The kitchen

Hello everyone.  I'm finally coming to the end of the kitchen confusion.  It's very small.  The layout options are extremely limited.  It's ridiculously expensive to redo.  I have solid wood cabinets that are in great shape.   Taking all that into consideration (over and over again), I have decided that what I originally wanted, is not worth the expense.  Not in this market.  So I asked myself what I really want to achieve and it's a "look" more than a reno.  Oh.  BTW....just to show that I am still working on Lucy...

Yes she's wrinkled but why the hell should she look better than me?  If I have to put up with them, so does Lucy.  She's 21" wide and a big girl, too.  To give you examples of my errors (which are all because I'm not focused), take a look at the blue and gold border.  I did one color, and when I started the second, I was using the graphing from the solid blue border above it.  The lettering in the design is up and down here and there which threw me off but those errors are completely hidden.  I missed color changes.  When stitching a letter, I would pick up the next letter from the graph but I was in the wrong word!!!  Oh my.  I still love her.

Back to the kitchen.

I want a limited clutter, stark, clean look, with details of legs and hopefully a rat tail hinge somewhere.  They are pricey and these cabinet doors are 3/8 offset, not flush.  Since my Schmidt cabinets aren't available locally, I need to order the doors from them and have the cabinet boxes custom made to fit.  It would still be cheaper than having the set up charges for knives and profiles just to make a few doors.  The cabinets under the bar area on the left would remain the same.  Soapstone will probably be the counter, but it could end up wood or solid surface, and hopefully a copper sink.  Trying to use my current doors, the first drawing would be the best.  I would need to order 5 doors that go to the ceiling's crown moulding.  The kitchen people making the cabinet for the fridge could also make the cabinet boxes for these tops.

Keep in mind this is a rough rendering for the kitchen people.  If I run the cabinets down to the counter top, turning current cabinet doors on their side, I can create a garage door type opening for appliances - out of sight - but easy access with electrical outlets currently on the back wall and easily accessible.  I have the same cabinets as vanities upstairs and can utilize the drawers for paperwork which are the exact size needed.  I can add an different element to the sink base, extend it further out than the others, different color, and use the front from the current sink base as additional doors to use elsewhere.  I would really like this odd sink cabinet to be larger, more like a dry sink look, but the dishwasher can't move down any further.  For the furniture bottom - extending these to the floor without a seam requires a custom faced cabinet so adding the 3/4" board and topping it off works.  Rabbeting it to further recess it is even better, with a smaller trim piece covering where it meets the cabinet.  I may not even use that trim.  This other design is similar but requires quite a few more doors to be special ordered and the sink base stays as is.

Both instances require moving the upper cabinets away from the window trim which will allow a little wall space and room for sconces.  I can switch out the top and bottom layouts so I may use the bottom of #2 and the top of #1.  So there you have it.  It takes me so long to work things out - tooooooooo many ideas!  Believe it or not, this small space that is open to the family room on one side and has two doorways on the other walls, was rearranged into 4 layouts.  I LOVE doing this!  But like I said, too many other projects need $$$$ so it's just not the smart thing to do.  I think any kitchen can be transformed with paint, added trim, crown mouldings, details details!!!

That's it.  Just wanted to prove I have been preoccupied.  My poor brain has really had a workout.  This was a long process to make a decision (and I still have to choose one of two) and I'm glad to be moving on to another area.

Thanks for helping me get rid of the charts.  I will let you know when the others are listed on EBay so you won't miss something you may want to consider.

Have a great week all - thanks for visiting KitchenWorld!