Our Kitchen

We've been in this house nearly half a year, and we still haven't unpacked the kitchen equipment. We've been using the dishes from the China hutch, and scavenging through boxes for specific pans and appliances as needed. It's been awkward, but I've been planning a kitchen remodel since before we bought the house, and I didn't want to have to unpack the dishes only to repack them again for construction.

So what's wrong with the kitchen?

It looks nice enough, but I've gotten spoiled. This is the fourth house I've owned, and the fourth kitchen I've remodeled. I've learned some things that I like, and this kitchen comes up short on several things. Some items are just simple repairs, others are design issues, and some are decorating problems:

--The sink drips.

--The handle on the microwave is broken.

--The drawers fall out when opened.

--There is no counter space to the left of the sink, or to the right of the stove.

--There's no counter space on either side of the refrigerator.

--Cabinet shelves are at fixed heights, and there's no place to store tall bottles.

--Garbage disposal is missing its rubber "drain guard." Scary!

--The only place for the refrigerator blocks the lovely picture window to the back yard.

--The fluorescent under-cabinet lighting fixtures don't work. Well, one of them turns on about 60% of the time, a second works about 15% of the time, and the third one has never lit for me.

--The room is dark, and it's too brown.

--The coil burners on the stove don't stay level. The drip pans have been replaced with pans that don't fit the same way.

--The microwave is too low over the stove.

The room was designed to be an eat-in-kitchen, but we don't need to keep a table in it, because the 14'x17' dining room is so close. The dining room was originally the living room, until the garage was finished into a living space. The result of all this room-shifting is that we have a lot of space in the kitchen to use in this remodel.

After months of working with a designer on our plans, we're finally having the construction done. I'll post another picture when it's done.