kitchen planning (again)

The idea of renovating the kitchen this summer had been put on the back burner after the realtor I invited over to take a look at our home and discuss its sale next spring told me not to bother myself with the project.  I'm not sure that she understood how much this project wouldn't have bothered me at all!  But I stopped myself from trying to sell her on my new plan, wanting a completely honest and unbiased opinion from her on selling the home, as it is. 

In the meantime, however, a home down the street from us went on the market and sold within three days for over the asking price and is a pretty perfect comp for our place.  What it has on our place: a fully renovated kitchen, fully renovated upstairs bathroom, and about 150 square feet overall.  In any case, the numbers speak for themselves and I think they bode well for moving forward with a full renovation of our kitchen (and bathroom - jump for joy).  Pardon my excitement, but I love demolition!  And these projects would mean I'd get to do quite a bit of it.

So, I recently went back to my dream plan for the kitchen and made a few modifications and now have a pretty firm plan that we've begun moving forward with.  We've met with two general contractors and are currently waiting on estimates.  I haven't shared anything up until now because I haven't wanted to jinx the project, but that's just plain silly.  So here is the new plan for the kitchen (where budget and practicality are trump).

This new plan leaves the back door in it's current location.  There is a small roof structure on the exterior of the house that provides some shelter outside of this door and if we moved the door, we would have needed to reconfigure/remove this overhang.  It's extra work that, if we don't do, will save money.  This plan also keeps all of the appliances and fixtures, except for the refrigerator, in roughly the same location.  This will also be a big money saver, minimizing the plumbing and electrical work.  What the plan does give us is a lot more cabinet storage space, countertop prep space, and a view into our living room so I can keep an eye on Ella while I'm making meals.  These are things that are sure to be attractive to any future buyer.

It's funny because I actually prefer this plan now over the dream plan I initially drew.  Moving the refrigerator to the outside wall will allow the room to open up a bit more to our dining room.  And leaving the corridor to the basement open will help the space feel a lot larger and hopefully allow our side entrance to become a more practical entry point when the weather starts to get wet and snowy.  I can see some coat hooks and wall-mounted shoe bins in that corridor now to help manage all of the cold weather gear in our future.