I’ve established that we’d like to redo our kitchen. But what are we doing?
I have not had much success finding a new configuration that works better in the kitchen’s current footprint. The room is too wide, and has too many doors, to be an effective two-counter parallel galley kitchen. But the room is too narrow for an island. If we didn’t cook much, or were on a more limited budget, I think we’d make a more attractive space with minor improvements in function.
But the way things stand, the plan is to annex the adjacent sunroom. This involves removing a section of load-bearing wall, which we’ll need to replace with a header. It also means removing the one closet on the entire first floor. The logical way to address that problem is to expand the foyer slightly into the current kitchen’s footprint, making room for a coat closet that’s actually near the front door.
Annexing the sunroom also means we lose the sunroom space itself, which we do use. We have been planning since we moved to create a new 3-season porch, replacing the current deck, like we did in our old house. Since this is a significant but not huge project, the logical plan is to do it at the same time as the kitchen.
One last item: expanding the kitchen’s footprint means either matching or replacing the tile floor in the kitchen. I’m not convinced we could match that floor, so we’re probably looking at ripping it up. And if we’re going to rip up the floor, we shoud put in radiant-floor heat in the newly-renovated space while it’s easy.
If we’re putting in radiant floor heat, it may be time to bite the bullet and update the heating system with a more efficient modern condensing boiler, with domestic hot water supplied by a zone off of it rather than the standalone water heater (hey, look! something else from 1983!). And I fear the number of electrical circuits required by code in a kitchen these days may require doing something to our main electrical panel.
So there you have it, the master outline: construct a new 3-season porch, replacing the current deck. Do a gut remodel of the current kitchen, including relocating a wall and removing a load-bearing one. Bring the exposed electrical, plumbing, heating, and insulation up to code, also fixing any “oh my god” structural issues discovered in the process. Construct a new patio to replace the lost deck functionality. And then get on with our lives. Sounds simple enough, right? Right?