What's to hate about a hall with a range and a sink along the sides? and the range door and the dishwasher door able to bisect the walkpath?

I hated the lack of counterspace in my old kitchen. I had a counter of 4' x 2' (and 2' of that 4' was in the corner) to do everything in. I did have another 3 1/2' but it was outside of the work triangle and became a junk collector. I now have 5 1/2' between the prep sink and range and 7 1/2' between the range and clean-up sink plus another 11' (split up in a couple of places) just for fun. That is how much I hated the lack of counterspace and I lived with that for 21 years and when we reno'd the kitchen it was all about the counter space.

I dislike my layout. The sink side of the sort of galley-like kitchen is a tiny U and the tiny peninsulas that stick out are completely useless for workspace or storage. Adjacent to this sort of galley area is a breakfast nook that we use for absolutely nothing. I put a desk in there temporarily, but about 40% of potential kitchen space is wasted. We have a lovely large dining room on the opposite side of the kitchen and find the breakfast nook useless.

The countertops are ugly peachy pink laminate. They stain, chip, and are downright embarrassing. We painted the walls red and it has helped downplay the pink, but they're still hideous.

The flooring is odd. The kitchen has stick on laminate tiles that were installed in a random fashion. We assume the previous owners did not grasp the concept of a layout and just stuck the tiles on in whatever manner facilitated minimal cutting. Some of the tiles are popping up because they were cut so small. The adjacent breakfast nook is carpet and there is an odd curved division between the breakfast nook and the kitchen. The different flooring makes the space look tiny by visually dividing it. (Under the appliances you can see the original pink laminate that must have perfectly matched the pink counters.)

The partial overlay cabinets are too narrow to fit my dishes directly in. I have to turn dinner plates, large bowls, and pots and pans on the side in order to squeeze them in. There is only one tiny bank of drawers (some broken) and I often have to kneel or squat on the floor to dig around in the back recesses of the cabinets.

Problem with the old kitchen: The kitchen was small to begin with, but had counter we actually didn't use, because of it being 'out of the loop,' while we all fought for the one most convenient piece of counter...the island. This put us all on top of each other. The traffic tie-ups were constant. (Secondary problem: Open to/visible from entry and living room. I wasn't a fan of the 'open concept.')

Best thing about the new kitchen: Room for everyone to work... Each happily on their own project with barely ever a path crossed because of zones. We can all fit in the kitchen, whether working or visiting with those who are. It's not the 'heart of our home' because every function happens there, but because we all love being in there together, cooking, baking, chatting, etc., so much. (Also, it's its own room. Open doors and everyone welcome, but divided-lite pocket doors close off noise, and any mess while we enjoy each other's company at the dining table or the living room.)

..................I forgot the other thing I detested about
my kitchen. Was the 80s white tile countertop with white
grout.

In a house with three kids, white tile does not handle
smeared peanut butter, spilled sunkist, crumbs, and doing
homework on the bumpy surface was horrid. I had a blast
smashing those tiles to remove them. Therapeutic.

~boxer

The ugly green wall paper was a bit annoying with the
screaming red apple window coverings. F....Ugly

Old kitchen pic

Recirculating vent above the cooktop that blew air in my tall DH's face and was ineffective.

Hanging cabinets above the peninsula, chopping the space in two and periodically banging our heads.

Fluorescent lights everywhere.

Thirty-year-old particle board cabinets that never felt clean no matter how recently you'd cleaned them.

Lack of counter space except under the hanging cabinets.

Great post! All we usually see are the perfectly gorgeous kitchens that we all WISH we had!

A three-way tie for last place:

A. The stove sitting all alone against the wall with no countertops within 6 feet of it.
B. The particle-board cabinetry so cheap and pitiful that even HD is too embarassed to sell it. (Exists only in increments of 15" doors, with no drawers, and non-adjustable shelves attached to help brace the cabinet boxes. Joked we could do the demo by soaking it down with a hose and watching it crumble)
C. Peel-and-stick vinyl floor tiles that had (in summer)approximately equal sticking power to that of bare feet walking across the kitchen.

