It seems fitting this is our 1,000th post.  We’re talking kitchens, which was the only full, real-time remodel we shared from our last house.  Living in this kitchen for the past 2 1/2 years has made us realize what we like and dislike about the layout.  Using our last kitchen as a guide, we have a better idea of what we’re getting into.  We also know more about materials we’d prefer.  Here’s a reminder of our current layout and design.

Here’s a scaled layout of the space:

It’s a long room, 29 feet from the family room to the pool house door and 13 feet wide.  Big and totally workable, with three different work zones inside.  The main kitchen, a breakfast nook, and my office.

From the office, you can go to the pool house.  If you do a 180 spin, you’ll see a large bay of cabinets we use as a pantry and large item storage.  Small appliances, large dishes, and such.

While the kitchen looks (and is) large, the layout of cabinets aren’t the most functional or well planned.  Several cabinets are essentially filler.  Like this large corner cabinet that doesn’t do much beside hold Ben’s cheap wine collection:

Or our giant cabinet housing only a trash can.

I like the idea of this vertically divided cabinet, but we could get away with only half like this:

We’re also not in love with the fridge next to the oven combo.  Especially with the built-in microwave space above.  Our tiny microwave doesn’t help the look either.

The 3 foot space between the island and perimeter is frustrating, too.  When the oven and/or dishwasher are open, it’s a maze. Add someone at the sink and it’s really cramped.

Given those dislikes, we’ve come up with a new plan.  It includes all drawer lowers, which we greatly miss from our last kitchen.  Here’s what we’ve got in mind:

Most appliances are staying in the same location; refrigerator, sink, dishwasher, and cooktop.  We’ll swing a double wall oven around the corner, turning the wasted space into a shallow walk-in type pantry.  A pocket door means one less door swing to accommodate.

To get more working room, we’re moving the island another foot away from the perimeter cabinets.  Across from the island, we’re going to widen the doorway, matching the width of the adjacent dining room.  Because we’re losing the big pantry bay, we’ll add in a smaller cabinet to house the microwave and other small appliances.  My office will also get a different layout, nixing the L shape to the corner.  In place, we’ll widen the pool house door to match the other sliding doors we’ve installed.  Our plan is to use the same tile throughout the two spaces, for a seamless flow.  I’ll talk more about the design elements when we get more nailed down.  We’ve already started building cabinets, so hopefully we can demo before the new year.