My adult daughter was diagnosed as autistic a few years ago and I wanted her to have a space for independent living without living on her own. I had moved her into the master bedroom suite so she'd have a bathroom and bedroom as separate rooms, and we'd added a hotplate and microwave with an apartment fridge (BAD IDEA). She couldn't cook in her space, so I was going to add a kitchen for her to cook on her own.
Well, we thought about it a while, after I bought the gas range and the microwave hood that goes over it, and a dishwasher on Facebook because someone upgraded their kitchen...and decided not to have a second kitchen and work out a sharing concept in my space plus a counter and furniture like a pantry so she can keep her foods on her side and some small appliances (I'd already purchased an induction burner to see if I liked it...so-so, a Toastation (pop up toaster with an oven in the front), a Ninja Foodi (I love my larger one with a dehydrater), and we'll add small "guest" appliances so she can host friends like a blender or something later) and a full size side-by-side refrigerator. The apartment fridge is so tiny we're going to use it to store sodas and ice cream for entertaining.
Instead of going full, permanent cabinets, we're going to get furniture that we can move it doesn't work where it is. It gives her a space to be besides her bedroom and she can entertain guests.
She said that she didn't like the idea of a second, full kitchen because she didn't see it as marketing well for renting the house later or if she decided to to sell the house at a later date.
We do plan to get a farmers/farmhouse sink instead of a utility sink. The utility sinks all sucked and I needed a cabinet so I could put things away without worrying about the dogs running off with stuff. We're also putting the washer and dryer in that room and leaving the idea of adding another room and a patio on the table. The sink will be part of a lower cabinet which will allow room for a reverse osmosis system in the sink and the granite counter of her dreams. (It has purple specks in it.)
Long answer, but that's the main plan. Double doors to the yard on one side. A single door to the yard on another. Replacement doors into my part of the house. Dog doors in the door to my house and the single door.
