Kitchen Remodeling for a Modest Colonial Part 2

This is the 2nd part of a series about how objectives and lifestyle can dramatically affect the configuration of the “right” remodel for the same house.  In the Part 1, we suggested a remodeling configuration for the same house that we’re looking at today.  But in Part 1, the house is owned by a young family that does a lot of entertaining of their extended family.  Today we’re looking at the identical modest 1933 Colonial. 
 
Goal:  Open Kitchen and Dining Area for 2 Adults.  The homeowner in this scenario is a professional couple that spends many of their weekends traveling.  They’ve lived in the home only 6 months and assume that they will be moving within 5 years due to one of their jobs.  They are not planning children in the foreseeable future.  They rarely entertain at home; instead they meet other couples for dinner or at the theatre.  Cooking tends to be simple fare and might only be heating up take-out — but they share the details of their day while they prepare and cleanup after dinner.  They want a place to spread out with two laptops.  They want to be comfortable and to be able to talk while one partner or the other cooks and cleans – jobs that they informally rotate.

Their wish-list is quite short including an expanded kitchen with good counter space, better storage and more modern appliances.  Also on their wish list is a 1st floor powder room.

Below are both the proposed and the existing floor plan.  The existing home it’s a quite modest home with a very small, inefficient kitchen cut off from both the dining room and kitchen.

Floor Plan After - Open Kitchen to Dining Room

BEFORE - Modest Colonial

Modest but Open Kitchen:  Our plan for this homeowner is limited to removing the wall between the existing kitchen and living room and expanding the kitchen into the combined area.  Because the homeowners do limited cooking and even less entertaining, we encouraged them to limit appliances to only those needed and to make space available for counter space and storage. 

A large island allows one partner to work at a laptop or just sit with a glass of wine while reviewing their day with the partner preparing food or cleaning up. 

Limit Costs:  We’ve recommended a number of steps to limit costs including limiting the appliances to a range, counter-depth refrigerator and dishwasher.  This couple doesn’t need separate wall ovens, a built-in refrigerator or multiple sinks.  We never even considered any solution other than staying within the existing footprint.  We’ve left the sink in-place and left the windows and doors in their current configuration.  The couple also decided to forego a 1st floor powder room. 

View 2 - Modest Kitchen Solution

This solution – while actually yielding a larger kitchen than the first configuration – is much less expensive and much more attuned to the needs of this couple than the first family.

Opening A Modest Kitchen to Outside Makes It Feel & Act Larger

I’m starting a follow-on series today about how objectives can radically change kitchen remodeling decisions.  A few days ago, I wrote about planning a kitchen remodel
In my experience, kitchen remodeling is about lifestyle more than about kitchen details.  Homeowners often focus too soon on the details such as what type of appliances or cabinets to buy and fail to concentrate on the lifestyle they want.

This series will take 3 classic home configurations from the 1920’s through the 1940’s – the age of the homes that I most often work on – and will investigate how dramatically the “right” configuration depends upon the homeowner’s living style and objectives.  After we’ve looked at objectives we’ll also look at how budget factors in.

Today we’ll look at a modest center-hall colonial built in 1933 in Bethesda, MD — a close-in suburb of Washington, DC.  And we’ll look at how the remodel would change for 3 different homeowners and with different budgets.  Today we’ll look at a young family that does a lot of entertaining of their extended family.  In a few days we’ll look at the needs of a professional couple that spends many of their weekends traveling.  And a few days after that, we’ll look at a professional couple with teenage children and that does more formal entertaining for work.

Goal:  Informal Extended Family Get-Togethers With Many Cooks and Seamless Indoor/Outdoor Connection. The homeowners in this scenario are a young couple with 2 small children.  They both come from close families that grew up in the area and both have married siblings with young children that live nearby.  Their home is the most centrally located.  As a result, they host informal extended family gatherings almost weekly.  There are often 6-10 children in attendance.  They want a home that’s bullet-proof, that’s as comfortable when it’s the 4 of them or when there are 20 extended family members visiting for the day.  They also anticipate living here indefinitely.  So the home needs to work as well when the children are teenagers as it does now. Their wish-list also includes a powder room on the first floor.  This couple also wants to limit their budget and want lots of outdoor space for games and gathering.

