Many of you have heard me moan and groan over the design challenges 704 Felder Ave has presented… Here are a few quick design tricks for those of you who like a good remodel.
The kitchen at 704 Felder was your typical old school kitchen with the wonderful windows that are only 28″ off the ground. Typical counter top height is 36″. So, if you need cabinetry on this wall at all, it leaves you with an awkward window/cabinetry situation unless you are willing to remove the windows and go back with custom sized or just do without cabinetry there at all. The locations of the door openings in this kitchen also made it very awkward to design a functional kitchen…then you add these low windows and there was minimal kitchen. So, major creativity (which typically means a glass or two of wine and no interruptions) was in order to get this remodel design pulled off. This stuff is what makes me tick, so I was excited to take on the challenge.
Kitchen windows before construction
The solution?? Remove the window sill, add standard height cabinetry, counter tops and a fabulous back splash and DRAPE the window so you don’t notice the funky window height from the inside and from the outside you don’t see the back of cabinetry…you see pretty drapery. Check it out…
Another problem that presented itself were the lovely air vents in the floor right where the cabinetry needed to go. One of my biggest pet peeves is a floor vent right under my foot. So, rather than moving the existing vents, we built a chase in the cabinetry base for the air flow and added decorative grates in the cabinetry.
Another cost savings were the pantry doors. The cabinetry is all custom and I wanted large cabinetry doors on the pantry. The cost of custom doors this large is up there…so, I found these old ones at an antique show. Most of the original glass was missing so we used an old mirror originally in the house to replace the original glass panes. The mirror also added a little privacy for a messy pantry. And, you know me…I hate to see a microwave, so that ugly little thing is behind these pretty doors in the pantry.
Last, this kitchen island. I can’t decide if I like this or the pantry doors better. The island was an antique find as well that we added a little height to. It was originally table height (30″) and it needed to be counter height. I showed our cabinetry guys a little inspiration picture of how I wanted the base to be raised and they knocked it out. Now it is functional for preparation, adds a little wow and was way more cost effective than a totally custom island. Honestly, 9 times out of 10, I would put an antique island as a centerpiece in a kitchen anyway.
Hope you learned a few ways to make your remodel a little more creative and strech your dollar. Or, just call us. The design of a remodel is one of my favorite kind of projects.
