Before tearing the kitchen apart, I used Photoshop to build a to scale floor plan to make sure the changes worked on paper.

We’ve already made a lot of progress on the main kitchen area, but still not fully functional.  Gas and electric still need to be run for the cooktop and the dishwasher has to get hooked up.  To get the wall ovens in, we’ll have to frame and paint the cabinets.  Clearly things are very much a work in progress.

Less necessary areas, ahem the office, have taken a back seat for now.  That doesn’t mean there aren’t plans.  Oh no, the office is seeing a slightly different layout.

Instead of the L shape, we’re keeping the cabinets to the long wall only.

This will allow us to install a wider sliding door out to the pool house.  Currently, the pool house is a hot mess, but eventually, when it is pretty, we’ll appreciate the connection.

Working around the wider door leaves a 9 1/2 foot long stretch to work with.

Two 36 inch wide base drawers will sit on either end, leaving a chair gap centered below the window.

It looks as though we’re losing a lot of cabinet space, which we are, if you go by linear measurements.  Similar to the kitchen cabinets, there was a lot of wasted space.  Having all drawers for the lowers offers more usable storage.  Another untouched area is along this small stretch of wall along the dining room.

A four-foot wide base cabinet will work as an appliance garage of sorts.  Storage for the microwave behind closed doors as well as the coffee maker.  Just a small area to set up without being in the main traffic side.

Eventually, Ben wants to hang a TV over it.