Kitchen photos

[chromedome]

2 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

 

The other side of the island has two regular sized drawers (I use one for silverware and the other for side towels), a microwave drawer (truthfully I did not even know these existed until we redid the kitchen but our designer insisted on it and I am happy because it frees up a lot of counter space). 

I've been seeing those a lot on reno shows, and was curious how they'd work out in practice.

 

I personally don't think I'd want my microwave in a place where I have to bend down to retrieve things from it (I'm having a back pain morning, one of the consequences of moving, so that looms a bit larger than usual at the moment). Also in our case that would put it at grandkid level, and I can foresee many potential issues arising from that.

 

Mind you we're in rentals for at least another few years, so it's all moot at this point.

 

[weinoo]

On 5/21/2019 at 9:49 PM, EatingBen said:

Without doubt the best kitchen I've laid eyes on in this thread. So many others look wonderful and I've no doubt they bring lots of joy but this one is perfect. 

 

It looks like a kitchen that is a pleasure to work in, everything to hand, everything easily in reach and easily returned to it's home. 

 

I love a comfortable kitchen, it inspires me to cook more!  I wish I could do more with my current kitchen but I'm held back by not owning it myself otherwise mine would look similar to yours 

 

On 5/22/2019 at 12:16 AM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

He redid it.

 

 

Yes, but it is still pretty workable...

 

 

[FauxPas]

@liamsaunt, did you plan for a designated spot for spices? That's the one that annoys a lot of us forced to live with older kitchens. Or is the pantry-type area next to the fridge used for that? 

[FauxPas]

6 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

 

Yes, but it is still pretty workable...

 

 

 

I really liked both your Before and After kitchens, but the After did have some nice storage incorporated and a cleaner look!  🙂

 

Edited May 24, 2019 by FauxPas (log)

[EatingBen]

13 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

 

Yes, but it is still pretty workable...

 

 

Have you posted photos by any chance?

[blue_dolphin]

2 hours ago, EatingBen said:

Have you posted photos by any chance?

 

Lots of info here

[liamsaunt]

On 5/23/2019 at 10:10 AM, chromedome said:

I've been seeing those a lot on reno shows, and was curious how they'd work out in practice.

 

I personally don't think I'd want my microwave in a place where I have to bend down to retrieve things from it (I'm having a back pain morning, one of the consequences of moving, so that looms a bit larger than usual at the moment). Also in our case that would put it at grandkid level, and I can foresee many potential issues arising from that.

 

Mind you we're in rentals for at least another few years, so it's all moot at this point.

 

 

I don't know if it is the height of where the microwave was placed in the island, or my height (I am short), but I don't need to bend down to put things in or take things out of the microwave drawer.  It would be kid height though, so I can see that being a concern.  

 

 

10 hours ago, FauxPas said:

@liamsaunt, did you plan for a designated spot for spices? That's the one that annoys a lot of us forced to live with older kitchens. Or is the pantry-type area next to the fridge used for that? 

 

Yes!  The pantry next to the fridge is a spice cabinet.  The lower section has a series of pull out drawers that hold my large spice collection alphabetically.  I made labels for the tops of the jars so it's easy to find what I need.  The top portion of the pantry holds overflow spices (I buy bags from Penzey's and then decant into jars).  The uppermost shelf in that cabinet holds infrequently used items because I can't reach it 🙂   I have a pole gripper to bring stuff down from that shelf if there isn't someone taller around to reach things down for me. 

 

I did not capture it in the pictures, but there is a second pantry cabinet on the left wall of the kitchen.  It's about three times the width of the spice cabinet and I use it for food storage.  

[blue_dolphin]

On 5/23/2019 at 7:10 AM, chromedome said:

Also in our case that would put it at grandkid level, and I can foresee many potential issues arising from that.

 

A number of my friends have done a drawer microwave specifically because it was at kid level and easy for them to use vs reaching up high or climbing on top of the stove.  

There's usually a function to lock the control panel if there are very little ones in the mix. 

 

[Porthos]

On 6/4/2014 at 7:13 PM, gfweb said:

Porthos...great stuff. I love the pot rack. That's a lot on one hook!

@gfweb

 

Well, it took another 6 years but after hanging off of that one hook for 30+ years, last week the hook bent and dropped the pot rack. Shockingly, nothing broke, and was surprised by that given that there were several bottles of alcohol on the counter below. I installed 2 larger hooks and it's back in use.

Edited August 15, 2020 by Porthos (log)

[FauxPas]

I'm going to share some kitchen photos as well and a bit of a reno story. 

 

We bought this house 7 or 8 years ago largely because it was a great location. It was within walking distance of a terrific little downtown with all kinds of services and amenities and only a few blocks to the harbour. At that time, we got some ocean glimpses, but not a lot of view, but there was some potential. 

