Hi,

Long time lurker on this site, bathroom and kitchen mostly. Bought a house that needs a full gut and update. The upper floor is done and now the next thing to do is the kitchen.

The house is 25 years old. Kitchen is currently really crappy. Old vinyl floor, old sliding patio door, old malemine cabinets with oak accent handles... Need I say more. The layout is pretty bad as far as I'm concerned as well.

My wife and I are opening up the wall between the kitchen and family room (bottom room on plans). In order to do that, the fridge needs to move to the opposite wall. We wanted to incorporate a small sit down bar area with stools. This new layout (below) pretty much eliminates upper cabinets except for over the fridge and against the wall above the stool area. We will have a pantry area on the wall seperating the kitchen from the dining room.

The cabinets will be from Ikea and the doors and drawer fronts etc... will be custom made. At the moment we're thinking a natural birch finish with a simple raised panel style of door (below). Most of the lower cabinets will be drawers.

We will be placing our microwave under our countertop since we have nowhere else for it. I don't want it on the countertop. We're thinking the Ikea Nutid model will work best. We were thinking the Sharp drawer, but the height in the drawer isn't high enough for most of my wife's things.

We will be keeping our stainless LG bottom freezer fridge and stainless GE Profile gas range. We'll be getting a new Miele dishwasher.

The vent hood over the range will be a chimney style in stainless. Possibly an Airmec Afrodite (600cfm).

Sink will likely be a Ticor zero radius with a wall mount Kohler Karbon faucet. We like the idea of wall mounting to make cleaning easier.

Floors will possible be a Cappucino Travertine with a chiseled edge in a cobblestone pattern. The same travertine will be used for the backsplash which will likely go counter to ceiling on the two walls with countertops.

The wall on the right side might get done in a stacked stone (Indian Autumn slate) for a 3D visual interest effect. The same stacked stone will be used for the family room fireplace when that room gets redone to tie the two together.

The countertops will likely be granite in tones that tie the slate wall into the cabinets and floor. Something with lots of movement and colour.

Lighting will be potlights with some pendants in the opening between the family room and kitchen.

Sliding door will be replaced with a french door.

Any layout advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advence,

Dan