Kitchen plans

Happy New Year!

Ya'll remember our kitchen? I don't show it off much, partly because it's not very pretty, partly because it's subjected to a near-constant flurry of carrot peels, garden dirt, tomato sauce, and bread flour. It gets messy, and it gets scrubbed, scuffed, battered, and otherwise abused. But loved, too. Our kitchen in this house, which has not changed much since we closed, has been functional but not beloved. That little piece of counterspace on the left of the sink somehow ends up being used as both prep and serve space, and it's barely big enough for either. The other piece of countertop in the kitchen ends up covered in crap-- my proliferating kitchen notebooks, mixing bowls, baskets of onions-- and the microwave. The chair I have stowed in there is necessitated by that one upper cabinet corner unit-- the back of which is completely inaccessible unless you're on a chair. And it's where I keep my flour. It's galling.

The rest of the cabinet space is just plain inefficient-- tall shelves where I don't need 'em (and can't adjust 'em) and short cramped spaces where I need a big honking space. Plus, a lot of space is filled with things that just aren't used much. The Hoosier cabinet is full of things I only use when we entertain, and it's valuable real estate. All along, I've known a big kitchen renovation was in the cards, so I've been reluctant to spend much time reorganizing the space. Renovation = more fun than reorganization.

So. I have had the benefit of three years to think about a new kitchen, and dream about it, and save money for it (money will be required) and talk my dad into building it for us, and to collect pretty Pinterest pictures. 

And to decide we're taking down a wall. YIPE. Here's the plan, in a nutshell.

I was eyeballing the scale from one drawing to the other, so they didn't come out perfectly, but you get the idea. Buh-bye wall, hello 13 additional inches of depth (you can do a lot with 13 additional inches of counter space!) and hello, peninsula! and hello, fridge over in the corner not hogging up the floor and the flow. I'm most excited by the amount of counter space there will be around the stove, and by the fact that I'll be able to stand at said stove and talk to people sitting in the dining room. And by the big, deep, shaker-front drawers my dad is building us, and the open shelves, and the tremendously expensive and tremendously beautiful farmhouse sink I am stalking on Amazon, hoping to find one to "buy used for $XXX," instead of the $936.75 they're running brand new.  I waffled over a vintage farmhouse sink for a few days last week, too, which was beautiful, but decided in the end that it would cause more problems than it would solve. And the new sink's lifetime warranty kind of won me over.
In the whole project, this is the view that will change the most. Imagine a kitchen where that wall with the plates on it is now. I'm having trouble imagining it myself, and it's my house. 

The hutch:

is coming to live along the wall by the microwave-- where that big brown rectangle is in the floorplan. I am committing myself to making it work for me aesthetically, despite the fact of its problematic Colonial revival heritage. But it's beautiful wood, and deep, and I can fill it with cups and glasses and baking dishes as easily as I can fill it with display stuff, right?  So, now, to show off some inspiration. This picture actually isn't terribly far off. White cabinets, farmhouse sink, window flanked by open shelves. I'm not sure what we're going to end up with as a backsplash, but it probably won't be beaded board. Maybe subway tile.
Dark hardware, yesss. Bin pulls galore, yessss.

And I really like the look of these dark wood open shelves in front of dark-grouted subway tile, but I'm not sure if it's just a hair too modern. 
The countertops are going to be concrete-- DIY concrete-- which I'm feeling pretty confident about, oddly, in spite of the obvious fact of the mess it will create. Should be an interesting journey. Dark countertops and floors, white cabinets, cream walls (I think)... a few pendants hanging over the peninsula, a few can lights, one wall-be-gone... lots of dreaming and scheming. Lots of chaos. Oh, it's going to be an interesting year...
But we finally, finally have our rent-to-owners living in our old house in Binghamton, after four months of negotiations. We got our first check from them on New Years Eve, actually, which was fantastic. So, it's essentially, forward, ho! 
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