colonial overhaul: kitchen models

I threw together two models for our new kitchen recently and met with a local contractor who had been highly recommended to us.  

OPTION 1 is a u-shaped layout with a long, narrow island.  When I first looked at this house, I loved the idea of taking advantage of the kitchen's length with a streamlined layout that would provide some seating at a long island.  In reality, the kitchen is a bit too narrow to accommodate an island any wider than 30".  This layout also leaves one appliance in a location my husband and I can't tolerate down the road - the refrigerator.  Even with a counter-depth model, it still makes for a crowded entry into the kitchen from the back door.  It could be relocated to the top left corner (in the overhead plan shown below), but it's width would prevent us from opening up this doorway to the dining room - a necessary move since we plan to eliminate the table area from the new kitchen.

The one thing I love about this option, however, is how it divides the main circulation through the kitchen from the cooking area.  It means I would never be tripping over kids and guests who were just moving through or hanging out in the space while I was preparing a meal.

OPTION 2 is very similar to what we have currently, only the peninsula has been relocated to the opposite side of the room and enlarged to provide seating.  The refrigerator would also move to the opposite side of the doorway from the back door entrance, thereby allowing a bit more space at that turn into the kitchen.  We'd gain some "dumping ground" countertop space to the right of the doorway for keys, mail, etc., as well as some nice shallow 12" cabinets for pantry storage.  While this option doesn't clearly separate circulation through the kitchen with that of people cooking, it does provide more cabinet space and relocates the refrigerator.

In both options, we plan to widen the entrance to the formal dining room and install pocket doors in order to better connect the two spaces on a day-to-day basis.  We aren't formal people and I'd like to actually use all of the space this house has to offer.  The pocket doors would still allow the spaces to be closed off, however, if we should ever need to.  Both options also leave the range and sink in approximately the same location.  I like having them close together for transferring pasta pots full of water or draining cooked pasta without carrying a hot pot across the kitchen.

I am still not feeling 100% on either of these options.  I waiver on getting rid of the eat-in kitchen, not installing a double wall oven (though I'm not sure I've ever been in a situation where I would have wanted or needed one), and not making more space for some type of mudroom situation.  We've been talking about the possibility of enclosing the breezeway connecting the garage to the house, thereby creating a mudroom.  If we did this, I could also open up the back door entrance and connect the mudroom to the kitchen space.  

I have also been contemplating reducing the size of the window to the right of the sink.  It's sill and head heights do not align with the other two windows and it's width is preventing some other potential options.  The window faces a solid brick wall of the garage so we wouldn't be losing much of a view.

In any case, I definitely think some more simmer time is needed for this space.  There are plenty of other rooms to think about in the meantime!

the refrigerator conundrum SOLVED

I started writing this post several months ago, originally titled 'kitchen fail', shortly after the kitchen construction was completed.  I didn't publish the post then because it was written largely out of frustration.  I complained and didn't have a good solution to the problem.  I didn't even know if we would keep the refrigerator after it was installed.  But the refrigerator has stayed and I'm happy to report that an acceptable solution to the problem has been built and installed, and so I'm finally ready to share my biggest frustration with the kitchen, aside from the extended construction schedule.

When we set out to complete the kitchen remodel, we planned to reuse all of the existing appliances. The previous owner (our landlord) had updated them and though they all aren't the same brand or the latest styles, they worked and weren't offensive.  The 5-burner gas range is actually quite nice.

As the kitchen project progressed, however, we started having more and more discussions about replacing the refrigerator.  I wrote a little bit about it here and here.  We felt that a counter-depth refrigerator with french doors would be the ideal solution for the small space.  I had been doing my research on refrigerators that might work in our little space long before the kitchen cabinets were even ordered,  but without confirmation that a new fridge was in our future, I tried to play things safe as best I could.

VERTICAL SPACE  When we were at IKEA ordering our cabinets, I had our kitchen designer change the over-the-fridge cabinet from a 24" tall unit to their shortest cabinet, coming in at a mere 15" tall.  I decided that because some of the 30" wide fridge models I had been looking at were on the taller side, I would play it safe and install the shortest cabinet I could to give the refrigerator opening the most vertical space possible.  And to fill the remaining space (if any), I ordered a cover panel that could be mounted horizontally as an open shelf just above the top of the fridge.  I thought it might be a nice place for cookbooks or a few storage bins.

