Our kitchen was only ten years old, so nothing was in bad shape, but I wish we had bought a CD refrigerator. Our old one stuck out into the U and was too close to a drawer stack, blocking them from opening all the way. The new fridge keeps food fresh longer, so I can shop less frequently. We did replace the range three years before the remodel, and it made cooking more enjoyable.

I agree with you, corgimum but I would like to add that if you have taken the trouble to buy a home or take out a mortgage, you SHOULD NOT TOTALLY GIVE UP ON ANY RENOVATIONS if your money and time are less than you need.
This is what we did and my god, what a mess we have now. We could have done SOMETHING more than the nothing we did for 15 years. We are paying the price now.

This is our second house, and prior to our kitchen remodel, we totally updated the plumbing and electrical systems in the house. It made the eventual renovation (just wrapping up now) much easier than those in the previous house, where we updated the major systems piecemeal.

Well, I did put in a high-arc faucet, and put in a working dishwasher. Stove, refrig and garbage disposer were all replaced in that time and now have been replaced again.
I should have put in better lighting and more outlets. I really didn't deserve to live with the pull-chain light all that time!
But really, I should have done the whole remodel many years ago. I can't believe that I was willing to live with that kitchen for 21 years! Of course, I did prioritize new roof, new windows, insulation, new furnace and a/c, exterior painting and landscaping, sump pump and drain, new carpet and floor refinishing....

That made me think of one more thing. I wish we had taken photos of our framing before drywall went up. We built this house 25 years ago and could have done it. This would have saved some refiguring of lighting cans due to heating ducts.

raee- Would your remodel have turned out as well if you had done it years ago? GW was a big help to me and I just found it 4 years ago. I don't think mine would have turned out as well without it.

We have done our gut job now but in the old kitchen we were probably 10 years from being able to do it and we did the following

Painted the cabinets (DIY by me)
Replaced the laminate countertops with a nicer laminate
Peeled off ugly wallpaper and repainted the walls
Added a backsplash which we didn`t have
Changed out the hardware
Got a new tap
Got new light fixtures.

This probably, at the time, cost us around $1000 and was so worth it.

The floors had been replaced prior to this with again, a nicer vinyl.

Totally agree about the high arc faucet with pulldown!
I recently added more recessed lights AND changed it all to LED inserts with dimmers- what a difference!
Finally gave up our Amana Radarange builtin microwave (original to the house when we purchased it), a behemoth that only worked on prime numbers (my kids figured this out, I did not), for a sharp portable that fits in the builti-n hole with lots of breathing space.Don't know why I didn;t think of doing this earlier. I am sure the Sharp is less leaky also.

So easy to put things off.

Point of use water heater under kitchen sink. I used to wait 1min 40sec to get hot water at my kitchen sink, which is nuts. I'm guessing none of you guys have to wait that long, but even half that is too much.

This post was edited by GauchoGordo1993 on Tue, Dec 10, 13 at 17:11

1 - we should have purchased a second Ikea cart to expand our counter space. Our Ikea buying experience was such a nightmare (crowded aisles, long wait at checkout, store said they had item in stock, we waited in holding pen for 30 minutes only to have them say, "oh, sorry, not in stock, you have to go to our Long Island store", then we had to wait in another line for a clerk to reverse the credit-card charge) that we couldn't bear to repeat it. So we used two wardrobe boxes from our move, covered with large tile samples, as a secondary countertop. Ugly and functional, but not as functional as a multi-level cart.

2 - we should have figured out a better refrigerator arrangement. Prior owner had fridge in a closet in the kitchen, so the fridge door never opened more than 75 degrees, necessitating lots of kneeling on the floor and scrabbling about when using any shelf except the top one. I had a near-permanent bruise on the outer part of one arm from my refrigerator encounters.

Corgimum, no, it definitely would not have been as nice!

I wouldn't have known about frameless cabinets.
I wouldn't have recessed lights, nor as many (nor LEDs).
I would have had UCL but they would have been those temporary fluorescents.
I wouldn't have used the pine floor -- more vinyl probably(we will see if I regret choosing to go with the wood)
I wouldn't have a pulldown faucet, undersink trash, a spice pullout, or a deep cabinet over the frig with curtain rods dividing the storage space.
I wouldn't have base drawers nor such big drawers.
I probably wouldn't have relocated the stove.

Well, one or two of those things have been only recently available, but the rest are ideas that simply wouldn't have occurred to me without this forum (and Ikea which I wouldn't have heard of either)!

Aloha 2009- that change looks great. We had to move a cabinet pre-remodel because our French door fridge wouldn't fit in the spot where the old side-by-side used to be. I much preferred the new location so I knew it was a good location for the remodel too.

Funny question...I hadn't ever really thought of that before... I guess I could have changed faucets...never even occurred to me which is funny, as I changed my BR faucets and I'm a gardener and cursed every single time I tried to fill a vase under that old typical builder's grade faucet!

Also could have used a trash pullout, I use mine for recycling, always had recycling on counter, can't believe I put up with that for 10 years!

Generally, I'm glad I waited, I hate to spend money unnecessarily, and would have balked at spending $1000 that would 'be wasted'. I did buy a new fridge a couple of years before the renos, that meant we had to stick with white appliances (my mother was actually surprised I used the same fridge), but I like white, and not sure now if I ever do another kitchen if I would ever go stainless steel!

I guess I can visualize what I really want, and can ignore imperfections if I know I'm waiting to get something better. (though am wondering if I should glue up that peeling wallpaper in the last BR to be renovated...just as a temporary fix...LOL)

Good thread!

