$40,000 Kitchen
Opening the Kitchen to the Home
Initial Budget: $40,000.
Final Cost: $40,000. The client saved $2,750 by keeping the same refrigerator and microwave ($1,800) and by doing all the painting ($950).
Client’s Goals:
- Have the kitchen feel more like part of the living area of the house.
- Make more efficient use of existing kitchen, service porch and breakfast nook.
- Modernize kitchen fixtures and appliances.
- Move laundry area out of the kitchen.
- Create more counterspace and enlarge work area.
- Create a look that is unique yet does not work against adjacent areas.
Designer’s Solutions:
- Removed wall dividing kitchen and dining room to create a more open feel and join the kitchen with the rest of the house.
- Installed a new header between the kitchen and dining room and added an arch, mimicking other arches in the house.
- Used space more efficiently by choosing frameless cabinets and by removing the walls that defined the service porch and nook.
- Relocated the water heater.
- Relocate the washer and dryer to the storage room, creating space for the refrigerator and microwave.
- Added a pantry cabinet to the laundry area.
- Installed a new downdraft range, eliminating the need for a hood and maintaining the openness of the new design.
- Chose slab doors to maintain the clean lines of the design and not compete with other colors and details.
Cabinets: Custom, frameless cabinets with white melamine interiors and laminate slab doors with eased edge. Accessories: Roll-out shelves, adjustable shelves, tip-out shelf, cutlery insert, trash drawer and brushed stainless steel pulls.
Appliances: Thermador dual-fuel range with downdraft and remote blower, GE dishwasher
Countertops: Laminate countertops with a square edge and 4-inch backsplash
Flooring: Laminate
Sink: Kohler self-rimming sink in white, stainless strainer, disposal
Faucet: White Kohler faucet and soap dispenser
Lighting: 11 recessed lights, 3 low-volt lights over bar area, puck-type lights in soffit
