Need suggestion on remodeling kitchen

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I'm going to be remodeling my kitchen here pretty quickly. Actually I am going to start ripping out walls after lunch :o). I don't know why hubby gets so nervous when I start talking about taking out walls :o). Anyhow I'd like to hear from some of you what features in your kitchen are the handiest and make working in it a joy instead of a chore. I already have an extra deep sink with a highrise faucet. Not going to change the sink but I need advice on everthing else. I need suggestions on what your favorite type of countertop is especially. Just keep in mind that I will be doing all of the work myself. I'm a pretty good plain carpenter but not much on fancy stuff. I have very very few electric gadgets in my kitchen...a coffee maker is about it. I can't wait to hear what ya'll suggest :o). Blessings, Amanda

-- Amanda in MO (aseley@townsqr.com), March 16, 2001

Answers

Don't start the process by ripping out walls and then trying to make a plan - make a plan first! If you don't have first hand knowledge of the intended walls supporting role in holding up the celing/roof/house - find out BEFORE you attack. You'll be alot happier in the long run...Good Luck! Willy

-- Willy Allen (willyallen2@yahoo.com), March 16, 2001.

Amanda, this may not be what you want to hear, but I strongly suggest you NOT rip out walls this afternoon, instead sit down and spend the time drawing up a really thorough set of plans for what you want. Once you know what you are going to do with the space, THEN you can start tearing out walls!! LOL!!! Actually, it would be a really good idea to have all the materials on hand for the project, too, before you start demolition work. I don't know if you've done anything this major before, but it very quickly becomes a royal pain to try to live with a kitchen that is under construction, so you want to plan everything out really, really well in advance so as to make the project go just as fast as possible. It will, I guarantee, take at least twice as long as you expect it to, anyway -- no sense in making it take even longer than that!! (And I hope you get this response before you start on the walls, )

As far as answering your questions, it's hard to say, without knowing how much space you have to work with, and where the doors and windows are, etc. I really like having a work table in the middle of my kitchen, but a lot of kitchens aren't big enough to allow for that. Also, my base cabinets (which are old and ugly and are going to go as soon as I can get *our* remodeling project in hand!) have one very nice feature -- the "shelves" are more like shallow drawers hiding behind the doors, so they pull all the way out, making it a lot easier to find what's hiding in there. These were home-made cabinets, the drawers are very simply made, so I'm sure you could do something like that in your kitchen. I would also suggest running your wall cabinets all the way to the ceiling, as the open space that is sometimes left up there serves as a really great dust catcher. Avoid corner cabinets if at all possible, as even the best of them have wasted space, and it's hard to get into the back of them. I like the deep sink with high-rise faucet -- that's a wise thing to hold onto. I wish I could find one of the old ones with built-in drainboards on either side, it would be worth it even if the enamel wasn't in perfect condition. I've seen pictures of something else I would like to have, a doweling drying rack for the dishes that mounts above the sink (or could go above one of those built-in drainboards). The plates, bowls, etc., are stored there, so don't have to be put away when they are dry. And it wouldn't accumulate yuck like the plastic dish drainers always do. I'd like to have an office either built into my kitchen, or just off of it, also my sewing space and laundry. These seem to be where I spend most of my time when I'm in the house, and it's a lot more convenient to be able to have several things going on at once, and be able to keep a close eye on them without running all over the place. We don't do so badly with the layout we have now, actually. Also, you want to make sure you will have enough counter space between the appliances. We have our stove and frig on the same wall, less than a foot apart, no cabinet between them, and that is one of the things that really needs to change. I did finally get (given to me) a large wire rack to stand by the stove so I have some place to put things, but it isn't ideal. I want to move our kitchen to the front bedroom, tearing out the wall between it and the living room and making one big kitchen/dining/office/sewing room out of them. This would enable us to leave the present kitchen intact and useable until the remodeling was done, then we could tear out the old kitchen, and turn it into a small living room. In theory it should work, except that my husband informed me that there isn't enough crawl space in the basement (an old dry-stone one that is only partially excavated) to run the new plumbing lines to where I want them. I'm stubborn and plan to figure out a way to do it!! (There are hot water radiators over there with pipes under the floor, so there must be a way to do it!!)

What I will do with my new kitchen project is figure out everything that has to go in there, and every activity that goes on there, and make sure there is a place for everything. Make it convenient to where that item gets used, or in the case of an activity like canning or butchering, figure out all the steps in the process and allow space (in the right locations) for every step of the operation to proceed in order, like a factory assembly line. It will save your time and effort, which will in turn make it more likely that those things will be enjoyable tasks, rather than too much work to bother with them. And keep things simple and easily cleaned -- i.e., don't use fancy carved moldings that will require hours to keep clean. Shaker style is excellent!! Have fun! And I'd sure like to hear how it all comes out!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), March 16, 2001.