 

HORIZONTAL SPACE  In addition to trying to make accommodations for a tall, future fridge, I also realized during construction that some of the refrigerators that were on our short list were wider than the exactly 30" wide opening.  So I had the contractor add an approximately 5/8" thick filler piece to either side of the 30" wide over-the-fridge cabinet to make the space as wide as could possibly be achieved.  The fridge cabinet now butts completely up against the door casing of the back door on the right and along side the hidden duct traveling from the basement to Ella's bedroom on the second floor on the left.  This was the maximum width we could have achieved here.

And so, with the kitchen finished and final measurements taken, we decided to go ahead and buy the new fridge - a Fisher & Paykel counter-depth, french door model, my husband's favorite of the group.  I love the squared profile of the doors and handles.  It looks GREAT.  But I was worried all along that having only an 1/8" buffer was going to be way to small, especially considering that nothing in this house seems to be square!  I was also concerned about the gaping void above the fridge - a shelf would have just further defined the void and brought attention to the one, incomplete spot in the entire kitchen.

The fridge JUST fit.  It's in and working but the tight installation process caused the side cover panel to bow near the top.  It wasn't pretty, at least to me, and so I began trying to figure out what to do about it.  I tossed around the idea of removing the panel entirely.  One side of the refrigerator would be exposed but it is a nice looking appliance.  Removing the side panel would have also made the installation of a shelf above the fridge impossible, leaving an unused, large, cavernous space just staring me in the face every day.

My next option at the time was to try and ignore the issue for a while, and, in the meantime, I proceeded to load up the top of the fridge with cookbooks and junk.  That junk piling up reminded me why I despise an open, top of fridge area.  Give me a space and I will quickly pile it up with anything and everything just to get things out of the way.  I decided that I needed to install something that wouldn't afford me that option.  So I designed a unit with a wine cubby and an open display area, all to be made from the same oak material as the open shelving over the sink, and only about 12" deep.

The contractor installed the cubby last week and I am so excited to have that void filled.  The installation of the box helped to pull the side panel back in as well (bonus).  Now I have a place to keep wine and more cookbooks, though I think I'll swap those out for one of the antique bowls given to us as a wedding gift.  I still need to sand and oil the unit as I did with the shelves over the sink, but for now I don't have to stare at any more junk on top of the fridge.

This entire situation was very disheartening to me.  This is what I do and I didn't listen to my gut (and all of my research) telling me to order a different fridge, or even push the decision to purchase a new fridge earlier in the process.  I've learned some valuable lessons here: trust my gut (and my research), always leave more space than you think you'll need, and don't expect everything to be perfect.  Oh, and try to plan ahead as much as possible.  If we had decided to replace the fridge at the beginning of the project, I would have made the appropriate plans upfront to accommodate it's height and width.

a 40's ranch kitchen

As progress on the bathroom slowly moseys along (it's usable but not complete) I'll take a moment to introduce you to a new project.  In November I posted some of the inspiration for a remodeling project I am working on in Cincinnati.  And today I'd love to share with you the plans - existing and proposed - for my client's new space.

It has been a long, somewhat circuitous, road to this plan but hey, isn't that what renovation is all about sometimes?

Here is the existing plan:

Pretty typical for an older kitchen, the fridge and range are floating in the space.  What's more, the location of the fridge makes the hallway access very narrow and almost unusable.  I imagine the space was meant to be an eat-in kitchen, however, in a small two bedroom house, who needs a formal dining room these days.  This layout only provides for one prep area to the left of the sink and little to no storage space.  Adjacent to the kitchen to the left is the incredibly steep stair to the back door and basement.  To the right is a small dining room.  The opening near the fridge takes you into the hallway leading to the bedrooms and bath.

Initially, it was decided that a re-work of the very steep stairs to the basement (and laundry) needed to happen for safety purposes and to improve the layout of the new kitchen.  I generated the two options below.  This re-work would have also included the relocation of the door to the back yard to the mud room (not shown).  However, after taking costs and other priorities into consideration, this stair re-work was abandoned and I was back to working within the existing space of this kitchen.  Oh, and the laundry was relocated to the mud room so that the homeowner can avoid the stair all together.

