for some reason it reminds me of the pantries in the hospital where they store the world's worst tasting apple juice

Please let it die its unnatural death!!!

I couldn't stand the pink -- I've cleared two houses of tons of pink now, but if the cabinets are in good shape, you could paint, replace the sink, counters, hardware, dress the window, install light rail and crown and get a counter depth fridge, get rid of all the pink and have an entirely different kitchen. But if the melamine is not in good shape -- well, no tears.

Mine was one that several folks said they'd love to have, but I hated trying to work in it and I sure don't miss the great coffin in the sky feature. This was demo morning just before the crew arrived. Before this photo, the paint was mauve and the wallpaper was a large pink and green floral. We had also replaced the flooring with a larger, warmer tile in order to install a gas line to the island -- planning to replace the cooktop. Which wound up on the far wall. So much for planning ahead..... LOL

It's not a horrible, unlivable space at all. However if you can readily afford something nicer and the rest of the house merits it, then by all means go for it.

Don't forget that if the cabinets are in good shape someone else may want them! Better to go to Habitat for Humanity, Craig's List, or even to become your new garage storage than to become landfill.

I still cringe to see that awful DW. When we replaced the floor and wanted to tile under it, we discovered that is was tiled it in with the counter edge and it couldn't even be serviced without tearing up the counter. I only wish that had been the last stupid thing we'd discovered in the house. ;-)

Uroboros - show no mercy. But as chicagoans suggests - Please call Habitat for Humanity or your local charity. H for H came and took every appliance, cabinet, and countertop I had. It made me feel good they didn't go to a landfill - rather they helped someone in need. Cheers and good luck with the remodel.

uroboros5, replace broken hinges, pink trim and handles.
Add drawers inside the cabinets wherever you wish.
Done.

Good luck with your remodel. I'm sure you'll like the new kitchen much better. Don't you sometimes wonder what they were thinking when they did things the way they did? Many kitchen were not designed/planned/built by anyone accustomed to working in one.

We gave everything to Habitat for Humanity, including fairly new OTR microwave. Well, all except newish SS fridge & DW, which will be reinstalled in the new kitchen. So nice that they just picked up everything left in the driveway, giving us a nice tax receipt. I, too, am glad our old kitchen stuff can be re-used by someone in need, or sold in their store with proceeds to fund more Habitat work.

I know how you feel about those before kitchens. Just remind yourself that they are probably falling apart and terrible to work in. I love original cabinetry but gads it it terrible to actually use in a kitchen. Bathroom? Linen closet? Sure.

But some things can't be saved. And, as evidenced by pink, some things shouldn't be saved.

Hi uro...

A few of my old upper cabinets ended up in our garage over DH's workbench. He loves them there...thinks it makes his garage CUSTOM!

KA:)

I often find myself more attracted to the "befores" (or at the very least they are closer to what I have in mind than than many of the "afters"). However lets be candid you are not one of those folks with a real charmer on your hands. You can safely wave that kitchen goodbye with no regrets.

You can call Habitat but they turned down my Mom's old cabinets without any hesitation:

These melamine beauties were turned down (can you believe it?):

I pretty sure no one would have liked my "before" kitchen and its dysfunctional moroccan hookah lounge psychedelic aesthetics.

I will say that I see the occasional "before" kitchen that looks (to me) better than the after kitchen. I don't think this will be the case with your kitchen, so proceed with the demo with a clear conscience.

Well, everything's relative. Your kitchen actually looks pretty good compared with mine. fwiw. I had to wipe out my cabinets frequently of the termite shavings. Ick. When we moved into the house there was a drop ceiling falling down and propped up with sticky coke cans and a maze of drippy electrical wiring. Lovely. Removing the drop ceiling revealed a beautiful transom window ... where did that thing go? I think it's around here someplace. I should have planned it in; rats. Forgot about it til this moment, to tell you the truth!

Point is: yes, I actually think - again, considering where I came from, that your kitchen looked pretty good. But presumably it doesn't feel good to you. If you're wondering whether the 'use it up-wear it out' philosophy needs to kick in here just from a theoretical point of view, then shunting to HtoH might help. If you're wondering whether you'll be able to "shave yourself in the morning" (feel badly about yourself) for not completely using it up yourself, well - that's a personal question only you can answer. But it might make you feel better to remember "relative" goes both ways. While your kitchen actually looks good compared with my old, there are many - obviously as several have posted here already - who think what you just showed them is Friday-the-13-th-type horrifying. From their point of view you've used it up.

It's no one's call but your own. But I for one, won't judge you harshly should you chose the demo route (with give-away). Maybe you want to just consider judging others a little more tolerantly in exchange for similar treatment yourself? Just a thought; not meant to be, well, judgmental.

Swing that hammer!