I guess I should have given a bit more imformation about my experience. I've built a conventional home and I did all the work except for concrete and brick. That includes all the framing, roofing, interior finishing, interior woodwork, plumbing, electrical, and I designed the home. It took me a year to complete it but it was a very nice house. Nice enough in fact that the sale of that home gave me enough equity to buy my new farm here in the ozarks. The walls I will be taking out aren't load bearing. Actually they were added when the previous owner put in a bathroom and did a really lousy job of it. I have a rough plan for where cabinets will go and I know how most of it will be arranged....but there is always room for improvement in any plan :o). I will be correcting several problems with this remodeling job....including fixing some pretty bad electrical problems that are a result of the lousy remodeling job the previous owner did. The kitchen is going to be fairly good sized...it is longer than it is wide. Unfortunately an island work area won't work very well in it. I had one once and it was wonderful!

-- Amanda in Mo (aseley@townsqr.com), March 16, 2001.

I hate my kitchen SO I'll tell you what not to do!LOL Don't let someone who isn't going to be using your kitchen design it! We purchased this house 17years ago. It was designed by a man. The cabinet opens are so small that you have to turn the plates sideways to get them in and out(it wastes a lot of space). It has a corner cabinet that you have to open the oven door to open the drawer, the 'L' of the corner is so tight that you can't open the oven door all the way because it hits on the refg. They just sheetrocked above my cabinets --it is wasted space.--would be nice if the space was open or they had used the cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling. Cabinet over refig. is useless! It is never used and catches grease. Wish I had a cabinet that comes all the way to the front edge of the refrig. A floor to ceiling pantry would be nice. One with enough shelves to hold all the canning jars.

I have a six foot long 'drainboard' type double sink that is at the shop being re-done. It is beautiful and I am going to have the dowel type drain above at least one side!If I ever get around to redoing my kitchen or building at the farm!

Good luck with your remolding and keep us up dated on your progress!

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), March 16, 2001.


Kathleen, you are so right about the fancy molding! The people who built my house put fancy molding all over it- I can tell you, I spend more time cleaning than it's worth. All dust catchers. I , too, really like the Shaker style and plan to incorporate it when I remodel. Amanda- one of my favorite features is aesthetic rather than functional. I have 2 large windows over my sink which look out into the woods behind my house. My air conditioner discharge pipe is on the same corner of the house, about 2 feet off the ground, so last year I made a water garden out of a 1/2 whiskey barrel which is kept filled by the a/c. It doubles as a watering station for my bees. I also built a shelf outside the house, just under the window. I keep potted plants there, and while I am doing the dishes I can stand and watch the bees gathering nectar from the plants. I also get a lot of butterflies. As for the kitchen itself, mine is way too small. It is ok for one person to cook in at a time, but when guests come over it is a drag because the cook cannot visit with them while preparing meals. The first thing I will do is rip out the wall between the kitchen and the adjoining dining room so at least people can sit at the dining room table while I cook. I may also bump out one exterior wall to gain more room. I would like to install an island work space in the middle of the kitchen as well. Another great feature I have now is a large pantry. I have to laugh when people visit- the ladies always drool over the pantry, yet then they turn around and express amazement at the amount of food I keep on hand. Like, what would THEY do if they had a similar sized pantry? One of the best investments I have made was to buy a hanging pot rack. It is so much handier to grab pots from the rack than to dig them out of cabinets. Looks good, too. Have fun!

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), March 16, 2001.


I love the light in my kitchen. I put in one old fashioned fixture I thought I would like but ended up replacing that with 5 recessed lights. Not the same atmosphere but oh, the light! There is a great kitchen planner at http://www.bhg.com/kpg/ You can put in appliances, etc. It's a lot of fun to play with. You also might consider resale. You may not have lots of kitchen gadgets, but put in lots of outlets on lots of circuits for the next person who might have.

I chose laminate countertops for ease of installation ( I also did it myself) and low cost. I have a corner cabinet, but I will take out the recessed panel in the door and put in glass when I get time. I put lights inside before I installed the cabinet.

-- Peg in NW WI (wildwoodfarms@hushmail.com), March 16, 2001.


I'm in the process of reworking a kitchen too. One thing that I made up my mind to do was put lighting over the counters, so I can see what I'm doing. The previous owners did a bangup job of creating a room that is hard to use, one dim light in the middle of the ceiling, corner cabinets so deep you can't reach the back, and corner drawers that can't be opened because they catch on the cabinet next to them. I can't wait to finish! Hope your's turns out well.

-- Connie (Connie@lunehaven.com), March 16, 2001.

We have a 100+ year old farmhouse. It still has the original cabinets (don't know when they were put in). We are having new drawers made and refinishing the cabinets ourselves and building a new countertop. What I really like about the original design of the cabinets is that in the two top corner cabinets and the two bottom corner cabinets someone built turntables. I love them. The two top cabinets reach all the way to the ceiling so there are three levels of the turntables and the two bottom cabinets have only two but they are huge. Between the two bottom cabinets I can get every pot and pan we own plus our long glass casserole dishes, severel pitchers plus lots of misc. items such as a waffle iron, cookies sheets, etc. It is unbelievable how much can fit on these, and they are so sturdy. I believe the "Mrs." of the farm must have definately at least had a say in this design. :)

-- Terry - NW Ohio (aunt_tm@hotmail.com), March 16, 2001.

