As I sit typing, the sweet, weird, chemical smell of pipe glue is in the air, and all I hear is saws running as plumbers slice through the surprise plumbing cluster in the kitchen soffit and an electrician carves holes in the den ceiling for can lights. We’re full-on running into this remodel, and the biggest priorities on my list are (1) to have a functioning toilet again by Monday because we’re currently living in an Airbnb, and (2) have a finished and functioning kitchen asap.
I’ve met with my cabinet gal Jenifer (she’s the one that did the kitchen in our old house as well as the one at Bellaire) again to draw up plans for the space, and after a few cabinet layouts, losing a window so that we can redirect that darn plumbing, and deciding to move the door from the dining room into the kitchen, I think we have a plan…
This kitchen is big. Huge. Like, twenty feet long and thirteen feet wide huge. Sadly, though, the floorplan is a weird one. At 13 feet wide, it’s almost too far to stand at a sink and turn around to a stove if we go galley style, and at only 13 feet wide, it’d not quite wide enough to have a galley style kitchen with an island. If we went with an L-shaped kitchen, it would be so tiny and off-center that it would just feel… weird… With 5 doors right in a row (dining room, basement, foyer, pantry, living room), there was no space for an eat-in nook the way we had in our old place.
Enter: the plans. First, some doors just had to go. The one to the dining room is being relocated to the other end of the dining/kitchen wall (you can peep in in the far right of the photo above), and the small one to the living room is being closed up and relocated to the far end of the living room wall, to allow for a symmetrical wall in the living room (nice, big opening to the foyer, and nice, big opening to the kitchen). We pulled out the pantry, which allowed us to open up the foyer, so all that’s left is a door from the foyer next to the door to the basement stairs.
With the big, new opening entering the kitchen from the living space, we thought it would be nice to open the door to the den as wide as possible, but couldn’t really figure out how to do that. An exhaust vent from the gas water heater was tucked into the corner next to the den. Luckily, with plumbers here all week dealing with the mess in the soffit, they offered to just replace the gas water heater with an electric version and we could lose the vent. All of a sudden, we were able to widen the entrance to the den, and we’re left with a sightline from the formal living room clear across the rear of the house, through the kitchen and into the den.
Then came the plans. With the moving of the dining room door, we were left with a 10-foot stretch of wall that would happily hold a 36″ wide range and plenty of cabinet space. The open space in the middle, then, could hold an island, with sink and dishwasher, and an overhang that can serve as our kitchen seating. Truth be told, I’m not a kitchen island or bar seating type of gal, but the man is, and I know it’s a popular way to keep friends close when we entertain. And, let’s be honest- we always gather in the kitchen.
Our cabinets- while not the door style we had in the old house- will mimic them. Full overlay, white. I’ve elected to use a panel-ready dishwasher and fridge to keep things looking cohesive, so that the two real stars of the show can shine… these Hicks pendants! I’ve been obsessing over these guys forever, and after the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals out there, I finally took the plunge.
Hoping to have more photos for you as we move forward. Stay tuned for a whole house update (with photos!) next week.
