Phase II of the Kitchen

I've had this dream about redoing my kitchen for several years now.  The cabinetry is sturdy as can be and the countertops are an unknown but tough material.  At the time we moved into the house this kitchen was the nicest I'd worked in for nearly 15 years.  I loved the bright white space with lots of natural light and ample storage. 

 

As time went on, we realized that the cabinetry was very quirky.  All the counter tops slope backward a few degrees, enough so that we've learned to put foods with extra liquid on the wall side of the plate, so the bread doesn't get soaked.  They are higher than average which actually works well for me, but while there's loads of space in them you can't get to it. The lower cabinet openings are poorly proportioned.    There's one narrow shelf that is far back in those cabinets.  The cabinet openings are too narrow to allow you to reach deeply into any cabinet.  And the spacing of cabinet doors is weird with a six-inch space between them.   There's a 25inch deep space where we can put NOTHING in the lower cabinets because it requires a smallish five-year-old to wiggle into the space to retrieve anything that falls there.

The upper cabinets, which should have had three shelves, had only two and looked as though someone had cut them off very abruptly right under what would have been the second shelf.  They were hung too high on the wall.  I'm 5'4" tall but needed a step stool to reach the first shelf in the cabinets!  The second shelf required a proper step stool not just a short stool to reach.

25 years later, life and interior fashion have changed a great deal.  I'll forever be grateful that I talked myself out of the hunter green countertops I came oh so close to choosing and chose the white ones instead.  The white is at least a classic color.  But the wallboard pattern is decidedly mid-1990s.  The kitchen looks worn and weary. 

A few years ago, we got new flooring in the space.  It was lovely to move from the worn white linoleum with built in scuff marks.  I was endlessly trying to scrub them up only to realize it was part of the pattern.  We upgraded to a vinyl plank tile with a driftwood sort of coloring.  That was really phase one of the re-do as far as I was concerned, and that's where we stayed for years upon years.  

I painted the cabinets a fresh coat of white, made curtains, put down rugs and we had a pleasant enough kitchen.  Mostly I dealt with the quirkiness of the cabinetry and tried hard to make it a good workspace for me.  

Just before John retired, I started sharing my dream kitchen ideas. John eventually realized that I was very serious and as I shared my ideas, he began to think about the space and shared some of his ideas, which weren't necessarily mine, but I could see their merit.  

His first idea was to break down the renovation into phases.   We considered the work I wanted.  I like the floor plan overall.  I don't want to move the sink, dishwasher, stove or refrigerator.  That meant our electrical and plumbing could stay where they were.  My biggest complaint had to do with the quirky cabinets.  

There is a whole wall with nothing on it that could have been additional counter and cabinet space.  It seemed such a waste to have that blank wall.  We put a freezer up against it, but it still felt like wasted space that could have been far more functional.

Early this year, we replaced the tiny little island I'd lived with for years. After measuring and looking at all the options we were able to put one nearly double the size in the space without cramping the area at all.  Because we set up an extra table for the grandchildren in the kitchen, we have the island on casters so we can roll it out of the way.  

John noted one day that it fit next to the chest freezer on that wall I'd always said was wasted space.  He finally 'saw' what I'd been saying about the possibility of added storage in the kitchen when he saw those two pieces side by side.  

Before:

The old island can be seen to the right in this photo. It was black.   It's apparently the only picture I ever took with it anywhere in the frame.  We bought a much larger one, which was more than double the size.

After:

Not my kitchen but definitely the island we bought.  I have apparently not taken a photo of the island in the middle of the larger workspace...but then again of late it's not in the middle of the floor.  You'll see it in a few moments.

His second idea was to remove the upper cabinets on the east and south walls.  That was not something I had even considered but the more I thought about it the more I liked the idea of it!  

Why would I want to have less cabinet space when I felt the kitchen needed more storage?!  Well, I intended to add extra storage with more functional lower cabinets plus a whole additional wall of storage on that blank wall.  That's future work we've planned but I decided to see if I could have a functional kitchen with those upper cabinets emptied out...and I could!  Which led us to do some initial work on the kitchen this Spring.  It's not pretty, but we've changed quite a bit and I like it a lot.

I've kept my sitting area at the end of the kitchen, but I did swap out the chairs in the space.  The little ivory rocker bit the dust back in winter.  I moved the wing chair into the space. That was nice but once I got the new rug, I realized I'd gotten a smaller size and two chairs squished up together on that rug looked ridiculous.  I had a smaller chair in the living room I felt would work better, and incidentally the wingback chair I'd intended to use in the kitchen would be far more comfortable seating for guests in the living room anyway.

The desk area was moved from the kitchen to the bedroom.  I'd had an empty space in the bedroom for quite a long time.  Since Caleb had graduated from eating in a highchair to a booster seat we seldom ate in the kitchen and that's about the only time the desk was used.  I moved the little cabinet  I bought a few years ago into the space where the desk had been.

Before:

Well look at that.  Not only a shot of the former desk space but a glimpse of the former sitting area.  

