1980s Kitchen Gets an Overhaul

Two summers ago I was asked to design a kitchen for a couple who had just purchased a home built in the early 1980s. It had all the elements of a 1980s new build…lots of space… but still had elements of 1970s style. The house was confused on what it wanted to be so we decided to bring in a mixture of casual Californian modern with a little bit of Kansas farmhouse. Lets take a look the before pictures.

I was hired to do a full kitchen design and then hand over the design for the homeowner to DIY or GC themselves. This design service has a flat rate fee.

Interested in this service? Click here to find out more.

The kitchen actually had a ton of space but it felt tight and very small. Mostly because of this baywindow eating nook.

We decided the placement of the stove, sink and fridge were absolutely fine. The wall seen above would become the home of a new double wall oven, the fridge, and more pantry space.

The biggest part of the renovation was opening up the kitchen into the fireplace room…..soon to be dining room. You can also see by the blue tape the plan was to open the dining room up to the living room. The original dining room became a homework room/study. It was too small for this family of 6.

Luckily the bay window did not extend to the second floor and the roof line. It was simply a bump out on the first floor. So we decided to get rid of it to use all the space in the kitchen.

Instead of a bay window we got a window and a huge peninsula.

Instead of opening up the room completely we cased the opening so there was a natural stopping place for the tile. I actually like cased openings because they help define open spaces.

By losing the bay window we were able to get so much cabinetry into the space and get a huge kitchen

You can see that we kept pretty much everything else in the same place. Since we were adding a double wall oven we added a cooktop instead of a slide in range for more storage.

One of my favorite parts of kitchen design is figuring out placement and function of cabinetry. It makes every kitchen different because every homeowner is different. I also like as many large cabinets as I can get. One large cabinet instead of two small is more affordable and always better in my opinion.

The cabinets are from B&B lumber. We chose a. model that could paint the cabinets a custom color. This color is Sherwin Williams Inkwell.

The tile is from Floor and Decor, the sink and faucet are from Wayfair.

The purpose of the open shelves was function but it was also to help make the kitchen feel more open and not block the light of the second window.

Let’s take a closer look at the storage wall.

By getting rid of the desk and small base cabinet we were able to add a double oven and a second pantry. The appliances are Black Stainless from Samsung.

The wall space was there to begin with but because removed the bay window and extended the kitchen cabinetry farther it allowed us to use the wall space to the greatest extent.

Instead of spending thousands of dollars to add a gas line to the kitchen I convinced the homeowner to consider an induction cooktop. It was a win. Yes, a gas cooktop looks so stinkin’ good but induction is actually just as good for cooking and is much more energy efficient. It also doesn’t produce toxic gas… which I see poorly vented gas stoves in Wichita all the time! Not good.

The Sconces are one of my favorites from Lucent Light Shop. Now… just to remind you what this side of the kitchen looked like.

The space felt dark and closed off…

Because we didn’t open it up fully we didn’t have to change electrical or put a a structural beam. It also gives each space its own designated footprint for furniture while keeping architectural details. A coat of white paint everywhere helped brighten it up, yet just giving the kitchen access to the windows already in the dining room helped make the space feel HUGE!

The house is located on a huge park so imagine working in your kitchen and seeing all your boys play outside.

You can see your kids from so many different angles and this was big request for this kitchen.

What a transformation and I am thankful for the privilege to be apart of it.