Architects Beware!

If you are an architect, or have any experience in the architectural arts, I strongly encourage you not to read this post. Since we started kitchen dreaming, I developed a liking for drawing out floorplans. The fact that I like it in no way means that I have any skill in this area. You have been warned.

So, here's how our kitchen is currently laid out.


So, here's a little virtual tour. Let's say we're walking in from the backyard (bottom right corner). The makeshift hutch will be to your right in the mudroom area, then you walk through a second doorway (part of the "useless wall") and enter the main kitchen area. The cabinets/counter make an L shape to your right and ending with the stove in front of you. To your left is the makeshift fridge/island setup. If you walk through the doorway on the left you end up in the dining room, then can take another left into our little office (currently about 8'x11'), with a large hall closet that backs up into the current kitchen (behind the "useless wall").

Now, here are plans for the future kitchen:

You may notice the following big changes:
1. Useless wall gone.
2. Island in the middle of the kitchen.
3. Is that a toilet where the closet used to be?

So, let's do our virtual tour. We'll walk in through the back door and our L-shape cabinet/counters will immediately begin to our right - no second doorway, no hutch. After 4 feet of floor-to-ceiling pantry cabinets the counter begins and makes the stretch all the way around to the new stove. To your left is a floor-to ceiling wooden cabinet panel, behind which sits the fridge. Since we've removed the old closet we've added about 15 square feet to the main kitchen area, opening space up for the center island. Now, we can take that same doorway on the left wall into the dining room, and when we walk into the den you might notice it's now 8'x8'.

The first doorway on your left in the den will open to reveal a (slightly smaller) hall closet to replace the one that the kitchen absorbed. The second doorway (this one is exciting) is a half bathroom! Surprise! When we say kitchen remodel, what we really mean is kitchen remodel/bathroom addition. It will be a very small room - under 15 square feet - but just large enough for a little pedestal sink and toilet, putting the first ever first floor bath in our old house.

Here are a few more items we hope to put in our new kitchen/half bath:


Our island will have an overhang on the left side (toward the dining room) just large enough for a few of these saddle stools.


A couple of these cheery rugs will soften our steps by the back door and the sink.


Dramatic 8" pulls will add drama to our simple, shaker cabinets.


I love hanging pot racks, but my old wall-mounted one won't fit with our old layout. A ceiling-mounted pot rack will give us a place to display pots over the new island.