Here is what the client settled on:

The final plan still involves the opening up of the kitchen to the dining room without completely removing the entire wall, as well as relocating the entrance originally located in the hallway to the living room. These moves will allow for a better connection between the main living and dining spaces and the kitchen, and will also provide more usable wall space for cabinets.  In this final plan, the homeowner has a nice "food" nook with refrigerator and tall pantry cabinet adjacent to one another on the left. The range is probably a bit farther from the sink than might be ideal, but it was a necessary compromise to maintain the open peninsula desired between the kitchen and dining room. The refrigerator and sink both remain in their existing locations, helping to simplify the plumbing and electrical work in the space.

The client chose to use IKEA cabinetry, saving approximately $6,000 on cabinetry costs.  Granite countertops, wood flooring, and ceramic tile backsplash with glass accents will finish off the space. 

Construction is well underway already, with new wood flooring being sanded and stained as we speak.  The countertops were templated last week and the appliances are ready and waiting in the garage to be installed.  I can't wait to share the before and after photos with you soon!

kitchen hardware

We (or rather I) still need to pull the plug on hardware for kitchen.  I'm not sure why something so small has caused me such great deliberation, but it has.  I've been all over the internet and to local home improvement stores trying to see what I can get quickly that would complement the kitchen.  You see, the main problem is that I tend to gravitate towards minimal edge pulls or simple, long, horizontal bar pulls.  But I don't think that these styles are well matched for this kitchen.  So I have been making an effort to divert my eyes elsewhere.

I originally found these at Lowes, the Sumner Street Symmetry Arched Pull in Polished Nickel.  They reminded me of the old fashioned pulls available from Schoolhouse Electric, but more affordable.  I like the classic lines and utilitarian style.  But when I brought them home I realized that the visible screws are actually fake.  I tried to talk myself into them anyway because the price was pretty good, but I couldn't do it.  

Ted really likes something more square (his words).  So I texted him a photo of these from Home Depot - the Liberty Hardware Plaza Pull in Aluminum.  He liked them a lot.  I thought they were too contemporary for the kitchen.  So I kept looking.

Then I found this online - the Rusticware Modern Rectangular Cabinet Pull.  A good compromise I thought, but at almost 9.00 a pull, they were way over budget.  So I kept looking.

What do you all think of these?  

The Martha Stewart Living Channel Cabinet Pull.  Good ol' Martha has hooked me again with her shiny products and attractive branding.  And I think the Medallion Cabinet Knob is a good match for the cabinet doors.   To order?

kitchen: more than 6 weeks

The kitchen is, for the most part, DONE!  We arrived home from our holiday travels to a working range, running water, and a completely usable kitchen.  So for now, we'll call these the after pictures.  

I can't say that I've spent much time in the living room since returning home.  Of course, I've been so busy unpacking boxes of dishes, pots, and pans and trying to decide where to put it all that I haven't really had that much time to spend in the living room.  But honestly, if I did have loads of free time to kick back, I'd probably find something to bake or a meal to make ahead and freeze because, really, I'd rather be in the kitchen.

There are still some things we need to do - paint, stain and install trim, stain and/or just poly the shelves above the sink, install pulls, and figure out what to do about our refrigerator situation.  Don't you just love that dolly!  That would be why the fridge appears so wonky - not the plan.

The contractors discovered that the wheels on the fridge were cracked when they went to move it back into kitchen.  They actually literally fell off in transport.  Putting the fridge down on the ground isn't really an option right now because the metal part that holds the plastic wheels would do some serious damage to the new floors.  I know that these wheels can probably be replaced, but this issue has also made our thoughts of buying a new fridge all that more serious.  Though the space feels ten times larger with the new layout, it's still the same space we had had before, and the existing fridge is really deep.  It protrudes from the face of the cabinets about 6", not including the handle.  And when it is open fully, a person can barely slide by sideways at the end of it to get to the sink or range.  It's not the end of the world, but a french door style, counter depth fridge would really take care of that.  I had the contractors make the opening wide enough to accommodate this fine looking piece of machinery.  We'll see what happens.

These are my favorite part: the open shelves above the sink.  It's a nice visual break and helps the space at the sink feel roomy, especially since we didn't have the option to place the sink in front of a window.  I think Ted's favorite part, however, (besides just the fact that we have one again) is the soapstone countertops.  We oiled them last night and fell in love with them all over again.  We've learned, in the past few weeks, that soapstone is naturally antibacterial and a laxative (ew).  Just some interesting facts for you.  I'll be sure to get a better shot of them in a future post.

