Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Ranch Kitchen Design

We're changing so many things in this house  - but the kitchen will see some of the most dramatic updates.  In fact, even though we just have bare studs and plywood floors at the moment, it already looks better!
Kitchen - Before

Dark oak cabinets and the nicotine encrusted light fixture - Gone.  Lack of natural daylight with the walls across the back of the room- Gone.  Now it's open and airy and so much nicer!
Kitchen - Current.  Walls removed, new mudroom/foyer added
So what are our plans?  Well as usual, I started with some inspiration.  I was pretty sure I didn't want to do an all white kitchen, I wanted something a bit more colorful this time.  I starting looking online and through magazines and found a couple of photos that I liked.  This one by Joanna Gaines is great - a bit of color with the island, but it isn't overwhelming.

And this one of Jean Stoffer's shop is similar in color and style.  Again, I love the blue island and the off-white cabinetry for the perimeter of the room.
Photo:  Jean Stoffer Design

With that in mind, we started the design.  It's a good sized room, but with so many doorways and aisle ways, it was a bit of a challenge.  We ended up with a dozen different designs, many of which we laid out on the floor to try and visualize.  And after much discussion, we found a winner.

At the heart of the kitchen is a big island.  This will be a gathering place for the family or for a party (because we know everyone wants to be in the kitchen!!).  We had a lot of debate about whether it should be two levels, with the stools on a taller 42" section, but finally decided having a big open space seemed much more welcoming and useful.  So the entire island will be at standard 36" counter height.
 The stove wall has lots of cabinetry and a big hood as a centerpiece.

And I'm in love with the refrigerator wall.  It's a cabinet depth fridge, so it doesn't stick out too far.  And we're included an extra tall cabinet on the left that has even more storage.  We'll also have a couple of open shelves to display favorite dishware.


The fancy upper cabinet will have a custom made stained glass insert to give the room a little old world charm.  I'm thinking about something like this one

This wall will also have a big walk in pantry - this was originally the entrance from the garage.  But now it has a whole new life for storing lots of food (and the microwave will be hidden in here).


I ordered the lighting for over the island weeks ago.  I'm pretty excited about how these will look!

And of course it needs to tie into the color scheme for the rest of the open living area.  That meant that the cabinets, flooring and fabrics all need to coordinate.

What else do we need?  How about all new electrical, plumbing and heating - this will be a totally new space when we get it done.  So much to do!!!  I can't wait to see it start coming together!











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3 comments:

  1. You are amazing! Do you use the same brand of cabinetry for each project? Do you have kitchen cabinetry you recommend when working with a smaller budget? Also, what program do you use to make the 3D kitchen layouts? I just love everything you do.

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  2. I think this will be a pretty kitchen, but am concerned about having to negotiate around the end of the island every time the refrigerator is accessed.

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  3. We use Thomasville cabinetry for all our projects. They're not the cheapest, but they're great quality and the one time we had a problem, they promptly replaced the defective doors. I get them through Home Depot and their software creates those gorgeous 3D layouts.

    As far as the design goes, we agonized through a lot of different designs to try and get the refrigerator a bit closer, but the other options created issues with the door and aisleways. This isn't a huge kitchen, so it's a manageable distance to navigate!

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