Right now, the kitchen isn’t exactly working for us. It’s small, but I can handle that. The thing that’s killing me is our total lack of cupboard space. Here’s what we’ve got:
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That’s it – every pot, pan and canned good we own is shoved into one of those cupboards. Miraculously, it all fits – but we can’t find a thing. In fact, we’ve been eating sandwiches and popcorn for three weeks straight, and I think it’s because I have NO CLUE what other choices I’ve got.
So we’ve been working on a plan, a “phase one” approach that would make our kitchen a little more functional and a little less odd. We can’t do the dream kitchen remodel just yet, but we’ve has come up with some small changes that I think will make a big difference.
Keep reading for details on our plans…
This is the view you get if you’re looking through the doorway from the dining room. The (old, ugly) oven and dishwasher are just sort of hanging out in space with no countertop on either side. Teague’s idea is to put a partition wall up about 7 feet in from the doorway. It would extend out to about the width of the oven. On the doorway side of the wall, we’d hang corner cabinets and have a small countertop area. That’d fix some aesthetic problems and would give the space some structure.
The second part I’m really excited about. The scary back annex room has a closet, and this closet just happens to be adjacent to the kitchen. It’s in very good shape (surprisingly) and wouldn’t need much rehab. It’s even wired for lighting. Teague, being much more spatially creative than I, realized we could “steal” this closet and repurpose it as a pantry. That would definitely solve our storage problem.
We’re also hoping to do black and white tile flooring, and we’re going to repaint the cupboards so everything is crisp and white. Then we’re going to add some molding to the cupboard doors so they’re not so flat and boring, and put on some new hardware. Last but not least, we’re going to replace the formica countertop with wood, kind of like this:
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So that’s the plan for phase 1 – which will of course be done inbetween the foundation jacking, wall repair, gutter installation, etc… :)
Comments, Thoughts, and Feedback
Your kitchen and mine should hang out some time – they have lots in common.
We also have plans to add molding to the flat cabinets, change the hardware and paint. I even want to do wood countertops like that, too. I already bought the hardware, so it could inspire me. The molding I’m a little nervous about.
I think we have the same kitchen hardware…:)
Haha – somehow, not surprised. These cabinets/hardware must have been all the rage. Aren’t we all lucky? ;)
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