Below is the existing floor plan.  As I said, it’s a quite modest home with a very small, inefficient kitchen cut off from both the dining room and kitchen.  The entire home is cut-off from the outdoor – as is common with houses of this age.

BEFORE - 1930's Modest Colonial Floor Plan

AFTER - Modest Colonial Floor Plan

Here;s how we approached the house from the objectives of our first family:

Existing Footprint: To save money and to preserve outdoor play space we stayed within the existing footprint.  While it might feel small from today’s  standpoint, the greater openness, new circulation and new access to the outdoors lets the house live much larger than its square footage.

Create Foyer & Storage:  While our client didn’t emphasize the lack of a foyer, they definitely wanted a coat closet and a better sense of arrival.  By putting the powder room, coat closet and pantry at the front of the house, we created a new foyer area and separation of the arrival and living.

Open to Back: Across the back, are 4 door size openings of glass — 2 are doors and 2 are non-operable doors.  In the new dining area, we replaced a window with a new glass door, and we replaced a single smaller window with 2 larger windows that give good views to the back.  .

More Open Floor Plan: We also opened all the interior doorways to create a more open floor plan and longer views through the house.  By congregating the utilities up front, we got them out of the circulation path and allowed us to create much greater openness and circulation.

Small but Functional Kitchen: While the kitchen is small, it packs a lot into a small space and because it is open to the back, it feels and acts much larger.  The pantry — while also small — and full-height cabinet help isolate the powder room from the kitchen and provide a lot of very useful storage.

Patio or Deck in Back: A more extensive outdoor living area might be a phase 2 — but even with little additional landscaping the change in doors allows for multiple “garden” rooms in the back and side.  By putting a door off the new dining area and moving the door off the screen porch, we created a somewhat smaller and private courtyard framed by these 2 exterior walls.  This is in addition to the larger outdoor room off the back of the house.

Opening A Modest Kitchen to Outside Makes It Feel & Act Larger

View from Front of Living Room: Connected with Kitchen, Dining & Outside

View from Back of Kitchen to Front: Pantry, Coat Closet & Full Height Cab Create Alcove for Powder Room

Plan for a successful Kitchen Remodel

Often my clients approach me with specific proposed solutions.  One of the aspects of human thinking is that we often proceed directly to “solving” problems without fully defining the problem or our objectives.  And so, clients, too often start the process saying they want to replace their kitchen or create an island or … some other specific action.  But I often find that the solution a client has in their head at the beginning of the process won’t achieve many of their objectives or dreams.  They can spent $50,000 on a kitchen remodel but don’t really enjoy their homes any more afterward than when they started.

In one case, my client said they wanted to gut their kitchen and replace everything.  But after discussing their lifestyle and her frustrations, I proposed a completely different solution.  We left the kitchen almost untouched except for changing a few finishes.  Instead we removed a wall separating the kitchen with the family room, improved the access to the outdoors, and built a patio.  For about the same money my client was thinking about spending on her kitchen, she and her family achieved a completely new lifestyle.  And the frustration that my client felt while in the kitchen (and that she thought would be solved with new cabinets and appliances) went away completely since she no longer felt trapped in the kitchen while family life went on outside her view.

I also know, from experience, that no one or two or three solutions works for the majority of my clients.  Because each family has their own lifestyle and their own frustrations and dreams, the solution for each is unique.

I use 2 questionnaires when I work with clients on kitchen remodeling.  The first is the more important one.  It helps me think through overall concepts.  It’s a way to help diagnose what’s really wrong.  As in the example, above, I know that sometimes we focus on little things – like sticking or dingy cabinets — when the problem is really bigger, for example, that you feel disconnected from your family or garden.  The most important planning activity is an accurate diagnosis of what’s needed – then it becomes much easier to compromise because we know what’s critical and what we can give up.

