The last One Room Challenge I did was my laundry room. I love that space, but redoing a room in 6 weeks is a lot of stress. Even though it’s hard, I miss it! This round of the ORC is perfect timing for redoing my Florida kitchen. Can I really finish this room in 6 weeks- technically 5 since we can’t start demo until next week? Well, I sure hope so!
before
This is how the kitchen looked when we moved in. Can you tell how small it is?! One small row of cabinets, no dishwasher, and definitely no style.
So I painted the cabinets, got new appliances, put vinyl over the countertops and backsplash, and added some cute accessories. I’d call the space much improved! And don’t worry, those new Big Chill appliances will obviously be staying. I LOVE them.
the renovation goals FOR THE ONE ROOM CHALLENGE KITCHEN
So here’s why I want to renovate-
-We found termites in the cabinets. They’ve since been treated, but the original 1950’s cabinet frames are well chewed through (they even dent easily). So it’s a concern if they’re structurally sound anymore. This is a BIG issue! Plus, when we remove the cabinets, we’ll probably take out everything so we can have the studs sprayed for termites.
-There’s minimal countertop space. Since we use one countertop for a dish drying rack, there’s only one small counter for meal prep. It gets very cramped when cooking with more than one person. Last spring we cooked every meal at home because of the pandemic (we usually eat most meals at home though) and the tight cooking space got old fast.
-I also want to add more storage. The kitchen is small so only essentials can be stored. It’d be nice to have a bit more cabinet space.
-I’m not a big fan of the long fluorescent light above the cabinets. In person it isn’t too annoying, but it’s definitely dated. Plus, if we remove that, we can get taller cabinets to raise them to the ceiling. More storage and less ugly lights!!!
-I’d also like to take the time to add banquette seating for the dining room. It’ll give more space for the kitchen cabinets to expand. And, from the perspective of a blogger, I’d like to create a better tutorial for how to use an IKEA Kallax bookcase as a banquette dining room bench. I did this in my sister’s kitchen and the tutorial is good, but I’d like to be more thorough. That blog post is my #1 traffic driver right now.
-Last, I’d obviously like to add more style and durability. Right now the countertops have contact paper. I’d like a nice stone in white. The backsplash is drawer liner vinyl. I’d like beautiful white subway tile with a fun detail (stay tuned). It’d be so fun to have the tile go behind the open shelving. And we can’t forget how great it’ll be to switch from a stainless sink to a mint stone one!
Tile behind these shelves would be SO pretty! The wallpaper in the dining room (that I LOVE) will definitely stay!
wall or no wall?
In January, when we bought the house, I had a big kitchen renovation planned. Tearing down the wall. New flooring. The whole she bang!
And then Covid hit. And, like many of you, my income took a big dive. I was still thinking about tearing down the wall, but it took the kitchen from affordable to overwhelming and unattainable. And so, I’m considering embracing the wall.
I really need to be honest with myself about this project- is tearing down a wall so I can add a peninsula and open the kitchen to the living room worth it? Sure, it’s a more popular option. Who doesn’t want an open floor plan?!
But how will my family benefit? It’s a $10,000 decision because I’d need to hire a structural engineer, relocate the breaker box, and re-tile the kitchen, living room, and hall. If that’s a load bearing wall, the cost would be more. Plus way more permits would need to be obtained. This all makes for more money and a longer timeline.
It’s just hard because I know that for re-sale, modernizing the floor plan would be SO smart. But for our family, it’s not a huge benefit. Sure, the extra peninsula seating would be nice and having the space open would be great. But $10,000 great? And our whole house would be torn up during the holidays. Plus we’d lose our office space on the other side of the wall.
There are also benefits to keeping the floor plan closed- less noise and kitchen smells through the rooms, more privacy (which, in a tiny 900 square foot house, is something to consider). I need to do a kitchen renovation, but tearing down the wall is a luxury, not a necessity. I’ve been sad about the wall not coming down, but for now, I really think that is the best decision.
I figure, in 10 or 20 years if we still own this home and want to change our mind, we can revisit taking down the idea then. This is a small house with two bedrooms. The current seating in the kitchen is adequate so this choice also feels correct for the home. Not as exciting, but wiser.
I’ve been deliberating about the kitchen for months. I even have this post with 5 floor plans I was considering. So I’ve carefully gone back over those options and combined a few that I think will work best.
the floor plan
We’ve been drawing our kitchen out in the IKEA floor plan software (that’s probably where we’ll get our cabinets). I thought I’d show you a few elevations so you can bet a better feel for it. You can see that the kitchen is now L shaped. There will also be a dishwasher next to the sink!!! We haven’t owned one for over 2 and a half years so that’ll be a treat! It’ll be panel ready so it can be hidden.
