This past weekend was a very eventful weekend for myself. It was a weekend in which I was looking forward to since we bought this house. Moving my kitchen to its glory days location...An event like this is very historic for this house as it begged to have its kitchen back in its old location...It's been an event that has been years in the making...For myself, it's an event that's been months in the making...
A lot of planning and mental energy has gone into this job. When we first bought this house, we were definitely not sold on because of this kitchen. For one, it's an addition that is all the way in the back of the house making the kitchen an impersonal area. Secondly, the design layout does not flow...it's horrible! For a couple of months after moving in, I kept thinking of how we would plan our kitchen layout. I did not like the ideas I was coming up with though! What I realized was that I did not like the kitchen being so separated from the house therefore any plan that I thought of, was not satisfying to me...Then a bulb flashed in my head when I went to the Old West Durham home tour, a home tour meant to glorify the smaller homes, bigger happy idea...I got it! Move the kitchen back to its old location!!!! GREAT IDEA!!!! That would give me all the space in the old kitchen to move the laundry room back there and create a new bathroom which this house needs!!! I was so psyched about my new plan and thanked the home tour for it...
So now for the past 6 months, I have been jotting things down as I got ideas, getting ideas from old home tours in town, going over This Old House and Cottages & Bungalows magazines, looking through many websites for kitchen design ideas. It's been mentally exhausting but I also love it as I always enjoy a challenge...You see, for this kitchen to work, we will have to very creative. Why you ask, well the kitchen is tiny! Something my wife and I love! Small kitchen design is something cherished in places like Europe where appliances are made for those markets due to their limited spaces. It's not the typical American ideology but I feel with enough charm and character and good flow, a small kitchen can be more effective than a spaced out kitchen.
There are many factors that has limited the potential in this kitchen though. For one, it is too closed in. So the first plan was to knock down the wall separating the kitchen from the dining room. An idea that has been done MANY times over from people looking for that "open concept". So this past weekend, I proceeded with the first phase, knocking down half the wall and creating arches for an open feel...With the help from a good neighbor, Patrick, who helped me get the project started and two Old North Durham residents, Peter, who insisted on helping me with the framing & Moe who helped rerun the electrical, we were able to knock down the plaster and create the archway the right way. Sure enough, here are some pictures from the first phase (more pics on my flickr page):
