Reflections on kitchen renovation

It occurred to me that I might want to say something useful in this blog, instead of blathering on about my limitations as a homeowner and housekeeper. So, while this blog is concerned mainly with our first floor master suite addition and new garage, I thought I'd offer my musings about our recent kitchen renovation, now that it's been some months since it has been completed and I've had the chance to reflect on what worked well, and what not so well, in the project.

Features of the New Cabinets that I Really, Really Like

I chose American Woodmark cabinets, marketed through Home Depot, simply because it was easy and convenient to browse through samples there, and the Woodmark cabinets were solid, middle of the road cabinets. Not cheap and flimsy, but not overly expensive, either. I got a little carried away, though, when I saw the brochure on all the extra features you could special order. In case you're planning a kitchen renovation of your own, here's the features I'd recommend strongly:

1.) Pull-out trash drawer. This is probably my favorite aspect of the new cabinets. The pull-out drawer looks just like an ordinary cabinet door, but it contains a nice deep plastic trash bin, and a second shallow bin behind it that I use for storing the box of trash bags. In my old cabinets, we had installed a rickety pull-out trash bag holder on our own, but like most of our home maintenance attempts, this didn't really work well (it kept coming off the tracks), and food/trash kept getting all over the floor of the cabinet and making a royal mess.

2.) Tilt-out drawer at sink. I *almost* didn't even order this, but it has turned out to be my second favorite feature. Before I just stashed my scrub brushes, scouring pads, and sink plugs behind the faucet, which would make my sink area look cluttered and messy. Now they all fit easily in the tilt-out drawer, readily accessible yet leaving my sink uncluttered. I love it. If you order one, get the plastic little containers (so you can pop them in the dishwasher), and make sure the installer doesn't screw them in tightly so you can put them in and out easily.

3.) Cookie sheet tray divider. This is a pull-out unit with little dividers where you can store all your baking sheets, cookie sheets, muffin trays, pizza pans, etc. standing on edge, without them being mashed together in a pile where it's impossible to extricate just one.

4.) Fancy glass panel on one cabinet drawer. As I attended various open houses, I noticed that a lot of upscale homes had fancy glass doors in their cupboards, with collections of priceless crystal and fine china on visible display behind them. We had very little of that stuff, but we did have one set of nice china (from Jonathan's grandmother). So I ordered one glass cabinet door, with a pretty embossed fern design on it, and used it on the cupboard with the china in it. All of our other cabinets, containing the mismatched Scooby-Doo plates and plastic cups we actually use every day, keep their contents hidden from view behind solid doors.



5.) Long tubular modern cabinet pulls. Our old cabinets had the basic round knobs on them. Any way you cut it, round knobs are boring. I liked the modern look of the long tubular pulls, and that's what I went with for the kitchen renovation, even though I had the sneaking suspicion that the peak of popularity for them had passed. I really like the knobs, though. They're easy to grab onto, and easy to clean.

Features of the New Cabinets I'm Not so Crazy About or Would Skip if I were Doing it Over

1.) Pull-out trays in the cabinets. I was tired of leaning way over and rummaging through cabinets to find various pots and pans. So for the renovation, I ordered pull-out trays for all the cabinets. What I didn't realize is that the trays and sliding mechanism take up a fair amount of space on each side. What this means is that I could not fit as much in the cupboards as I had before. So even though the renovation added at least one new cupboard, I had less net space after the renovation than before. That's not ideal. If I were doing it over again, I'd buy pull-out trays for the hardest to reach cupboards but use regular shelves on the others.

2.) Our old cabinets were intalled under soffitts in the ceiling. For the renovation, I decided to keep the soffitts to minimize costs. (Tearing them out would have entailed "significant ceiling repair," Wagner told me.) In hindsight I wish we had taken the soffitts out. The new cabinets hang down lower than the old ones, which gives me less clearance under them. The coffeemaker doesn't fit, for example, nor does the canister with all my big spoons and whisk.

In sum, there's a learning curve associated with doing any kind of renovation. I think I could do a kitchen renovation now faster, easier, and with better outcomes. The implication that I am currently making all sorts of mistakes with the master suite addition is one I don't like to think about much. ;)