Here are the before pics for a look back at where we started.

kitchen: week 6

Here we are . . . at the end of the estimated 6-week timeline, and we're almost done.  The contractor finished up the backsplash tile yesterday and grouted it today.  While we are away for the holiday, they will complete the floor finishing so that, when we return, we will have a fully functioning kitchen!

While I was gone in Chicago the contractor figured out that we were going to be short on the backsplash tile.  I had originally planned to take the tile all the way to the ceiling in the space above the sink but when I saw the completed installation on Friday night after I returned home, I was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of tile.  It didn't help that the countertops were completely covered.  I wasn't seeing anything else except for the tile against white walls and cabinets.  I knew that the backsplash was going to be a feature of the kitchen - it's the only permanent "color" we are adding to the space - but I hadn't expected it to feel so dominant.  So I took the fact that we were short on tile as a sign and decided against taking it all the way to the ceiling.  The contractor extended the line up about six additional inches and then capped the tile with the metal edging trim.  We'll then mount the first oak shelf at that line and space the two others evenly in the remaining space.  Good decision? I suppose it's all a matter of personal preference, but I feel like I chickened out a bit.

Stay tuned for final pictures after Christmas!

kitchen: week 5

Here we are, at the end of week 5 for this 6-week project.  And, big surprise, the contractor is behind.  I'm an understanding person (to a fault sometimes), so it's hard for me to be too mad, but I am disappointed that the scheduling of trades and tasks has, at times, seemed a bit perplexing and backwards.  They are, to a certain extent, taking their time.  And while I think that the results of the time are paying off, I do think that things could have been done more efficiently.

When the contractor left on Friday, all of the cabinets had been installed.  He had even temporarily installed the microwave, but had to take it down in order to pull the wiring through the wall and install the outlet in the exact location necessary.  This weekend I was able to get all of the cabinet doors installed, the drawers constructed (minus the cabinet fronts), and a new 3' x 8' cover panel from IKEA to remedy an annoying wonky issue that appeared on Thursday of last week with the refrigerator/pantry cabinet.

This week, the countertops will be installed!  I can't wait to see the slab we chose from the stone yard actually finished and in our home.  And the contractor will get the backsplash installed and remedy the wonky refrigerator/pantry cabinet issue - another casualty of our not-so-straight-and-level house.  Remember when I said the walls were not so bad.  Well, I lied.  The wall the refrigerator/pantry cabinet is installed on is about an 1" off parallel from the base cabinets just across from it.  So when the contractor installed the refrigerator/pantry cabinets, they appeared to be, and were in fact, at an angle, rotated into the kitchen area.  It was so awkward and I noticed it right away.  Although I will admit that a friend of my husband's didn't see it.  So maybe it's just me . . . In any case, the contractor is going to fix the issue and I had the pleasure of driving with a box above my head this weekend so that he could.

The one large item holding this whole deal up is the floor, which still needs to be sanded, stained, and poly'd.  I'm used to contractors tackling this item before cabinets go in and then protecting them until the end of the job.  But that's not what has happened and I didn't push anything.  So now that we seem to be nearing the glorious end, we're hitting a wall and won't be able to really use this space until after we return from our Christmas holiday travels.

kitchen: week 4 and general wonkiness

Here was the kitchen at the end of week 4:

There have been a lot of onsite decisions to make in the finishing of our kitchen.  We live in an old house, built in 1922, and nothing is straight or level.  The floors rise toward the back door and fall toward the fireplace, the ceilings slope down from the exterior walls to the center of the home, and the walls, well . . . they aren't that bad actually.  And no worries, we've had the home evaluated and the conclusion, it was just built this way.  The mason who built the brick fireplace and the mason who built the foundation walls must not have been communicating very well because when they both arrived at their termination points, they were probably a good 3-4" off from each other.  There are some places where all of this wonkiness is apparent.  But in most places, you'd never know, especially when all of the rooms are cordoned off from each other with walls, and were finished as straight and level as possible within their confines.  

Now, try removing these barriers (walls) and you're in for a whole lot of problem-solving.  The floor variation will be accommodated in height of the kick at the bottom of the cabinets.  And today, we finally came to a decision about how to deal with the variation in the ceiling.  

