To put a piano in my kitchen?

[Islands81]

Just that really - I’d like to get a piano but the only place in my teeny house it could go is in the kitchen/dining room. It’s a decent sized room with the cooker on the right hand side wall, the piano would go at the opposite end of room (approx 6 metres away).

Is this a really bad idea in terms of humidity from cooking? I’ve read that this can bugger them up. The other option would be to get an electric one, but I know nothing about these or whether they are recommended by piano teachers. I’d like dd to start piano lessons, and I used to play many moons ago.

Any advice appreciated.

I've had both electric and acoustic pianos and I would go with the acoustic any day unless you have or expect neighbour problems. I use the damper pedal after dinner and because the room the piano is in is quite small and has a hard floor, I have a thin duvet draped down the back and over the top to damp the sound a bit.

I love having it in a room that is lived in (dining room that connects to kitchen through an open doorway) and I love it as a piece of furniture.

There is no way I would play an electric piano as much.

My husband just bought an electric one, a Roland HP series (off the top of my head, I think it's HP605). Similar reasons to yours - our house is tiny and very damp, plus we're likely to move several times in the next few years. I really didn't like the idea of an electric piano as it just made me think of the old-fashioned keyboards, but modern ones are NOTHING like that. The one we have looks like an upright piano, in the sense that although you can obviously see that it's electrical, but it has a proper top, lid, solid wooden sides, brass pedals, etc. It even has a tiny extra lid that goes over the buttons so you can only see the keys. There is an insane amount of technological development that has gone into upmarket electric pianos in the last few years, with the aim of making them feel and sound as much as possible as acoustic pianos. The keys are properly weighted, and with some models they even actually hit a hammer which then hits a sensor at the back, so that the length of the key inside is similar to a real key, if that makes sense. The sound is also amazing - some brands have perfected their sampling of their own grand pianos, whereas Roland has gone a different direction and developed software that computes all the different frequencies of the key strokes in real-time, which gives incredibly realistic reverberation and combination of tones. Definitely get the newest model you can afford - the sound improves dramatically with each generation.

So long story short, I think they're worth considering especially for learning. An added bonus is that you can get software that does stuff like showing you a score and giving you real-time feedback of the notes you played correctly, record your playing, etc. I'm sure some teachers are snobs and won't like it, but I think times are changing and electric is becoming a very good alternative.

If you happen to be anywhere near there, I can highly recommend Bonners Music in Reigate. They have a wide range of electric pianos you can try out for as long as your shopping partner can stand you like, and they give great advice without being pushy.

Nothing wrong with getting a piano, as long as someone in the family can play it.

I know a couple who have one in their 'study' and neither one can play it, so people just think they're pretentious twats who are trying to be something they're not.

Also, how soundproofed is your home? Pianos are LOUD!