton. THIS is high-end, IMHO.
http://earthoceanskyredux.com/2012/01/14/weir-farm-floorboards-and-fireplaces/
Ah, the Weir Farm.Weir Sergeant, a descendant of John Weir, lived in Riverside and, later, Lyons Farm for many decades. He’s dead now but his widow (second wife) Rae Sergeant sells real estate in town. His daughter Missy was my classmate at Riverside school (she hated me), Pal Nancy’s roommate after college (she introduced me to Nancy but was actually looking for someone else to invite for our fateful first dinner together) and then married Tom Mark, best man at my own wedding. Missy and Tom live in Birmingham Michigan where I’m sure, if she ever thought to do so, she’d remember that she dislikes me.
Hey Chris….come on, writing about faucets? Slow day? Here’s a story idea. What the heck is going on with that huge remodel job on Field Point Road – past the gates to the exclusive la-te-da Belle Haven Club? Something strange is happening there…..work just plain stopped this past July. It’s now sitting empty and the grounds are a disaster. I’m sure BH neighbors are not happy about that. Word on the Avenue is it’s a big, messy law suit. We Greenwich folks love a good fight. What’s the scoop, Chris? Go digging, please.
Is that the one being put up by the failed Irish real estate developer? He fled here to escape his creditors in the old country and promptly became embroiled in a law suit with his neighbors over exceeding the ‘renovation” he’d been permitted for.
But I was under the impression that that suit had been settled and construction resumed. This may be a different house, different dispute. Readers?
In contrast with most faucets in the house, there’s no sink/drain under the pot-filler. So if you don’t get the spigot to turn all the way off or the thing should some day spring a leak you’ve got water going where it shouldn’t. It’s also likely to be plumbed through a hot, inaccessible kitchen area, raising the chance that something will go wrong and the cost of repairs if it does.
Wow, who knew there was a connection, albeit to someone you are convinced detests you! I did NINE blog posts from there today, having a blast, looking at all those fine old buildings. You would have loved it. It’s not far for you and it’s open on the weekends to get inside the visitor center but open all the time to walk the grounds.
Just look at this detail:
http://earthoceanskyredux.com/2012/01/14/weir-farm-its-all-in-the-littlest-detail/
Why ANYONE wants to buy a new home is frigging’ beyond me.
Convenient? Don’t forget the first trip across the kitchen just to drain the stagnant water out of the line.
No, it’s not the Dunn place. That’s another one, tho. Its located on Field Point Road….Drive (whatever it is), maybe #25, 27??? It was a beautiful old home, but the current owners obviously decided that wasn’t their look and turned it into a stone castle. Starting to look like the abandoned house on Baldwin Farms South a couple years ago. Remember that – you wrote about it. The front door was left open and leaves were blowing in the multi-million dollar spec house? Priceless. Anyway, there’s a story brewing here, and curious readers are curious.
Pulled Up– thanks! I am feeling better about not having gotten the ‘dream house’ with the pasta faucet….
EOS, re Weir Farm:
When we moved to Ridgefield 17 years ago, Weir Farm was one of our first stops with our kids. We walked the grounds, which, in comparison to Pierrepont State Park, also in Ridgefield, can’t compare. The Farm is interesting for its history; the historic site holds “plein air” painting seminars for free in season and supports one artist-in-residence at a time — all worthy pursuits. Walking, not so much.
Since there is so much inventory on the market. You should review true house enhancers – especially ones that can improve property value. Something to consider. Your commentary would be funny and informative.
What! No pasta faucet? Put one in, or come down $50,000, and maybe we can talk.
Oh, I thought it was for the maid to wash the stove.
Bidets are definitively not intended as foot baths, but may be used as such if so desired. In the early part of the last century, they were banned in Boston as detrimental to a moral society. So, wink, wink… nudge, nudge…they’re meant for cleaning Walt’s favorite parts o/k/a: the naughty bits.
Delving: I thought of you as I went through Ridgefield and plan to go back for a day to photograph your neck of the woods, the old houses especially. Lucky you to live in such a gorgeous community.
EOS, grab those old houses while you can and while they’re still standing!
Though Ridgefield town fathers and her citizens are keenly interested in preserving history, there remains a contingent of homeowners who want new, not renovated. Translation: scrapers. In this economy, and with the price of oil, it comes down to the cost of heating and upkeep of an old but charming relic versus that of a newer, more weather-proof McMansion.
Still, plenty of beauties to photograph.
Even better than a bidet is a toto toilet with a washlet seat. They even have built-in dryers so you may even be able to avoid using toilet paper. Why is this a good thing? So that if you live with a stinky old man like Walt, who can’t even wipe himself, you don’t have to, either.
I love the pot filler. It is true that it isn’t really a necessary item, but it also isn’t just for pasta. And by the way, any opinions on 25 Meadowcroft at 17.4 million, Jack Kugler’s place? Too high?