The Kitchen Remodel

A complete kitchen remodel can be a stressful undertaking in the best of times. Ours was done in 2009, during the depths of the so-called "Great Recession." The existing kitchen had too many problems-- everything from poor workmanship and cheap materials to code violations-- that it would have severely hindered any potential sale had we been forced to relocate. Whether we stayed or moved, the kitchen remodel was a necessary investment.

Problems with the existing kitchen

It was the property that attracted us the the house. We knew that the kitchen was going to need some work. The painted cabinets appeared to be functional, although the slab particle board doors held no aesthetic value. I figured that I could fabricate new doors once I had my woodworking shop up and running (a dream that had yet been realized by 2009). We didn't care much for the peel and stick tile floor, but I figured sheet vinyl flooring would be an affordable upgrade. There are other options, of course, and you can find many examples of flooring with discount flooring online. Unfortunately, as time went by, we discovered that our kitchen had deeper issues that required more than just cosmetic fixes.

At first glance, it may be difficult to identify all the design flaws. First of all, barely visible in this picture is the stove and counter space on the right hand side. The refrigerator was originally next to the stove. The refrigerator and stove should not be directly next to each other, mainly for energy efficiency reasons, but also for practical functional reasons. It's simply not a convenient layout.

The location of the hall doorway created a high traffic zone in middle of the work zone which was a safety issue, especially when hot food was involved.

The dishwasher was located in the end of the peninsula, resulting in a narrow passage between the dishwasher and the stove. When the dishwasher door was open, there was insufficient room to pass.

The upper cabinets were less than 18 inches above the countertops. The work surface was quite awkward to use.

Despite the appearance of abundant counterspace, the actual useable surface was quite limited.

The best example of wasted space was the peninsula. The upper glass cabinet was only about a foot above the counter top. Without enough room to use this space for food preparation, it became merely a drop zone for dirty dishes. In addition, the usefulness of the cabinet itself was limited due to the high visibility of its contents as well as the height of the shelves within the cabinet which limited what those contents could be.

While it may appear that there was a fair amount of storage space in the kitchen, that wasn't the reality. For example, the chimney was behind the cabinet door on the left. The useable space was less than four inches deep.

Practical storage was hindered elsewhere by the lack of space between fixed shelves or by narrow doors. The fact is that there were few options for where certain items could be stored. The inconvenience was a source of great frustration that continued to build over the years that we had to live with it.

Pictured to the right is the stove, microwave and counter we used for most of the food preparation. The fridge used to be directly beside the stove, but we moved it when we removed the built-in pantry. The range hood was too small and installed too low. And because it wasn't ventilated outside, the filtered air was recirculated-- directly at face-level. Needless to say, the hood was rarely used. You can also see in the picture that the stove is below the level of the counter, so we had to leave an unsightly space between them to reduce the fire hazard. What you cannot see in the picture is what was going on with the electrical. Originally, the circuit servicing the kitchen was overloaded with about 15 fixtures including the fridge and microwave (which both need to be on dedicated circuits) as well as other counter plugs and overhead lights. After splitting up the circuit, the counter plug in this picture was no longer connected and the microwave still tripped the breaker often. More work needed to be done but the incentive diminished as we learned to live with the problems.