 

One of the worst things about this house was the kitchen. The house was built in 1990 but the kitchen looked even older. 

 

Here it is in all its homely glory when we first viewed it. 

 

Vertical blinds everywhere, in a dusty brownish-purple colour. Homely lighting fixtures. Vaguely industrial flooring that was discoloured by sunlight. Too-small deck. Those putty-brownish baseboard heaters. Tiny bare baseboards. Some of the windows had lost their seal and needed to be replaced, as did the patio door. 

 

 

 

That lonely little cabinet above the stove. That odd gap between the stove and the patio door. But, and I can hear some of you quietly shrieking it, "What the H is going on with that cabinet/countertop combo?" 

 

 

Just so you can get a better look, here is another jarring image of that red countertop and orange oak cabinet marriage. Look away if you must, ha! 

 

 

More to come..... 

 

 

 

[FauxPas]

We couldn't get started on renos right away, as we were busy with various things but at some point we talked to a contractor and decided to raise the whole house. This made sense because the house was below the roadway and we had a miserable driveway sloping downward and we could increase our ocean views. Since we didn't really need more space for the two of us, we decided to build a separate suite below for rental or for family. 

 

So, we did a bit of raising. The lot was really transformed and the house lifted. 

 

 

 

 

And then this stage. 

 

 

 

 

 

[gfweb]

4 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

We couldn't get started on renos right away, as we were busy with various things but at some point we talked to a contractor and decided to raise the whole house. This made sense because the house was below the roadway and we had a miserable driveway sloping downward and we could increase our ocean views. Since we didn't really need more space for the two of us, we decided to build a separate suite below for rental or for family. 

 

So, we did a bit of raising. The lot was really transformed and the house lifted. 

 

 

 

 

And then this stage. 

 

 

 

 

 

Lot of work to fix a bad kitchen.

I respect that.

[FauxPas]

But like most renos, once we were underway we realized we were going to end up overbudget and somehow the upstairs renos got scaled back. We completely redid the main bath and all the flooring but the kitchen cabinets would have to stay. Still, we managed to do a few things. 

 

We replaced windows and patio door, electrical fixtures, flooring, baseboards, and appliances. We moved a section of lower cabinets to the left of the stove so that there was room for a dishwasher. We removed the baseboard heaters and installed a heatpump. And thank you to the kitchen gods, we were able to replace that hideous countertop!!!! Cheapo laminate but I was as happy as if it was the finest marble, hahaha. 

 

But we still had the old and ugly cabinets. 

 

[FauxPas]

And then we got busy with other things and another house we owned in Arizona and this kitchen got left behind again. And then last year we decided even if we didn't do anything deluxe, it was time to update those cabinets. So, hello IKEA kitchens! We live on an island and there are extra shipping charges for anything from IKEA and we decided we didn't want to try and do the job ourselves so we hired a local company who would handle all the shipping, delivery and cabinet install. The end result is that we definitely paid more for our IKEA kitchen than folks who live in larger urban areas, but I was so happy to see those oak cabinets gone. 

 

Here's the start.

 

 

 

 

Must go, more tomorrow! 

 

 

Edited November 2, 2020 by FauxPas (log)

[Smithy]

In truth, I think the cabinets look(ed) great once that awful countertop was gone. But I'm looking forward to seeing the new version of the kitchen.

 

I am most surprised by the idea of raising the whole house. I tend to accept walls, grades, heights, and so on as they're set, rather than seeing the possibilities of changes. Very cool. (And I'll note that when I first read the phrase "raise the house" I thought you'd made a frightul typo! Glad I was wrong about that!)

[weinoo]

Raising the house - now that's what I call a renovation!

[FauxPas]

It WAS quite the renovation, but it made sense to us! I haven't gone into all the details of things we did with the lot and re-landscaping and the new siding on the house and the skylight and suntunnels, but suffice it to say that when the finished job was evaluated/appraised/approved for occupancy, we were told we effectively had a brand new house overall. Even the foundation had been re-poured, a separate electric panel added and the old one revamped, the water line coming to the house was upgraded to a wider one. We had custom cabinetry done for the upstairs bath and some in the laundry room/pantry. And more. At the time, I wasn't sure we were doing the right thing, it did seem pricey. But we got the house for an excellent price initially and it's certainly now worth more than the purchase price + what we put into it, so it feels pretty good. And given the recent rise in lumber prices, we could not currently do all that framing, etc for the same kind of price! 

 

The company we chose for doing the actual house-raising is called Nickel Brothers and they are very well known in this region. They are best known for MOVING houses, not just raising them, but of course raising is the first part of moving. Because of the ridiculously high prices for real estate in greater Vancouver, several heritage homes have been lifted and moved to new locations so that developers can build higher density in the urban region. It's a bonus for folks who can buy cheaper land in other parts of the province and get those classic houses at a very reasonable price. 

