well, that didn't work. I'll go read the posting pics info and try again in a bit.

Ask yourself a few questions...what is your favorite thing to bake/cook, in your kitchen? What do you enjoy about your current kitchen and what would you like to change? What style would make you 'happy' spending time, in your new kitchen?

For me, I love to bake, so a wall oven is a big deal. I don't need more than four burners, so a 30" range is fine...but I'm going to love having that second oven :)

I like the fridge near the sink, so that stays the same...but I definitely need more prep space. Also, a bigger sink would be nice.

Cottage style (especially english) and a little french country are my favorites. So, I'm trying to combine them and make a comfortable, warm kitchen with accents like a window seat and plate rack/some glass uppers. Also, love fresh herbs, so I hope to have a spot for a few in the new kitchen.

Hope that helps you start with some basic ideas of what's important in YOUR kitchen. Yes, there are a great many details, but an overall idea of what you like and what you need will get you started...and the details can come later :)

Okay, now we're cooking. So, this is the layout of our little house. We don't live there yet, we are gutting it for a total redo. This is what the floor plan will be when we are done. We can't add to the footprint r/t our proximity to the river and we don't really want to anyway. It's about 1100 sq ft. total.

We are retiring here (someday:) and this is our last remodel so we are committed to doing it the right way, no cobbling or short-changing quality/desires.

The living room will be knotty pine walls and ceiling in a honey pine finish from Buffalo Lumber in New York. My DH has his heart set on it and it's okay with me. Seems to suit the setting.

Of course, the kitchen and living room need to work together. The entry will be the honey pine ceiling with whitewashed K.P. on the walls.

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[traditional laundry room design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-laundry-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_753~s_2107) by toronto general contractor HARDROCK CONSTRUCTION

The doorway to the entry will stay where it is drawn..just enough to end the cabs and allow for door trim. The doorway to the porch can move E or W just a bit and the south cabs can shrink a little. The opening to the living room is wide open to possibilities. I would like some type of peninsula set-up there for daily meals and putzing on the laptop, etc. On special occasions, we'll be setting up a table on the 'river porch' as we call it.

I cook from scratch a lot. We grow gardens so fridge space is necessary. (I like the idea of a counter-depth fridge) I make big shopping trips mostly and also buy in bulk for lots of items. I will have basement storage for that kind of thing. An 18" DW will be fine for the 2 of us... don't mind doing dishes by hand and kinda want a Dishmaster faucet.

We do recycle and compost, so some kind of plan for that space would be good.

Let's see: The only appliances I'd like out are my kitchenaid stand mixer, my food processor, my coffee pot, toaster and coffee grinder...wouldn't be opposed to an appliance garage for the last three. Oh, and the knife block or some other easy access solution for knives.

Love open shelves for my bowls and whatnot... have them now and find them very useful.

We have a 39" wide green Chambers stove:

The only window is over the sink on the west wall... the river porch will be solid windows facing south but the kitchen proper just has the one. If I could keep the window centered it would look good from outside, but the further to the right the sink goes, the better my view. (or the wider the window gets, but 4' wide is about it... possibly a little wider)

I'm trying to cover all the things you guys always ask people so I'm not wasting your time. And I hope I'm not being presumptuous in thinking you all will help me... :)

The flooring for the whole house other than bath and master is leaning heavily towards marmoleum ploughed acre with some thoughts of a small diamond inset design in the kitchen just for a little fun.

Our budget is... well, I'd love to get this done for less than 20,000. Anything more than that makes me feel itchy and nervous.

Not a huge fan of granite but having said that, we are repurposing some granite and quartz stones from a wall in the kitchen for the fireplace surround in the LR. There is a lot of red granite in there. The prev. owner worked at a local quarry in the 70's, so there is granite galore on the exterior.

As far as appliances, we'll be purchasing a fridge/freezer or an all fridge/freezer drawers or something. An 18" dw, range hood and sink. Don't use microwaves.

What else can I tell you?

My mission statement is: I want my kitchen to function efficiently, be easy to keep clean and organized, feel like it belongs to the house and will inspire and energize me.

I hope someone can help. Should I upload a closer view of just the kitchen?d

Thank you!

Should I learn to re-size pictures? Sorry for the hugeness.

Lavender: all your points are good to consider and I can say that I have been paying attention to what I do and what I use in my current kitchen. Prep space is paramount. Lots of chopping and salads and what not. I bake a bit but it's not my first love. I cook more on top of the stove than in the oven, but since I'm keeping my Chambers that isn't a factor for remodeling. I would like a big sink... washing fresh produce thoroughly has to happen, and it wouldn't be terrible to have a deep enough sink that the dishes could hide if I didn't get right to them. This kitchen will be totally visible from the living room so keeping it neat (not my favorite thing) also needs to be easy. And really, I'd love a kitchen that looked so good it would inspire me to keep it clean.

No fussy surfaces that require my constant upkeep... nahgaddahappen.

My concern is that this is so much money and I won't have another opportunity to do this again and I really, really want to do it right. Also, we are in our early 50's so ease of use down the road factors in.

