Kitchen Remodel: Phase I

My new kitchen appliances have arrived and a few days ago, I met with my kitchen remodeler to finalize plans for the kitchen renovation at the house in Hooterville. 

The existing kitchen will be completely gutted.  Besides being really  ugly and ORANGE,  it’s  very poorly constructed.  

Obviously this was a DIY project by a very inexperienced DIY-er.

I also wanted some of the appliances relocated because the kitchen just doesn’t function well with the current configuration.

The kitchen renovation planning process has been very difficult for me.   Although I feel comfortable with the cabinet guy I selected to do the renovation, he and the others I consulted about the job basically relied on me to tell them what I wanted rather than them using their experience to come up with a plan.  It was a  task I have not felt completely comfortable or qualified to take on.   In my current house, we’ve done a couple cosmetic makeovers through the years which included re-facing the existing cabinets and installing new countertops but  planning a complete cabinet rip-out with some redesigning elements thrown in  has been a bit daunting.   When it’s all said and done, I hope I got it right.  Even now, as I look at the diagrams of the proposed changes while I write this post, I’m second-guessing some of my decisions.

So here’s the plan:

That hideous home-made  light over the island and the ceiling beams are DEFINITELY coming down.  The beams make the 8 ft. ceiling look and feel  much lower.  The refrigerator will be relocated to another wall.  The main traffic flow through the kitchen is right along the sink wall and when the refrigerator or freezer door is open, there is not enough room to get around it.

 

The new upper cabinets going on the wall in the photo above will be shifted to the right and will include a built-in wall oven, as shown below.

 

The stove and microwave will no longer be on this wall.  The refrigerator will be relocated to the left of the current stove, as depicted in the diagram below.   In this new location, the refrigerator will be  right by  another doorway… the doorway to  the formal dining room.  However,  I don’t anticipate the formal dining room being used much except maybe  at the holidays, so traffic flow through that doorway will be minimal.  

The diagrams show an island but after much deliberation, I have decided to eliminate it.  Later on, I might try adding  a small free-standing island but after working around the island in the existing kitchen, I’ve come to the conclusion that an island is just not very workable or practical  in a kitchen of this size and layout.

A smooth cook top will be inserted into the counter top on the family room side of the kitchen and a short wall (not shown in the drawing) will be built on the back side of this bank of cabinets to divide it from the family room.  It will extend approximately four inches above the countertop to create a backsplash which will prevent cooking spills and splatters from migrating over into the family room.   There will be pull-out drawers underneath the cook top for pots and pans.  The corner bottom cabinet will have a lazy Susan/carousel to maximize every inch of storage space in that deep corner.

 

In the diagram below you can see there is a pantry  sketched in where the refrigerator was originally located.  However, in the final kitchen plans, I  asked that the pantry be moved to the right side of the dishwasher, which will give me more counter space to the left of the sink. 

The cabinets will be white with raised panel doors.

The countertops will be LG Hi-Macs solid surface in a mottled dark charcoal gray and black color called “Graphite Granite” (G103).

I haven’t decided 100% on a backsplash material yet.   I am leaning heavily toward using the Graham & Brown Super Fresco paintable bead board wallpaper that everyone across Blogland has been using and loving, including me.  I used it here, here and here  (see note at end of post).  However,  I’m also considering white subway tiles.

The flooring will be the same laminate I have in the foyer, sun porch and breakfast room at the house in Hooterville …

Columbia Cachet Clic in Carmelized Claro Walnut.

Tear out of the existing cabinets and installation of the new ones will begin in 3 to 5 weeks.

**Note regarding the Graham & Brown Super Fresco bead board wallpaper:  

I just realized  HomeDepot.com does not appear to be carrying this bead board wallpaper anymore!  I did find it can still be ordered through Rhoda’s Open Sky shop but it says stock is low so if you’ve been **thinking** about trying it, I wouldn’t wait any longer.  I hope it hasn’t been discontinued by the company!  Horrors!