We had originally planned to mount the cabinets about 2" higher (at 20") than is typical (18") in order to move them closer to the ceiling and eliminate an odd 4-6" gap between the top of cabinet and the ceiling.  I did not want crown molding in the kitchen, nor did I want an odd shelf space meant for fake plants and baskets.  My ideal, a nice, low-profile reveal, painted out to create a shadow line.  Initially we discussed a modified version of this ideal - mounting a strip of wood, about 2" thick, to the top edge of all the cabinet boxes and painting it out to match the cabinet finish.  Anywhere the strip of wood did not meet the ceiling because of variation in ceiling height , we could caulk the gap, let dry, and then paint.

This idea might have worked if the variation in our ceiling height from one corner of the room to the other was a small amount, say up to a 1/2".  But what do you do if it's more like 2"!  

So today, after all the uppers were up we decided to do nothing at all.  No 2" thick strip of wood, no caulking, no nothing.  We decided that mounting any kind of face trim to the boxes, flat or decorative, would draw too much attention the ceiling variation.  Without anything, the gap becomes a fairly consistent shadow line from most vantage points.  The ones that matter anyway.

Oh, and the upper cabinets are in!  

MC seeking SSCD30"/REF

The decision has been made to replace the existing refrigerator for the new kitchen.  It had been discussed during the planning process but wasn't a necessary purchase, and so it took a back seat to other, more important, items such as an exhaust fan over the range.

But now that we are hitting the home stretch, it has become apparent that a counter-depth refrigerator will fit the space much better than the super deep behemoth we currently have.  The catch, we only have about 30" of width for the new refrigerator and finding the combination - stainless steel, counter-depth, 30" wide, not a million dollars refrigerator - is proving to be a bit difficult.  And while I can afford maybe an extra inch in width, I definitely can't afford two, making many appealing products no longer options.

The mister also prefers no exposed ice/water dispenser, french door top refrigerator with bottom freezer, and an ice maker.  I'm pretty much on the same page, though, I could deal with an exposed ice/water dispenser. 

Here's what I've dug up so far:

1 - Fisher & Paykel ActiveSmartTM Fridge, $1,999.00  Fisher & Paykel make a number of options that might work for us.  In addition to this french door, bottom freezer model (coming in at 31-1/8" wide), they also have a similar, though not french door, 25" wide option.  I used to spec their dishwasher drawers quite a bit while working in NYC and so I don't doubt that their other products are equally as well-made.  This is the only french door option I have found.  The french doors are preferable for our kitchen because we only have 48" between the fridge/pantry column and the cabinets just across the aisle.  Each door, therefore, will only open into the aisle half of the length a single door would, allowing for a person to walk by even when the refrigerator is open.  I am unsure about the ice maker option on this fridge if you don't also have the exposed water/ice dispenser.  A little more research is clearly needed.

2 - Blomberg BRFB1800SSIM, $1795.50  I have zero experience with this brand, but this refrigerator measures only 29.5" wide and would fit perfectly within the 30" wide cubby I've already laid out.  This refrigerator is a single door top refrigerator, bottom freezer, and comes standard with a right hinge (I do not think you can reverse the door).  I'm thinking that we may prefer a left hinged refrigerator, although I go back-and-forth on this, and perhaps this could be special-ordered.  I like that it has dual evaporators, separating the airflow of the freezer and fridge compartments, and an ice maker.

3 - Liebherr CS1400, $3259.00  Yea, so this is definitely out of our budget but I love this refrigerator.  It is a true counter-depth refrigerator at just 24-13/16" deep.  This model requires a cabinet width of 29-9/16" wide, making it a good fit for our 30" cubby.  But the price, oh the price!  It also happens to be the smallest of the options so far, coming in at just 14 cubic feet.  Though we had originally discussed selling the existing fridge, perhaps moving it to the basement for beverages and general overflow might make the smaller holds of these 30" wide, counter-depth models more realistic for a family.

4 - LG Style to Spare, $699.99  Um, so this is my least favorite, but look at the price!  This is the moment when I need to remind myself that this is not our forever home and that what we are after is a refrigerator that won't protrude into the kitchen aisle any more than 3" (a typical door thickness).  And this refrigerator meets the bill.  Not to mention the fact that it won't break the bank.  But, as much as we are looking for an upgrade to a top refrigerator, bottom freezer model, wouldn't future buyers as well?  One could say that buying this fridge would be a major waste of money - spending a pittance only to meet one check-box in our list of preferences.  Sigh . . . 

