Indoor Kitchen Makeover

[Uncle Bob]

The bride and I have done 5 kitchen remodels over the past 40 years so have learned a few things along the way.

Whatever you think is plenty of overhead lighting, put in more, with dimmers for when you want less light intensity. Under cabinet lights are great for aiding counter tasks and for "mood" lighting. If feasible, a remote exhaust fan, either under floor or in attic will make work at the stove more relaxed.

If your current upper cabinets are butted to soffits, get rid of the soffits and install taller cabinets. You get more storage space and a higher end look for little more cost. Well, modest cost as long as the soffits aren't hiding a bunch of electrical, plumbing, or ducting that will need rerouting. Any cabinets deeper than 12" should have full extension pull outs, drawer, shelf, bin, whatever. Makes for easier access and storage options.

Don't be afraid to change the layout of appliances for better working convenience. It might seem like a major deal, but often it's just a matter of fairly simple relocation of electrical. Plumbing is a different matter depending on how the house is built. Slab makes plumbing changes a nightmare, but basement or crawl space configuration is sometimes easier to deal with.

[Jfrosty27]

+1 on the lighting. We installed a ridiculous number of LED can lights with dimmers. When all are on, it is incredibly bright. Also the under cabinet lights are a must.

[WayneT]

Thanks for all that first hand experiential advice, Bob.

I concur on the added lighting. I installed small led puck lights under our cabinets but we will definitely go with something more permanent during the remodel. I've got more than 30 IOT devices like smart switches, smart plugs, smart bulbs and smart dimmers to handle the tasks of light color and intensity.

(continued)

[WayneT]

The new wall cabinets will be 15" deep and extend to the height of the 8' ceiling. All ball bearing, full extension drawers on base cabinets where drawers are needed.

Electrical and plumbing will not be an issue since we are on a crawl space foundation. The cooktop and sink are the only replacement items that will remain in the same location.

[SandPiper]

Great advice in the threads above. Be sure your ventilation system - specifically a hood for the cooktop - is adequate and if possible vents outside. We have had a number of kitchen remodels in various houses over the years. I've come to believe that the best venting hoods are always venting to the outside and are quieter with the motor on the outside of the house rather than in the kitchen. Whenever we've had a resurculating ventilation system whether it be downdraft or one under a cabnet, it never worked very well for smoke, just for catching some grease. Whereas, the systems venting outside work much better ( At least if you create a lot of smoke like we do when we cook). That may not always be possible depending on your architecture but it may be a suggestion worth considering. Best of luck with your plans.

[Jfrosty27]

#1. We only have the vent fan under the microwave. Those never work well right? Ha! This time we vented it to the outside and it works 10X better! It was really easy. The range and cabinets are on an outside wall so the carpenter just cut a hole through it and used the venting setup as instructed in the microwave install manual with a high quality deflector thingy on the outside. Looks good outside, all sealed up, and works perfectly. Took him about 30 minutes.

[barelfly]

I don’t have any advice but excited to see how this turns out for you!

[captainlee]

The house we bought has a kitchen exhaust which goes out through the roof. It has no back draft diverter so in the winter the cold air was flowing down in volume. I did fabricate a blocker plate which drops down to exhaust then you have to close it when finished cooking. Kind of a pia but it works. So if you're exhausting to the outside make sure you have some type of back flow prevention. Appliances today are the luck of the draw no matter what brand you buy. Friend did a kitchen remodel and has had issues with his Bosch dishwasher and his Sub Zero frig.

[WayneT]

That’s an excellent point about the vent hood allowing a column of cold air to descend through the vent duct if exhausted vertically. We are planning to use a downdraft ventilator and exhaust it down, through the floor and outside the crawl space.

[captainlee]

That should work great with no cold back flow issues. Good luck with your project.

[Richard Chrz]

Love following along on these!

[DennyWoo]

We did a total gut and remodel last fall. We went through a local lumberyard for the cabinets and settled on a contractor from a few that they recommended. The cabinets were mid-range on the pricing, but we are happy with them. We went with the taller upper cabinets as others here have mentioned. Another poster commented about having plenty of lighting, and we added quite a few more overhead as well as under cabinet. We also added a window above the sink. We love how it turned out.

[Dan Deter]

Nice! Love that look!

[Draznnl]

Looks great!

[WayneT]

Great improvement for sure! Thanks for sharing that.

[Oak Smoke]

We went through this 4 years ago. It was quite a learning experience. Our SIL is a very experienced former general contractor. With his help and the wife’s talent we end up with a nice kitchen. We did something a bit non-traditional in that we have three different counter heights. The wife’s baking center counter is 33 inches high. The area around the sink is 35 inches and the rest of the kitchen is 38 inches high. My wife is 5ft 2inches on a good day, I’m 6ft 3inches every day. The different heights provide both of us with comfortable places to work from. In the pantry every shelf is also a drawer. You can pull a drawer out and see everything in it , no more lost stuff at the back . We also made several of the shelves for pots and pans drawers . They’re so easy to get stuff out of. The two areas I would change are the lighting set up and the stove we chose. The south side of the kitchen is well lit during the day but less than perfect at night. You can’t have too many lights. We chose a KitchenAid dual fuel range. The concept is sound it’s just not well executed here. The ovens have needed several service calls trying to get the tempo control right. I think we’re there now. The gas cook top needs better burners and better burner placement. The rear burners are too close to the back, they won’t center under anything other than a small pan. I have to admit I may have settled here because of sticker shock. I was surprised that the stove we wanted was nearly $10,000. I was sure I had already spent $50,000 dollars and was cautious about spending that much more. I’ve included pictures of the transition areas on the counter heights, the pantry drawers, and the drawers for pots and pans. The drawer full of CI is under a big load and works fine. These have all worked out great. Good luck!

[WayneT]

Very smart idea using the varying base cabinet heights.

[yakima]

Went to a recent estate sale. Guy had multiple homes around Washington state. The doors were very impressive. 9 foot. clear one piece Douglas fir, 4 hinges. 3 to 4k per door? All doors, pantry to entry.

[yakima]

Not sure if male lion was included in sale.

[WayneT]

Def above our paygrade.