The second questionnaire is a detailed questionnaire about appliances and finishes and the like.  It’s just a convenient way for me to keep track of preferences.  I don’t usually even look at this questionnaire until I’ve come up with solutions that achieve the big lifestyle objectives.  I’ve found that we can often compromise on the details if we can achieve the big picture.

Click the link below to download one or both questionnaires.  They can help you sort through your real frustrations and desires without getting side-tracked by less important factors.  That’s the first necessary step is planning a remodel that will change your lifestyle for the better.

Download Questionnaires.

You’ll need a PDF reader

Laminate Countertops, Mid-Range Appliances, and Leaving the Sink in Place Help Keep Costs Down

1.    Plan! Plan! Plan! The best way to go over-budget in any remodeling project is to just jump in.  Kitchen remodeling planning and research should address (1) what’s your main problem or objective.  Keep your focus on what’s most important to you.  (2) the price of everything (and I mean everything) you want/need to purchase (3) firm bids from all contractors (4) a contingency of at least 15% (5) remember the price of shipping and taxes and (6) reviews of appliances and materials.  See also this Planning Guide.
2.    Do it Yourself. Think about all the various items that go into remodeling your kitchen – tiling, carpentry, hanging cabinets, painting, and staining – to name a few.  Think through which of these you can do yourself because labor is a huge component of the price of remodeling.  Don’t take on any of the big items if you haven’t done it before like hanging cabinets or carpentry.  But tiling and painting are great jobs for the amateur.  To get a sense of the cost of materials for kitchen remodeling look here.    The big lesson is that to keep the costs under $10,000 you must be prepared to do some of the work yourself.  But if you select the right items to update, the tasks aren’t hard.
3.    Look for Free Kitchen Design Services and Advice.  A kitchen center – even home depot, Lowes or IKEA – have very useful software and sometimes knowledgeable personnel to help you visualize what your new kitchen will look like and to help you think through pitfalls.  For example, you don’t want to place an island where it blocks the dishwasher from opening.  Similarly, ask the opnion of your friends and family before you make your designs final.  You’re not asking for approval here but simply asking for a different perspective.  We all have different strengths and your friend might think of something that you haven’t.
4.    Keep the existing footprint – even if you want to open up to another room, keep the sink, dishwasher and range in their current locations.  An electric range is the least costly to move even this adds the cost of an electrician.
5.    Laminate or Tile Countertops: Today’s laminates are terrific!  I have a stone-look laminate desktop that most people think is stone at first glance.  And laminate is a delight to work on.  It’s a fraction of the cost of granite countertops.
6.    Update don’t replace cabinets. Think paint or stain.  If your cabinets are sound but just not to your style, update don’t replace cabinets.

Stained Builder-Grade Cabinets Refresh Kitchen

If that isn’t enough, think about replacing only the doors and drawer fronts.
7.    Be creative about materials and re-use. If you go to building re-use centers like the store associated with Habitat for Humanities or Community Forklift in my area, you can find almost new cabinets, countertops, and appliances.  Also look at Craig’s List or similar resources.  Develop the plan first with all the dimensions and bring this with you (as well as a tape measure).  But also be flexible to change your plan based on what’s available.  Also think about tables – especially industrial worktables – as an alternative to a traditional cabinet-made island.  You also might be able to re-use some of what’s in your existing kitchen – with a bit of elbow grease and imagination.

You shouldn’t cut corners with electrical, plumbing or structural changes – but these aren’t really the expensive part of remodeling.  What drives up costs is changing the exterior shell of your home – adding windows and doors and material selection.  A separate cooktop and ovens can add thousands of dollars to the cost of a remodel over a simple (but good quality) range.

1 – Take the doors off one or more of your upper cabinets:

Remove Cabinet Doors for A Kitchen Facelift

In this kitchen, we sanded the cabinets, painted the interior white and used a water based sage green stain on the exterior and use plate racks to display everyday and colorful dishes and bowls.  A microwave and whimsical wine rack complete the picture.  But you could also use square baskets to hold cereal and other food items, or use wine glass holders or other specialty fittings to display your special kitchenware.  You’ll probably want to do this only for cabinets and items that get frequent use so that dust doesn’t build-up.