Amanda:

Go into the Country Kitchen category in the archives and search (Control F) on Kitchen. About the third hit will be a thread on people's thoughts on an ideal kitchen.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), March 17, 2001.


When I first clicked on this thread, the computer was clanking along kinda slowly, and all I saw was this part of the thread: "I'm going to be remodeling my kitchen here pretty quickly. Actually I am going to start ripping out walls after lunch :o). I don't know why hubby gets so nervous when I start talking about taking out walls"..... xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Now mind you, folks, I'm still kinda groggy from staying up late, and waking up early to help Mama load homeschool books and curriculum into the van, and so forth. (She's going to a homeschool book-fair to sell old material with another lady). So anyway, I says to myself, who in the world, would be up this time of day, thinking about tearing out walls in her house??? !!! ??? Then the thought came to me, "Oh, it's probably AMANDA". Sure enough, just about two seconds later, the 'puter finished loading and the rest of the words filled in on the screen: (Amanda from Mo) Ha - ha - ha !!! Are you predictable or what?! Just joking around. It was funny, though... Ha ha. On another note: I remember several times I'd come home and my Mrs. had put up a wall, or run wiring, or insulated, while I was at work. All in all, I appreciated the help. You go, girl.

-- The Action Dude (theactiondude@yahoo.com), March 17, 2001.


One thing which I designed into my kitchen is a compost chute in the counter straight to the outside, so's I can just wipe the kitchen scraps down the 6 inch plastic pipe chute into a collecting container outside the house. Have a good lid for it. No more stinky bucket of scraps to haul out. ('Course, eventually you have to transport the outside collection to your compost heap, but that's a less frequent trip.)

-- snoozy (allen@oz.net), March 18, 2001.

One thing I love in my not quite finished kitchen is the stainless steel countertops on either side of my sink. I can chop up veggies, put hot pans, and do lots of other stuff which might mar a regular countertop. The stainless doesn't look "country" but it does ok with the solid oak paneling behind it. My sweetie used 1" oak to put up board and batten paneling in our kitchen which makes it look very warm. We put in lots of receptacles even though the only thing I use is the mixer and a percolator. We are putting in a skylight also which has blinds that can be closed when the sun is directly overhead in the summer but will allow plenty of light when needed in the winter. My wood cookstove is a great addition in the winter as we heat and cook on it. I use the electric stove in the summer. I want more cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling. Everyone on this thread seems to agree that cabinet tops are just dust collectors and my cabinet tops are no exception. Good luck on your remodeling job.

-- Cindy (colawson@mindspring.com), March 18, 2001.

hi amanda, how's the remodeling going? i just wanted to add my comments on kitchen design. we have been in the ongoing process of building our own home and just finished the kitchen last year. start off with windows over the kitchen sink, tile floor,counter top and total backsplash from counter to the bottom of the top cabinets and behind the stove makes cleaning a breeze. i have a u shaped kitchen with 2 outlets on each wall for easy access. on one wall of my top cabinets paul made one section open to store my many cookbooks, it has 2 shelves and is very useful, i love it. on the opposite wall of upper cabinets, he did almost the same thing but the bottom part has dowels to store my plates, i like it alot too!! if you have the room try to add an appliance garage in the corner, we have one and i hide electric skillet, blender, etc. and last but not least i have a large florescent light in the middle of the room that gives a wonderful light for doing kitchen detail, and a smaller one over the kitchen sink that is hidden by the decorative board that attaches the upper cabinets on either side of the windows. please keep us posted of your progress, best wishes and GOD BLESS ! teresa

-- teresa dramer (t1noodles@aol.com), March 22, 2001.

Amanda, my ideal kitchen would have a sloped concrete floor with a drain in the middle and stainless steel every thing. then cleaning the kitchen could be done with a high powered washer. hose the thing down and let it dry. (of course i'm only kiddling. although come to think of it..................)

mary

-- Mary R. (cntryfolk@ime.net), March 22, 2001.


Mary, that sounds like the milk room at the goat dairy/cheese plant I visited the other day! It looked pretty practical to me!!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), March 22, 2001.


Ok, so my cabinet tops are dust collectors but I do store our (frequently washed) pitchers up there so that they are handy for the crowds. A few pretty bottles and large stone lasagna pan.....I need a stool to reach, but it works ok. We removed the portable dishwasher when we bought the place. That 'hole' is where we feed the cats now.

Snoozy, I like your idea for the compost set-up. No matter how I deal with the bucket, even with a lid, it eventually gets stinky even through the plastic!

-- Anne (HealthyTouch101@wildmail.com), March 22, 2001.


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