I've lurked around here quite a bit and have learned from reading that several of my pre-conceived notions have been wrong AND you guys that have done this from scratch (I never have... always worked on the cheap with paint and same floorplan)know so much more than I can. It would be nice to work in that kitchen thinking "I'm so glad I did that" instead of "I wish I had done this". The knowledge/experience base here is so huge, a person'd have to be nuts not to avail oneself of it. And everyone seems so willing to help, too and that is so nice. My DH says "you'll figure it out" and really, his kitchen work consists of a couple pots of soup or chili a year, some fried eggs and standing in front of the fridge looking for a block of cheese and some lunch meat. As long as he can continue to do that, I think he'll be happy. What I mean is that he isn't really interested in kitchen design and has the whole rest of the remodel to think about anyway. So, it's up to me. Kinda daunting for some reason. I've never been so unsure of myself in this area before. Weird.

Deedles- You have a beautiful range! I love the description of your DH's contribution in the kitchen (LOL) Hope you get some wonderful ideas, now that you have your plan posted.

Is the sink window on the 'west' wall? Is that unmarked area, your entry? Do you want a kitchen table or just the peninsula? Will the table be on the porch, all the time? Would you consider a french door or doors to the porch, with maybe the table in front of them...or do you want to use that space for the peninsula?

I am so with you on easy clean up, easy maintenance and needing lots of storage! We're on a farm, so big pantry and a mud room are a must...are you putting a bench or coat hooks/closet in your entry?

Almost forgot...congrats on the new house! If you get a chance, post some more pictures of the kitchen space, maybe the living room with the location of the fireplace...and some of those river views! :)

Where is your main, most used entry, Deedles? What is that room above the kitchen with the basement stairs? What is it used for?

Love your plan for warm pine paneling and your stove.

I'll bump this up again. The forum is so busy, posts fall off page one, very quickly. Hope you get some more responses :)

Rosie, that unmarked area is the main entry. Of course, I missed making that one, lol. Both entries are on the same side of the house (other is off the river porch) and we decided to leave it that way since moving it really ate into the already small floor plan. And anyway, we are the last house on the last street in the town, no sidewalks... if someone is coming to our house, it's because they are coming to see us and so we thought a door on the street side (east side) wasn't worth the cost in sq. footage. Thanks for the nice comment on the paneling, I am looking forward to the warm cottage-y feel. And I do love my Chambers stove. It's a classic for sure. Not much to go wrong on there... no computer chips or anything else. Just a wind-up timer that goes *ding* when the food is ready!

Lavender, thanks for the bump and the nice comments! Yes to the window facing west and yes to the unmarked area being the entry. I'm thinking the peninsula would be the daily eating spot for the two of us and there would be a small but expandable table on the porch in case of guests. There really isn't room for another table in the kitchen. Nor an island...too narrow. I'd like to keep about a 48" opening between the south wall of the kitchen and the end of the peninsula to help avoid the 'tiny house' feeling and also because it just seems like a good idea. Def. going to be a bench to the left of the main entry door with a coat hook rack that my DH made out of on old painted piano backboard... it's really pretty and would suit the place nicely, I think.

I guess I'm just looking for ideas that haven't occurred to me... there has to be many, many things I haven't thought of that could work towards this being a great little kitchen.

Here is a picture of the view in the summer:

I hope I get some good ideas, too and I do appreciate your responses!

BTW, is there a way to resize in photobucket? I've looked and can't seem to find it.

Howdy.

For layout ideas, folks will need a measured drawing of the kitchen itself, accurately showing every single distance between door openings, walls, windows, etc. As well as what can move, and what can't, and where plumbing etc. are currently located.

Deedles- Thanks for sharing the picture! What a wonderful way to spend your afternoon...sitting on the porch and enjoying your beautiful view of the river :)

As for the kitchen layout, maybe the sink under the window (west wall) the range on the wall to the porch (south wall) and then extra prep space on the peninsula. Could you put the fridge on the (north) wall, by the basement stairs?

Marcolo is right, with more detailed measurements, we could be more specific, so this is just a general idea. It would be fun to add some retro accents to pick up on your range...maybe a vintage sink and some fun cannisters and other accessories?

Gee, I thought I answered you Lavender and Marcolo... I guess I didn't push the last button.

Thank you and I will post a detailed kitchen dimension soon. And Lavender, I was thinking about just what you said for appliance layout. And I have tons of cute vintage things for the kitchen... I used to sell vintage stuff on Ebay, and I still have plenty, lol.

Will post soon!

As requested here are three photos from the kitchen as it is currently. All the personal items in the kitchen were from the renter that was there before we bought it and now it's basically empty. Anyway. This pic is taken facing the west and the LR is behind you.

This pic shows the current doorway to the entry room (the unmarked area on my floorplan posted higher up in this thread:

The ceilings are quite low currently (7') but will be 9' give or take a couple inches when we are done. You can see the last remodel was a mid-1970's job. Shag, Shag and more Shag. Oh well.

I'll be getting a detailed kitchen layout posted soon. We've had a death in the family 95 y/o FIL so this weekend is pretty much about that.