a kitchen like destiny's

d'acres kitchen

d'acres exterior

today i visited an organic permaculture education farm in new hampshire called d'acres. they offer a sunday breakfast once a month with a tour of the facility. i took particular interest in their kitchen which, it turns out, is similarly dimensioned to the recently revised kitchen plan for destiny. they have a five foot aisle between counters just as we've planned. they have about the same amount of counter space and a couple in-counter burners for heating water and making small dishes, just like our snack center. a pan rack hangs above the prep area.

i asked how the kitchen works. they all agreed it works very well. one big difference between their plan and our plan is the location of the range and sink. they've placed the range at the end of the galley space and put the 3-bay sink along the outside wall. this does give nice light to the sink, but the range is dark. they told me they serve up to 70 people at their potlucks from this kitchen, about what we expect at destiny. in this picture there are six people working in the kitchen. d'acres is on the grid, so they have a nice commercial fridge, a powered hood, and electric lighting. they had a substantial budget to work with, so the counters are stone, the cabinets all new, the floor is tiled and the stove back is bricked.

the dining area attaches directly to the kitchen (behind me in the photograph). it measures about 20'x20', a bit smaller than what we have planned. they said they do fit 70 people in there for pot-lucks so that bodes well for our space. the dining area has a wood stove at one end that heats the entire space nicely. they have lots of windows that light the room beautifully. couches along the outside walls provide lounging space and tables in the center dining space. we've planned for built-in window seats, which will serve much like the couches. can we make them as comfortable, i wonder?

the rest of the building contains a woodshop, composting toilets, bedrooms, offices, a yoga/movie studio and a small library. the basement houses the composting bin, a wood-fired boiler and wood storage. they have many outbuildings for storage, housing animals and growing food.