Design Coaching: Peter And Chrissy’s Builder-Grade Kitchen Plan (I’ve Got Thoughts!)

Oh boy, this is fun. I emotion inserting myself into different people’s problems (usually erstwhile asked) truthful this full “help idiosyncratic other plan their house” happening is already making my dopamine spike. After sifting done countless submissions (sooo galore bully ones–thank you to each who applied!), battling weeks of email hacking snafus, and balancing our ace stacked schedule, we FINALLY recovered our match. You tin work astir this saccharine mates here!

To refresh your representation Chrissy and Peter, our archetypal participants successful the Renovation Coach series, person 3 kids nether the property of 3, truly bully taste, and capable acquisition with remodeling to not prosecute a contractor. And yet, similar each of us, doing it unsocial feels daunting and scary (because it simply is the quality of the beast).

About The House

The location was built successful the 90s and has an summation and immoderate awkward angles and finishes for sure. But the vicinity is large and the batch is HUGE. They privation to alteration a batch astir the location – adding a superior bedroom, moving the pulverization bath, adding a mudroom, moving the washer/dryer upstairs, and redoing the room (maybe more, but that’s what came retired of the 2-hour archetypal session). For our purposes, we are talking kitchen, but it was truthful bully to cognize what other they were reasoning – however agelong volition this drawstring be??

For full ocular discourse of the abstraction earlier we get into the ins and retired of this kitchen, present is simply a video of the space! (just hold for the ads to play:))

Back To The Kitchen (Pre-Move-In)

Here’s however it looked erstwhile they archetypal moved in. From the driblet ceiling to the weirdly shaped land to the unfortunate, immovable structural elements, the room was not their phantasy – some successful relation and style. Their biggest ailment has been the deficiency of retention but genuinely it each needs updating–countertops, cabinets, appliances, flooring, you sanction it. The travel is simply a spot weird wide and they’re unfastened to reimagining the abstraction entirely. Oh, and the cabinets are falling apart. “BUILDER-GRADE” (she shakes her fists astatine the sky).

They’ve already made immoderate slayer changes, starting with the floor. They opted for this beauteous wide plank wood flooring, getting escaped of the checkerboard, which lone enhanced the datedness of the kitchen, but besides opened up options. By changing the absorption of the wood floors it besides truly helped to amended link the room to the surviving areas. 

Here is what their room looked similar the time we stopped by to cheque it out. As you tin see, they are mid-project and person been agonizing implicit the champion solution for this abstraction to support moving forward. They’ve explored a fig of layouts and person yet to onshore connected the close 1 (her keynote collages look similar excavation – abundant and messy a la A Beautiful Mind. When we archetypal got determination she had a program and 2 hours aboriginal we wholly changed it (for the better, we think).

Chrissy’s First Mockup (Pre-Meeting)

Christy wanted to widen the size of the room into the abstraction adjacent doorway (which seemed to beryllium initially intended for a eating room). Desperate for retention and a bully large land for cooking and entertaining, they thought that this could beryllium a bully solution. I didn’t, TBH, particularly due to the fact that erstwhile you get into the abstraction the biggest contented is 2 antithetic ceiling levels.

The dropped and vaulted ceiling is truly the culprit here. Well, really it’s conscionable a regular 8ft ceiling successful the room portion that feels similar a dropped ceiling due to the fact that the remainder of the abstraction is vaulted. But this transverse conception is decidedly structural, holding up portion of their kids’ country upstairs, truthful they person to find a mode to enactment with it.

There were immoderate different issues, arsenic good that they wanted to address.

Speaking of structural, some the partition attached to the stairs and this diagonal country partition connecting to their existent washer/dryer closet, person to stay. In this backmost country is the entranceway from their garage, a choky walk-thru, with laundry connected 1 broadside (that they privation to beryllium moved upstairs) and a teeny tiny pulverization bath connected the other. Ideally, they’d emotion to find a mode to adhd a mudroom successful this area…but 1 task astatine a time. My position was that each these small moves would extremity up costing $250k astatine slightest and not each of them were worthy it. Moving a pulverization bath 5 feet could outgo $25k (could besides beryllium less, but you conscionable don’t know) truthful I advised against it unless they were 100% definite this was their “forever home”.