2 – Paint the Walls and Ceiling:

Add Paint to Refresh Your Kitchen - Don't Forget the Ceiling

Sometimes all a kitchen needs is a new coat of paint.  The turquoise of this kitchen is a perfect complement to the white, brown and grey of the rest of the palette.  See other color ideas from Emma Christensen here. And don’t forget the ceiling – whether you paint it an accent color (like here) or a pale complementary color to the walls—think about something other than ceiling white.

3 – Stain or Paint the Cabinets:

We took builder-grade golden oak cabinet and gave them a custom mixed stain somewhere between ebony and red mahogany – it feels like a completely new kitchen.

Stain Cabinets for A Kitchen Facelift

Paint Cabinets for A Kitchen Facelift

For more color ideas, check out this post by Jill Connors on This Old House:

Dream Kitchen Remodel

We selected this concept out of 4 concepts that I developed for them during the conceptual design stage.  The other concepts would have been more expensive requiring staged execution as they were able to finance the work.  The selected concept met all their wish-list items except for a powder room.  I warned my clients that, with all the bells and whistles they wanted, the selected concept was also likely unaffordable but that I was sure that with some compromise, we could get the costs in line with their budget.

After I did a detailed cost evaluation, the total projected cost, including a 10% contingency, came to $85,000 — $20,000 and 30% over my client’s budget.  Here are the changes we’re making to bring the costs in line with the budget.

• Switch Cabinet Lines — My clients initially selected a line with an unusual stile design; the new cabinet line – retaining the same solid construction — offers a more traditional shaker door.    Savings:  $5,500
• Laminate Countertops & Subway Tile – My clients wanted granite countertops and a different stone backsplash; they still have the option to upgrade their countertops at some point in the future.     Savings:  $3,000
• Porcelain Kitchen Flooring.  My clients prefer wood floors but the rest of their wood floors are in wonderful shape.  By using a different material in the kitchen, we save the cost of refinishing the rest of the floors on the first floor.    Savings:  $3,500
• Appliances.  My clients have a new white refrigerator that they really like.  They wanted to replace it with the same model stainless fridge and purchase other stainless appliances.  They save a lot of money by keeping the existing fridge and purchasing a white range & dishwasher.    Savings:  $2,500
• Eliminate Prep Sink – The majority of the savings here are labor savings – reduced plumbing and construction costs.    Savings:  $5,000
• Fixtures – Reduce the cost of individual fixtures & hardware.    Savings:  $500
• Total Savings:  $20,000

Notice that I didn’t sacrifice the 10% contingency.  If you want to stay within your budget always include at least a 10% contingency.  No matter how good your planning, due to unforeseen items or changes in scope, the contingency is almost always used.  And I never want my clients surprised at the end of the job.

Here’s what the less expensive kitchen will look like when we’re done.  I think the biggest sacrifice is an undermount sink (which can’t be used with laminate).  Given their lifestyle the prep sink was more a luxury than a necessity.  Today’s laminates are beautiful and the staple in upscale European kitchens.  Slightly less money would have been saved by using resilient cork flooring — that’s easier on the back and feet — instead of porcelain.

Kitchen to Be Built - $20,000 Savings Over Original Concept

For me the lesson is that you always need to start with your dream – even if from the beginning you know you can’t afford it.  If you don’t think through what’s important to you, you don’t know what compromises are worth making.  But after you dream, you need to be willing to compromise so you can fit a relatively close vision of your dream into your budget.

Your compromises will likely be different from my clients.  You might need to scale down lighting, window and door replacement, or elements of your design.  But as seen here, it’s likely that with thoughtful changes, you can come extremely close to your dream at a much reduced price tag.

I would love to hear about how you saved money in your kitchen remodel.  And if you want me to use your kitchen as a case study, just contact me through the contact link.
In case you’re curious, here’s an image of the existing kitchen.

Here's the "Before" Kitchen

All images courtesy of Braitman Design/Build.