Uroboros (does your name mean you are constantly chasing your tail?) -- your post was tongue-in-cheek, but you have our cabinets. :) And you know what, we have had engineers/contractors/project managers through recently for work on our floor supports, and they all said "Nice kitchen!" (and they meant it!). I think slab-front white melamine is a guy thing. My husband, who chose ours long ago, likes it just fine and doesn't see why I might want to change it. (He's afraid I'm going to put in some color other than tan or white, that's why.) Now, maybe you are a guy too. In that case, what you are objecting to is probably not the white slabs, but the peeling and falling-apart stuff. And maybe the pink. Lucky us, our white melamine has held up well. And when I go look at pictures of kitchens from the time our house was built ("getting back to the house's roots" being one of my arguments for change), those kitchens actually have... yes, white slab doors. Ours would fit right in. So in some ways I too am learning to appreciate white slabs, in their place (though even I would have a problem with pink handles and mauve trim).

p.s. After hanging out on this forum for the last few months, I'm also developing a fondness for honey oak cathedral-arched doors in the right kind of house; maybe because I don't have them?

Here is a link that might be useful: Ouroboros

Such great screen names here. I've always loved those ouroboros pictures used as the first letter of a fancy illuminated text (there must be a name for the first letter. I'm betting with myself who will first pipe in with it too!). :-)

there must be a name for the first letter

Either "initial" or "drop cap" depending on how it sits in the text, apparently. You are talking about historiated initials, it seems. (Whatever did I do before I had Wikipedia to help me waste time?)

You all can have the imaginative screen name conversation without me. lol.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wikipedia - initial

I actually have the same stylish cabinets in two bathrooms, only in yellowish cream trim rather than dirty pink. They're not gorgeous or anything, but I did replace the handles, and everything AROUND them is stylish and nice so it's not so bad. They're in tolerable shape, not worth the bother and expense of a remodel.

I don't even mind pink as a general principle... but in the kitchen, it looks like a big chunk of liver pâté.

The kitchen has taken a lot of beating over the past 20 years, and melamine doesn't seem to take abuse gracefully ;-)

Yes my post was tongue-in-cheek - I realize that there is a lot of relativism in what constitutes a death-row kitchen!

That "coffin-in-the-sky" posted above cracked me up, but someone loved it and thought it was the best idea ever, at some point! Yet, I would personally set it on fire, I wouldn't want to take my chances that there could be a vampire there. It just goes to show you.

I'm in Canada so Habitat for Humanity is not an option, however I do plan to offer it up on craigslist not to overburden the landfill.

just visiting from another forum and SHOCK and??? I need to Know!!
We just had a kitchen designer in and she has designed a plan for us that I am not certain I like, anyhow, your kitchen is shaped almost exactly like mine and almost the same size. Could you share a peek of your new plan for me, pretty please.

Fatquarters, if you're uncertain about what your KD has presented you as a design, why not post it here for comments? Start your own thread, provide background information (see the "Layout Help" topic of the "Read Me" thread), and post the layout.

Many of us here are more than willing to help others with their layouts.

Good luck with your remodel!

Here is a link that might be useful: Read Me If You're New To GW Kitchens!

Nah nah nah nah
Nah nah nah nah
Hey hey hey
Goodbye!

I like your kitchen. Looks like Hemingway's clean well lighted place to me. Much better than the 8 foot wide corridor kitchen with original 1954 unweatherstripped windows and integrated front entry and stairwell that we sent to oblivion last year, although if you have a hard tile floor, that would not please my feet and spine.

Ditch the pink unless you can add one more tone, perhaps a chocolate or a grey-black. Go with ... what you love. You have a nearly blank canvas. One fabulous piece of art or an interesting backsplash or a funky fabric and you'd be back in business visually, no matter how beat up the cabs are.

I agree with you that many "befores" on GW are better than what some of us can imagine achieving in an "after."One of the most amazing things about the GW kitchens forum is that it represents such a span of economic brackets. DH regularly picks the "before" as the "after" when I show him a posting.

Are all of your gripes just cosmetic? Or do you really need a change in layout and function?

Don't let the snotty stuff here get in your way. If new cab doors, some specific refacing, a fabulous new Formica pattern, a strong color somewhere, a new sink and faucet, and something in interesting lighting is all you need, why spend more? Oh, and an ergonomic floor. More important than fancy appliances or fashionable backsplash.

--Florantha of the white sinks and white appliances

Oh I don't need much of a change in layout and function, that will stay pretty much the same. It will fix small annoying details like the microwave shelf is so low that the counter is not usable because everything bangs into it. And I don't have much pantry space, and the sink is just a mess (1 1 1/2 sinks are dumb, I really have 1/2 + 1/4 sinks) - but it's really broken in places too numerous to count.

I find it not worth repairing - there would be a lot that needs fixing. I've been waiting 20 years for this kitchen to get to the point where I can say: "OK, it's finished now. I can finally get something I like."

Your cabinets look alot like the one we just removed from our kitchen. You've even got the same handles. Ours were formica, which is a pretty durable material.

We could have lived with them until their particle board innards melted completely, but there were some burn bubbles in the counters, as well as some layout issues. Like how far the dishwasher is from the sink, and how close the stove is from the sink.

