Apologies in advance for the length of this tome.
Background We bought our house two years ago. The house is well-built, close to work, and we plan to live here for a very long time. When we purchased the house, we knew that we would redo the kitchen and add a bedroom, bathroom, and office.
The old kitchen was a walk-through galley, and the kitchen door serves as the main entrance to the house. Opening the kitchen door blocked the main food preparation area. The refrigerator facing the peninsula created an annoying bottleneck. The range was crammed in a corner, so my left-handed spouse could only use two burners. I could go on, but you get the idea. Here is the old kitchen, with the upper cabinets and soffit removed on the right side.
Limitations The kitchen is relatively small, and we decided against moving any walls. We were not willing to borrow money for the kitchen renovation. We also had a critical time limitation. My step-son in law is an engineering student and incredibly talented carpenter. He agreed to install cabinets and do finish carpentry during his two-week semester break.
The ‘discussions’ Our biggest ‘discussion’ concerned countertop depth. I wanted 30-inch deep countertops for extra prep space. My wife wanted 24-inch deep countertops so she could reach the upper cabinets. Eventually we compromised and installed a mix of 24-inch and 30-inch deep countertops. I can joke about it now (I think).
Essential elements
Here’s a list of things we considered essential. Drawers, not cabinets for storage. Two ovens. Vertical storage. Tough counter tops. An American style fridge. Quality dishwasher. A large gas cook top. Storage, storage, storage. Cookbook shelves.
Our list was identical to Dave’s except for the double ovens.
Equipment 36-inch, 6-burner Blue Star range top, Vent-A-Hood exhaust, no-frills GE oven, and Whirlpool dishwasher.
Cabinets Ikea slab-front birch cabinets in medium brown.
Worktops Engineered stone (Cambria) – cost comparable to granite, but harder and less porous.
Flooring Hardwood flooring to match the dining room.
Q. What was your kitchen before it was a kitchen? A kitchen.
Q. How large is the kitchen? 10 feet long x 12 feet wide (3.05 meters x 3.66 meters). The kitchen and dining room are essentially one long room, 21 feet long x 12 feet wide (6.40 meters x 3.66 meters).
Q. What kind of cooking do you do? Family? Dinner parties? Ethnic? Gourmet? We cook for a family of four and frequent hordes of visiting children. Occasionally, we host casual dinner parties and holiday meals for groups of 8-12 people. We cook a lot of Asian, Indian, and Mexican food and stir-fry frequently in a wok. Neither of us do much baking.
Q. What were the 3 top goals for your new kitchen? 1. Provide efficient work space for three cooks. To eliminate bottlenecks, we removed the peninsula and moved the refrigerator into the corner. To reduce collisions, we added a small prep sink, installed a six-burner range top, and provided space for a future under-cabinet refrigerator (if needed). This enabled us to design three non-overlapping work triangles.
2. Maximize usable counter space. By framing in a useless door, we were able to add three crucial feet of countertop. Installing an out-swinging kitchen door freed another three feet of countertop.
3. Store frequently-used items near their point of use.
Q. What was the biggest problem that had to be overcome? In the design phase? During actual construction? In the design phase, the biggest problem was to use the relatively limited space efficiently. The key was to measure the space needed for everything in the old kitchen: flatware; dishes; spices; pots and pans; canned goods; dry goods; small appliances; cookbooks; etc. This information was invaluable during design.
During construction, flooring caused the most problems. When we removed the old cabinets, we found asbestos-containing sheet vinyl flooring and water damage beneath the dishwasher. We hired a licensed asbestos abatement contractor to remove the vinyl flooring and sub-floor. To offset this unexpected cost, we eliminated a bow window above the sink.
Q. What are you most pleased about in your new kitchen? We are deliriously happy with the Blue Star range top. The 22,000-BTU burners provide enough power to stir-fry effectively, and it is large enough for two cooks to work without interference. With continuous grates, the range top serves as a landing pad for hot items out of the oven.
We are strangely delighted with the clean-up area. One side of the kitchen houses (in sequence, left to right): a trash and recycling pull-out; a huge single sink; the dishwasher; flatware drawers; and a tall shallow cabinet for plates and bowls. After meals, we can scrape dirty dishes into the trash, rinse the dishes in the sink, and load the dishwasher without taking a step. Similarly, we can unload the dishwasher and put away most of the dishes without taking a step. Doing dishes is almost a pleasure (and yes, I usually do the dishes).
Q. Least pleased about? We have been unhappy with the dishwasher. Our previous Whirlpool was great, but this one has required two service calls in the first nine months.
Q. If you were doing your kitchen again what would you change? Not much. We spent a lot of time on the planning stage, and probably looked at every possible layout (and quite a few impossible layouts). We wanted to be sure that we would have no regrets when the kitchen was finished.
And to answer my own questions . . .
Q: How much of the design did you do yourself? We designed the kitchen using Ikea’s kitchen planning software. My step-son-in-law solved some key design problems, such as where to put the microwave and how to enclose the current refrigerator while retaining the option of a larger refrigerator in the future.
Q: How much of the construction did you do yourself? We did all of the demolition, drywall, painting, and scheduling. Our step-son-in-law did the cabinet installation and finish carpentry. We hired electricians, plumbers, flooring installers, and countertop installers
Q. How long did the renovation take? How long was it supposed to take? As planned, we were without a functional kitchen for two months. Our schedule was driven by when my step-son-in-law was available to install cabinets. We started demolition early to ensure that everything was ready on time. In retrospect, we could have shortened the schedule a little.
Q: By what percentage was the final cost over or under the budget? We exceeded our budget by about 25%, mostly in electrical costs. Complete disclosure: the 25% overrun does not include replacing the main electrical panel because we planned to replace the panel when we added the bedroom, bathroom, and office.
Q. Did the relationship between life partners suffer any permanent damage? No, working together on the kitchen probably made our relationship stronger. My wife and I have similar tastes, but we think very differently. Working on a project forces us to hone our communication skills.
Here is an overview of the new kitchen:
The cooking wall: note bump-out from 24" to 30", wok and kettle on a shelf above the range top, microwave housed in upper cabinet, and hanging rail system below the upper cabinets, Using wall storage helps keep the countertops clear. There is a small prep sink at the far end near the door. The glass-fronted upper cabinet houses spices and dried chilies.
The sink wall. The trash/recycling pull-out is to the left of the sink, and the dishwasher is to the right. Note wall-mounted drying racks near the dishwasher.
Cabinet wall at the far end of the dining room. The cabinets hold cookbooks, small appliances, and dry goods. Note highly realistic dog-skin rug
