Kitchen Update Getting Started

We live in the house we built in 1989.  This was to be our dream house.  After all, we had lived in three homes that we owned and in 8 places we either rented or they were military housing.  I worked in all eleven of those kitchens, plus the farm kitchen where I grew up, and in the five apartment kitchens where I lived in before marrying my Air Force husband.  I thought this last kitchen would be perfect. Certainly I knew what I did not want.  Hah! As I unpacked the boxes and boxes of pots, pans, dishes and gadgets, I knew that this was not my perfect kitchen.

Here what my kitchen looks like now.

Now 24 years later we get to iron out the kinks in my kitchen.  We don’t need a total renovation.  We are just going to fix some of the items on my aggravation/wish list.

1. For budget reasons we put good quality sheet vinyl on the floors when we built the house.   We’ll say good-by to nail pops and the squeaky vinyl floor. Today our choice is porcelain tile. I will talk about the “why’s” of each of my choices in later posts.
2. The peninsula resulted in awkward storage space and the counter space that was good only for collecting clutter.  The peninsula will be eliminated and turned into an island.
3. Counter tops will be up graded not because there is anything really wrong with the almond colored laminate. But…if we ever want to sell, a more up to date surface would be more attractive to buyers. (I must confess, though, that I really like the quartz material I chose.)
4. Because of the new counter tops, there will be a new sink and faucet.   (Well, I could have kept the old stainless sink and chrome faucet, but they would look really tacky with the new material.)
5. The refrigerator will move to the vacancy left by the end of the peninsula. This will eliminate one upper cupboard (which I can’t reach) and a lower cupboard (that I stand on my head to access).
6.  New cupboards and counter space will be created in the space left by the refrigerator.
7. The florescent light must go!  New pot lights will be spread around the perimeter of the kitchen and pendant lights will be added over the island.
8. Finally, an updated stainless steel range hood will replace the outdated almond colored one.  The new vent has more light and more power to eliminate cooking odors.

In future posts I will share the specific decisions I made in my kitchen update. I hope you will enjoy my journey into kitchen nirvana.  Check out my before pictures.