Use Drawers & Open Shelves in Your Kitchen Remodel

1. 30” base Cabinets with Drawers – I try to specify 30” and 33” base cabinets with drawers whenever possible.  You can fit pots and pans, stacks of dishes, large serving platters, storage containers, almost anything except appliances.  It’s without question the most effective storage in the kitchen.  A 24” cabinet or smaller is too small for many of the items we use regularly and you end up with wasted space.  A 36” cabinet feels unwieldy and can start to bind up under loads.Do note, that a 30” cabinet needs either two pulls or one long pull.   The single long pull allows you to open the cabinet with a single hand.
2. Open Shelving for daily dishes & glassware – It’s decorative as well as practical.  Whether you daily dinnerware is all white or mix and match, it creates an easy design statement and simplifies setting the table or unloading the dishwasher.  (See also #5, below.)
3. Dishwasher Location – Plan the kitchen so that all or most of your daily dishes, utensils and glassware are close to the dishwasher and all on the same side of the dishwasher so when in the open position it’s not in your way as you unload it.  This will eliminate daily hassle and banged shins.
4. Plan for trash and recycle – Many of us put trash under the sink, but today’s deep sinks and large disposals make that area much less useful than it used to be.  Plus, an integrated recycling stream in many communities allows us to use a single bin for all recyclables.  A 15” wide base cabinet near the sink can accommodate one trash bin and one recycle bin.  Also think about a separate bin near where you read the daily paper (if you still get one) or where you open mail.  This small detail can eliminate mounds of paper lying around the house.
5. Hide the Mess – Today’s kitchens are often open to the family room or living area.  The kitchen has become the family “hearth” where family and friends gather.  But you don’t want to think about or look at the mess while you’re eating or entertaining.  Depending on your cooking habits and tolerance for mess there are many potential solutions.  In the kitchen, top, the extra high eating counter and extra deep, wide sink allows the homeowner to dump all the pots and pans in the sink – hidden from view – while the family and guests are at the dining table.In the kitchen, below, translucent sliding doors (seen pushed all the way to the right between the kitchen and dining room) can completely close off the kitchen or be positioned to block only part of the kitchen and it’s mess from view.
   

   Translucent Sliding Doors to Hide Kitchen Mess

6. A place for everything – Really think through how you use your kitchen.  If you hand-wash daily dishes and set them in a drainer, think about a stainless steel perforated shelf over the sink so that they can drip into the sink.   It’s a common practice in Europe – like this image below.  See others in this thread from poesia-deisgn.
   

   Photo by: Eric Roth Photography

   For a particularly short client, I made sure to include one wall cabinet that touched the countertop so she could easily reach heavy stacks of plates (below).  This could also be accomplished with a 12” deep full height cabinet.

   

   Low Shelves for Easy Reach

   Whether it’s an appliance tower, a built-in cutting board or just a place for oils near the cooktop, think through how you use your kitchen so that you’ll have no regrets when your remodel is completed.  The little items that personalize the kitchen don’t need to be expensive or custom – they just need to work for the way you live.

Happy remodeling.  Let me know what tips you would pass on to your friend when they’re ready to remodel.

All images courtesy of Braitman Design/Build unless noted.

Fluorescent Ceiling & Undercab Lighting

Just like the previous 2 projects, daylighting provides the primary source of ambient light during daylight hours.  Substantial daylight was created with an open floor plan and opening the dining room and living room to the outdoors with French doors.  This kitchen receives daylight from 3 sides – creating a well-lit and inviting space.  A surface-mounted fluorescent ceiling fixture provides abundant, even ambient lighting during storms and at night.  Fluorescent undercabinet lights provide good task lighting.  Finally, a 3-lamp pendant light hanging over the dining room table provides both ambient and accent lighting – a dimmer allows for bright or mood lighting as desired.

Dimmable Dining Pendant Light

Lighting Helps Integrate Dining Room & Kitchen

Read about other Kitchen Lighting projects:

-    Kitchen Lighting – Project #1
-    Kitchen Lighting – Project #2

Part of the great news about the Green Building trend is the rapid expansion of attractive, functional fluorescent and LED fixtures.  If this project were being done today instead of 2 years ago, the availability of attractive ceiling mounted fluorescent fixtures would be greatly increased.  In a project I’m working on currently, less attractive fluorescent tubes are held close to the ceiling while a translucent screen of Lucite  – framed in steel – is hung below them acting as a giant diffuser.  The cost is just slightly above what you would pay for a ceiling mount fluorescent fixture while the look is quite high-end and the lighting quality is terrific!

