Kitchen/Laundry Plans

This is possibly the best blog post to date. (Probably not, but maybe. I am really excited about this.) The following is what the fine people at Lowe's are going to make our kitchen look like for the small fee of $6,800.

This is looking south toward the laundry room. Open shelf for cookbooks, mixer and other easy-access items. Raised bar on the right:

This is looking east toward the dining room. We're going to take out half the wall and open the kitchen to the dining room. (SO EXCITED!!) It'll let tons more light into the house and modernize the whole setup. See those big drawers? They're 36" wide. You can fit so many pans and pots into a drawer that size! AND. Large pantry cabinet on the right of the fridge. Like squirrels, we have food stashed in like four different places in the kitchen right now. Not counting the fridge. I feel like I'm on a neverending scavenger hunt.

This is facing west, toward the street. The perspective makes it look like this is really big, but it's not. The cabinets on the left and right stick out about 30", so not really that far. There will be lazy susans in both bottom corners, trash/recycling pull out on the right front corner and open shelves on either side of the window. The window will be a bay or a bow and have a sill for cut flowers and perhaps a tiny winter herb garden. It's going to drop down much lower than the picture.

Other facts:

• cove molding around the tops of the cabinets
• cabinets: white maple shaker
• counters: 2'x2' dark gray porcelain tile (it's supposed to look like soapstone)
• backsplash: white subway tile, gray grout
• floor: dark walnut
• appliances: stainless

Here's the faucet, which I was on the fence about, but it's the most budget friendly of my choices. When we get sick of it in a few years, we can switch it out for something more classic. 

 And the sink is a 32" stainless single-basin undermount.

And these are the pendant lights for over the bar. We'll have two of those. The rest of the lighting will be recessed, except for over the table. That fixture is TBD.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this part, but we're also moving the laundry room wall back several feet into the garage. This will serve two purposes. First, we'll have an actual, functional walk-through mudroom because the appliances can tuck back into that space and not be in the way in that fairly narrow space. There should also be enough room for a laundry sink in that area, too.

Second, we think we're going to have enough space to add a tiny powder room. We've always felt this house should have three bathrooms and wished there was something basic off the garage so people using the pool or grubbing around in the yard could use that instead of tracking dirt or water through the house into the main bathroom. I love the marble and wouldn't consider trading it, but it is sensitive and we're careful with it (no shoes, no chemicals, etc.) Not the greatest for the single downstairs bathroom. Adding a little powder room is a perfect solution. 

When the guy at Lowe's finished putting in all the dimensions and clicked the button to generate the drawings, Todd and I got really excited about finishing this project. This one is not about the process. It's about having a functional kitchen that doesn't disgust us, and preferably as soon as humanly possible. He's been such a champ about staying on top of the planning and pushing it forward. We're still in the early stages of the project, but it's mostly planned. I can't wait for it to be over.