New House Inspiration: Current Kitchen

When we were trying to figure out the logistics for moving the kitchen around in the new house, we had no idea whatsoever what we would do with the old kitchen space. We couldn't expand the dining room into the new space as the table would go through the walking path to get to from the kitchen to the rest of the house, and that would make the room feel awkward. We didn't necessarily need a bigger dining room, either; our table, even when full expanded, can fit in the dining room just fine. The room also isn't big enough for a play space, and I already had an office space downstairs.

So what were we going to do with this room?

While we had been going over house plans when we were considering building, a lot of the houses had breakfast nooks. Every single time we said that it was unnecessary to have that space (we eat at our dining room table for every meal), it was a waste of a room for us, and we would transform it into another room (usually my office) if we built.

But for this house, it wasn't a super bad idea.

While this isn't necessarily a traditional "breakfast nook", we really liked the idea of putting in another table here. With a bench under the window with a smaller table and a few chairs, it is perfect for extra seating for parties and gatherings, a homework and school project space, crafting, playing games or doing puzzles, playing on the computer (we have laptops)....the possibilities are endless!

Right now all of our board games and puzzles are stored in the basement playroom, but they are all played upstairs. They don't always make it back down to their proper location, so I need a way to store them that makes it really easy to put them away. Because I don't want the bench to go across the entire back wall (it would just look and feel awkward with a small table), I really like the idea of putting a bookcase or cupboard in each corner on either side of the window:

However, I would want doors on it to avoid visual clutter:

The left wall (behind the current kitchen's oven) would be the pass through....

...and the right wall (behind the current fridge) would probably just be an artwork wall.

The flooring will be getting an update, but we'll probably keep it a linoleum type floor for easy clean up from paint/water/glue spills. I like the idea of having it the same flooring as the kitchen for continuity, but am open to other ideas.

For the table and chairs, I really like the idea of having a smaller version of our current dining room table (it comes in various sizes, all expandable) and a similar, less formal version of our current chairs. While the nook is not exactly the same room as the dining room, they are open to each other. Keeping everything the same color and at least similar design will hopefully keep it less busy and visually cluttered!

What would you use this room for?

New House Inspiration: Kitchen

Now that all of the bedrooms are planned and revealed, the kitchen was the next room requested.

Let me just warn you: this post is going to be interesting. And probably confusing, too. But please bear with me!

The kitchen was THE #1 REASON why we didn't want to go look at this house. Yes, we don't particularly like the outside, but that's easily fixable. But when you look at the pictures online, see a tiny kitchen, and have a family of 5 that loves to help cook? Yeah, it's not going to work out.

But we looked and loved the house so very very much we wanted to work something out.

While Pete was thinking about visiting the house a second time, I was spending so much time (while I wasn't finishing prepping this house to sell) researching how to make tiny kitchens workable. I stumbled across one pin (because Pinterest is always my go to for anything!) showing one woman who converted her garage into a kitchen, and I thought that was just plain silly. I commented about it to Pete, and as soon as the words left my mouth, we had a light bulb moment.

One of the garage bays was already converted into living space.

Living space we weren't sure what we were going to do with.

And it's right next to the current kitchen.

We started brainstorming ideas on how to move the kitchen from it's current space to the next room over. How would we run the water pipes and gas line? Is it even possible? What would we do with the old kitchen space? HOW MUCH WILL THIS COST?!??!!!?

We were able to check it out more on our second showing. The family room space (hopeful future home of kitchen) is elevated to match the rest of the house's flooring, and the entryway mudroom is not. Behind the mudroom paneling is an access point to get under the flooring in the family room and run the lines! YAY!

During our inspection we asked our inspector what he thought about it, and he thought it was a great idea as well. The structure will work nicely for a kitchen, and he even helped us figure out a couple things while he was there!

The wall that is between the current kitchen and family room is going to get opened up a little bit like this. We're so used to more of an open floor plan, and that will help keep it open. The counter at the window will also help for parties (able to get food from either side) or holiday, when not all the food will be able to fit on the table:

We want to do the same counters as we just put in our current kitchen. We love them, and we have a ton of pieces left. We'd be able to save money by probably just buying one more piece of laminate and building the counters ourselves rather than buy premade counters. We've always wanted dark counters and gray floors (to help hide dirt), but us agreeing on cabinet color has always been a bit of a struggle. We actually both really like these cupboards, and it's almost exactly what we're looking for in terms of counters and flooring colors:

I really really really wanted a buttercream yellow kitchen and dining room for our current house. However, our rock wall around our coal stove clashed with the cream color, so I had to choose something else. I think this color would be perfect, keep the room nice and light, and really give you a hug as you walked it (it's the first room you'd walk into from the mudroom):

Having a big family who love to eat and cook means a lot of food and dishes/pots/pans/small appliances that need to be stored. Having a house closer to school and being by friends means more mouths to feed, too. I really want a pantry, and I found a corner one like this that would work out amazing in the space:

I like the lower shelves of this pantry being deeper for more storage and for the appliances to have almost a counter to sit on:

 Now, I really really really want an island in my kitchen. I'm so used to having a peninsula (and we loooove it!), but the kitchen really isn't going to be big enough to have one. There's a certain amount of space you need for walking space in a kitchen, and having an island is just not feasible in the new space. Buuuut, IKEA to the rescue! I love this little cart! The side with the shelves would go towards the oven for things like cast iron pots or even our regular pans, and then the two stools on the other side are great for the kids to sit at while helping prep dinner. It's the perfect size for what we have space for AND it's movable, so if for some reason we need more floor space, we can move it. I'd probably recover the top to match the counters, though, just for continuity:

When you enter the kitchen, the fridge will be immediately to the left of the door. I like the idea of building a wall there to keep it in it's place and having a family command center there:

A lot of this room may change depending on the budget. We will hire someone to run lines for the water and gas, but we can probably do everything else ourselves, allowing us to keep the costs low. This is definitely one of the bigger projects (if not THE biggest) that we have planned for the house. The one great thing about doing this is that we can keep the other kitchen up and running for most of the project.

Four rooms down, so many to go! What would you like to see next? We have two bathrooms, dining room, living room, kid's play space, my office, laundry room, current kitchen space, and sun room left! Let me know in the comments below!