I’ve never had such a hard time deciding what to do with a space as I am with this kitchen. My kitchen is separated from the living room by a big wall so it feels like I’m in “Time Out” when I’m preparing meals or cleaning up.
This is what I would LOVE to do:
I don’t really get how this house is set up. There are 2 dining rooms right next to each other! One kitty-corner to the kitchen.
And the other one, right next to the first one, just off the main entrance hallway.
This dining room is small and will NEVER get used if the house remains set up as it is.
I hate wasted space. If this dining room was usable, I could use the other one as a craft room or a reading room and then both rooms would ACTUALLY GET USED.
This is what I’m thinking for my Kitchen Reconfiguration Project as of now:
Close up both doors in the dining room so this door (on the right) will be all wall.
Tear out the wall between the kitchen and living room.
Make the window in that little hallway (you can see part of the window) a door going outside, so we can take the trash out without dragging it through the whole house and bring in groceries in the same manner! The part of that little hallway that used to be a door to the dining room will be a “locker type” coat/bag/backpack hanging area.
Then open up a doorway to the dining room on this far wall after the dividing wall is removed.
Then put in either one HUGE island or two narrow, long islands or one wide island in the center and another one kind of where the peninsula is right now only back farther or one huge island and a dining table…
I do know I want the oven on the opposite wall. That part I am sure of! I know I want a gas cooktop and double ovens and two separate sink stations.
I’m just having a hard time deciding exactly how I want to set it up. I’m not excited about losing all these upper cabinets but I HATE having a kitchen that is all closed up to the rest of the house. THAT MUST CHANGE!
One option that I am considering over tearing out the entire wall between the kitchen and living room is just tearing out part of it and using glass front and back cabinets so you can see through to the other space from either side and it FEELS more open but I could keep some of the upper cabinets.
And now that we have Brody, I’ve got his needs to consider too! This is just cute!
Wow! I know whatever you decide will be fabulous, you have a great sense of style and design so I’m excited to see this all come together! I am going to paint the oak cabinets in our kitchen and I already purchased the white paint but I am really loving the gray cabinets right now as well. Looking forward to seeing your kitchen decisions and design!
Maybe I should paint these cabs now and maybe I’ll decide to just leave it alone (and add an island of course). Paint makes that much of a difference. Good luck with your project!
I like the entire wall gone with the one HUGE island (first picture). I think there would be plenty of storage potential in an island of that size, so you wouldn’t miss all those cabinets. Then again, maybe you have WAY more dishes/appliances than I. All I know is that my kitchen has probably 1/4 that many cabinets, and I have survived just fine. I can’t wait to see what you decide! How exciting!
The only thing I don’t like about one huge island is that if it’s wider than 48″ there will be wasted space … and I don’t like wasted space. BUT I do LOVE the look of one large island.
Wow, we are so much alike. Every house I have lived in I go in and start tearing out walls and windows. No fear. 🙂
I wish I were there so I could walk through it with you and see more details. It’s always so hard to tell from pictures.
It’s a big project, that’s for sure! Lisa~
Did you see the video tour? It’s kind of disjointed because I had to edit out so much so it wasn’t an hour long. But it gives you a better indication of how it’s all laid out.
So many great ideas! It’s going to look awesome.
What a pickle! Sandra you’re so lucky to have that huge space with so many options, my vote – one large island with one large kitchen table. There’s something about having that sit-down eating around the table together space that feels good. Oh I wish I could spend the day sketching up a bazillion ideas with you, good luck.
I love having an eat in kitchen which is why I am thinking of closing the dining room doors and opening it up into the kitchen/living room. Then, the dinging room wouldn’t be IN the kitchen so I wouldn’t lose any more space but everything would be open to everything else. Decisions, decisions… 😀
The beauty of a big house is that you do have more room to do what you wish. The hard part about a big house is that all of that room means the projects are bigger too.
I LOVE that picture of the dream kitchen!
Bigger, take longer and are more expensive! 🙂
The dog bed is brilliant & clever!! I like the glass front cabinets. Not something you see all the time. Mesh the two and you will have an amazing kitchen. You are the master! I can’t wait to see what you create. If only you lived by me 😉
If only…
OMGosh. I love that doggie bed in the island. Brilliant!
I’m not sure I will actually do something this “Custom” as we will not stay here long term and I have to create a house that appeals to the masses but I love the idea.
we redid our kitchen last year & the first MustHave item on the list was to make sure our old doggie feeding station made it into the new kitchen. our contractor (that did some of the work, and we did the rest) was so cool about it! he was amused to be helping design/install a kitchen that had our “kids” as the top priority. here is the revamped feeding station, and i couldn’t imagine a kitchen without it! mind you, we have a small space, so it was a necessity rather than a luxury!
http://blondemafia.blogspot.com/2011/08/dinner-is-served.html
Love it!
those kitchens are just out of this world……do you have a mudroom they seem to be the *IN* thing right now seems 1 of those small rooms would be great for that.
Not yet… ;-D
I’ve always wanted to turn a dining room into a library complete with ladders and everything. I think formal dining rooms are so unusable in most of the floor plans nowadays.
I’m sure that whatever you do it will be fantastic!
I agree but apparently, here in the South, you simply MUST have one. (For resale.)
I love being able to live vicariously through your big thinking vision! If I’m lucky, I’ll maybe get to open up one small wall when we redo our current kitchen, and that probably won’t be a few years!
