Quote:
Originally Posted by asianthree
We usually entertain with 30-49 plus people
Pony counter
Positive….One of our homes in TV has a pony, bar height chairs. Entertaining is easy because of 2 levels to place items. One can “hide” stuff, but no matter what it’s still crap on the counter.
Negative…counter takes more room away from living area, so if you want more living space pony is not the way to go.
While entertaining a red wine bottle was misplaced on the top on pony, it fell on lower counter, red wine in food below, plus the stain. Had this happen couple of times.
Large wasted unused space between your appliances and pony, in kitchen area
Second one must use bar height. One of us has miss judged the height and stumbled getting on or off chair. I don’t
like dangling feet, or or that thin bar on the chair, and sitting at that level with feet not on the ground is uncomfortable after awhile. Can use 4 chairs comfortably any more then it’s crowded. As one ages, bar height stools or chairs are not your friend. Once your neighbor slips off one you will find that out.
Chair Height one level counter ( at new build)
Pro…clean lines, can put food and drinks all around the counter, with something to decorate down the middle (think holiday birthday cake presents), will accommodate 4 to 5 chairs or stools. If you have a table in the kitchen that is also chair height, you can bring chairs on the ends of the counter adding more conversation room. Or incorporate the table since it’s the same height.
More living space, make your entertainment and basic living area larger, while giving enough room for multiple people to be cooking or baking.
Cons….if you didn’t add a double sink in any counter it’s a pain but (personal preference.)
No place to hide junk so one must put stuff away..( pony can hide but only from the living side, kitchen it’s just junk on a counter)
For short people it’s harder to clean the counter because of distance.
Our up north home built in 1992:has one large counter no pony, chair height. Changed to quartz’s still love it.
So when we remodel the pony kitchen in TV, what counter are we going with?
One large counter, I hate junk and with pony it tends to accumulate junk. Plus the bar height chairs can be dangerous for balance issues, older individuals, short stature, those with Parkinson’s. If you have grandchildren, pony isn’t ideal.
All in all pony is a young person’s kitchen, so they can clean up what fell off the top counter, and if they slip off the chair rarely will they break something.
So ask yourself, if you go to a restaurant to have a meal you can eat at the high top table, or regular table, which to you prefer? Whichever you choose, That’s the counter you should put in.
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You make an excellent point about which type of table I prefer to be seated at in a restaurant. Most certainly, I do not want to sit at a high top and much prefer the standard table. Having said that, when I sit at the bar in my kitchen, that is a special time for enjoying a cocktail and appys with friends for just my husband. As for eating a meal in our home, we always dine at the breakfast room table or the dining room table if we have a group of guests for a meal.
I have just one question regarding your comment that the one level counter has "more living space" than the two tier counter. Are you referring to the FLOOR space or the space on the counter top for preparation and for serving buffet style? Doesn't that depend on how deep you make the one level counter top? The world is you oyster with that and the floor space one has is what determines how deep you make the one level counter top.
The two tier counter top is pretty much standard at 24" for the bottom tier and up to 18" or more for the top tier. I had our top tier made 18" deep so there is plenty of room to place a dinner plate with room to spare. I have plenty of walk space beyond the counter top and that was determined by how large the entire space is.
The single tier slab counter top is beautiful but I still prefer the "imagined" separation of the space the two tier counter top gives with my very open floor plan. You did give me food for thought though about our aging population being able to get up and down off of a bar stool. That may be a problem in the future but I haven't had a problem with that yet but I'm sure that day will come.
Most of the time, when I entertain, the bar is not used for sitting at so I remove the bar stools and place them in a bedroom. I like to place the platters of appys on the top tier and use the bottom tier as a self serve bar. This set up works great for us and our guests.