When Joe and I decided to renovate, the ideal situation would have been to get everything done before we moved in.  Unfortunately, our budget didn’t allow for that and we will have to wait another two years or so before we can afford to renovate the kitchen.  There’s nothing seriously wrong with the kitchen as it is – the appliances are all clean and no more than 5 years old – but its not the prettiest kitchen either.  Most of my peeves are relatively minor…the floor is not totally level, and I’d LOVE to have granite counter tops rather than laminate.  But my biggest issue is that the layout is really not the most efficient use of space.  Its basically a square with one empty wall that is completely unusable space because the fridge door opens against it.  The other problem is that once we put a microwave onto the counter top, we have about half as much usable counter top space for food prep.  Here is my idea for how I would renovate eventually, to make the most efficient use of the space:

The kitchen as it is now:

This is my idea for the renovation:

OR

I’ve heard that it can be a bit more pricey to move gas and water lines, but I think it will be worth it eventually.  The new design would have a mounted microwave to save counter space and I love the idea of knocking down part of the wall to open things up to the dining room.  One restriction we have is that the fire escape is right outside the kitchen window, so we can’t put anything in front of it to block it (like having a sink or counter in front of the window.) But I should probably not get too attached to this idea until I talk with a professional.  I guess I’d be open to having the stove by the side that opens to the dining room, but I feel like it would get in the way of the usefulness of knocking down that wall.  Oh well…I can’t do it now anyway, but I do have some plans for a DIY update that will make it at least a little easier on the eyes and get me though these next couple of years.  I’m armed with a deglosser, sandpaper, and buckets of paint, so be prepared for more before and after pics in the coming weeks!!

Getting started. When this picture was taken, I had just started sanding the cabinet doors.