The Kitchen - and the prospective IKEA Kitchen

Our home is a fairly new home, having been built in 2000. Unfortunately the previous owners weren't great about caring for the home, so there's quite a bit of cosmetic fixing to be done, as well as some necessary repairs resulting from water damage (and subsequent mold). The granite counters were not properly sealed which resulted in a steady supply of water dampening the adjacent drywall and eventually resulting in a small mold problem. In order to remediate the mold situation, several of the lower cabinets need to come out, new drywall installed, and new cabinets built and reinstalled. With that kind of extensive work going in to the cabinets, it's only logical to consider the option of a complete kitchen remodel.

The kitchen is fine as-is. Not great or wonderful or a statement piece, but it would serve us just fine. I don't care for some of the finishes (the rounded edges on the granite make me shake my head...), the wood is not the finest of quality but is certainly acceptable, and the layout is decent-ish. The openness of our floor plan makes the kitchen a VERY prominent element of the entire first floor, so I knew from the start that at the very least a make-over was in order. I explored the idea of a painted cabinet makeover and really liked what I saw. With some new trim, paint, hardware, lighting, window treatment, and upgraded appliances, the kitchen could look top-notch with very little financial investment.

Once the mold was discovered (during our home inspection) and I came to terms with the repairs that would need to be done, I started to imagine what changes I'd make when we rebuilt the lower cabinets. At the very least, the dishwasher should be moved to the other side of the sink. In the current placement, an open dishwasher makes the stove/oven completely inaccessible. While not a deal breaker, that's pretty inconvenient. There's also the matter of the odd raised counter (above). I'm not sure what they were going for there, but it didn't work. As you can see, the kitchen is smack dab in the middle of a major traffic zone. Even if the odd raised counter was large enough to be practical for sitting, why would you want to sit there? I'd love to see that gone and replace that tiny base cabinet with a decent sized cabinet. If that happened we'd need a new countertop, and if we're going to spend that kind of money in the kitchen, it sure seems logical to consider gutting the kitchen and starting from scratch.

 

Now, I should be honest here and say that I have previously remodeled a kitchen using IKEA cabinets and LOVED them. The install was easy, the cabinet accessories were wonderful, and the price was right. From day one of our house hunt, every kitchen I saw was a potential IKEA kitchen waiting to happen. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that, despite my concerns over budget, the kitchen situation and a potential remodel pleases me a bit. We're about a week from closing escrow and beginning our speedy pre-move-in remodel. I certainly don't expect a full kitchen to be completed during that time, lol, but I'm excited by the idea that we might go that route, and preparing myself for *some* kind of extensive make-over. I've got IKEA kitchen pinspiration ready to go, as well as handy tips and tricks for IKEA kitchen installation. Now I just need to get access to the house, get official measurements (I've been working with guestimates based on the assumed dimensions of the tiles, lol), and get some preliminary ideas and budgets drawn up.