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On the kitchen, if I could, I'd lose the peninsula and the small island, and just have one larger island extending into the space where the peninsula is now. I love the idea of a built in in the nook. Good thinking!
I have a large island in my current kitchen and I use it for all my food prep. It is electrified too. I would recommend adding knife storage there as well.
On the kitchen, if I could, I'd lose the peninsula and the small island, and just have one larger island extending into the space where the peninsula is now. I love the idea of a built in in the nook. Good thinking!
I have a large island in my current kitchen and I use it for all my food prep. It is electrified too. I would recommend adding knife storage there as well.
That is a good idea! Thank you.
This is an idea that I'll file away till we tackle the kitchen. I think the advice to live in it awhile before tearing things out is a great idea. Personally I love islands, and it might be nice to move the sink to directly under the window, lose the peninsula as you recommended, and extend a slightly narrower, but longer island with an overhang for ONE stool at the end. After all, there is the nook table which will have four chairs and then the dining room table that extends to seat TWELVE so dang it, how many more places do I really need? My husband and I could sit at the kitchen table - we rarely sit at the bar anyway. I could use the stool for when I am perusing cookbooks and that sort of thing. It would open the whole kitchen up. And I could put plenty of cabinet space and drawers in the bottom of the island.
My husband is so stressed out about the kitchen cabinets (or lack thereof) that he's considering opting out of the contract! (We are still in our option period.)
And that is stressing ME out.
He and I come from totally different experiences. He rarely moved as a child or as an adult for that matter, and therefore he thinks of homes as whether or not they are his "dream home," which he's never had and he doesn't yet realize doesn't really exist (all homes have some negatives, even at double the price of this particular one, but sometimes you don't really realize these till you move in).
On the other hand, I am a former military brat and wife. I've lived in at least forty homes, maybe even more (I have counted forty moves in my life). I am used to turning a pig's ear into a silk purse, so to speak. I can make a comfortable home out of a paper bag and be happy, happy, happy. So I'm actually more stressed out about HIM being stressed than I am about the house itself - there is so much positive to it that the two main negatives (the kitchen cabinet space and the small laundry room) are minimized in my mind. For one thing, the house is priced at $79 a square foot and the comps for same age and size homes in the same neighborhood are $96 and up a square foot! So yes - we can renovate within reason and not be throwing our money away.
And for another thing - we have the space in the nook to add cabinets and drawers and shelves.
Not only that - we can pay the house off in five years or so!!!!! THAT is what makes me think I can deal with a less than perfect kitchen and a small laundry room.
I mostly agree with your ideas about some kind of cabinet or hutch to add some storage / display space to the nook and tend to agree that doing something to keep a "cozy" feel is a positive.
That said when it comes to "lower priced homes" it does seem like this one might be bargain priced becuase it just does not have the function of others -- if the kitchen is awkward and the laundry room is small that is really going to limit appeal. How about bathrooms? Layout of living area? Outdoor space? If all those thing are also "quirky" that really is less a "bargain" than it is something not nearly as polite...
It is one thing to "pretty up" some bad paint / wall paper (that can be like putting glass slippers on the gal otherwise forced to wear rags...) but a layout that is just "off" will instead be like "putting lipstick on a pig" -- still not gonna be like kissing somebody on the cover of a romance novel!
I remember one time when I was shopping for a tool box to replace one that got stolen I was real upset that so many tool boxes seemed like they were far more expensive than I remembered. I like to get a little higher quality toolbox becuase it tends to keep tools better organized for when I need to grab something for a quick repair but I don't need something that is designed for a tradesmen that makes their living with their tools. I was lamenting this fact to the guys that ran the specialty hardware / tool store. One of 'em suggested that "the 'bargain priced' tool boxes I saw at the "big box stores" though cheaper would be a waste of money if they really did not help me store the tools I needed to tackle the repairs / projects I took on" -- even if I was not getting paid I still did these things becuase I could do 'em faster / better / cheaper than hiring somebody. I did not feel so bad paying a little more for something that really suited my needs. (And found a locking cable to anchor it the garage so it would not "walk away" -- it has lasted me through three houses now!) Just saying if this place is not "going to get the job done" maybe hubby is right to kill the deal...
Last edited by chet everett; 04-08-2014 at 11:39 PM..
What is that wall jutting out in the corner beyond the range? Is that a closet that's accessed via another room? Is it a powder room? You could have one heck of a kitchen if you tore that out and extended the counter/cabinets down the range wall and along the back corner toward the arch doorway.
Remove the island entirely. It's already small. Make sure you keep it intact just in case there isn't tile under it.
It would look weird to add cabinets with a counter to that wall/nook near the able. Instead, consider the following:
A wall of cabinets of 12" deep floor to ceiling cabinets. If you do 24" deep it will be too overpowering.
OR
Buy a great large antique country hutch for that space.