A final note about fluorescent fixtures – I always spec fixtures with electronic ballasts for my clients.  These fixtures don’t have any of the flicker, noise or delay that we associate with older fluorescent fixtures.  I also usually get lamps with a color rendering of 2700 to 3000 which most closely approximate the color of the incandescent bulb that we’re used to.  It’s almost impossible to distinguish today’s fluorescent fixtures and lamps with these features from incandescent fixtures.  The only area where fluorescents still lag is in dimming.  If you purchase dimmable fluorescent bulbs, following these rules:

1.    Use a dimmer manufactured after 1995
2.    Use a dimmer with a maximum load of 600 watts
3.    Use mechanical dimmers rather than solid state electronic dimmers with digital fade, touch or remote capabilities
4.    Use the same type of bulb (manufacturer, wattage, etc on the same dimmer)
5.    Use a one hour “burn-in” time at full at full brightness before trying to dim the bulbs; Each subsequent time start on full brightness and wait 1-2 minutes before dimming.

With the speed of technology advance, I hope that these cautions will be antiquated within a short time.

All images courtesy of Braitman Design/Build.

Lighting for Kitchen Remodeling

The primary ambient lighting comes from daylight – windows, glass doors, and a special type of skylight known as a “Suntunnel”.  During daylight hours, no artificial lighting is needed.  Light from the suntunnels come through the 14” diameter lenses in the lowered orange ceiling to the right in the image, above and below.  In the kitchen, additional ambient lighting comes from recessed dimmable fluorescent lights – they are positioned to also provide task lighting over the countertops.

Task lighting comes from fluorescent strip lighting under the upper cabinets and from a single sconce that provides both down and uplighting to the right of the windows in the picture, below.  The candelabra lamps in the hood were replaced with LED lamps.  The mini-cans in the ceiling above the breakfast table are LED’s that provide concentrated task lighting for reading the paper at the table.

Lighting for Kitchen Remodeling

In the dining room, LED cove lighting provides both ambient and accent lighting.  The LEDs are on a dimmer so that the light level can be set for mood lighting or ambient lighting sufficient to read by.

Cove Lighting for Dining Room

All images courtesy of Braitman Design/Build.

3 Levels of Lighting for Kitchens - Ambient, Task & Accent

In this Washington, DC kitchen, above, there are 2 sources of ambient light – daylight and cans recessed into the ceiling with flood lamps.  Copious daylight streams in from windows and doors placed on 2 adjacent walls and indirectly through the entryway.  Few if any artificial lights are needed during the day.  When night comes, the recessed lights are operated by 4 different switches so that you can light only the areas in which you’re working.  All the recessed lights are also on dimmers so you can create mood lighting or limit the amount of light as needed.  Further, these recessed lights are dimmable fluorescents – savings lots of money and energy over incandescent when operated.

Task lighting is provided by undercabinet lights – mounted near the front of all wall cabinets.  We used xenon lights for the undercabinet lights which don’t burn as hot as halogen lights.  Since this kitchen was remodeled, you can also buy many different types of LED undercabinet lights which don’t burn hot and are very energy efficient.  The outer rows of recessed lights are positioned to provide task lighting as well as ambient lighting.   They are just outside the upper cabinets but inside the base cabinets so that they shine directly onto the countertops in front of anyone working at the counters.  If they were placed further into the room, they would create shadows on the countertop since they would be shining from behind individuals working at the counters.  The hood vent also has LED task lights that illuminate the cooktop.

The accent lighting comes from two custom chandeliers – one over the breakfast table and one over the dining table in the adjacent room.  These chandeliers are also outfitted with fluorescent lamps.

With the right mix of lighting you can work more efficiently, feel better, and also create different moods as appropriate to your activities.

Kitchen Accent Lighting

All images courtesy of Braitman Design/Build