Every kitchen? or just the most recent one? :)

Dingy, yellowing, sparse lighting will become new lighting everywhere
3 drawers in the whole room ... drawers & super cabs everywhere
Semi-walk-in pantry...items often go in, never to be seen again. Ripping this out to gain counter and cabinet space.

Unfortunately, we built this house so the short-comings are our (my) fault. Actually, we built the whole house in 1975 for about what this reno is going to cost;-(

While trying to explain to DH ("You-want-to-do-what??") why we needed this upgrade, I finally just said, "Because I want it!"

Good luck to everyone making the leap:-)

For the most part, I like my kitchen but will be moving it in the near future, because the present kitchen has five doorways in it! None of the doorways can be removed so instead the kitchen will be moved.

C. Peel-and-stick vinyl floor tiles that had (in summer)approximately equal sticking power to that of bare feet walking across the kitchen.

Too funny!

Two feet of usable counter on one side of the sink. One foot of usable counter on the far side of the cooktop. The microwave took up the rest of the usable countertop on the other side of the kitchen so neither it or the wall oven had any counter space nearby.

Cooktop and sink were 6 inches away from each other on either side of a corner. I only had to turn my feet to go from standing in front of one to the other.

Food stored in 1 upper and 2 lower cabinets. If it wasn't in front, it could get lost for years. If I bought anything in bulk it had to be stored in the basement.

A large radiator took most of the cabinet under the sink and into the blind corner. The only thing I could store in the largest run of cabinet space was paper towels. I would toss the rolls into the far corner. When I had the radiator taken out, I used a plastic laundry basket to hold cleaning supplies under the sink.

Crappy 18" dishwasher that BF and my BIL built in for me did such a bad job cleaning that I had to prewash everything.

It's hard to believe we lived with that kitchen for 17 years.

Well...

1) Sink not in same room with range and refrigerator.
2) No cabinets in room with range and refrigerator (I've remedied that)
3) No rangehood
4) Too many doors (can't get rid of any without a much more expenive remodel than I can currently afford)
5) Half of my cabinets are old (possibly original) with so many coats of paint that the doors stick and wooden drawer "glides" that dump sawdust on my bakeware.

I'm not really doing a remodel, just incremental improvements. Someday I may feel I've done enough to post pics.

I'm not renovating my kitchen - we're moving. If we weren't moving I wouldn't give a single thought to changing anything except the vinyl floor (we replaced the countertops and backsplash when we moved in).

These are all relatively minor, but there are lots of the things I won't miss at all. The off-white double sink is made of something (acrylic maybe?) that scratches and stains - I should have replaced it when I did the countertops but didn't bother at the time. The raised peninsula cuts up the space and makes me feel closed in. The drawers are glued together and I hope they last another 6 months - we just reglued one last week! The recirculating OTR microwave is noisy and worthless. But the thing I will miss the very least is all the center stiles. Grrrr.

I dislike the OTR Microwave and how it provides absolutely NO ventilation, the non-built-in refrigerator that sticks out, the range with only 9000 BTUs tops that boils water in about 30 minutes [thanks, GE]. I also dislike the pattern of the brown speckled granite countertop.

I like the wood drawers inside the cabinets. I love the granite for it's ability to hide crumbs.

This could be a long list.

I couldn't open some drawers without opening the appliance next to it, like the range or the dishwasher.

I had a flue for my hot water heater running up one end of my kitchen, which led to a blind corner. When I emptied my kitchen out for the remodel, I found things buried in the space that I had forgotten about.

Every time I opened drawers, I had sawdust in the cupboards below.

My fridge jutted about 8 inches into the back entry to the kitchen.

I had a semi-circle of open lower shelves that were good for nothing but catching dust.

As far as what I liked about my old kitchen, I liked my old 1950 countertop. It was a workhorse. It was hard to scratch, and cleaned up easily. Given that it was over 60 years old when I replaced it, I thought it was a gem.

