Kitchen Renovation Part 1

We decided to renovate our kitchen this year.  I had been thinking about making changes for a long time.  I read decorating magazines and watch HGTV, so there is no shortage of ideas flying around in  my head.  

Here are 2 photos of my old kitchen, cute, but flawed.
We served dinners to friends and family regularly.  We made the most of the small space, but I knew we could do better...

Step 1:  I started to collect magazine pictures and ideas in a "Kitchen Folder." Those ideas came in handy when I had to make decisions about the new kitchen, where everything should go, what I wanted to change with the new design.

Step 2: Do your homework. You have to identify what gets you annoyed, really bothered with your current set-up.  For me it was a broken utensil drawer, crumbling trim and moldy grout on my tile counter top, lack of storage for essentials, and lots of unused and underused space.  Here's the evidence:

 I tried to keep the area under the sink organized, but it was always a mess.

All my baking sheets had to go in this one skinny space.

 See the rotting wood trim on the counter?

Notice my broken drawer with a *CAREFUL* disclaimer taped onto it.

All our pots were in this one cupboard.  I had to get on my knees to find the right one.  All the lids fell behind the pots and I had to take out all the pots to find the right one.


Step 3: Figure out what you want and could really use to cook better meals.  For us, it was a bigger refrigerator, a gas cook top, more storage drawers, and 2 ovens.

Step 4: Plan your space and find a builder who will work with your ideas.  It can be hard to find quality craftsmen who are conscientious.  We knew ahead of time who would do our kitchen because we saw his work in our friends' homes, and he has done a lot for us in the past.

Here's a job that our builder did for us 2 years ago.  We had an unused chimney taking up wall space in our small kitchen. I wanted to make that a storage space that could organize all our spices and pantry items.  It's situated right behind our stove, so it's the perfect place for cooking spices and oils!  He had to drill through a brick wall, build a cupboard to fit the space, and make our antique doors fit the new cupboard.  Nice, huh?

Part 2 next week!