Stepping into the kitchen, this is your main view: a slope of bushed cabinets, the sink, the dishwasher, and a presumption that overlooks the dogs’ potty zone. (Did I notation they person 2 cute pups?) The full location really gets truly large airy vulnerability from the galore windows successful the surviving room, and Chrissy hasn’t loved looking retired into this area. They’ve discussed removing this model wholly (or possibly the 1 successful the eating room) oregon conscionable shifting it implicit to marque country for their perfect furniture layout. Regardless, they volition enactment successful caller windows should they support them here.

Plumbing volition apt enactment connected this backmost partition to support costs and complications down. But they privation to displacement the descend over, swapping it for a bigger/better one, past flanking it with a panel-ready dishwasher and trash drawer. And of course, each of this means caller cabinets, countertops, hardware, appliances, etc. Again, present is their past temper committee (which is rapidly changing, per the accustomed plan process).

Chrissy has large sensation and plan oculus – I loved her mockup. None of these elements are last but for the style/color of the cabinetry. The 1 happening they cognize for definite is that they love the AXSTAD bluish room cabinets from IKEA. The terms is close and the look and colour truly talk to them. Us too. Initially, she wanted to widen the cabinetry each the mode across, into the vaulted ceiling eating area, creating a barroom portion and prep country with much storage. But she’s struggled with the close operation of cabinets that volition align with that ceiling tallness leap successful a visually pleasing way.

Additionally, they are losing the country cabinets, alternatively shifting the oven portion successful enactment with the backmost partition to make much of a galley-style kitchen. In bid to marque this enactment and look right, they volition request to code this weird partition concern and program to bump it retired to marque it flush with the walkway opening. Doing this volition besides adhd astir a ft of abstraction to the pulverization bath connected the different broadside (another task they person plans for, but again, 1 happening astatine a time!).

Another portion of Chrissy’s plan (and we are decidedly aligned here) is to support the island. Well, this funky land volition not beryllium staying, but a caller rectangular land volition instrumentality its place. Again, 1 of their large issues is having capable storage, truthful prioritizing other cabinetry present makes sense. They talked astir keeping the stools wherever they are currently, but Gretchen had the thought to physique successful the overhang astatine the end of the land instead, adjacent the store entrance. Enough country for the kiddos to person a spot connected a mates of stools portion dada cooks, and plentifulness of country to basal and stitchery astir the backmost of the land erstwhile entertaining–which they bash a batch of–while maximizing retention on the backside. The cooktop would enactment present (though astatine 1 constituent successful our meeting, we discussed swapping it with the descend but that would apt beryllium excessively overmuch of a ha$$le).

Behind the land is their “pantry”, successful quotes due to the fact that it’s much of a Harry Potter closet than a pantry, positioned successful the void nether the stairs. In each of Chrissy’s plans, integrating a caller pantry furniture was a staple of her design. If you scroll backmost up to her mockup, she primitively envisioned it adjacent to the paneled fridge, apt coming retired past the 8ft ceiling divide. The occupation past became making it look close with the vaulted ceiling. Would it travel up past the 8ft and intersect with the vault? Or enactment the aforesaid height? Does IKEA adjacent marque cabinets to acceptable a concern similar this? And however would this each shingle retired measurement-wise?

Well, Gretch suggested alternatively turning the archetypal stair/pantry partition into a expansive partition of floor-to-ceiling-pantry cabinets, closing disconnected the existing door, and moving its entree to the broadside hallway with immoderate clever angled doors oregon drawers. Both Chrissy and Peter perked up astatine this. Of course, it volition each person to marque consciousness dimensionally and could beryllium impacted based connected the size of the caller island. And it means much projects. But it could beryllium a precise chill connection infinitesimal and would springiness the cook thing much absorbing to look astatine than the existent situation.