So, the search continues.  This afternoon I'll head to a few more stores to hear salesperson opinions and view more models in person.  Please help!  

kitchen: week 2 and . . . say hello to the bathroom

This past week, all of the electrical was completed in the kitchen - the recessed lighting was installed and the center pendant fixture was shifted to align with the center of the sink and the range, switches were moved, and outlets were shifted to correspond with the new plan.  And the drywall finally went up!  This coming week: mud, and hopefully the installation of the base cabinets.  I just ordered the backsplash tile and can't wait to head back to the stone yard to pick out a slab.

In the meantime, I've been working hard to finalize the plans for the bathroom remodel.  Plan options always seem to come to me fairly quickly.  It's the selecting of materials that takes me the most time.  And I've been doing it all online, for the most part, because it isn't easy hitting up showrooms with a two-year-old in tow.

Here is the existing plan of the bathroom.  It is a large space as bathrooms go, especially considering how small our house is.  We currently have both a freestanding, clawfoot tub and a small, stall shower. But what we have in bathing options, we lack in everything else, from storage to counter space.  Our current sink, a small pedestal sink, represents all that is bad about pedestal sinks.  There is barely space to rest a bar of soap on it's ledges, and, of course, no storage.  I do like pedestal sinks, in theory, for powder rooms and oft used guest bathrooms.  But for the only bathroom in a family home - no way!

The new bathroom will have a large soaking tub/shower combo.  We can fit a 36" wide tub, still 60" long.  It will definitely feel a bit more luxurious than the tiny-barely-enough-room-for-one-person shower that we have now.  And we'll get something that will allow for a deeper soaking depth than the current clawfoot.  A new vanity with lots of storage and additional cabinets across from the toilet will provide more than the double the amount of storage we currently have - a great thing when there isn't a separate linen closet.  And Ella's room will get a normal closet!  We don't want to do a lot of construction in her room so the door to the closet will stay the same.

And most importantly, we're gaining a lot more "walking around" space.  The clearances in the previous bathroom didn't allow for more than one person to move between the edge of sink and edge of tub.  And forget about more than one person using the sink at a time.

We're still getting the elevations figured out and I hope to post them next week.

new project: kitchen inspiration

I mentioned in my post two weekends ago that I had been in Cincinnati measuring for a new project - a ranch house built in 1948 in pretty much original condition.  The kitchen and the bathroom are fairly tidy for a home this age, but neither functions the way my client needs them to so we are gutting both.

We did find out, however, that the home's beautiful oak floors have been protected by hideous, wall-to-wall carpeting almost since the day the home was built, just waiting to be uncovered and enjoyed.  Finding that out made me very happy.

But I was initially a little conflicted on what the appropriate style might be for the home.  I use the word style loosely here because I am not, by any means, a purist.  I do appreciate original detail, metal cabinets, and the mauve tile used when the home was built,  but I do not think that the home needs to be re-made into an updated version of it's old self.  I do think that the homes age and architecture (or lack thereof) do call for a little moderation of what it will become in the future.  For example, I believe it would be asinine (or perhaps just a waste of money) for me to introduce heavily detailed moldings or 6-paneled doors into the home.  We surely know what the home is not.  But I am not opposed to modernizing an old home - combing existing features with a more minimal aesthetic.  That is just my own personal style.

However, after talking with the client and getting a sense for her style and tastes, I think we are heading toward an updated style inspired by the time in which the home was built, blending a 50's vibe with classic details and finishes that never go out of, well, style.  Here are a few images of kitchen's I've gathered that make me really excited about the direction we're headed . . . 

source 

source

source 1 / source 2

kitchen: week 1

Here is the kitchen after the first week of work.  I have a love/hate thing with the beginning of renovation projects.  I know so much has been done, but it never appears that way.  You're still left with, basically, a mess.

The new hardwood flooring was installed as we discovered that the original floors could not be salvaged.  The new full and half walls have been built.  Ductwork and electrical were re-routed.  And the kitchen ceiling was completely removed!

One step forward.  Two steps back.

We discovered that the dining room ceiling had been furred down and drywalled when we removed the wall and so the kitchen ceiling and dining room ceiling are not even or in the same plane.  So the contractor will have to furr down the kitchen ceiling to match.

And, as you can see, I've been building cabinets.  That one there in the foreground is our corner cabinet.  Isn't she a beauty!  I never knew how much I would appreciate a corner cabinet until I had a kitchen without one.  It's the most aggravating thing NOT being able to store anything in the corner of a kitchen.  Ours was completely hollow!

