Show me your remodeled kitchens--what would you do differently?

[ChikeeMomma]

No too familiar with copper, although it is beautiful! My aunt had a copper apron sink put in the laundry room at my grandpa's (which she inherited -- she lives in California, but comes home to Michigan a lot). She has one at her primary residence's laundry room and she said that it eventually turns that copper green as it ages. Isn't that called pateena (I have no idea how to spell that word!

).

 

[EweSheep]

Patina

 

[sred98]

We just like the copper. Debating getting those copper ceiling tiles for the ceiling, it's between that and beaded board. We've got the floorplan, now we're figuring out the colors and design scheme.

I love all the pics everyone's posting!

Shelly

 

[mandelyn]

I love the copper ceilings! I was thinking about the cost of designing my own stamp, and the tools to go with making them, to have husband punch them out. But I don't even know the cost of copper sheeting. Then I was thinking of ways to discolor other types of metal you can buy in sheets. Thinking too much.

If we buy the house we're living in, we need to switch the kitchen to the dining room, then the dining room goes to the kitchen. Massive dining room we don't really use, little kitchen we use a lot. In my head, I have it like this...

Raise the windows, they need replaced anyways. Still the ancient single pane sliders. That would make a "U" with two 45 degree inside corners. Cabinets would have to be custom built by husband, "off the rack" won't work. The air intake for the furnace would have to have it's own cabinet, and the open side would be the vent. At least it's in a spot to make that do-able.

The "nap room" thing, a 5x8 room off the dining room, just sort of tacked onto the house, would be insulated, redone, window removed, and made into a proper pantry since there are NO downstairs closets in this house.

Big archway into the living room. Lined up with that to create a walkway would be the Island area, with a stove top. Not sure what I'm doing with a fridge, it looks like it would have to go where my computer desk is.

There is a window cut into the wall into the existing kitchen. They wanted an archway, and found a supporting wall instead. (how do you not know that before cutting holes in the wall?) So I was thinking of doing a corner desk and additional cabinet storage, as well as book shelves. Like an office nook since the room is big enough for something like that. Then I could watch shows on Hulu while cooking.

Tile floor for dogs and any messes. Not a fan of laminate, it can peel, scratch, or get "snagged" by the fridge moving if you aren't careful. No granite, not the right neighborhood, and it chips/stains easy. You also can't clean it with anything abrasive or clorox, windex, 409... none of that.

I used to work for a granite countertop fabricator, and you couldn't pay me enough to have it installed in my house with how our lifestyle is. Same with the solid surface, Corian, Staron, ect because it scratches super easy. Granted you can have them come in and "resurface" it because of how it's made. I might consider a quartz composite though.

I would like a butcher block somewhere though, built in cutting board. And have it made really thick, so it could be resurfaced several times over as needed for years and years and years.

Also would add a built in strainer that goes right into an undermount sink (as opposed to a drop in sink where you see the rim) so that when I wash the pots and pans, I don't have to worry about the tray moving and dripping the water all over the place. I'm talking about the tray that you set the strainer on, the strainer would be free to move.

And one of those small cabinet style dishwashers would be cool. We don't have giant loads of dishes unless we wait a week. But a small one, run it every two days, and it would be way more efficient than a big standard one. Plus it's hidden away in a drawer!

We're lucky because all the plumbing is directly below in the basement, it would be easy to swap the rooms. We would also have full use of the old kitchen while building out the new one, so we could do it in stages as we could afford it.

But I'm pretty sure we won't be buying this house.. with what the market did.. our land lady would lose a lot of money. Though her other option is to sit on it indefinitely to see if it ever reaches back to what she paid. Lucky for her she can.

 

[poconoadoptionfamily]

When DH and I built our house our friend who was a kitchen designer badgered me into getting an small extra sink (it's called a bar sink I think ) on the the other end of the cabinets. I thought it would be a waste of money but it's the best thing about our kitchen. We use both sinks all of the time.

We regret not having a built in desk for bill paying, and an island that matched the cabinets.. We also regret getting a corner "lazy Susan" cabinet. It was too much money for what it is. Nothing fits and things are always falling over in it.

Our kitchen has Kraftmaid Maple cabinets which have worn pretty well. Considering how tough our family is on everything. Formica counters which have been very durable, (would have loved concrete counters though) and linoleum (?) floors which we're replacing with tile in the spring. The kitchen has a painted backsplash. Couldn't afford the tile I wanted at the time, and now I like the painted backsplash as I enjoy changing the backsplash color and decorative paint finish every couple of years.

Hope this helps. Good luck with your kitchen.

PS - Love the copper and that farm sink is beautiful!

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Well, right after the last post, I found out I was pregnant.... Had the baby and now---almost a year after she was born, we're looking to start on the kitchen, finally!!!!

 

[chiqita]

well, congratulations!

We are doing a remodel a bit at a time right now. We kept mostly the same footprint, because of expenses. If Ikea still has them, look into their butcher block counter tops. We dyed ours black and they are wonderful. we used one as a test for the first year over the first part for the remodel to see if we liked it, and we are now ripping out the old counters and doing all bb. Its wonderful.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Wow, that sounds interesting....do you have any pics?

 

[redhen]

Rare,.. did you see how they do the paper bag flooring? It can save you big bucks! Google it... you can do it on counter tops too...

 

[chiqita]

Ill try adn clean my kitchen and get some of the temp one we are useing