The biggest change to the kitchen is the removing of the bathroom that is behind it right now (look at the before plan here). For a long, long, long time I left the bathroom there and just made it work, but I absolutely hated the fact that I had to walk through my kitchen to get to the bathroom. Nightmare. So, I let the living room take the bathroom and viola! the kitchen suddenly worked. I am expecting there to be wood floors under the ancient linoleum that is there now and, even if it kills me, I will refinish them and make them work. I love that I have two doors to the deck from my kitchen. Excessive? Perhaps. Especially because I have yet another back door out to the deck through the living room. In my mind the extra amount of doors is all I have to make up for the fact that this is a very enclosed kitchen… and I hate that. At least in the summers the kitchen will feel not so closed off but there is nothing I can do – there are two walls and a staircase between the kitchen and the living room. Under the stair case will be my wood storage, the door to access it is beside the stove.

I am very excited to build my sink base and I am even more excited that my grandpa enjoyed building cabinets so much that I have practically my entire kitchen sitting in the now front entry way (what will be my dining room) – there is a gorgeous double cabinet (uppers and lowers) with glass fronts that’s been used for around the house tool storage. There is a huge upper that they built for above the washer and dryer. There is another massive lower that’s been called “the plant stand” forever. Besides that there is an upper and lower set of cabinets in the bathroom. I only have two cabinets to build (one above the stove for the vent hood/microwave and one above the refrigerator) – thank you Grandpa and Grandma, you just saved me thousands on kitchen cabinets. There will be modifying, all of the lower cabinets are too short (my grandma was little so everything tended to be built for her height) and I want all of the uppers to look like they go to the ceiling. I also want my doors to look shaker style so yes, lots of work and modifying, but very little cost. Amazing!

Counter tops you ask? I want slate or soapstone. Or (maybe) black marble. The counter tops will be determined by the budget when we get to that point… I might be making butcher block for the whole damned kitchen. We will see.

A book and a glass of wine on an island I made myself beside a wood stove of my own? Why, yes please! Heaven! I am a firm believer that a kitchen can actually be too big and the right kitchen is the one that is simply, properly, organized. I am not worried at all about cabinet space in this kitchen or it feeling “snug”. The island is an old radio stand that I am slapping on a hunk wood, adding casters, building a butcher block top for and (probably) painting red. It might end up black or white, I am waiting until I see the finished kitchen. Backsplash you ask? Now, I am well aware that white, glass, subway tile would be nothing short of glorious in this space. But when it comes to time, money, and white grout I have to keep clean, I’m just not buying it. Things need to work first, then they can be pretty – I’ve lived with white grout before. So, I will probably be using white, tin, ceiling tile as the backsplash. Imagine it, an hour or two of work, some adhesive to stick it on there, a product I can cut with tin snips and I’m all done! (if I get a wild hair it might be copper ceiling tile… but we shall see.)