Hey hey and happy Friday!! This week was weird (in a good way) with school delays and cancellations so I will be back to posting a little earlier in the day next week. I still haven’t gotten back in the groove just yet!
I’m back today to share the initial plans for a project I’ve been waiting YEARS to start. I waited because I wasn’t 100 percent sure what I wanted to do in this room till last year and I have to know my direction before I start. I’ve seriously been planning to redo our kitchen for the longest time and I’m determined to get going this year.
I want to do most of it myself…there are a few things that I may need help with, but for the most part I think I can handle it. We shall see. :) I’m sharing photos of our kitchen as is to share the plans – but it’s been in a bit of a half-way point for awhile so ignore the stuff like missing baseboard and the wonky island:
The island looks like that because it was torn apart to remove it during our renovation. I had it pulled up so we could patch the floor underneath (we had the hardwoods installed around it years back) – this allowed us to move it a little further away from the fridge and quite a bit back from the sink and stove.
I want to extend the island so I wanted to make sure we’d have plenty of room to move around the stove with the door open. I shared the plans for the island before, but the basic idea is to make it quite a bit longer and build out the front just a bit:
It won’t be THAT big, but it will probably be nearly double the current length and a bit wider too. I plan to do a stone countertop on there and I think I’ve found what I want – but I haven’t looked that much yet so that could change. It will be a light stone for sure.
I also plan to remove the upper microwave and install it in the island:
(source)
I don’t know if I’ll do it like that (one that you just slide in) or a built in one – the built ins are SO expensive, so I’m guessing it will be the former.
This view has changed a bit recently:
You can see I still have to paint the ceiling patches. So much to do!
This is where the back door used to be. The trim still needs to be painted, I’ll do my craftsman trim around the pantry door and built a window seat in the bay window:
I talked about my excitement for that project here. :) I think it will be lovely!
This is the view that will undergo a dramatic change:
The upper cabinets and microwave will go and will be replaced with a hood and shelving.
I know some consider the shelves to be trendy but I think they are timeless – and more efficient honestly. I cannot wait! I love the look of thick wood shelves:
The backsplash will change too. The beadboard backsplash has held up incredibly well – I’ve actually been quite impressed with it. But I’ll be doing something different because it stops where the cabinets are installed and I just want a different look. It will be tile but I’m not sure about what yet.
I’m most anxious about the backsplash. I can tile just fine, it’s removing the beadboard that will be an complete and utter disaster. It’s installed on top of the old backsplash tile because that tile was impossible to remove – so there will be a lot of drywall repairs I’m sure. :)
These cabinets will stay:
BUT they will get major updates too. Yes, I’ll be painting them. I know, I know, some of you hate that but they are nearly 11 years old and showing their age. The stain is worn off on spots on all of the base cabinets – not so much on the uppers. The little stain marker they gave us when we moved in doesn’t cut it to fix them. ;) I’m quite sure the paint on these will be the biggest difference in this room – I think they will be beautiful!
But the bigger reason for painting them is my plan to extend them to the ceiling like so:
Ours will go all the way to the ceiling and will be open like those above. I would love to put some kind of lighting in them too. Our uppers are the standard size and I used to kick myself for not doing the taller ones, but then I realize my friends with taller ones need a step stool to use the extra shelf, so it doesn’t bother me as much anymore.
I still have to figure out measurements but the new section will probably be about 14-16 inches tall and then I’ll add a header with crown to fill in the rest. Those will just hold decorative items. Another BIG job but it will make a huge difference!
I also plan to build in our fridge with a new upper cabinet and wood on the left side:
And instead of our corner appliance cabinet I’d like to build in something like this next to the fridge:
That’s definitely something I’d need help with though.
The plan right now is to do butcher block countertops everywhere here to save money. Like I mentioned before I still haven’t decided on the stone I want to use on the island so if it’s not crazy expensive I may flip that and do the stone on the counters and wood on the island again. Not sure yet.
That’s the plan as it is right now and I’m so VERY excited! There’s one more possible project I’d like to tackle but I’ll hold that for later – if we decide to do it. It would just offer more storage in the kitchen overall.
I don’t know if we’ll be able to do all of this this year but that’s my goal. I’d love love love to have a pretty new kitchen by the holidays. Have you tackled a kitchen renovation? Feel free to share anything worthwhile you learned along the way!
Have a great weekend!!