Or
Design your counter and cabinets to look like a built in hutch.
What I like least about your kitchen is that little low window. When the kitchen was remodeled, they should have put a taller window in that spot.
I agree with everything Hopes says. I was just looking at buying homes recently, and I cook at home almost exclusively. The kitchen is the MOST important room to me. I would definitely get rid of the island. The kitchen is too small for it. Even though islands are generally a plus, it is in the way. Changing the countertops would help a great deal, but they don't have to be granite if you're not into that. Quartz, marble, soapstone, even concrete are great countertop material alternatives. And the wallpaper looks dated. Neutral paint is the way to go. The window looks odd, but if you put up a high curtain rod that lines up with the top of the cabinets and curtains over the window, it can camouflage its unevenness.
I agree with everything Hopes says. I was just looking at buying homes recently, and I cook at home almost exclusively. The kitchen is the MOST important room to me. I would definitely get rid of the island. The kitchen is too small for it. Even though islands are generally a plus, it is in the way. Changing the countertops would help a great deal, but they don't have to be granite if you're not into that. Quartz, marble, soapstone, even concrete are great countertop material alternatives. And the wallpaper looks dated. Neutral paint is the way to go. The window looks odd, but if you put up a high curtain rod that lines up with the top of the cabinets and curtains over the window, it can camouflage its unevenness.
Thank you!
The kitchen has never been remodeled - this is the original configuration. The only thing that has been updated is the appliances. (Not including the fridge.)
I agree about the island. It's got to go - but then I lose critical cabinet and drawer space, so we HAVE to build the big hutch/storage.
We're definitely going to change the counter tops - probably to quartz in a very soft, neutral color.
The wallpaper has already been removed - it was the first thing to go (we put that in the sales contract and the sellers have already removed it and textured the walls and painted them a neutral cream which is very pretty).
As for the window, you're right but I think I am going to put a shelf up there rather than a curtain - but I'll experiment with a curtain before I decide. Something definitely needs to go up there! ABOVE the window to sort of visually extend it.
You are right - the kitchen is the heart of the home and that's why I am so stressed about it.
You do have space to rearrange the kitchen as a whole someday so I wouldn't worry about that too much. Is it close to the garage so you could put shelving in there--or maybe in a basement---to hold larger items like a roaster or whatever? You will find that there is a lot of storage in the pantry so that does help. If you do add a hutch in the eating area, just make sure it's functional for what you need it for--shelves are deep enough to hold what you need in there. I think the peninsula will give you more work space than you think but there isn't a lot extra but someone on either side of the sink prepping food would work easily and you wouldn't be tripping over each other. You could never have 2 people in there prepping food near the sink and use the dishwasher with that island in the way though. The design, minus the island, is actually very efficient. I had a kitchen similar to that before and I liked it. If you can find matching cabinets you could add cabinets to the back side of the peninsula and expand that countertop out a couple feet to make up for what would be lost by taking out the island.
The kitchen has never been remodeled - this is the original configuration. The only thing that has been updated is the appliances. (Not including the fridge.)
I agree about the island. It's got to go - but then I lose critical cabinet and drawer space, so we HAVE to build the big hutch/storage.
We're definitely going to change the counter tops - probably to quartz in a very soft, neutral color.
The wallpaper has already been removed - it was the first thing to go (we put that in the sales contract and the sellers have already removed it and textured the walls and painted them a neutral cream which is very pretty).
As for the window, you're right but I think I am going to put a shelf up there rather than a curtain - but I'll experiment with a curtain before I decide. Something definitely needs to go up there! ABOVE the window to sort of visually extend it.
You are right - the kitchen is the heart of the home and that's why I am so stressed about it.
Kathryn you could have both with a cornice/pelmet,shelf above a curtain rail or even maybe a roman blind this would give you the best of both worlds. If you make get the proportions of the cornice right it could be made level with the nearby cabinets.
My downstairs kitchen is similar in size and layout to the kitchen in the pictures. I'd suggest you try living with the island as is for a while and see if it works. Since your island isn't directly across from the fridge like mine is, you won't have to move out of the way when someone wants to get into the fridge so it may not be as difficult to work in as you think. It's too bad the island isn't on wheels.
I love that nook. The area in the nook where the buffet is.... I like the idea of putting a cabinet that looks like a hutch. A hutch that's a little bit smaller in depth on top, and deeper on the bottom so it visually doesn't appear to take up all that wall space next to the windows. I hope that made sense. and the cabinet can't be too deep where you can't center the table either.
edited to say.. I didn't know the dishwasher was in front of the island.. that could be a problem.
What window are you guys talking about?
I only had one cup of coffee so maybe my brain cells arent functioning yet.
I only had one cup of coffee so maybe my brain cells arent functioning yet.
The one next to the peninsula near the sink.
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"Savings" vs "lower cost"
and the cabinet can't be too deep where you can't center the table either.