- insufficient storage and counter space
- dark, small
- OTR micro
- cheap ugly granite
- side by side fridge. hate these.
- "rope" on my cabinets. Impossible to clean properly (at least by the time I inherited the cabs)

It wasn't truly terrible, but it just made me sad.

Fori- I know that smell! And now it's gone, thank goodness. Nothing worse than smelling that on everything, and I don't think many others could smell it either.

What I hated: laminate counters and difficult to open doors and drawers. Also, the inefficient storage where everything had to be stacked into everything else. The cracked plaster that let in cold air from outside - through what I found was 'insulation' in the walls - newspapers from 1953!
No ventilation

What I love about the new kitchen.... everything! And it's not quite finished yet

Lets see.
The floor, the lighting, the layout, the range, the cabinets, the lack of heat, the lack of insulation, and a few more things, I'm sure, I can't think of right now.
Buy, we lived with it for 23 years before we reno-ed it in 2010.
Now we love it.
Here's a link to the before and after.
Pay particular attention to the lighting.
They don't design 'em like that anymore.

Here is a link that might be useful: Before and After

Great thread! Is it the portable dishwasher itself or the deep holes it dug in the vinyl? is it the particle board cabinets or the "sawdust" that fell into the dishes every time a drawer was opened or closed? Maybe the spinning door on the broken lazy Susan that could sever your fingers if you were not careful? Dang! Too many to choose from!

What I hated - short answer - everything.
Long answer is layout, which covers the lack of size for storage, counter space or room to maneuver and the corner sink (a real big ugh). The 9 inches on one side of the stove that ended in a wall which was useless, unless you count collecting clutter, is part of the hated layout as well. I hated the closed in feel of the walls so we opened a rough "window" in one the week we moved in and it stayed just as unfinished until we reno-ed 5 years later. Our current kitchen is open on 3 sides.

The best part of the new kitchen is size. It does matter, lol. Our counters and storage are approx triple the size. Our separate fridge and freezer hold a ton and it is easy to see what is in them. We have 59" aisle widths in the main part. The all drawer lowers (not counting the sink cab) are so spacious since we went as wide as we could for every cab and our one "narrow" one is 18". I can put dishes away without angling them to get past the opening! No more half shelves and stacking things that fell out when the door opened. The tupperware is now in 2 very large drawers and it is so easy to find things that match and are the right size to use. I can see and reach into my sink cab since it isn't in a corner (in fact, we have no corner cabs in the new kitchen!). The pantry is actually in the kitchen and not in the basement. I unload groceries in one area instead of some in the kitchen, some in the bsmt and some in the garage where our fridge and freezer set were in use before the kitchen was changed. The micro is up off the counter (13" above it) and no one puts odds and ends on the top any more. I also have space on either side of my sink. The toaster has its own location and is not behind a corner sink any more (prob a real hazard with the water/electric combo, but there was no other place to put it). Thanks to the larger layout, I have utensils in multiple wide drawers, so there is no digging nor rearranging to be able to even close the drawer. The new layout has a command center for the phone, answering machine, papers, and routers. The calendar is there too, so it is all where it needs to be instead of using up precious counter space (which is not in short supply any more, but I like it looking neater). I hated how there was room for only one person to eat in it, and even that was never done because the counter where it could have happened was rarely bare enough. I love that we now have room for a table for 6 in its own area out of the cook's way, but easy to reach. In fact, if someone forgot silverware, it can be reached without dh or I getting up, lol....

The old cabs were pickled oak and in poor condition and the solid pale peach counters with nicks and marks in them that never came out were both big factors in hating it, but the layout and function were worse than the look. Our previous house also had pickled oak cabs from the p.o.s but the layout was good and the cabs were spacious. I'd probably be thinking about renovating there just about now, but I'd have used them happily for 12-15 years instead of hating it here for the 5 years it took us to save up and be ready to do this one. Our previous kitchen was nice even if not our style but this one was butt ugly and made our time in it miserable with lack of function and size.

