EXTREME KITCHEN RENOVATION EP 1 | Inspiration, Plans & 3D Design Renders

after a year of living in our new home

and a baby arriving in less than 4

months we've been thinking about updates

we can make to our home while life is

still calm our kitchen has been

something we've wanted to redesign since

moving in so with the help of

contractors and Tradesmen we are

tackling a complete kitchen renovation

on a tight budget and an even tighter

timeline

needed cling black as night hello guys

welcome back to my channel and welcome

back to our kitchen we have lived here

for over a year and one of the first

things that I knew we wanted to do

eventually was renovate our kitchen it

was not a selling point of this house it

was not updated it still had the

original cabinets from I don't know when

I don't think that they're from the 30s

but they definitely are quite old the

appliances Wen w't super old but they

weren't super new either and there were

just a lot of problem areas in the

kitchen and the dining room area so what

you're seeing right now is not what it

looked like when we moved into the house

the Cabinetry was all painted a beigy

yellow there was a pretty awful

stainless steel sink that I knew I

wanted to change out right away that was

one of the first things that we changed

like within the first couple of weeks we

did this composite quartz sink drop in

sink

um and updated it with a faucet that we

had at our apartment and painted the

walls from Pure White to this like more

softer sculpter clay color which we've

done in a different part of the house as

well in a makeover so we have done a few

updates to the kitchen side of this part

of the house but if you go right on the

other side of this

wall you come to the dining room portion

of this section now what I loved about

this little section of the house is it's

it's own I say Wing but it's not we

don't have wings in our house but it's

it's just its own little section there's

just this Center divider wall between

the kitchen and the dining room which

makes each space feel very narrow very

constrainted and limits a lot of things

in the kitchen and a lot of things in

the dining room so we have never used

this space in the over the year that

we've lived here we have never sat in

here and I've never invested in any

furniture to go in here because it's

very narrow and I did over the year kind

of try and brainstorm some ideas of what

we could do for this SP maybe put a

longer rectangular table and have more

of a banket seating so it you know kind

of took up some space but once I found

out that this Center wall dividing the

two spaces wasn't loadbearing and

structural for this area I abandoned all

thought of making these two spaces work

I knew we were going to make this entire

portion of the house a eatin kitchen we

are 25 weeks pregnant and expecting our

baby in just over 3 months so if we're

going to do this kitchen and have it

done before the baby comes we have to

start right right now so I've been

having lots of conversations with

contractors putting everything in motion

and it's finally time to get started so

now I can start to share my design plans

with you share what we're changing what

we're keeping and salvaging and

upgrading into the space and how we're

making it bigger brighter and more

functional so let's talk about the

problem areas in the kitchen that it is

today so I've already told you about the

dividing wall that really creates two

individual spaces that are very

restrictive and very narrow and it's

created Dead Space for us we just don't

use the dining room at all the second

problem area is the placement of our

refrigerator so when you open it

it hits the wall you can't actually open

the right door to get into the

refrigerator now luckily this is you

know you have French draw so you can

open both sides which we do have to do

every time so this is not ideal you need

space next to your refrigerator for the

door to actually open all the way the

future fridge cannot be in this position

it has to be relocated in order to

function properly the next problem is

area is overall counter space we have

struggled so much over the last year

with counter space we don't have enough

for some of the appliances that we use

all the time and also room to prep food

to bring in our groceries they all have

to go onto the floor we have no Island

we have no other surface in this area in

order to utilize so everything is just

always in the way we've just always

struggled with with it at Christmas time

we did add this vintage kind of coffee

cart it's a bar cart that I found at the

thrift store so that we could put our

coffee on it so we can get it off the

counter and we can have more counter

space and that did help a ton because we

obviously have the espresso machine and

the Nespresso and coffee mugs and stuff

so we were able to get that not only off

the counters but also out of the

Cabinetry so we were able to open it up

a little bit just the addition of that

one cabinet had significant Improvement

problem number four is really a huge

lack of storage we have Cabinetry that's

very narrow and not very deep and we

have no Pantry so it forces us to use a

lot of the Cabinetry for dry goods and

snacks and you know Pantry type items we

just we have no place so storage is

definitely a big one that's lacking in

the space I don't know if this is

particularly an issue but it's just a

again just creating Dead Space here is

this little corner we have a door our

patio door that goes out to the front so

you can't put anything here at all you

can't put like a little breakfast nook

or a little breakfast table or even

additional tabletop counter storage you

