Kitchen Rework Regrets and What You can Do to Change it. Each reworking challenge has one factor in widespread: It’ll require you to make tons of selections alongside the way in which. Inevitably, a few of the choices you make will likely be stuff you’ll proceed to like for years and others will likely be stuff you’ll want you probably did in another way.
In my expertise, reflecting on the stuff you want you probably did in another way helps you higher perceive your preferences over time. It helps inform design choices you’ll make in future tasks.
A number of the largest reworking tasks we’ve tackled in our two homes have been our kitchens. Since 2015, we’ve performed three complete kitchen remodels (with the assistance of our contractors)—one in our present residence and two in our earlier residence.
Right now I’m sharing what I remorse from every of those kitchen reworking tasks and the way I might method them in another way now.
First Kitchen Rework
These are two issues I might have performed in another way in our first kitchen transform.
Chosen a Totally different Type of Flooring
The flooring on this kitchen is the principle factor I might have performed in another way. We put in a phenomenal cement tile flooring, unaware of the problems it could quickly current. The first difficulty was that the highest of the tile was porous and, due to this fact, it stained nearly instantly. Whereas I liked the design, the quantity of seen put on left rather a lot to be desired, particularly from Joe’s viewpoint.
Overhauled Our Strategy to Storage and Group
After we reworked this kitchen in 2015, our solely “baby” was Winnie. By the tip of 2017, we had two children beneath the age of two. Due to the inflow of “child stuff,” the way in which we utilized this house fully modified. There have been points with storage—partially due to the comparatively small footprint of the kitchen and partially as a result of we weren’t utilizing our cupboard space as correctly as we might have.
With two younger children, I wasn’t internet hosting almost as a lot as I had been earlier than, but issues like serving dishes nonetheless took up prime actual property within the kitchen. Our storage and group method didn’t work for our new way of life, and altering it could have undoubtedly improved the way in which we interacted with the kitchen in our on a regular basis lives.
Second Kitchen Rework: 2019
After we reworked our kitchen a second time in 2019, we have been trying to handle the 2 points listed above and create a greater stream from the kitchen to the remainder of the principle flooring.
Wanting again, there aren’t very many particular issues I might have performed in another way on this kitchen. It served its function very well throughout our final yr in our residence and was a key promoting level when we offered this home in 2020. My largest remorse is extra about how I approached the design course of.
After I was designing this kitchen, I made choices extra from the lens of my job as a content material creator than from the lens of an individual who was going to be dwelling within the house. I sought out others’ opinions fairly than trusting my very own imaginative and prescient, and the design course of was much less pleasing than it might have been. Reflecting again on this course of has been reminder to comply with my intestine after I’m designing my residence.
P.S. In the event you subscribe to my e-newsletter, Home Name, you possibly can learn extra about my ideas on designing this kitchen within the following essay: “What Designing for Myself Feels Like vs. Designing for the Web.”
Third Kitchen Rework: 2021
I’ve a lot love for this kitchen. We had good causes for making each one of many design choices on this house, lots of which got here all the way down to finances and product availability.
But as with every house, the extra you reside in it, the extra you discover stuff you would possibly wish to change. Realizing what I do know now, these are three issues I might have performed in another way in our present kitchen.
Put in Customized Cabinetry
I want I might have spent the additional cash on customized cabinetry, which we opted to not do due to finances constraints. The cupboards we’ve got do the job completely effectively, though they do require a little bit of maintenance. The paint on our cupboards is chipping in some areas—my hunch is that it is because we opted to attempt a paintable cupboard prototype which wasn’t but publicly obtainable.
Put in the Flooring I Actually Needed
Don’t get me fallacious: I really like the flooring we chosen for our kitchen. It’s lovely and has held up very well on this high-traffic house. But I want we’d have gone with the flooring I needed on the very begin of this challenge.
From the onset of our kitchen transform, I needed to put in flooring in a diamond sample utilizing two completely different sorts of marble. Sadly, we didn’t have the contact or the best suppliers to make it occur in a cheap approach.
I believe if I might have stored in search of the best match, I might have made it work. The ethical of the story right here could be to know when a delay or additional work is value it!
Chosen an Vintage Desk As a substitute of an Island
The island we opted for in our kitchen’s eating space is useful and provides extra storage, which I really like. Nevertheless, over time, I’ve continued to consider my first alternative for this house: an vintage desk.
I’ve all the time needed the eating space to really feel extra separate from the cooking facet of the kitchen, and there’s one thing concerning the type of an vintage desk that feels so relaxed and charming to me.
Realizing how we truly use the island, I additionally want I might have chosen a distinct countertop. I’m completely cool with the marble in our kitchen growing a patina over time, however I’m discovering myself much less forgiving on the subject of the butcher block countertop we put in on the island. I plan to sand it down and apply a coat of mineral oil this spring!
Kate is at the moment studying to play the Ukulele, a lot to the despair of her husband, children, and canine. Comply with her on Instagram at @witanddelight_.
