I was ready to divorce my husband about the new stove in our kitchen renovation. Is that normal? We saw our “life coach” a few days later and he said, “You know, the argument was not about the stove.” He was correct because this week it was about the sink. It may have something to do with our youngest child leaving for college. Truth? It has been a relatively smooth process. I attribute much of this to my patient husband and to these 5 ideas before a kitchen renovation.
5 Ideas Before a Kitchen Renovation
We joked about the decisions around a stove and a sink, but it has been a smooth process. And, I attribute it to the fact we completed these 5 ideas before our kitchen renovation.
1. PAINT THE ISLAND
Islands are the epicenter of the kitchen. They can be the best thing and the most aggravating. Kitchen Islands can be the focal point for conversation or the biggest obstacle to the sink when you just spilled a half-open jar of salsa in the fridge.
2. ADD OPEN SHELVING
Where do you stand on open shelving? My thoughts on open shelving is; be careful what you wish for. Open shelving can trick you into thinking you want your plates on a shelf. Until you decide you don’t want everyone to see your plates on a shelf. But where ever you sit (hang) on this #firstworld debate, shelves like these cost under $50.00 and are a great alternative to committing to a cabinet demo and electrical obstacles.
3. PAINT CABINETS
Painted cabinets are an option if you have the skills, space and patience to form an assembly line of cabinet door fronts. It may work to commit halfway and paint only the bottom cabinets or the kitchen island. Elliott thought I was taking photos of him.
4. CLEAR OUT SELECT CABINETS
Our architect suggested we clear out select cabinets before we commit to a kitchen remodel. Her rationale? We may not need all the cabinet space we think we need. Or, if we decide to reconfigure the kitchen layout we should have a trial run of where we want storage.
Does that make sense?
It was great advice for us. It forced us to evaluate the need for 14 medium size glass storage containers with 8 lids. And, it made us rethink if we really need to store our glass beverage dispenser in the kitchen when we only use it 2-3 times a year.
When my pseudo contractor (husband) dragged his feet on removing this wall (because we would lose a few upper-level cabinets) I moved the conversation forward. How? I removed all the dishes and the microwave in the upper cabinets to make my point.
The half wall between the kitchen and dining room came down that weekend.
5. TEST OUT TILE WITH PEEL & STICK Tile
I thought my husband was going to lose his mind when he saw the faux white brick stones on the kitchen backsplash. Surprise! The truth is he was more afraid that this was a permanent solution for our kitchen backsplash. #suburbanmomprobs
I purchased faux white brick stones similar to these. I knew what I wanted for my kitchen counters, but I did not know what color or style I wanted for a backsplash. So I purchased a roll of faux brick peel and stick wallpaper. It gave me time to stick it and forget about it as I puttered around the kitchen.
I did not realize how these 5 ideas before the kitchen renovation would come into play when we actually made the financial commitment to update our 20 year old kitchen cabinets and counters.
Because it was an island I did not need to climb a ladder. Because it had natural stop and start points, I did not take the time to tape the space. I used the trim work to guide my brush.
It was a simple project with 2 x 12 select pine from Home Depot. We went with select pine because it has a smoother finish. I cut the pine boards to size using a table saw (with an assist from my assistant (husband) to hold the end of the board).
to prep the wood shelves.
This was an easy Saturday afternoon project. I loved this project so much I added the same shelves to our aging basement kitchenette/bar. So the farmhouse shelf photos are from both spaces.