know I was I was thinking I could put

like a hutch in here or something for

more storage can't do that because you

need access to go outside and then you

also need access for this doorway to go

into the dining room so it just left

this dead area so I don't think that

that's planned really well and although

it is the perfect time for me to be

filming right now because it's the

perfect time of day where we have the

most sunlight another struggle that we

have throughout the entire house really

is a lack of natural daylight and at

certain times of day rooms can go really

really dark so we get great morning sun

in the front of the house and then when

it passes the trees in the back of the

house it gets pretty dark in the whole

house by opening up this one wall this

whole section of the house will now get

morning sunlight and afternoon sunlight

and in addition I would love to bring

some skylights into this space as well

so that we get just all day sunlight

taking the opportunity while we're doing

renovations to add that in because we do

have skylights in the rest of the house

to help with that too so it'll match the

flow and the style of the house a few

things that we have to talk to people

about like the contractor in the end

specifically a structural engineer is

this wall because we need to confirm

that it isn't structural that it isn't

loadbearing and it doesn't need extra

support elsewhere also we have to

relocate the electrical

panel which I feel like is one of the

hiccups it just makes it that much

harder is it doable

100% th% but you know it's still still

something it's just not a blank wall

that you can just rip down so it's

definitely something we have to take

into consideration and also a huge

design element that I really want in

this space is to make the ceilings feel

taller this is the shortest section of

the house we have 8T ceilings in here

and because of all of the additions all

of the ceilings are a little bit

different and a little bit sloped differ

it's very strange because we're removing

this and we already are getting a

structural engineer to take take a look

at it I want them to take a look at the

idea of actually doing a covered

cathedral ceiling in here which would

look the same as it does in our main

living room which adds so much height in

the center of the room making the

overall room feel so much larger the

only inspiration photos that I could

actually find for cathedral ceilings

have beams that follow the shape of the

ceiling from side to side and I don't

actually want to do that I want to have

the same look as our living room two

beams that go at the break point of the

slope of the ceiling whether these beams

are structural or faux just for looks

the engineer will determine when he gets

here in the cottage I was actually

considering vaulting the ceiling in the

living room and I opted not to do it

because we already had 12T ceilings it

already felt tall we didn't need it and

it was going to be extra cost but when

we have 8ft ceilings I told myself I was

like I'm not going to abandon the idea

of vaulting the ceiling I really wanted

I think it's going to make a big impact

so structural engineer would take a look

at all of that and make sure that we

just put everything in place to where

it's perfectly structured and we're all

good to go so let's talk about the

inspiration and overall design I'd like

to accomplish in the kitchen so I've

been working a lot on sketching the

floor plan on where everything is going

to go where we're going to move the

refrigerator and the oven to once we

remove that Center wall how we're going

to optimize the storage and increase the

counter space and really get all of our

mus haves in this kitchen renovation and

that really started by finding

inspiration that I really liked and

thinking through all of the problem

areas in the kitchen and my biggest

piece of advice when you're doing a

renovation or you're going to be doing a

new build is to really figure out what

you actually want do all of your

research find your inspiration pictures

even if you just sketch out what you

want because you're going to have to

tell so so many people what you want

that you want to be really clear about

it because they're not going to be

inside your head they're not going to

understand what you really want to

accomplish so the more you can show them

the better so that's really what I did

going into this process I started with

inspiration and I created a board on I

love to use milanote and Pinterest

together to really compile all of my

ideas and save inspiration photos I love

this kitchen kudos to this DIY I love

her kitchen so much I love the color

palette with the darker cabinets and the

darker oven in range and the fluted

glass and all of these elements are so

beautiful to me so that was a big

jumping off point and I'll put her name

on the screen because she's this kitchen

I absolutely love but of course we'll do

it in our own way because we're going

darker on the Cabinetry and the

appliances I do want to keep the wall

color more neutral and lighter so that

it still feels bright in the space and I

would love to go with the same sculptor

clay color that we did in the living

room I think that would be beautiful

we're also keeping the brick floor so I

put that inspiration so I had all my

elements in one space I'd love to go

with a lighter countertop and this

custom hood I'll put the designer on the

screen I love I want to take this as

inspiration and make it my own make it

my own shape but I love how it has the

molding I love how it has lots of

character I love how there's little

niches inside for like SP spices and

things up top I love the shape overall I

