Review #6 - TV in the Kitchen

I wanted to rate the TV in the kitchen as a "must do", but my DW and daughter insisted I rate it "nice to have" but not required. This was an addition to the kitchen late in the remodel project.

Here is a picture of with all the final cabinet work done.

Positives:

• It's nice to have the TV available when my DW is cooking in the kitchen (she loves cooking and football).
• We only have one other TV in the house, and this is a good location for the second one.
• It's great to be able to sit at the bar or kitchen table while watching TV.

Negatives:

• Maybe we now watch a little bit to much TV...

The installation of the TV was straightforward. Probably the toughest part was running the cable around the house - and there was nothing difficult beyond moving the extension ladder a lot.

The key to a simple install was the panel. Pre-mounting the TV bracket and pre-wiring it for power and cable, made it all go in easily.


One thing I think you must have is a good vent hood. Ours is 250 CFM, and it pulls everything out before it gets up to the TV. Also, the TV sits just a bit back from the hood mantle, so any rising smoke or steam goes past it.

TV in Kitchen Complete

I completed the installation of the TV above the range hood. Here is a picture of the opening before installing the panel.



Below is the panel installed with power, coaxial, and the TV mount. It's removable (held in place by 3 screws), so we can get to the top of the vent hood. The top trim piece is attached to the soffit - the weight of the TV and mount bascially hold the panel against it.



Building the panel was pretty simple. I glued the beadboard to a piece of 1/2 maple plywood. I also glued and screwed some 1 x 3 vertical support strips to that - so it will won't warp under the weight of the TV & mount.

Here is the TV on, of course being tuned to Food Network...

Here is the TV extended on the artulating arm, which allows it to be viewed from the dining room table (however, watching TV while eating dinner ain't gonna happen).

Adding a TV to the Kitchen Plan - $450

A friend of mine suggested that the space above the range hood would a be a great place for a TV in the kitchen. After discussing it with my DW, we decided to add it to the plan. We have only ever had one TV, so this is kind of a big deal. The pictures below show where we are going to place it.

We hoped to get at least a 19" TV up there. Many of them are just a bit to tall to fit into the space. Costco carries the Vizio brand, and the 20" one just fits. Its 14" high, and the opening is 14.5". Cost for the TV was $370, which is competitive with other HDTV models of this size.

We are going to mount the TV with a full articulating arm, so that we can swing it out to watch it from the kitchen table if needed. Its made by Peerless. We also bought this at Costco for $80.

Now I need to design a panel that will fit up there and securly hold the weight of of the TV extended out to 20", and run the coax cable...