The Adventure Has Begun

Richard's project for the summer is remodeling our kitchen. It is only about 20 years over due.

We have spent many hours using IKEA's kitchen planner to come up with a solution for our rather small and awkard kitchen. Our goal was more counterspace, more storage, more convenient pantry, better appliance placement, more room to work and better lighting/wiring. The kitchen itself was about 9' by 7' and the breakfast area was about 8' x 7'. The east wall of the kitchen backed up to the living room (and 4') and the family room (5') [That's the part of the wall with contact paper for a backsplash (we'd removed the bar/clutter collector and replaced it with a wall and never got a backsplash put up)].

This is our kitchen just before we started destroying it. (It's amazing the amount of clutter we overlook in daily living!)
The west wall looking north.

The west wall from the family room.


The south and west wall from the family room. (This is the only soffit that is staying as it camouflages the sloping roof.)



The east wall looking north.


The plan we came up with combines the two areas and converts a galley kitchen into a L-shaped kitchen with a peninsula. (Unfortunately I haven't figured out how to post the floor plan on the blog though I do have it in a Word file if anyone is interested.)

Instead of a range we are installing a gas cooktop and a 30" double wall oven (Boy am I excited about the ovens!) The counters on either side of the cooktop will be 18" rather than 15"they have been. Over the cooktop we are planning a hood with no cupboards. The refrigerator moves to the other side of the cook top and the ovens are approximately where the fridge was located but moved down 15" for a wall to ceiling storage cabinet with drawers. There will be another 24" floor to ceiling pantry between the dishwasher and the dining room and living room walls. The family room wall comes down with 12" deep cabinets on the other side. The counter will cover both cabinets and extend to create a bar for working, eating and/or visiting. There will be a cupboard with a microwave shelf next to the fridge and over the baking area. The soffits on the east and west sides of the kitchen will no longer exist and we will install 39" wall cabinets or floor to ceiling cabinets. There will be no cabinets over the peninsula - just lighting. Almost all the base cabinets have drawers rather than shelves. We are scrapping off the popcorn texture on the ceiling and doing the same faux suede texture we did in the living room in the kitchen and family room. The vinyl floor (I can hardly wait to see it gone) will be replaced with the ceramic tile we used in the family room. The family room colors will extend into the kitchen. We haven't decided on a countertop yet.

The demo has begun.