Kitchen Renovation Plans

Ahhh... the kitchen.  Where do I begin?  Since we moved in (March '11), I knew our kitchen was a long way from being where I wanted it.  It has good "bones" and good potential.  It's a quaint, small, galley kitchen in our bungalow home.  While I find older homes to be very charming, they are also, well, old.

There are some downsides to having a small, older kitchen... we only have two outlets in the cabinet area of our kitchen.  This makes it challenging for plugging in appliances. The counter space is almost non-existent and the cabinets do not offer enough storage.  Have I mentioned we don't have a dishwasher yet, either? :) Some things I DO love about our kitchen is the older open faced upper cabinets.  While I had a love/hate relationship with them in the beginning, they have grown on me.  I also love our huge window I have to look out of while I do dishes or prepare a meal that lets a good amount of light in, too.  I also enjoy our eat in nook area and that our kitchen is in the center of our home.  I truly spend most of my time in the kitchen, so it's only natural to want it to be a space we enjoy being in!

Here's what our kitchen looked like before we moved in!  It has changed some since we moved in, but I will do a side by side comparison photo of how it is now and after our renovations!

Eventually I would like to re-do our floors and get new appliances but that will come a little later on.  Right now we're focusing on getting a dishwasher (!!!), refacing our cabinets ourselves, buying new hardware for our cabinets, adding white subway tile backsplash ourselves, getting new counter tops installed, getting a custom pantry made and adding a base cabinet.  Also, we would love to add more seating to our small kitchen!  We're knocking out some 50's built-in shelving, making a peninsula/bar area that will join our kitchen and living room/sitting room together seamlessly. I'd also like to make a banquette inside our kitchen, which I have envisioned since we moved in.  I think I have FINALLY convinced my husband to do it, so I will be thrilled when that is finished! When both seating areas are completed we will be able to seat 8 comfortably in our space! For now, we entertain for parties of 4 or more on our backyard deck! :)

I want to strip the cabinets (they are currently an antique'y stained look...yuck) and paint them a clean, crisp white.  My favorite paint that I used on the trim of our exterior and the inside trim, is Benjamin Moore's White Dove paint, is what we'll use on our cabinets as well.  With beautiful drawer pulls and new knobs I think it will look awesome!

Here are some of my favorite inspiration photos for our small kitchen.

Our inspiration!  Dark ceramic wood floors, gray counters, white cabinets, subway backsplash with stainless steel appliances

This is another inspiration!  This is Young House Love's kitchen.  It's pretty much the same layout as our kitchen, except the fridge and stove are flipped.

Loving how the microwave looks. This is an option if it doesn't fit above our stove area. The paint color we have in our kitchen now (which we'll keep) looks just like the color in this inspiration pic.

Pantry!  I just love the pull out shelves!

Obsessed with this small detail! Loving these cornices. 

We would love to do a white wood plank ceiling with dark beams, perhaps.

This is what I envision for our banquette seating area! Ideally, I'd like drawers like the ones pictured here to maximize our storage, but we'll see!  Our banquette will be L shaped.

A pretty banquette seating option for one side

What the peninsula/bar area will look like. I'm thinking of a smaller lip, though and a dark stained butcher block counter. I like the contrast of a marble'ish stone countertop mixed with a butcher block counter top.

Well, that's our kitchen plans in a nutshell.  We know making all these updates will take time, but we hope to have everything finished by the end of this year.  More details and updates are sure to follow! :)

Are you currently renovating or making updates to your home? Any tips?