definitely want to do black appliances

cuz I did the opposite at the cottage

which was lighter with a darker

countertop so I'm kind of flipping the

color palette a little bit to give me

something different I definitely want a

panel refrigerator I love the one that

we did in the cottage the MAA

refrigerator the French door I AB we

absolutely love that fridge and then

paneling it so it looks like Cabinetry

so there's not this this big large you

know stainless steel object in the

kitchen I don't really like appliances

as statement features except for the

oven since we're opening up the center

wall we could do two things we could

either have a island that we put in the

center with bar stools when a big pretty

countertop or we could do a dining room

table and have an Eden kitchen for me I

love the idea of doing an edting kitchen

because it looks and feels more

reminiscent to the time like they didn't

have islands in the 30s it's more of a

modern thing that we're doing and since

we're optimizing all of the countertop

space along the perimeter of the room I

think we can really do this eat in

allinone all-encompassing room where we

have our dining room table that'll seat

eight cuz there's plenty of space inside

the kitchen and I love that look and we

can always come back and add an island

later if we decide in the future to make

the front formal living room into a

dining room or something like that like

we could always change it up but I think

starting here is such a great way for us

to get both spaces in one and even if we

were going to do an island I actually

wouldn't put anything in the island like

the sink or the oven or anything it

would just be a flat taller surface

because we want to optimize the sunlight

I really want to do skylights in the

space so I'm going to talk to the

contractor and see what's possible how

big we can make the skylights whether we

do two or four and I'm thinking just two

over by the oven area not not only are

we going to break down the wall that's

going to give us morning and afternoon

light but also all day sunlight from

these skylights in the ceiling which is

in the rest of the house as well love to

have a farmhouse sink 36 in big one

Basin farmhouse sink cuz Romeo doesn't

like the divider in the center and he's

the one that's majority doing the dishes

so we're going to give Romeo what he

wants bring in some brass hardware by

reusing what we already have um but

bringing in some new faucets and things

I also do want to do a pot filler over

the stove because I feel like in this

new layout we are kind of spreading

things apart a little bit there's more

distance between the sink and the oven

and the refrigerator and this is just

how it works best I work through tons of

different layouts and this is how it it

really really works for us um so because

we're separating those things a little

further I think a pot filler over the

oven to fill pots when we're cooking is

definitely going to be really good this

Pantry storage wall actually inspired

one of the designs that I'm going to

show you in a minute in into the kitchen

um because I do want to optimize the

storage but also pretty storage cuz I

have beautiful China and I have things

that I use at certain times of year that

I need places for and so this is

definitely an inspiration I love it that

it goes over the door too so I'll show

you in a minute how I'm going to kind of

incorporate that same idea into our

kitchen and we are going to be doing

some new French doors going out to the

patio so this was a cutout from a

magazine that I saw that I loved I loved

how tall and skinny the doors were doing

them a little bit uh different on the

bottom so that they match the rest of

the doors in the house so that

everything looks really cohesive so I've

actually been working with an architect

on Fiverr to render my sketches into 3D

visuals so I can really see what's going

on I can see the balance of things I can

see the Cabinetry now I'm hesitant to

show these because I feel like they look

too mid Century into to Modern these

renders are lacking all of the character

that I'm going to bring into the space

from the decorative toe kicks to crown

molding to the pretty Hardware it feels

very flat and modern to me but these are

just to give you an idea of placement so

don't look at them too literally and

you're just going to have to stay tuned

through this entire process to see it

all come together because the way that

it looks in my head is really really

beautiful so trust me like you trusted

me at the cottage left side of the

kitchen I love that there is this little

box window that looks out to the garden

and our front yard so I love that this

is where the sink is and when designing

this whole area I really took into

consideration where existing Plumbing

was existing lines for like the gas and

things like that so that we would have

less costs that we would encounter when

we did renovation if I already like the

sink here I just want to update what's

kind of like happening around it it

works in our favor to keep it here

because everything that it needs to

function is already here love where the

sink is positioned I just want to extend

the countertop as far to the door as

possible without messing with its

opening and extend the countertop as far

right as I can as well by doing that

we'll not only increase the counter

space but we'll also add more storage

underneath and also more storage up here

because we can make this wider as well

and put multiple cabinets with this

Center wall gone now obviously

everything on this wall has to be

relocated so we've got the oven and

range the hood and storage all of this

