Problems on the Homefront

Every house has those little trouble spots that make people shake their heads and ask, “What were those architects thinking?”  Our house is no different.  The crew that designed our house did an awesome job with the 480 square feet they had to work with in our long, skinny house.  Sure there were still a few problems that we worked hard to eliminate:

First there was the narrow alcove off the hallway. We turned that into our bike rack (or “our double garage” as we call it) and put a huge drawer under it to store extra blankets and pillows for when guests come.

martin in drawer


Then there was the obvious nightmare that was the 36 square foot kitchen. It cut into the living room and offered no counters or storage.  So we attacked that wall with a saws-all.  Then we slowly built up our dream kitchen… or “American kitchen” as Germans are quick to note.

kitchen-before

It seemed we were finding a solution to every problem that came our way. We were feeling really proud of ourselves until one night.  We’d just finished building the basic framework of the floor-to-ceiling cabinets and slid the appliances in to make sure they fit.  We were also tired of tripping over them.  Between all of the tools and lumber in our house, we were eager to get the extra space.  Then instead of eliminating another problem in the architecture of our home, we discovered that we had created a problem ourselves.

This is our convection oven/microwave combination unit.  With a switch of a dial, it can microwave our tea or bake some German cookies.  We love it to death.

floor to ceiling kitchen cabinets

Well that is to say we love it to death as long as we’re not using the sink when it’s on.  The vent on the oven/microwave is at about nose level.  You can’t actually see the vent, so we had no idea it was there above the handle.  When the microwave or oven is on, the fan kicks in.  The fan blows air right up.  Into our eyes.

I guess it goes to show that even the most detailed planning such as our measure-five-times, cut-once strategy can’t always guarantee success for everything.  Like I said, every house has those little trouble spots that make people shake their heads and ask…  Oh well.

Now that we’ve confessed our house’s weakness, how about you tell us about yours.  What’s the flaw that really drives you batty?  Obviously, if you created the problem yourself, we’re not going to judge.