Red oak hardwoods, 4-inch baseboards, plenty of natural light. We’ve got our key ingredients. Now, we need the hypothetical bowl, spoon and oven to make this thing happen. In this scenario, the bowl/spoon/oven being an open floor plan, U-shaped kitchen and exposed header beams.
The key to staying within your budget is doing the most with what you’ve got. The center and right side of this kitchen are both updated and functional. It doesn’t make sense to spend precious budget tearing out cabinets and countertops that you could make work for you with a little thoughtful finagling. Replace silver hardware with black. Replace white appliances with stainless steel.
The left side of the kitchen is where the real work begins. The pantry (all the way to the left) comes out entirely to open up the floor plan. The doors to the washer/dryer (and drywall around those doors and the refrigerator/freezer) go away. Once out, we’ll create a U-shaped kitchen. So, the countertop and cabinets will continue around until they meet the refrigerator/freezer at the end of the U. If you’re having trouble envisioning it, check out my floor plan post.
Lucky for me, the dining space requires less work than the kitchen. We’ll take out a wall that juts into the space, build a custom banquette bench (so we can fit 6 people at a table instead of 4) and replace the outdated lighting fixture.
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