Kitchen layout, kitchen reno, cabinet renovation, kitchen

cabinets with hardware removed for painting

BEFORE: layout, not sink under window

A simple kitchen redo would be painting the existing wood finish or painted kitchen cabinets in place. This is basic, and for some folks, quite adequate.  If you are a bit choosy and sensitive to detail, this might not be sufficient for your design sense. Do not despair. There are alternatives. First consider dismantling the cabinets, take off the hardware, remove the doors and hinges, before you paint. This will give you a much better final result.  All gets put back together once your paint has dried and cured, and you have a nice clean new look to your kitchen.

AFTER: new layout, same location

If you are willing to take on a bit more, you can rearrange your cabinets for a new kitchen.  Our big design change is that we used the existing cabinets but changed the layout of the cabinets for new look. Actually we wanted to clear the wall facing the water, so that we could eventually install that big window to see the bay from our kitchen table or island. In actuality that was our main purpose for all of this renovation. 


We chose to keep the sink in the same location because that reduces the cost of plumbing work. Additional plumbing can add a lot to a budget.  Our sink was under a window, a nice asset to a sink.  The decision was obvious to leave the sink in place and use it to anchor the layout on that wall. We flipped the remaining kitchen layout by moving the cabinets onto the opposite wall.  Doing this freed up the waterside wall for a giant window.  This created a bigger less awkward eating area, which just so happens to be in front of the giant window to watch the water and nature. 

AFTER: large waterview window
replaced the original one 1/4 the size of the new one

BEFORE: small window..this
is the cut out for the original window

Since we were moving the cabinets anyway, we took the opportunity to add in a little updated placement and trendy touches to the kitchen.  We raised a cabinet over the stove to create a varied top profile of the upper cabinets. It helped us place the microwave over the stove at a better height for cooking and viewing into the microwave oven. This silhouette is often seen in kitchen cabinet stores. It is not for everyone, but we like it, and it made the kitchen more comfortable and better suited to our use. Of course when rearranging the cabinets you must analyze what you have and use them appropriately.  A corner cabinet is still a corner cabinet and must be used as such or discarded. The cabinet does not have to used exactly as it was before, you can make changes to change the look. One possibility is to remove a door, or all the doors and just use the cabinet with its shelves. Another possibility is to replace the doors with new doors, or even to remove the panel in a paneled door, and replace it with some sort of glass. Frosted glass, etched glass, clear glass and stained glass all offer design possibilities. 

AFTER: raised cabinet to accommodate microwave over stove

Some cabinets will easily rearrange because they are stock cabinets, and each is a separate entity, self contained.  These can be rearranged much like you would rearrange building blocks.  Other cabinets may have been built in place, and others are custom cabinets ordered from a cabinet store. These last two types of kitchens can be built in a long stretch of cabinets that cannot be broken up without some rebuilding of the cabinet structure. Often it can be done, but you must have some skills, and  a concept of the structure, to make these kind of changes. A long stretch of custom cabinets can be moved as a whole to another location, in the same room or another room, but it is a bit more difficult to move these, as they can often be seven to ten feet long, as opposed to stock cabinets which might be as small as 18 inches wide . ...It is a logical process. You must take the time to analyze the construction of your cabinets to see the possiblilities. Sometimes a cabinet that is too long or incorrectly shaped can be reconfigured it you have some carpentry skills, or are willing to take a chance and try it. A cabinet that is too long can often be cut down, or a cabinet that was along a wall may be suitable to make an island if you cover the side and back.. Think about the possibilities!