[zakthor]

Spouse keeps having these people over that are allegedly 'kitchen designers' but they don't seem to have much of a brain, or maybe just not equipped to deal with a weird 'kustom kitchen.'

Our problem isn't 'cabinets' (expensive boxes with doors on them that someone else 'installs'. Our problem is access, the spaces we need to access are 'house shaped', 38" deep.

Yesterday we went out to look at kitchen hardware: sliders, kitchen storage mechanisms?... the stuff that you make kitchens out of. Idea is to get a vocabulary so we can think a bit for ourselves.

First store pointed us to second store which pointed us to third store...

Third store indeed had a 'hardware' section. They had tens of fancy hinges. Hinges that I personally would have expected to see on display in the Met, or maybe in the reception chamber of the grand poo-bah. Mirror chromed things and some rode on ball bearings. I can't for the life of me imagine needing such a thing. I've literally never seen such a fancy hinge in my life BUT:

The giant panels that held their 'hardware' were these big slidey things. 'Barn doors' with ball bearing rollers on a solid rack. Solid.

We both got really excited because sideways sliding doors is the perfect thing for our situation, we'd just never thought of it. We got the contact info of the guy that built the store's display racks. This sideways panel technology is referred to as 'barn doors'.

Later, looking in the sink department we again found these awesome pull out sink displays with heavy duty sliders. Damn nice stuff, solid and extended quite far. Those would be just the things to hold the heavy trays of appliances that are stored back in our cabinets. And again it was built by the same guy that built the other displays.

This sort of feels like we're on the right track now. We've at least found a guy that can think and build good stuff.

WRT sinks: I thought good sinks were made from ceramic coated steel but the store had none. Quartz in epoxy, solid high fired porcelain, stainless, but no more enameled steel? Wonder why?

PS: Store also had some outdoor bbq units from 'Kalamazoo'. Lady said they started at 12k but they had a fancy big painted one that I think she said was 40k. The painted panels were in a gnarly ochre. I thought it was gorgeous. Made from 1/4" plate stainless that has been decorated with patterns cut with a waterjet. Stunning materials and finish. Mind blown. Worth a trip just to see such an item. Can imagine a pop artist might make a hideous disney/marvel/barbie version as the ultimate rip on trashy decadence. Trying to think who the customer would be as this is genuine plutocrat bbq. Chromed gold version for sadam? Kim Jong Un? The lid had a cammed hinge that moved the center of balance as lid was lifted so it needed almost no force to move but from its inertia I bet it weighed 100#.