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Super cheap beach house kitchen reno-any thoughts?

15 years ago

My parents are giving us the use of their old little ranch house at the beach that's been rented out for 28 years. We're so excited, but the house needs MAJOR work. Pretty much a whole new kitchen and bathrooms. Luckily, it's all small and it's a vacation house. We need to do it on a small budget and we are willing to do DIY some of it.

http://baybeebeachhouse.blogspot.com/2009/01/before-kitchen.html

Does anyone have any thoughts of the layout of this weird kitchen? I think I'd like to use IKEA cabinets. The weirdest thing is that there's space for a washer and a dryer, but they are on opposite ends of the kitchen. I don't know if that's a really expensive thing to change the plumbing and/or electric to put them in one place for a stackable unit, which we could then close in like a closet.

I was wondering whether it would make sense to tear down the wall that the fridge and stove are on to open up the space to the living room. I don't know if you can tell the layout from the pictures, but the kitchen is not really a galley or an L shaped. The countertops and appliances are on two adjacent walls with the walkway right in the middle.

There is a window in the kitchen, but the house has baseboard heating and window unit ACs so I don't think we can block it.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

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Comments (6)

writersblock (9b/10a)
15 years ago
It's really pretty hard to form an idea of the floorplan from your photos. Can you sketch something out? (If you're using windows, you can download the ikea planner and use that).
mjlb
15 years ago
This was as far as I got on rough sketch of your space.

Seems like it would be relatively easy to reconfigure the kitchen. But you'll need to determine whether the wall to living room is a bearing one.
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Wow! Thank you all for responding. You gave me a lot to think about :) awm03- your vanity is beautiful!!! I love that! beverly- is that your bathroom? Gorgeous!! I also am not fond of the ogee edge, gsciencechick. Yours looks great! lol- I still don't know what to do! Looks like I need to price it all out. Another reason I like integrated sinks is bc honestly, that's one less thing to buy, or 2 in my case bc we have a duel vanity. So not only is sold surface more $$$$ but I would need to add on an extra ~$400 for undermount sinks.
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Just an update: Not exactly BHG or Houzz, but our vacation home is featured in the winter edition of a local home improvement/design magazine, Home & Cabin. The print edition is on local newsstands now, but in time the article and pictures will be posted on their website. I'll provide a link when it appears. For those interested, the magazine website is linked below. It has some nice articles, DIY tips, etc. as well as an archive of some interesting homes and cabins from past issues. Here is a link that might be useful: Home & Cabin Magazine
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gideonsmom
Original Author
15 years ago
Aww! Thanks! That was so nice of you. :) We played around with the IKEA kitchen planner!

I "knocked" down the wall and boxed in where I think I'd want the washer/dryer.

http://baybeebeachhouse.blogspot.com/2009/01/kitchen-planning.html

Our house has a big, spacious kitchen with lots of counter space. The whole layout of that room feels weird to me. We've can't spend much, but I know if we think creatively we can come up with something nice.
gideonsmom
Original Author
15 years ago
Also, it is an eat in kitchen. The kitchen is the biggest room in the house. It's about 12 feet by 20 feet. The living room is only about 13 by 14.

The other side of the wall with the stove and fridge is the living room. The other side of the wall with the sink is that bathoom. That can't be moved. The two other walls go to the outside and the garage.

I asked the handyman who met us at the house today if we could knock down the wall and he said yes, but we might need to be put in a pillar...so maybe it is a load bearing wall? I'll definitely have to find that out.
writersblock (9b/10a)
15 years ago
Thanks, that helps a lot. What is happening on the front and right walls? Is there a reason why they are blank? And is this going to be a fulltime residence or just a weekend/vacation place?
gideonsmom
Original Author
15 years ago
One of the walls has a window on it that uses a window unit AC and has a baseboard heater underneath (that REALLY needs to be replaced). My dad doesn't want to put in central heat and air because of the cost and we want to make sure we'll really use the place before we do that, so we really need that window accessible for heat and air.

The other just has the door to the garage on it.

It's just a weekend/summer place. Not a full time residence.

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