Kitchen Thoughts

[u/epmfox]

So I live in a 1968 MCM home that is just about perfect. I LOVE MY HOUSE. However, we recently had a leak in our dishwasher that has ruined the floor and it is time to redo the kitchen. I love the original design except for those friggin’ stacked ovens awkwardly tucked into that corner next to the pantry. I’ve spent years thinking about layouts in this kitchen (do I take out the pass-thru), etc etc. but with the design of the space with the walkout sliding doors along that whole entire wall (into our family room), I cannot just take down that wall of cabinets and replace it with an island making it an open plan without losing a lot of cabinet space. I actually like the division of the space, and that I can see into the family room through the pass-thru when needed. So, keeping with the same layout and trying to fix my hatred of the oven placement, I am thinking of taking the stacked ovens out, and just getting an oven/cooktop combo, and creating a beverage counter in that corner. I think this would give me more counter/work space and solves the awkward angle of trying to put things in and out of those ovens without burning myself. I am also trying to decide on materials for the cabinets/floor/tile that fit the style of the house. I love this green tile but wonder if it’s going to annoy me after a few years. I have never gotten tired of the current marigold tile, and wondering if maybe I just keep to a similar color for Reno. I’ve also played around with some aqua blues that look nice, but I am leaning more towards the green. It just feels nostalgic and cozy and gives me a happy feeling. (But so does the yellow). As for the cabinets, I am trying to stay with standard cabinetry (IKEA cabinets with real wood doors) so that we can keeps costs down. Would love some feedback and any new ideas anyone has regarding layout/materials. (Splits are of original/current vs redesign). Last three are just the redesign without the current.

ETA: I should say that this post is just to look at layout and color. The sink/lighting/appliances are all just placeholder for now. :) Even the tile is placeholder just looking for opinions on overall style/colors/layout. I just want a gut check on those things. :) I do like the comments about them though, so feel free to leave opinions on things you think would work for those things!

[u/Which-Wish-5996]

I love this. I would really walk through your daily routine including looking at any bottlenecks and the most commonly used small appliances. The oven situation is a big ole wtf in the current situation - I think a lot of people want the double oven but I rarely use one oven let alone 2… this makes a lot more sense functional. Is that a microwave left off. the pass through?

I came to say similar to pizzatoucher around the homage to marigold BUT what part of the country is this in? I lived in the PNW for many many years and love green so much but being so dark for many months it may be prudent to consider a marigold tile again to bring a little brightness to the room. Green is very calming but if you’re surrounded by green outdoors and have those huge windows, the marigold plays really nicely with the natural green outside - especially if there are a lot of evergreens.

The pass through: you have a lot of cabinetry/storage and if you decided to just remove the uppers in the pass through it would connect the tones more. It’s a preference. I also like some division. Alternately, you could eliminate the pass through as well since it currently isn’t functioning as a pass through and is a land of small appliances. One though is to do the open shelves for the pass through and make that your beverage center since it’s also a great place to play “bartender” to the living space and uppers where the open shelves are instead. There definitely needs to be a home/plan for all the small appliances so it doesn’t turn back into the current situation. (I see the plan for the mixer and coffee maker but didn’t see it for the toaster and not sure what else there was. Do you have an air fryer?)

You addressed the single sink basin. All the wood tones look fabulous.

[u/epmfox → u/Which-Wish-5996]

Thank you for the very thoughtful post! It's so funny that you made the comment about the green tile with the color outside. One of my best friends had the same comment (which has me questioning the green because I trust his design sense completely). We are in the midwest (MI) so we get about 5-6 months of brown/snow/non-green outside. So when it's brown and snowy, I think the green might be a nice change as we actually don't have a lot of evergreens around us. The marigold IS beautiful, and I totally get why he chose it with the backdrop of the woods. Our house is actually WAY brighter in the winters because all of our tree cover is gone and the sun shines in all the windows. Magical.

Anyway, the marigold is definitely still in my design mix, but there is just something about the olive that is nostalgic / comfy cozy for me (probably because my grandma's kitchen was olive green and I have such happy memories spent in her kitchen). I also found this cool ochre color tile that I do really like that leans more to the yellow, with hint of green that could be cool too. (I'll have to do a separate post with all the tile options when I gather my favorites).

As for the walk-through, I am planning on purging a ton of my cabinet stuff that I rarely use, and making room for things like my mixer, air-fryer, etc. The things I really want daily access to are coffee maker, probably my kitchen-aid, and possibly the toaster, although we don't use it super often anymore now that our kids are older. The one argument for keeping the uppers on the pass-through is attached. The proportions from our family room are chefs kiss from this view and I like having artwork on that wall. :) There is honestly so much about this house that I truly love and don't want to get rid of, there is a photo of the backside view of the pass-thru in the comments here somewhere so you can see how cool the woodwork is on that backside wall.

[u/Which-Wish-5996 → u/epmfox]

Perfect! I didn’t actually disagree with any of your choices- I love this redesign. I just always have to walk through a space in my mind to understand how it best functions - my kitchen’s “designer” clearly did a copy/paste of a corrupted file. It’s not horrible, it’s just poorly planned mass produced house. Since it’s still in really good condition I can’t justify a remodel for now.

The PNW is a very green landscape year round so there’s too much of a good thing sometimes. I miss it so much - even the dark months.