Honestly, I’d be thrilled if all I needed to do was take out a small wall. But, I just don’t think I’ll get the “function” I want without going all the way! Oh well. I’m happy to bring you vicarious happiness! LOL
Is the dining room right next to window/door? If so; could you move the door all together into the dining room and turn the dining room into a huge mudroom/pantry? We have one right off our kitchen, and it is soooo handy! hummm…. especially if you’re going to loose some of your cabinets…. just a thought.
Since we always move every few years, we have to create a home that will appeal to the general population in the area. Here (as with most of the Southern states), Formal Dining rooms are a must have. If I were designing a house that I was going to live in for 20 years, I’d do lots of things completely differently.
yeah, those pesky formal dining rooms and resale can be such a downer. I know you’re going to make it beautiful no matter what the limitations and compromises you have to deal with! Luv the ideas you found. I get crazy myself with reno’s just cause I always itch to knock out a wall or repurpose rooms. One time we repurposed a dining room into our master, then switched a family room into the dining… Loved the house after that… Can’t wait to see your new layout! 🙂
truly the only way you will get exactly what you want is to consult a professional; you will get your money’s worth and have some definite options to consider based on your family’s lifesty; you for sure don’t want to make decisions you might regret later; get a professional consultation; my husband is an architect to consults for remodels; make some phonecalls; this project is very major and not a coat of paint change so you must get a professional
Debbi, it sounds like you are one lucky lady. I bet you have a beautiful home!
I have designed several options for my kitchen remodel that will work best for me and my family and how I want us to be able to live in our home (as well as considering resale). I haven’t decided on ONE plan yet because, like you said, a kitchen remodel isn’t like slapping on a coat of paint and I want to make sure I choose the option that will make me the happiest.
I know what I want — and I want what I want. That is generally the biggest problem. I have a certain budget for this remodel and I have to plan and scheme in order to afford what I want.
If I had a million dollars… That would be fun!
I love your blog and your amazing building skills! Your master closet is just perfect.
I wish you could draw out a floor plan with arrows showing what you propose doing. It doesn’t even have to be to scale but I find that it is easier to figure out how a house could flow better and more logically when looking at a floor plan.
No pressure though since I know you are about to wow us with your workroom. Love it so far!
Hae
Note to self:
*Draw out a current floor plan.
*Then make arrows showing what walls I plan on removing and where I want to open things up…
Noted! 😉
I’m going to concur with the others … we need a floorplan to adequately assess your situation and make logical suggestions. It looks as if you have great potential in your current space, I just can’t picture the relationship of your kitchen to the kitty-corner dining room. (The dining room off the entry hall would make a kick-a** office/craft room … but I doubt I would wall off the door from the hall … hard to tell for sure without a floorplan, though.)
You are fortunate to have so many cupboards in your kitchen, so removing at least a portion of that wall won’t affect your storage space TOO badly.
Connie
I’ll show you my floor plan of what I decide to do. 😉 I’m definitely moving the entrance to the formal dining room which will mean closing up the current ones.
Basically the only part I haven’t decided is what I’m doing with the island. (Or islands.)
Oh man… this looks like a big project. I can’t wait to see what you decide on and watch you renovate this room, too! I totally agree with you I hate a closed off kitchen.
Good luck deciding.
Time out, right?
Wish I had your space. My entire house would fit in your dining rooms. Based on the pitch of the ceiling in the family room next door, it’s possible that wall in between is load bearing. Not insurmountable, just a pain. I’m loving every thing you’re doing!
Oh it’s definitely load bearing. I’ll have to hire a crew to take care of that. That is ONE of the things I will not try to tackle all by my lonesome. LOL
Sandra, you will make it awesome, we all know that! When we remodeled our kitchen 6 years ago, we closed up a door, replaced two windows, put in a slider out to our deck, and tore down an L shaped wall because of the whole being sent to do maid’s work feel of a separated kitchen. I haven’t regretted it once!! I have one HUGE island and sorta wish I had made it smaller. It has cabinets on both long sides, drawers on one end, and an overhang for seating along one side. It can be hard to use the middle of it! BUT, it is great for the tabletop ping pong set we bought for when all our kids are home!! Haha!
Sounds CRAZY awesome. Not that I think everyone needs to tear down walls, but if the wall needs to come down, there’s no need to NOT do it because it’s scary or messy. I’m willing to live through the mess in order to end up with the space that will serve me best in the long run. I’m with you on the TOO large island. Function, function, function and then make it pretty. That is my goal!
You have some great ideas for the kitchen! I especially like converting the window to a door and having some sort of a landing area. A Dutch door would allow you to sill see out and open for ventilation, if needed.
I have a 5 x 6 ft island in the center of my kitchen….sort of baseball diamond shaped…just a huge flat work area with seating on the curved section. It’s my favorite part of our home and gets used all the time.
Good luck….can’t wait to see what you will do.
I would DEFINITELY make the “outside door”!
Hi – I’ve just discovered your blog and I’m in awe of your carpentry/DIY skills. My husband and I both are DIY’ers but not to your extent. I wish though! We have 5 kids….Busy!
I think you should put in a huge walk in pantry with a screened door along with the coat/mud room. You could go to the ceiling with shelves & have a library ladder in there for ease. You could also have the message center/dry erase board, phone center, you could also house a microwave in there as well! That would eliminate your need for upper cabinets when you tear that wall down. I’ve seen it done before and have lots of ideas.