One of the things I've done to help with less than adequate kitchens is moving in dressers for storage. I have a highboy in the eat-in area that holds snack foods, extra dishes, table decorations, and things like lightbulbs and batteries.

I've also used a dresser topped with a scrap of butcherblock counter for a temporary island. I used a dresser topped with a vinyl tablecloth of all things for some temporary countertop in a previous home. It worked. And I loved the drawer storage that held my pots and pans inside. ; )

In lieu of undercounter lights, I've strung pretty white lights under my upper cabinets. It's festive this time of year, and helps with the early nightfall, making the kitchen feel more cozy.

I've also hung border wallpaper (I know, not very popular around here, LOL) instead of backsplash in the past. It's an inexpensive and cheery fix for a dreary kitchen.

Fresh paint, appealing decorations, some cute curtains, all can help the place feel better in the interim. Cook some good smelling food, or simmer some water with orange peels and cinnamon sticks or essential oils. Little things can help make it more homey.

And I'll 2nd (3rd, 4th, 5th?) the high arch faucet. I don't ever want to go back to a low one!

Aloha, test driving a single bowl sink is a great idea. Now that we have a single bowl, I think I can join the bandwagon in saying that I think you'll really enjoy a single bowl setup. : )

We put in a high arc faucet with separate sprayer when we moved in (1994), with a new sink, but it was a double bowl. How I wish I had opted for a single bowl at that time!

I didn't know about trash pull-outs until I started doing research for a kitchen remodel in 2010, but that item would be on my list, too.

The house is old, so electrical outlets were few, and far between. I wish we'd added a couple above the long counter that I used for baking. The lone outlet there was in the corner, and used for the heavy KA, and occasionally the griddle, which had to be placed on the stove top, for the cord to reach the outlet. In the old days, the microwave, can opener, coffee pot, and toaster had to share the corner between fridge and sink. That location would have been efficient for any one of those appliances, but having all of them there caused traffic jams.

Laughable reminded me of another thing -- I did buy and use a pantry piece (with drawers and shelves) but one of those nice rolling islands or carts would have been excellent. I had my daughter's little postmaster desk in there which really wasn't very useful, could have tucked a cart in that space! I balked at spending the $$.

There were actually several things that we wound up doing before our full remodel...and I'm so glad we did. We moved into a house that had a 1970's kitchen (complete with an avocado stove and non-vented hood). We planned on a kitchen remodel within 2 years of getting into the house. It wound up that it's been a little over 3.

We picked up a Craigslist range and got rid of the old one. I don't love the Craigslist range, but it was light-years better than the original. This range is now in our basement hooked up to help us get through our remodel. And it will remain afterward for when I can since I'm getting an induction cooktop for upstairs.

We put in a dishwasher. This single thing was the most important thing that we could have done to make the house livable through a terrible kitchen. We are reusing the DW in the new kitchen.

We did a bit of rewiring which was completely necessary - so of this will be able to be reused in the new kitchen. Some of it won't. But, the fact that we weren't blowing a circuit every time we used the fridge and the microwave means that it was worth it!

I had a rolling cart from our previous house and that was a lifesaver in the current kitchen...the rolling cart is now in our living room serving as a place for the microwave, a few dishes and utensils, and so on to live as a "temporary kitchenette" while our remodel goes on. The cart will go away after we are finished with our renovation...it's a little bittersweet to see it go - it's been such a help through a terrible rental kitchen and another terrible kitchen in the house we bought. But, the few hundred dollars I spent for it has been completely worthwhile.

Indeed a very fun, informative, and encouraging thread.

I think others reading this will be encouraged to put a bandaid on their kitchen for now. Even though most have us have multiple reasons for a full gut job, bandaids can help along the way.

I'm hoping a second hand sink will come up soon. I thought of getting a brand new one now, especially since the one I want is an undermount or a top mount. I haven't finalized cabinets and counters, so I'm not sure of the color yet. So I will try and be patient and wait.

My DH knows how happy I've been about the frig moving, I know he got concerned that I may not take the plunge of the full remodel. It's just when things are frustrating to maneuver around, those bandaids can go a long way.

I'm hoping LavendarLass jumps in as she was talking about a mini makeover too.

When we bought our 1925 bungalow we lived with the existing kitchen, which was remodeled by PO in the early 1950's, for a few years. It was all site built fir plywood cabinets stained honey and marine varnished. Counters were red laminate and so was the backsplash. It had an old small stainless steel top mount sink and dishwasher from the 1970's. Old inlayed linoleum flooring in black. No under cabinet lighting or range hood.

Two years after we bought the house, we stripped all the existing cabinets and painted them white, we upgraded the laminate to one more in style with the era, wallpaperd over the formica backsplash with a nice print, installed new vinyl over the black linoleum and replaced the sink with a white enamel steel one and added a high arc faucet. We added a wood skirt to the underside of the cabinets to install florescent bar plug in under cabinet lights. We changed out the central ceiling light. We added a cheap white recirculating range hood just so I could have lighting above the 1970's electric range that came with the house.

With this little DIY face lift to the old kitchen, it made it alot more appealing to cook in for these past 20+ years. We lived with this arrangement until a few months ago when we contracted to do a complete remodel / gut of the old kitchen.

Fortunately the layout was very good and we didn't have to move any main components.

The new kitchen, even though not totally finished yet, is so much more functional and comfortable than the old one. And oh so pretty and architecturally appropriate to our 1925 house.