Should We Remodel?

“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”

~Steve Jobs

“Should we build, or should we just remodel?”

This is one of the most frequently asked questions I get.

Although I love new construction, I’m also a huge fan of redesigning what you already own.  If your home has good bones and the floor plan works for you and your family, then it makes sense to do a little “tweaking” to the structure you already call home.

I promised a few blogs ago to take you along on a kitchen project we’ve been working on. 

When my clients contacted me, they already had a very strong idea of what they wanted.  They had done the research and were well prepared to start their new kitchen.  We worked for several weeks to prepare the exact design to suit their needs, and I think you will agree it turned out beautifully.

My clients’ home was built in the early nineties with a small kitchen and lots of cabinets that were not very user friendly.

 Although they had already purchased several new appliances when moving in the house, the kitchen was still somewhat dated.

We were discussing design work on the dining room adjacent to the kitchen, so we decided to remove the wall that was between the two rooms and make one large room.  In this picture you can see the dining room just beyond the refrigerator on the right side. 

This is right after we removed the wall behind the refrigerator.

 Disclaimer (there’s always a disclaimer, right?): Do not- I repeat, do not go tearing down walls in your home unless you have a qualified professional.  You must first verify that the wall is not load bearing, and then pull the wires, plumbing, etc. that may exist. 

You can see that this really opened the space.  We then added a cased opening in the dining room to open into the living room that you previously could only access through the kitchen.

This is a picture of the cased opening after we moved the existing plumbing pipes and electrical wires, and repaired the drywall.

The next steps were rewiring the kitchen, patching the walls, installing new flooring, and painting. 

The new cabinets were installed, and then we began the wait for the beautiful new quartz countertops that took two weeks to fabricate.

I believe it was the longest two weeks in my clients’ lives!  But I think they will tell you now that it was worth the wait.

This is the new kitchen!  This is the same wall as in the first picture above. 

This is looking at where the refrigerator wall was before in the second picture above.  As you can see it is now very open, there is lots of cabinet space that is functional for the homeowners, and the design elements will rival any new construction home out there.   

The total time for this project was a little shy of a month due to the wait time on our tops. 

Although Steve Jobs was referring to the Mac in his quote above, I believe the quote holds true for home design as well.  This kitchen looks good AND it works well.

Tip:  When designing a space, always take all six surfaces into consideration.  There are four walls, the floor, and don’t forget the ceiling!