With much retention going successful the land and the imaginable for a larger pantry country crossed it, the archetypal bar/cabinetry build-out into the surviving abstraction present becomes little crucial. But the occupation inactive remains. How bash you integrate this surviving country with the room truthful it feels cohesive and connected? Ending the cabinets successful the aforesaid spot arsenic they are present mightiness support the room feeling small. But extending it into a bedewed barroom oregon conscionable much antagonistic abstraction isn’t super functional if they besides request this country to clasp their eating table. Sure, it’d springiness them much retention but it’s improbable they’d really usage it for prep space.

Our Solution?

So what if instead, it became a built-in eating banquette, flanked with cabinets and shelving? This mightiness consciousness much visually intentional than closed-off cabinets and could code the ceiling displacement successful a mode that makes sense–to america astatine least. Remember, Chrissy is not joined to this model staying here, truthful a caller model could displacement astir oregon it could permission altogether and marque country for a matching bookcase to flank either broadside of the seat (with the model successful the middle?). The seat (and the shelves) would supply adjacent much storage, but could besides crook this partition into a truly beautiful, thoughtful focal point.

So that’s wherever we near them, with plentifulness of caller ideas and imaginable solutions swirling. The biggest question present is however does this each acceptable together?? Does that partition truly person the close magnitude for a treble oven, sink, trash drawer and dishwasher, drawers, panel-ready fridge, unfastened shelving bookcase (that starts astatine precisely the close spot with the weird ceiling shift), positive a built-in eating bench? How large should the land be? Can a expansive pantry partition acceptable into the mix?

Their Homework

We were truthful excited astir the layout change, but Chrissy truly needed to fig retired math-wise if they could acceptable their appliances AND the cabinets successful the aforesaid room footprint, utilizing the land for the cooktop and knowing that we’d person much retention successful the caller pantry and the floor-to-ceiling room furniture focal infinitesimal successful the eating room. We can’t truly bash overmuch until we cognize that the layout volition enactment wrong the footprint (we each consciousness hopeful).

They person to bash immoderate homework to get each of those answers, truthful we’ll cheque backmost successful with them soon. I besides tasked them with taking an inventory of their room things, what each they’ll request to store, and mapping it retired based connected the caller projected plan — a signifier we curse by! Maybe they’ll find they don’t person truthful overmuch of a retention contented aft all?

As I was penning this I realized that this is simply a LOT to effort to recognize without you being successful the space. If you’ve made it this acold you are arsenic invested arsenic we are. With 3 kids nether 3 years old, attempting a room remodel is simply a doozy (thus maine wanting to help). They deliberation they tin get it done successful nether 3 months and I’m loving their enthusiasm. They aren’t hiring a GC and alternatively are going to prosecute subcontractors and negociate the task themselves, which honestly I deliberation volition marque it spell faster if they are connected apical of it and surely could prevention them immoderate money. They person already started getting bids and making relationships with subs and honestly, we each cognize that nary 1 tin get crap done faster than a mom, truthful possibly the 3 kids nether 3 years volition really beryllium to beryllium the information to thrust fast. Regardless, we are on for this thrust and hoping to not conscionable beryllium a backseat driver. Next up is seeing the update connected the layout with our caller program and past we’ll spell buying for tile and chromatic (assuming that we are bully to usage the IKEA kitchen).

Since this is the archetypal clip we are documenting idiosyncratic else’s task (and not doing renderings, etc) fto america cognize if you person suggestions connected the rollout of this – it’s a batch of accusation to get truthful we’ll effort to interruption it down truthful you tin measurement successful and besides gleam immoderate assistance for your ain project. A immense acknowledgment to Chrissy and Peter for being our guinea pigs:)

The station Design Coaching: Peter And Chrissy’s Builder-Grade Kitchen Plan (I’ve Got Thoughts!) appeared archetypal connected Emily Henderson.