I posted them on Craigslist for free and got half a dozen responses. Admittedly, they photograph a lot better than they actually are. When we tell friends we're re-doing the kitchen, they either give a "it's about time" nod or an incredulous "really?!"

Habitat is in Canada - check out the link for across the country "ReStore" locations.

Eliz

Here is a link that might be useful: habitat.ca

I think one of the things that make some of the "before" kitchens look so good is that you can't see chips and dings in most photos, much less the things that really drive us crazy. I could have updated my kitchen and made it look nice for resale. That would have fixed the appliances, but not many of the things that made the kitchen miserable to live with (the appliances were part of the misery so it would have addressed some of them). My guess is that 8 or 9 out of 10 prospective buyers wouldn't have noticed or cared, but I was doing the kitchen for us, and I became convinced it would have taken more to try to fix things and get half the results. You don't have to convince me that what looks like an easy update isn't the best move.

I do know what you mean about some of the nice "before" pix. Often, I will encounter a "new kitchen reveal" thread -- and not realize the first picture is a "before"! I sniff, "wellll, it is okay, nothing to brag about, certainly not up to the high standards here, but pretty nice. Looks a little retro. I am SURE mine will look better than that!" Then I scroll down to see a drop-dead gorgeous kitchen and realize my error!

It is funny, but we put in slab front melamine, but they look nothing like what is shown here. With those, it is all about the hardware and context. Our new kitchen looks vintage to the 40s and our cabs have fooled people into thinking they were the metal cabs due to the hardware we put on.
Our old kitchen was awful. Small, poor layout, rapidly falling apart appliances, etc... The only good element was our faucet which we had had to replace. We sold the stove for $25 on CL, turned in the old fridge to the elec company for a rebate (cash for clunkers) and gave away the faucet. The rest was garbage.

I have cringed many a time when a kitchen is fine and the person guts the whole room in the after pic. I could not justify it unless the kitchen was awful. I lived with a not my style kitchen in our last house for 7 years before moving because its condition and function were too good to tear out. It was as opposite my style as possible, but it was decent none the less. If I had known about gel staining then, I'd have changed the pickled oak in a heartbeat and been much happier with it!

I'm from Canada and we definitely have Habitat Restores (not sure what area your in so maybe not where you are).

Oh wow, NC - that's interesting! I had forgotten that "initial", yes I vaguely remember hearing that in some in some dim past.

Angie, me too.

We need a whole thread devoted to what we trashed and why. I wonder if I still have any photos of the termite mounds of shavings? Or the completely-eclipsed counter? Or the baggie-laden clothesline? Or the tile: that was *the* most hideous tile I have seen *anywhere*. period. We need a thread to find who had the most hideous former tile....

fwiw, the layout in my old kitchen was pretty OK-ish, permitting for 14 years of life in it. Some grumbling, but definitely live-in-able considering what so many in the world have to put up with. But I was always afraid one day those termites would chew up the last thread holding the uppers to the wall... Oh yeah, there was that hole that permitted the rat to run down from the attic; it wasn't great either. Once I closed a cabinet door on the poor thing's tail. I can still see it there, hanging down ... might even have a picture somewhere. shudder. I let him go eventually, slooping up his tail up and away; seemed the best of a string of really bad choices. Eventually we got on a first-name basis.

I hope we have a hideous tile thread! 1970s eurosplash for the win!

lascatx~~Did you pitch those cabinets? I happen to love them and I also like white appliances...but would have put a black counter top and replaced that light...other than that, I would love to have your kitchen.

I guess I am too conservative....I don't like to pitch things that can be spruced up and used...just for the sake of keeping up with the expensive kitchens on these posts.
But if you can afford them without going into debt, then it is your right to do so. And yes, I am one that sometimes like the "before" better than the "after".

I liked the cabinets when we bought the house and thought they just needed a new coat of paint. There were some issues we could improve and others we couldn't. It took some time before I worked everything to the point that I joined DH in the conclusion that we would spend as much time and money trying to get half a fix as just starting over on the cabinets.

We took everything out as carefully as we could. Some went into another person's kitchen but some couldn't be salvaged -- just the nature of cabinets built into the walls. They are different than boxes that are built and then installed - they fell apart. The island, however, came up in one piece and one of the contractors was going to use it for an outdoor kitchen. The light box was considered for a Halloween lawn decoration but I don't think it wound up being used for anything other than scrap lumber. I also saved some of the tile for some mosaic work.

Trust me. I am conservative and frugal, but after 3 or 4 years of living with that kitchen and a similar amount of time using this kitchen, I know we made the right decision.

OT Uroboros: I neglected to say that you have done a particularly good job working with that pink countertop. Excellent paint choices! It's the thoughtful understated coordination of colors and textures that prevents us from hating the room, and also keeps us from urging demolition. These are the colors of a classy downtown store in my town from the past--I still have some boxes with the colors on them. Very haute. Summit Avenue-ites approved.