needs to be relocated and we won't have

anything in the center so what I'm

thinking keep this door and this window

but from this window on it becomes the

back wall of our kitchen which will have

storage the oven and range the hood a

beautiful Hood will Design and also the

refrigerator right now I'm essentially

standing where a portion of the oven

will be right here and then they we have

some counter space some upper Cabinetry

and

our

refrigerator this is where it will go

and it works in our favor massively that

the refrigerator goes here because the

house swings and cuts out right here so

it has enough degree that we can

actually open the doors and it actually

fits really really well there so because

the refrigerator will go there we have

to close up this door going to the pool

from this area I really like and I'm all

for because I actually want to turn

these two

windows into tall French doors that will

open to the pool so we're kind of

trading one door for two just making

this great indoor outdoor feeling and

adding more glass I I want more glass in

the doors so that it just lets in as

much light as possible and we have a

really cool access from the kitchen to

our pool area to the grill the barbecue

that's outside during the summer months

we love we love this house for the pool

so making that access will will be

really beautiful So currently this is

the only entrance from the rest of the

house to this section of the house to

this kitchen and it will stay that way

we're only going to have one entrance

and because we had such a lack of

storage I actually got this curio

cabinet and refinished it for all of my

China I have no space for all of my

pretty dishes and pretty glass wear so

to remedy that this wall I really want

going to make a statement storage wall

it's going to have lots of lots of

Cabinetry lots of mill work but it's

going to not only have our pantry which

will go right here in this corner which

will have every inch optimized with like

drawer slides you know like pull out

it'll have like an appliance section

it'll be a really good one we're going

to do this really well and then above

the entrance and all the way to the

other wall is all going to be lower

storage and upper glass storage for

prettier things our coffee bar will go

there we'll have all of the space for

our dishes my prettier dishes and things

um drink wear all of that stuff will go

there so we're really optimizing the

storage here even though a portion of it

will be readed glass on the front it's

still going to have that much of a

privacy factor to where even if it's not

perfect perfect L staged which knowing

me it always will be perfectly aligned

it will still look nice cuz it'll have a

little bit of texture so you won't

really be able to see through it all

that well it'll add some lightness to

all of the Cabinetry around you guys

know if you've been following for a

while I love to repurpose and Salvage

and reuse wherever I can so some things

that we are keeping for sure in

repurposing are all of the original

Windows you could never get me not love

the original 19 these windows and the

door as well we're keeping all of that

original I actually love these lights I

don't know if they'll be big enough to

repurpose into a room that's going to

double in size but it's worth a shot and

even if they're not going to work in

here I love them I want to keep them for

something else all of the hardware that

we actually swapped out that I found

vintage we're going to be repurposing

into the new design the refrigerator we

are keeping in and we're actually just

going to put into our garage to use as a

secondary uh refrigerator and we are

keeping our existing dishwasher for now

it's great it's a BOS dishwasher I love

it it's in perfect condition why not try

and repurpose I might just try and

change it the color from stainless steel

we'll do like a little DIY on it

hopefully the brick floors we are

definitely keeping in this space because

it's continuous and looks great with the

rest of the house because we have the

same brick flooring in the living room

and also in our primary bedroom so we're

going to be keeping it we're just going

to patch any portions that will need to

be patched from like this wall being

removed you know we don't know where it

starts and stops so we're going to be

patching it keeping it these beams are

faux as well they're not structural but

I'd love to keep them and use them for

something I don't know if they're solid

I think they are we are going to be

putting some beams in here into design

but I these won't work they won't be

long enough but I'd love to like make

something out of it or maybe something

for outside or I don't know something

I'd love to to salvage them and keep

them and even though we're changing

these two windows into doors I want to

keep the windows because if we find a

future project that I need Windows for

maybe

outside I don't know I just I love to

hang on to stuff like that because we

already own them I love them let's keep

them let's just stack them in the garage

and keep them

until I know for sure that we won't

reuse them coming up next in our kitchen

renovation we're literally cooking less

than 24 hours AG go in this kitchen and

now it's like not here which will make

it higher this this would have taken us

probably like 2 months yeah and then

last night I kind of had a panic attack

because each of these doors would be 21

in by 5T tall you want me to replace

this you want me to replace this you

want me to what's going to happen is

this cuz we can do one big one with

multiple dos I mean we do light light

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