From this corner, the thing I’m not sure about is the upper cabinets in the corner. I’m thinking about doing open shelves from the corner to the fridge. We’ll see though. I’m also tempted to do a hood over the over instead of cabinets. Or maybe a hybrid of both. We’re still very much in the planning stages.
Next week I’ll show you inspiration pictures and some more fun plans I have. Plus we’ll start demo soon after we arrive in Florida (we’re currently on the road driving from Utah to Florida).
I’d LOVE to hear your thoughts. Do you have any suggestions to make this floor plan better while keeping the wall? What could I add that’d be fun? You guys are SO good with ideas I’ve never thought of. Although I’m not taking down the wall, I really want to make this space special.
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Oh this is SOOO exciting!!! 🙂 Your plans are SO lovely & exciting!! & IKEA is SO special! The Stove hood sounds wonderful 🙂 ~ & a white wooden one with your fave scallops would be so sweet! A touch of Pretty Pink peony floral wallpaper some where ~ to go with your pretty pink peony flowers you alway have would be adorable 🙂 ~ & of course the famous adorable “chocolate chip mint sink!” It’s so much fun to dream & see it come true! Enjoy your trip home to your lil dollhouse & keep dreaming! 🙂
It’s going to be amazing no matter what! You do all of your projects so well!! I’m excited to see!!
Too bad you can’t switch the dishwasher and the sink to get a larger continuous prep space. But I assume that would mean moving plumbing for one and secondly, make standing at the sink less convient because of the fridge.
Looks like you’re having maximized the space as best you could. Excited the see the Reno!
I remodeled two years ago. I used https://www.cliqstudios.com/ They help you design for free! Also, I did a corner cabinet and regret it. The opening is smaller than you think and it’s hard to get stuff in and out, so maybe shelves would be better? I was able to put a cabinet over my fridge and extend it all the way to the edge of the fridge.
I’m liking your plan and think keeping the wall was definitely the way to go! As someone who has been through a few kitchen renovations (the latest with IKEA), I have two suggestions:
1. Double, triple and quadruple check the depth of your fridge, how far it will be positioned from the wall, how far the handles stick out, etc. In your plans it looks like the dishwasher, when open, will be dangerously close to the fridge and I worry that you won’t be able to open and close that dishwasher if the fridge comes out too far. It might be worth losing the symmetry and making the cabinet to the left of the sink a bit smaller so you can shift the dishwasher away from that corner.
2. Beyond thinking about what looks good, also think through where everything will go. You probably have already done this, but I found it super helpful to inventory my kitchen supplies and find homes for all of them on my plan before ordering everything. That kind of planning allows you to think of configurations you may not have thought of before. For instance, I ended up being able to fit in a trash cabinet (a real desire for us!) when I realized I could size the cabinet next to it down to just 12 inches and store baking sheets there.
Can’t wait to see what you end up with!!
As much as you love pink, I think I’d do cabinets all white, will make space feel bigger and I know you will do some fun rainbow colored accents! Not sure what to do about the cabinets ( or not) in the corner.
Your plans sound wonderful. I like your reasoning about leaving the wall. I think open shelves in that corner would be nice. I love your round table and banquette seating idea, HOWEVER, have you considered a small rectangular table? My thinking is that when it is just you three, the table could be pushed to the wall with chairs on either end and one side. If you have guests you pull it out. It could also act as extra counter space when baking or working on projects. Hope everything goes smoothly for you!
You could have a cupboard above the fridge and maybe take out the cupboard over the sink and put shelves in that space so the sink/centre of the kitchen becomes a focal point, it would add balance. Whatever you do will be gorgeous, you are such a clever lass. Looking forward to seeing what you do.
Have you considered swinging the stove around so it is next to the door, extending the counter to the end and creating the “L” kitchen on that end? On the sketches, the fridge seems to really block off the right corner visually when it is moved, and makes that corner tight for usable space.
As an older, life time Florida resident I can say I would not want the wall gone if I were downsizing. My generation doesn’t always want to see the work area of the kitchen from the living space and a 2 bedroom house is in that market range for starter home or retirement home. I love the wallpaper and am glad it’s staying along with the darling appliances. Will enjoy seeing your progress.
I don’t comment often, but I’ve been following along for a couple of years, and I’m so excited to see what you do here!
I just adore your plans! I can’t wait to see it come together. We’re about to do our too!