Time for A Kitchen Renovation

When is it the right time for a kitchen renovation? We'd been thinking about a kitchen renovation for a long time. The kitchen in my house was original to the home, built in 1981. It was a beautiful kitchen when built, with custom cherry cabinets and well thought out use of space.

We made some changes in the past by installing double ovens in a mysterious closet space,

and an electric cooktop, with a cabinet with sliding drawers, where there once was a range.

These updates made the kitchen very serviceable and a pleasant space for cooking and entertaining. As my sons grew we made daily use of our kitchen table, especially enjoying the morning sunshine while eating breakfast.

You can see in the picture above that I added a mobile kitchen cart to the end of my island as a way to test whether or not I would want the length of the island extended. I found the additional 24" of length to be very useful, especially when taking hot dishes from the double ovens. This helped me decide that lengthening the island would be a good thing.

Over the years, we came to dislike the hanging cabinets and the hood vent above our electric cooktop. We found that we never used the noisy vent and the hanging cabinets seemed to close off the kitchen from the family room. We wanted to eliminate them if ever we renovated.

Then there is the tile floor. Yes, I'm talking about those dark brown tiles. I actually disliked that floor from the day we moved into this house. I love tile floors in the kitchen, but dark brown tiles are not my favorite look. I must say this floor was very serviceable throughout the years as it hid muddy footprints from kids and dogs and held up to bits of gravel tracked in during snow or rain. This floor had a long life and it was time for it to go.

So, friends, 2015 was my year for a kitchen renovation. The renovation was completed in May. Now that I have some time to share the process and results I'll take you through my process is upcoming posts. Perhaps my experience will help you if you plan to renovate soon.

More updates to come...

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Next in the series: Five Questions to Answer When Planning A Kitchen Renovation

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