Installing a Mac Mini in the kitchen

There are a couple of issues I think deserve to be raised at the outset:

Firstly, that mounting the mini in a cupboard may not be the wisest choice - from the standpoint of ventilation and thus system cooling. Minis generally don't run particularly hot, but in enclosed spaces the ambient air temperature could cause the system problems.

Secondly, 802.11 wireless networking can be significantly affected by the use of microwave oven use, so located in a kitchen if you have such a device could cause significant dropouts in internet access. Similar interference is also caused by wireless phones. Given that the mini in general has relatively poor Airport sensitivity you would be wise to test specific locations for the system before deciding precisely where to locate it. In my kitchen, I found several locations where there was very poor and unreliable wifi due to interference and structures (ducting particularly), and only two locations where the signal was good and strong. Get a copy of a small utility called AP Grapher (should be on www.versiontracker.com) which shows signal strength and noise, and move the mini around while operating kitchen appliances and while family members are moving about - that ought to help precise location for best signal relatively easy.

In my case, I used a standard 17" LCD panel with a wall mount so the panel can be swung sideways out of the way if necessary, or angled for optimum use. I wasn't able to find an LCD that could be swung down from an under-cabinet mount that was sufficiently good to make the mini usable. There were a couple of LCD TVs that could be mounted that way, but the display quality with the system was not adequate.

We originally had a G3 imac in the kitchen, used mostly for a bit of web browsing and for recipes and the like, but it was rather bulky and not only took up a lot of space, but basically forced whoever was using it to stand or sit in a specific location. In the end, it got very little use.

Last year we bought a Mac mini, with a Amptron 17" LCD and wall mount, with a cheap wireless keyboard and mouse combo and set that up in the kitchen instead. It's connected using Airport, though actually we also have a wired ethernet connector in the kitchen too - the imac had been connected to it.

The mini seemed ideal - and in fact it has proven very useful and flexible, though we still get occasional airport dropouts when the cordless phone rings. We don't use Front Row on it much because it's used mostly for web browsing and recipes as the iMac was, but it gets used for movies and music too from time to time - mostly using the keyboard as a controller. makes for a large remote of course, but rather more flexible for more functions than the little Front Row remote.

If I was starting out doing it now, I think the mini would still be my choice. It's an excellent little system that has a great deal of power for way more than the basic tasks you have in mind. The small footprint of the system makes it easy to tuck it away and of course it creates so little noise in use that it's barely noticeable in itself. We had also considered using our G4 iMac, which of course has an adjustable screen, but the design of the system wouldn't have allowed it to be stowed away so easily when not needed.

Other than wiring in a cable, Airport is really the only practical method of getting internet access into a kitchen, and it generally works pretty well. The mini doesn't generally get as good a signal as other desktop Macs because of the location of the antenna (under the top plate of the system), but if your wireless access point/router is not unusually far away and there are no major structures in the path between the mini and WAP/router, you should get good enough signal for viable use. Given the operating frequency of wifi, small changes of location of either/both the mini and/or WAP/router will often render significant changes in signal level and consistency, so you likely will find locations in your kitchen when you will be able to see pretty constant signal levels in AP Grapher. As long as you remember that a consistent signal level is what you want most, so choosing between say an 80% signal that varies a lot and a 50% signal that stays stable, the 50% signal will usually give best results.

And one more thing.....

Since the mini's airport antenna is at the top of the system, it's best to ensure there is noting immediately above the system - particularly metallic. I was puzzled at one point that the airport reception had almost disappeared when the day before it had been fine. Turned out to be a copper pan that had been put in the cabinet directly above the mini - removing it brought the signal back up.

I did exactly what you are trying to do. Its been working great, in fact of our 11 computers, it may be the one that gets the most use.

The mini and all the cables are in a cabinet and the screen is an 19"LCD on a wall mount arm below the cabinet.

I do have the mini sitting on two tuna fish cans for ventilation, but otherwise it works GREAT.

Look at MediaCentral: http://www.equinux.com/us/products/mediacentral/index.html
its a nice replacement for FrontRow that allows things like IPTV as well as some better DVD features.

I am using apple's bluetooth keyboard and mouse, no complains there, but the keyboard does need to get cleaned a lot, being in the kitchen and all.

Whats great about the setup is having it there for entertaining and parties... I have 6 airport expresses around the house with speakers in walls or ceilings. I can control them all from that one mini which is just great!

For the remote control, I used an IR blaster from www.smarthome.com . They run about $100 but are well worth it. I also have a DirecTV Tivo attached to the LCD and the blaster takes care of controlling that as well.

If you're redoing the kitchen from scratch then it might be a good opportunity to fit in an Ethernet cable to where you plan to put in the Mac, and run it back to your cable or DSL modem/router. Then you don't have to worry about wireless interference. Wireless is good for mobility and locations where running a cable is impractical, but wired is almost always better if you can swing it.