On Instagram, I asked how you wanted me to start our kitchen renovation story. Because I didn’t know where to begin.
You said:
“Show us your ‘before’ kitchen!”
Our kitchen has MDF cabinets, laminate countertops, and regular, not-fancy appliances. It’s a normal kitchen that has served us well.
But we feel like it can be improved.
Let’s do this.
Our “Before” Kitchen
Our kitchen is small; approximately 12” x 12”. It has two doorways: a butler door to the dining room and a regular door to the basement.
We’re mid-renovation at the moment, so apologies for switching tense. Some things are still there, but others aren’t.
There was a massive opening to the uninsulated back porch. The back porch opening is not original. Based on a lot of evidence and the age of the house, we suspect that this space was once a pantry. More on that in a future post.
Here’s a rough blueprint of the starting kitchen layout:
The following photos are from over a year ago. I was deep in the midst of baby-led weaning / breastfeeding / pumping / working full time / looking for a new job. Tidying was not a priority. Be kind.
South Wall: The Refrigerator and Pantry
In the whole kitchen, the only sources of light are four can lights located within the soffits. The cabinets are honey oak veneer MDF cabinets painted dark blue.
See the metal shelf under the countertop? It was our only pantry storage. In this area, we kept our mixing bowls, silverware, pots and pans, glassware, and food. This was also our coffee nook.
West and North Walls: Oven, Basement Door, and Sink
The first photo (far left) is where I spent most of my time in the kitchen. It wasn’t a big space, about 3” x 2”. But it was a workhorse kitchen work space.
The only heating vent for the kitchen is under the counter, behind the shelf. I recently discovered that it has been painted SHUT for the past 5 years. Which explains why the kitchen was always so cold.
The sink area, which remains unchanged at the moment, is pretty functional. I’ve learned that I don’t like double basin sinks. But at least it’s in front of a window!
The North and East Walls: Storage and the Missing Pantry
More soffits, can lights, and cabinets that don’t close. The lazy susan corner cabinet is my nemesis and I seek to destroy her. Last pic (far right) is mid-renovation. You can see the massive opening to the uninsulated back porch.
Now that we’ve been through the layout, let’s talk about usability. There are a lot of books about kitchen usability and design out there, old and new. Let’s set all that aside for a moment.
We felt it was important to evaluate ourselves before we embarked on the kitchen renovation. Without knowing and understanding our own habits, preferences, and abilities, we felt that we ran the risk of designing a kitchen that felt unfamiliar and unusable to us.
We’ve used our kitchen daily for 5 years. Here’s what we have learned.
We don’t need much counter space.
With all the counter space in our kitchen, 99% of the time, we use the counter space next to the stove.
A small rant. A lot of content creators, contractors, and design influencers want you believe that you need miles of kitchen counter space to have a functional kitchen.
I’ll counter this myth from my personal experience. (No pun intended.)
As you can see, we have “a lot” of counter space. But once you take a closer look …
- The corners are not active workspaces. They are dead zones.
- The counter above the dishwasher and below the cabinets on the east wall aren’t large enough to work on. They serve as storage.
- We have ONE work space. And it has worked for us!
I’ve made a Christmas dinner for my extended family from the tiny space next to the oven.
Based on our habits, we do not need a lot of counter space to cook, entertain, and manage our day-to-day lives.
We need one functional work and prep space.
That’s it.
We would like better kitchen and pantry storage.
As you can see, the shelf under the counter is not cutting it. Curse the person who removed the pantry.
(But also, thank you, because it was likely loaded with lead paint anyway.)
We have a lot of unused things stored in the kitchen.
We need to pare down. And we could use additional storage space outside of the kitchen.
Like a pantry.
Modern appliances will be staying.
I like the idea of pulling interior home design inspiration from 1915. But I’m not into actually living like it’s 1915.
All of our modern appliances will be staying. Especially the dishwasher. I’m not out here trying to design a kitchen without a dishwasher. That sounds terrible.
We don’t need two dishwashers, contrary to what some big home design “influencers” are pushing. But I am keeping the one we have.
Okay! That’s it for the kitchen tour. Next, I’ll work on a post about the progress so far.
In the meantime, ask yourself: would you ever renovate your kitchen and get rid of half the counter space? And make it smaller?
See you in the next post.