After:

Eventually, I hope to have an upright chest freezer that fits in this space.  A freezer will be less wide than that desk was and won't block any window. 

John removed the upper cabinets on the sink wall first.  We were quite pleased with the removal and that the walls behind the cabinets were finished.  I love the added light the whole wall gets now that there are no cabinets blocking windows.

Before:

I don't even have photos of the upper cabinets on the sink wall...I have loads of photos of things on the counters, but the cabinets were so high that the camera never captured them.  Just note how all those cabinets are the same length/height as the very high stove hood.  And see how they all appear to have been cut off rather suddenly there at the bottom?

After:

Here you can see the space without the cabinets.  I had to step far back in order to get this shot.  You can also see the small cabinet at the left end of the counter where the desk had been. That little cabinet now stores ALL of the dishes that were once in the upper cabinets on this wall.

I hope to find a prettier light fixture to go over the sink.  So far, I haven't found anything I like, on sale or full price and I do prefer the sale prices, lol.

Then John removed the upper cabinets on the wall that divides the kitchen from the dining area.  He had Samuel's help with that.  

Before:

After:

We ran into one problem area.  The open spaces you see on the wall to the far left can't be removed until we get ready to replace that stove hood.  Somebody thought fastening those cabinets to the hood would be a good way to hold the hood up.   I put a few of my ceramic and resin chickens there but you can't really see them to their full advantage.  Eventually that little cabinet will go away entirely when we replace the hood with a new one.

I also am looking to do a sort of gallery wall on this big blank wall space.  I'd like to use vintage food ads from the 1930's which were beautifully bright and colorful and I'm thinking of doing a clear poster sort of frame rather than wooden frames and glass.  My ideas are prone to change as I price things.  We'll see.  I just think there is a lot of decorative potential in this space.  

I think this photo really gives you a good idea of how cheap the cabinetry looks in this room.  Sturdy as heck, true, but it just isn't as nice as I would like, and I don't have expensive tastes as you all know.

Note that the galley rails are off that cabinet over the stove hood.  We tried to remove the middle shelf as well but no luck with that.  It's in there good and solid.  The space there wouldn't hold a spice bottle nor small plates or anything at all.  I could neither decorate nor make functional.  

Until we do get the new hood vent cover John thought we might just cover it over with a flat piece and then I could at least hang a platter or tray or even a picture of some sort over the stove.

I hope to do something similar to this in the future with no cabinets on that wall at all.

The baking area is the same as it has been.  Eventually, I'll probably remove those upper cabinets, too and the two useless cabinets above the refrigerator, which are currently hidden by the picnic basket. 

I think here I'd like to have open shelves where I could put canisters and baskets to hide sundry other baking related items.  I am fully utilizing that cabinet at present though so I'm not overly anxious to get rid of them just yet.  Perhaps when we get the cabinets on the wall where the freezer is at present.

 

The chest freezer remains on this wall,

but you can see how we might better utilize the space in this photo.  I rolled the island over next to the chest freezer one day while the kids were here.  I've never moved it back.  My plan is to put a long cabinet on this wall.

This was my original inspiration and something similar might still happen.  We'd use the upper cabinets to store our dishes and casseroles.  

John suggested we might buy a second island and put the two together.  That's an idea I won't discount.  It's reasonable enough to purchase, but I'd like it to look like built-ins which would mean making small alterations. It would certainly be affordable enough since we probably could just purchase a second exactly like what we have not.  We'd remove the casters.  I could likely get a piece of board or countertop long enough to cover both and make it look more like a single piece.  So that's another idea.

I'd hoped by now we'd have painted the walls but that obviously hasn't happened.  It was a chore to get the master bathroom painting finished in May.  I did the bulk of it on my own in January, but I really needed John's added height to reach the higher places. 

It's as well we haven't painted.  I haven't quite made up my mind about color in the kitchen yet, but I'm leaning towards a soft grey.  I'm a little reluctant to use grey because I am so over the grey and white trend in decor just now.  However, I do use lots of colorful accents and it might work very well. If I had wanted to do modern farmhouse the trend would undoubtedly change just as I finished work on the space.

Our plans at present are to paint the walls, buy the upright freezer, get the cabinet on the wall where the chest freezer is now. Whether or not these things come in the order listed is unknown.  John's pushing hard for the freezer at present.  After all that we'll build out the stove hood.  And last, we'll replace the bottom cabinets and counter tops.  I think I'd like to have wood counters and if that proves too expensive Formica will suit me.  I've had it in previous homes that were well used and well-worn and the Formica held up just fine.   I've read in design magazines that all the European kitchens are now using that material because of its sturdiness and affordability.

Of course, I would love a new sink and a new stove and fridge, but you know all of mine are working just fine at present and I've no reason to replace them.  As far as appliances go all I want is plain old white anyway, so if those things were replaced, they wouldn't likely cost the earth.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing how we've been gradually (oh sooo gradually!) changing one of my main workspaces.  It may be just as gradual a transformation in the future but we do at least have a plan and John believes once you have a plan you can almost always manage the project.  Here's hoping it's a short term project!

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