Kitchen Renovation: Redesigning the Nook

Sunday, December 12, 2021

Now that we've got the general idea for the kitchen look nailed down, we need to start talking about the very cluttered "microwave nook". And how we're going to demolish it, and put in something that works better for us. But what is that something?

Nook - Sketchup rendering of design
The Kitchen in its natural state, before removing everything

If you didn't know it before, you'll know it after looking at my rough hand sketches of kitchen nook design ideas below: I am the Grandma Moses of kitchen design illustration, lol.

Nook Idea 1 - Pegboard - too clittered Nook Idea 2 - Upper cabinets - too closed off
Background photo source: Four Generations, One Roof.

At first, I toyed around with leaving the cabinets in-place, but the more I iterated on my ideas, the more apparent it became that having cabinets facing inwards greatly reduces what can be done in that inward space. When I happened upon this post from Four Generations One Roof, I realized there was a pattern there that could work for us. I started doodling some options on top of the photo, and eventually got to something more workable.

Nook Idea 3 - Open Shelves w. covered furnace - no Nook Idea 4 - Open Shelves w. Steel Counter
Background photo source: Four Generations, One Roof.

With some negotiation with J, we eventually settled on the above design on the right. Not too closed in, not too cluttered. With a stainless steel counter-height table for simplicity. Basically, a coffee station with a pantry to the left, and door closet to the right, and somewhere to store firewood, dog food, and trash below.

Nook - Rough Room Dimensions Nook - Initial Design Measurements for Nook Idea 4

Then came time for measurements, and trying to figure out exactly how this design might work. I even tried putting it together in the Ikea Home Planner to see if we could make it work without all custom cabinets. $1,800, and with a little smaller stainless steel table, it would be possible, but we'd still have to retrofit the firewood cabinet so it opened to the living room, and figure out something different for the trash & recycling. It looks like we'll be going fully custom with this route. Thankfully, I know someone pretty handy with carpentry. So we'll see what happens.

Nook - Seeing what's doable with Ikea Cabinetry ($1800)
Source: Ikea Home Planner

J put my dimensions into SketchUp, adjusted them a little to make more sense, and we ended up with this mock-up:

Nook - Sketchup rendering of design

Looks pretty good to me! Hopefully it all works out!!

1 comments:

rooth said...

The redesigned nook looks very useful and efficient. Thank goodness for knowing someone with carpentry skills!