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!

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: 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.

mid-century kitchen in 3D

Having a hard time getting a sense of what this kitchen will look like?  My clients were too and plans aren't the most useful visual tools when you're trying to understand the mix of materials and the layers of kitchen cabinets.  I began with a few elevations of the kitchen area, but nothing beats a quick 3-D model. Here is the new view from the great room through the two existing openings into the new extended kitchen . . . 

And the view from the kitchen towards the great room . . .

And the view from the old dining space into the new extended kitchen . . .

The kitchen will use IKEA cabinet boxes with white cabinet doors and drawer fronts, however, those cabinet fronts and back panels, including the floating shelves, rendered as wood in the images above will be ordered from Semihandmade.  They create custom wood cabinet doors and drawer fronts, spacers, panels, and shelving all compatible with IKEA's AKURUM cabinet boxes and hardware.  Pretty fantastic, right?!  The white cabinets will help reflect the light from the rooms ribbon windows, while the straight grain wood cabinet fronts, panels and shelves will give a nod to the home's mid-century roots.  All new stainless steel appliances will be installed, as well as a new sink and faucet (TBD).  I'd love to see a simple white ceramic tile backsplash, perhaps in a proportion longer and shorter than the classic subway tile, laid in a stack bond.  Or better yet, since I know how much the future owner loves Carrara - maybe a nice 2x8 Carrara marble tile in a stack bond.  And, the homeowner's will have new wood flooring installed in the kitchen to match the existing wood flooring throughout the  rest of the house.  

a mid-century kitchen

A friend of mine recently asked me to help her design a kitchen for her family's new home - a cool, mid-century gem tucked beneath tall trees on the west side of Cincinnati.  No arm twisting required here! Like I'd pass up the opportunity to play with a modern!

So we began designing, over the phone, with kids running and talking in the background.  I'd draw something up, send it to her.  We'd chat, I'd edit, and edit some more and before you knew it, we had moved the dining area into the great room and expanded the kitchen into the old dining space to create a freaking fantastic kitchen full of storage and plenty of counter space.  And, I love working with someone who loves modern . . . she already had materials in mind that were completely appropriate for the style of the home.

Now, as with any renovation project, there was some problem solving to be done in order to stay within the budget and allow for a timely completion, but I think the space has benefited from the smart solutions to those challenges.

Here is the existing floor plan of the kitchen and dining area:

The existing kitchen is tiny!  You can't stand at the sink if the dishwasher is open and you can barely get the fridge open if the dishwasher is open.  Talk about poor planning.  We initially started by working within the existing space, and only grabbed maybe two feet from the dining area to allow us to spread the major appliances apart so all of them could open (good place to start, right).  But in the end, more countertop space and a larger kitchen won out.  The proposed plan provides counter seating at a new peninsula, floating shelves above a new sink, and more of a connection with the great room through the two existing openings into that space.

I can't wait to see this project finished.  My friend and her husband are renovation rock stars and so I have no doubt that they'll complete this project quickly and with care.