[Kitchen Display Shelf] Home Cafe Project. For all coffee lovers

Introduction

To everyone working on building a home,
what kind of life do you imagine living in your new home?

• Relaxing on the sofa watching movies
• Drinking alcohol in the garden or on the terrace

Making life convenient is important, but since you are going through the trouble of building a home, you should definitely pursue your dreams.

The theme of the life kyu is imagining is

Today, I would like to talk about kitchen storage for coffee,
specifically display shelves!

Let's get started today!

1 | Cafe Police

Recently, I've been vaguely noticing it myself...

I've become an architectural pervert who, when entering a cafe, ignores the menu and stares intently at the counters, walls, floors, and lighting.

"Um, you came here to drink coffee, right?"

I feel like I can hear the staff's inner thoughts.
From the staff's perspective, a customer who is looking around the store instead of ordering is,clearly suspiciousI think.

But I can't help it.
This is a side effect caused by a certain "obsession" I incorporated into my home's kitchen.

2 | No Hanging Cabinets

For our single-story house, I intentionally decided against having hanging cabinets above the cupboard. The reason is simple: I wanted a sense of openness in the space.

In exchange, the cupboard is quite long at 3.4m, and the pantry is a relatively spacious storage area of 2.25 tatami mats, so there is no worry about things overflowing (probably).

However, from the moment I decided, I vaguely realized it.
"Oh no! My coffee equipment is definitely going to lose its place..."

4 drippers always out, a French press, 3 kettles, a Comandante, a server, a full set of espresso machines...

If I had overhead cabinets, I would have had a 'just hide it for now' escape route, but I sealed that off myself. Even Demon King Piccolo, after being sealed away by the Mafuba, would be surprised.

In my pursuit of an open feel, I ended up struggling with where to put my beloved Comandante grinder.
So, what now?
The long battle of the perfectionist client, kyu, begins.

3 | Touring overseas cafes

A kitchen for coffee lovers.
Not a cute cafe, but a design that also incorporates modernity. Like a barista's home...

Honestly, I've looked at various room tours, but I couldn't come up with any ideas.
I also scoured Instagram. But all the kitchens I saw felt like deja vu.

If I were Oolong, I would have asked Shenron, 'Give me a good idea!'

That's when I started spending my days endlessly searching for 'overseas cafe interiors' on Pinterest. However, that was the right move. I gained a lot of inspiration from overseas cafe designs.

And then one day, I encountered a fateful photo. A photo of a cafe where wooden shelves were seamlessly embedded into a gray, mortar-like plastered wall.

Even though it was just coffee bean packages lined up, it looked incredibly beautiful. I thought, 'This is it.'

4 | Wall furring: 82.5

Here, one of my
'obsessions'

kicks in. Most decorative shelves you see in the world are just attached to the wall with brackets, right?

I just couldn't bring myself to like that 'added on later' look.
It's like the shelves look like they're floating off the wall, or rather, they look like 'foreign objects' rather than part of the wall.

That's when I came up with an idea,

The method is to have the wall behind the cupboards intentionally furred out and embed the shelf boards into that space.
In short, the idea is to create a large niche.

As shown in the floor plan in the image, it faces an exterior wall, so I can't just dig into it as much as I want. It would cause thermal bridging in the 2x6 structural frame.

To avoid affecting the insulation, I'm carving into the furred wall to install the shelves, so naturally, there is zero 'tacked-on' feel. The wall itself will contain the shelves.
I'll also be installing indirect lighting!

Honestly, I was a bit excited when I thought of this. It's a subtle detail, but I think it's a part that will completely change the impression of the kitchen.

5 | Silver ratio ~God is in the details~

Since I'm at it, I was also particular about the dimensions of the shelves.

While analyzing the cafe shelves I used as a reference, I decided to apply the “Silver Ratio” to the dimensions of the shelf.

It is not about the vertical and horizontal dimensions, but the ratio to the cupboard.
Our cupboard is a 4-set configuration of 750mm, 900mm, 900mm, and 900mm from the left.

Cupboard 3450mm → I calculate the shelf length x.
Creating a "major:minor" ratio with the Silver Ratio gives:

345 ÷ 1.414 ≒ 244cm

However, I don't need a shelf that big, so I use
“half” of that.244 ÷ 1.414 ≒ 173cm

When I align the left end of the shelf with the left end of the cupboard and determine the right end using the length calculated by the Silver Ratio, it settled right around the edge of the second cupboard.

It is not perfectly exact in the calculations, and there is some margin of error. However, I prioritized aligning the edge of the shelf precisely with the seam of the cupboard, even if it meant accepting that error.

The reason is simple: I intuitively felt that it looked "beautiful" the moment I saw it.
Rather than mathematical correctness, having no misaligned lines should be more pleasing to the eye!

However, I had to accept a few disadvantages.

Because the wall is furred out, the construction effort and cost are higher than simply attaching a shelf later, and the distance from the cupboard to the worktop becomes closer (though 1090mm is still maintained).

The ratio is not exactly the theoretical value, so I had to compromise on it "not being a strict Silver Ratio." But it is within the margin of error.

It's probably fine!
Right? Haha.

6 | "Fragments of what I love" collected unconsciously

And, since I started looking at cafes with this perspective, I noticed something. The cafes I feel are "nice" have something in common.

When I think about it, this also connects to the texture I chose for the paint on my home's walls.It is "Porter's Paint."

I thought I was unconsciously collecting "things I love" at cafes, but when I realized it, those were the very preferences I had already chosen while building my single-story house.

Experiences I felt by actually seeing them.
Small discoveries and realizations.

I'm glad I built them up steadily.
After all, building a house requires a certain amount of time.

Summary

To determine the dimensions of the decorative shelf, I performed various simulations, including what to put on it and actual usage scenarios.
Finally, there was the ultimate choice between the mathematical correctness of the "Silver Ratio" and the "architectural beauty" of aligning with the seams.

I don't know if it's right or wrong.
Because I'm the owner! ♡ Haha

However, I believe that
well-founded dimensionsare what matter most.

God does not smile upon sloppy designs. The discomfort I felt with the "just slapped onto the wall" look, combined with my obsessive attention to design, led me to the solution of a niche created by furring out the wall. And the "fragments of what I love" that I unconsciously collected at cafes to gain design inspiration were properly connected within the creation of this single-story house. Thus, this niche display shelf was born. Here, I will line up the many prized possessions of coffee lover: kyu!

Next time, as a spin-off article, please let me talk with all my might about my love for the coffee equipment that fills this shelf! ← Who would even watch that! Haha

Thank you for reading until the end!
See you in the next article!

Check out the exterior wall series too!
See you later!