 

If you are interested, check out the web site for Nickel Bros. They even barge homes across the waterways here - many from metro Vancouver to Vancouver Island or in parts of Washington state. There are several heritage homes near the water and just south of us that arrived that way. 

https://www.nickelbros.com/residential/

 

 

 

[FauxPas]

Meanwhile, back to our most recent kitchen updates. Nothing like some of you folks have done with your amazing kitchens, but we really wanted something brighter and more modern. I did get quotes from some of the custom kitchen people we had worked with before, but they were all crazy busy with new builds and Covid restrictions and it would have taken several months at least to get anything underway. There's a newish outfit here doing the IKEA kitchens and we decided to go that way, because we do like the product but also we only had to wait weeks instead of months to get things going. The price wasn't all that much less than some custom options because of all the varied costs for transportation and delivery and there's still quite a bit of labour to install an IKEA kitchen. Has anyone here done their own? That certainly wasn't an option for us, unfortunately. (Pretty low on the handy scale, here.)  😀

 

Somehow the previous kitchen upgrades involved putting in halogen under-cabinet lighting. I have no idea how that happened because it's stupidly hot and everything in your cupboards heats up and they generate heat when you don't want it, etc. And I had asked for LED. So one lovely thing about this upgrade was finally getting the LED lights I wanted. And getting rid of the big OTR microwave and replacing it with a low-profile one. That involved some re-wiring. So we had to get an electrician as well as the cabinet installers. And we wanted to make some plumbing changes along with the usual fridge/dishwasher/sink reinstall, so a plumber was needed. 

 

Because of scheduling, we had no real kitchen for almost three weeks. Our most recent tenant had moved out from the lower suite and so we had this at our disposal. Not deluxe, but quite comfortable and extremely useful for Covid distancing when workers were there and just generally for having a decent kitchen. We had always rented the suite fully furnished so already had pots, pans, dishes, cutlery etc. 

 

Not sure why I can't find a pic of this area with the furnishings but you will get the idea. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FauxPas]

Anyhoo, at the end of the day, we got a much brighter kitchen with decent LED undercabinet lighting. Not deluxe but I'm a lot happier spending time here. No pantry but we have a fairly large laundry room and pantry that already has quite a lot of storage space. Mostly I wanted more drawers and cabinets to the ceiling. I have a pull-out recycling centre that is quite convenient and I think the fridge looks better framed. We opted for a plain and lower-priced cabinet front, I am not a fan of cleaning those little nooks and crannies on the others! And we still opted for a laminate countertop for several reasons. 

 

 

 

 

And at night:

 

 

(We had to replace our old but still newish and rather pricey LG French door fridge not long before this, it died on us in April, right in the midst of the shutdown stuff, so we had very limited choices in replacement. Turns out, I'm pretty happy with this deep GE model, though!) 

 

A few pics, we still need to get some painting touch-up done and there might be a few details different between these pics and today, but again, you'll get the idea. 

 

 

[ElsieD]

1 minute ago, FauxPas said:

Anyhoo, at the end of the day, we got a much brighter kitchen with decent LED undercabinet lighting. Not deluxe but I'm a lot happier spending time here. No pantry but we have a fairly large laundry room and pantry that already has quite a lot of storage space. Mostly I wanted more drawers and cabinets to the ceiling. I have a pull-out recycling centre that is quite convenient and I think the fridge looks better framed. We opted for a plain and lower-priced cabinet front, I am not a fan of cleaning those little nooks and crannies on the others! And we still opted for a laminate countertop for several reasons. 

 

 

 

 

And at night:

 

 

(We had to replace our old but still newish and rather pricey LG French door fridge not long before this, it died on us in April, right in the midst of the shutdown stuff, so we had very limited choices in replacement. Turns out, I'm pretty happy with this deep GE model, though!) 

 

A few pics, we still need to get some painting touch-up done and there might be a few details different between these pics and today, but again, you'll get the idea. 

 

 

It looks absolutely wonderful.  Happy cooking/ baking!  It's so nice and bright.

[FauxPas]

Oh and some of the views we only got after raising the house!  Not the best photo, but the first to hand. 😄

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

One thing that saves my sanity is the view of the mountain out of my kitchen window.

 

[FauxPas]

20 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

One thing that saves my sanity is the view of the mountain out of my kitchen window.

 

Have you posted photos, Jo? 

[gfweb]

@FauxPas
Smashing job. Really great. And the views...

[FauxPas]

Just now, gfweb said:

@FauxPas
Smashing job. Really great. And the views...

 

The views are actually better than that some days! 

 

It's essentially a very small house, we always thought of treating it as a bit of a cottage or beach house, though of course we aren't right on the beach. But that's why we went with the distressed-look for the flooring. And blue-grey siding with white trim for the exterior and one of my fave Mariner's Compass quilt blocks for decoration and a comment on my love of quilting.