Kitchen Phase 1

Having gone almost 6 months without a major home improvement project we were itching to put a hole in a wall, especially a kitchen wall. Our kitchen, while usable, is the most poorly designed room in the house. The room measures 11'x11' with all of the cabinets and counter on one wall and all of the appliances on another wall. The result is that prep work is done on one side and then food is carried across the room to the stove, which is not an efficient setup. To make matters worse, the there is a door to the basement and window that sits low to the ground making a large part of the room unusable. Did I also mention the original 1950s red laminate counter top, cheap vinyl floors and dated appliances?

In order to maximize our space we decided to do a full gut renovation removing everything, closing off the door to the basement, and raising the window above cabinet height. We figured that if we are going to do it, we are going to go all the way.

After reading a few hundred kitchen magazines, design books, and blogs we decided on a general theme of clean contemporary lines with rich warm wood cabinets and crisp cool surfaces.

With these inspiration rooms in mind, all we have left is to destroy the current nightmare of a kitchen...