Everything Including the Kitchen Sink

Kitchen Remodeling!  Have you ever done it?  If you have, then I suppose you will be able to understand where I am in the process, but this is new to me, and there is a pretty steep learning curve.

During Spring Break (last week of March) I met with my kitchen designer, Robin from Jae Co.  She had recreated my tiny kitchen in her CAD program and was able to show it on a big-screen TV in a conference room.  I felt like I was on one of the HGTV shows like Property Brothers!  There was my little kitchen on TV!

Here are photos of my current kitchen:  Let's start with the sink side:

At the far end, next to the wall, will be a tall tray cabinet for cookie sheets and serving trays. There is currently a tray cabinet there, but it has a permanent shelf in the middle which means all trays need to be turned side-ways, and pizza pans barely fit at all under the shelf.  The new cabinet will not have a shelf in - it will be totally open. 

 Then comes the dishwasher.  Unlike 99.9% of the population, Hubs and I do not use dishwashers.  We never have.  We prefer to do the dishes the old-fashioned way, and it has served us well over the years.  One reason I don't like dishwashers is because I saw how my mother's dishes and glassware were ruined because of the repeated exposure to the extreme heat of the dishwasher.  By the time we were clearing out her house, many of her everyday glasses were cloudy - the clarity was totally gone - and many of her everyday dishes had lost their sparkle.  Another reason we don't like dishwashers is because we don't use very many dishes a day, and it would take days, and all our dishes to fill up the dishwasher for a full-load to run.  That just doesn't make sense to us.  If we cooked a lot of really big meals, or were feeding more people, maybe it would make sense on that level, but not just for the two of us.  Since we've never used our dishwashers, and since we've always lived in places with very small kitchens and not much storage, we've always used our dishwasher for storage.  We keep all of our dishtowels on the top rack, and things like boxes of foil and baggies in the bottom rack.  We have plastic utensils in the silverware holder, and paper napkins right next to that.  

Because I understand the importance of a dishwasher to many home-buyers, I am keeping the space available for a dishwasher to be installed, but my new kitchen will replace the dishwasher with drawers.  There will be a top drawer that will be the same size as the silverware drawers on the other side of the sink, and then there will be 2 deeper drawers below that which will hold the towels and and other supplies that are currently in the dishwasher.  For me, that is a much more efficient use of space.  If/when I ever want to sell the house, I can easily have a dishwasher installed, or make that available to potential buyers.  

The big change to the lower cabinet to the left of the sink will be the installation of pull-out shelves that will be similar to this:

One of the main reasons I am doing this remodel in the first place is because as it is now, my big empty open cabinets are so difficult to access that there is a lot of wasted space in them.  I can't reach to the back of the bottom shelf, and the top shelf is only about half as deep as the cabinet.  That's just not a practical use of space.  These shelves will pull all the way out, allowing me to use all that space and to easily get to everything I put in there.  

Last but not least on the sink side is the end toward the dining room. As you can see in the photo of the current kitchen, there are open shelves at the end.  I have asked for a closed cabinet instead, so the whole thing looks more finished.  I think that space will be more versatile if we can close/hide it.  

Here is the computer rendition of the new cabinets for this side:

You will notice there is a small cabinet just to the left of the sink.  This will have the option of being
used for a trash can if we take out the top sliding drawer.  But we don't have to use it for that.  As it is now, we keep a small trash can under the sink and a larger one in the laundry room which has no laundry equipment.  We want to get a washer and dryer eventually, so we will need a new home for the trash can when we do that.

These cabinets are KraftMaid, and they offer a paper towel holder that goes with the cabinets, so we are getting that.  We will also have under cabinet lighting under both upper cabs, and so there is a light molding around the bottom of the cab to hide that.  The lights will be hardwired into a switch on the wall, and there won't be chords tapes to the underside as there are now.  

All of the drawers will be full-extention and soft close, and the cabinet doors will also be soft close.  There will be one silverware drawer with a two-level removable divided tray.  

The stove side is very similar.  The lower cabinets will also have the pull out drawers.  

Here is a photo of the current kitchen:

And here is the computer drawing of the new version:

I started out wanting the stove to be in the middle with the cabinets on each side the same size, but if we do that, there isn't enough space on either counter for our microwave, so we are keeping it as it is now with the cabinet to the left being larger. On the outside end will be a fake door panel so it matches the door on the end of the sink side.  

We are reducing the size of the range hood by 3" so it is the same size as the stove, which will make the upper cabinets a tad larger on each side.  Then the doors over the hood will be made to take art glass inserts, and that's where I'm going to put my Frank Lloyd Wright Art glass, with lights inside that cabinet.  I think this might be the part I am the most excited about.  

Now to my sink.  I have decided on a Karran quartz composite sink in bisque.  Here is the design:

Still to be chosen is the faucet fixture, and all the cabinet hardware.  I am doing homework on those items now.  I know I want my hardware to be Mission Style, and I have toyed with the idea of having each knob or pull in a different design just for fun, but that might get a bit pricey.  Some cool knobs I have found are $35 and since I am going to need about 24 items, that might be over-the-top.  

I also need to buy a new garbage disposal, and I'm leaning toward one of the new models of In-sink-er-ator.  What I've read on line about them sounds really good!

Here again is a photo of the samples of backsplash, countertop and door color (not style):

The cabinets will be oak and stained in a shade called "Fawn".  The counter is Silestone Quasar.

We are keeping our appliances, and the flooring isn't changing, Right now, this is all scheduled to start happening on July 11.  I still need to order and pay for the cabinets, counter and backsplash, then get the other stuff to have here for the crew.  Some of the old cabinets are going to be installed in the garage (uppers from sink side, and lowers from stove side) for use with gardening supplies and other garagy stuff. 

So, that's where we are in this process.  Whew!  Excuse me while I browse the internet for fabulous, and inexpensive hardware!  I look forward to posting photos of the process and the finished product.  Stay tuned!

:)Amy