  

this weekend: new project and empty kitchen

My head is spinning after this weekend.  I took a quick trip to Cincinnati to measure for a new project (an entire house renovation), and returned to a completely gutted kitchen thanks to my husband and his friends.

I see a lot of work ahead and I'm wondering how I will juggle it all while keeping my little one healthy and happy.  She will be starting pre-pre-school this coming Thursday morning and, hopefully, it will be as great for me as it will be for her.  A few hours isn't a lot of time but as a stay-at-home Mom for the past two years, I've gotten pretty efficient.

Stay tuned for lots of exciting transformations!

* In case you were wondering, here is a link to the before shots of the kitchen.

four-square kitchen in 3D

So I've always thought of our house as a two-story bungalow.  It has some of the interior woodwork and detailing of a bungalow, and a similar layout, but not a whole lot else.  Bungalow's are traditionally no more than one-and-a-half-stories (at least in appearance, from the front elevation) and have deeply overhanging eaves that usually provide cover for a front porch.  I suppose it could be a special Michigan variant, as there are quite a few other homes in the neighborhood like ours, but for the purposes of this blog, I'm going to classify her (yes, her) as an Arts & Crafts Four-Square.  She's not as large as a traditional four-square home might be and she is quite understated when it comes to her interior details.  But she is a gem and I've discovered that I am quite fond of this house style and layout - a good insight for our future house-hunting endeavors.

In any case, all of that just to pick a name for the post . . . 

Now that we've got a contractor, a plan, and a tentative start date for the kitchen remodel, I've been trying to make sure all of the details are figured out before the contractors start throwing things into place.  And what better way than to throw together a 3D model of the space to see where some more decisions might need to be made that can get missed when everything is flat.

looking into kitchen from dining room

looking towards kitchen from living room

So I did just throw this model together so it's missing details like actual windows and a side door, but it's mostly complete.  One thing that jumped out at me right away was the crown molding on the cabinetry.  I am definitely not liking how big it is.  The ceilings aren't high and I think this crown is just pulling them down even further so I'm definitely going to investigate the detail where the cabinets hit the ceiling a bit more.  I don't want a 4" dust shelf up there though.  Perhaps adjusting the mounting height of the upper cabinets up by 2" and creating a 2" reveal between the ceiling and top of cabinets might work better.

I'd also like to try and figure out a way to build in some usable storage on the back of the peninsula.  I only have the thickness of the wall to work with but some shallow shelving or flip-forward bin (kind of like these shoe cabinets from IKEA) might work.  And, I'm still investigating alternate fridge options so that I can gain enough space next to the fridge for a tall, skinny pantry cabinet.

kitchen BEFORE

This is our kitchen NOW.  But say bye-bye because it will be completely gone soon!  We finally received pricing back from several contractors and have chosen to move forward with one.  Demolition will be underway by mid-Novemeber and hopefully we won't have to stray too far from our original vision for the space.  The floor plan may require some modification along the wall where the refrigerator will live because a duct that currently serves our daughter's room upstairs needs to be relocated to that side of the room.  I'm hoping we'll be able to hide it behind the planned wine and cookbook shelving to the left of the fridge and in the cabinet over the fridge if needed.

We hope to pull out the existing cabinetry and find a buyer on craigslist for them.  They are in good shape, but just are not configured in a way to maximize the small space of this kitchen.  I hope to also be able to sell the existing fridge and use the proceeds of both to purchase a new, counter-depth fridge for the space.

The existing sheet vinyl floor that is currently pulling away at the seams (see that spot by the corner of the range) will be torn out and replaced with wood to match the rest of the wood throughout the first floor of the house.

The side door entry stair will also be getting a facelift as it will now be completely visible from, and open to, the dining room.  Currently the steps have been outfitted with some lovely, brown, commercial, rubber treads.  Stylish, huh?!  And the landing has a nice frayed piece of teal carpet glued to the wood below.  It's all in the details, folks.

mid-century kitchen love

I wrote, last week, about my first mid-century kitchen design project (plans here and renderings here).  Over the course of the design process I began gathering images of some great mid-century kitchens, some original, and others contemporary updates with a keen modern aesthetic.  Frankly, there are so many images that I started a new Pinterest board to keep tabs on them all.  I've grabbed a few of my favorites (for one reason or another) here.  Enjoy!

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