I love the new kitchen for all the reasons I hated the old one since we fixed all the pet peeves and then some. I love finally having one that appeals to our tastes, but that is really the icing on the cake. Now that we have settled in to using it, it is a pleasure to make dinners again despite only having use of one plug in burner for now (you all know the saga of the rejected location of the propane stove line, ugh). Once we get that fixed, I will be giddy with joy every day since I already love this one so much more, lol....

The cabinets over the peninsula. Bumped my head on them many times and they blocked the view to the dining room. They were the first thing to go!

Square tile countertop - too much work to clean and too much to get chipped! Also an over-mounted sink. I couldn't do a clean sweep by wiping straight into the sink from the countertop. Oh and, well, having no dishwasher, no disposal and a small, ugly, 25-year-old fridge didn't exactly help either! Too bad the room's still small. :(

Boxerpups, at least yours was pretty, and looked clean......

Carpet. You know it's bad when we were thrilled to be living on the cardboard we laid down to protect the new cork while the cabinets were being installed. Cardboard was preferable to carpet.

That and having the entire kitchen on 2 circuits. Had to think, like in Green Acres, about what you could run at the same time.

Ne

Pink ceramic tile on backsplash and bar counter, pink laminate on the rest.
House was built in 1989. We called it the "80's Explosion House" when we first looked at it. Then we ended up buying it. At least it was a nice conversation starter.

I hated the old electric cooktop with wobbly knobs enough that it's already been replaced even though the rest of the remodel is barely in the planning stages. I lived with it for six months after moving in, just long enough to 1) convince myself that even after learning how to not scorch my pans I was never going to be really happy with electric, 2) decide I had no other pressing need to bring gas into the house, and 3) read up on induction. I've had my new cooktop a week and despite having to buy new pans because the old ones didn't work with it, I already love it. Though I still miss the pretty flames you get with gas. But I guess that's what candles are for.

What I now hate the most aesthetically is the wood-veneer paneling (even more than the 1967 vinyl floor that is old and stained enough it is not capable of looking clean). What I hate functionally the most is a toss-up between the fact that the shelves in the upper cabinets are not adjustable and are too close together for the taller stuff I want to keep there and an inexplicable mini-peninsula which has the counterintuitive effect of actually decreasing usable counterspace (by turning what would otherwise be a nice long stretch of open counter into a corner) while also blocking the traffic path through my otherwise-decent-galley-layout kitchen. Ok, it's the peninsula.

Golly, let's see. I wonder whether it's the orangey butcherblock formica counters or the orangey butcherblock formica cabinets, or the orangey butcherblock formica backsplash.

And of course bonus points for the fact that I really only have two base cabinets (but very loooong ones with lots of doors), so on one side of the kitchen everything is really in the under-sink cab (yuck!). Things like having to open the sliding door to the patio so I can get into the produce bin in the fridge are just extras. :)

Wow! I thought I had some pretty bad and ugly "before" kitchens, but after seeing some of these pictures, I guess I shouldn't complain -- well, too much anyways. A toast to new kitchens!

Sure have learned a lot reading all these posts! There are some pretty bad kitchens out there! I'm looking at my tired old kitchen with a tad less animosity right now. Not enough to keep from gutting it on the 13th though. lol

Just heard today that my new sink is arriving next week on Thursday. I seriously am considering throwing it a welcome party. lol Well, maybe not seriously, but it will be a party like atmosphere when it arrives!

Since no one has mentioned this, I'll have to say, rodents. Or rather, evidence of rodents. Our house was built in 1949 and it has been the original kitchen, except for the PO formica countertops and the occasional upgrade in appliances--minus the fridge (don't even get me started). But, no matter what we've done for the past 13 years, we could not keep those critters completely away. I was finding little gifts in cabinets, then in drawers. I'd get out the steel wool, try to seal what I thought was an opening, scrub everything in the drawer etc...only to see another "gift." I relinquished to leaving the drawers and cupboards as they were, and I only washed the items I needed when I got them out. As we ripped out the kitchen, I was finally able to see how the space was constructed, or better yet, the lack there of. No wonder. Now as I type this, I can't believe we've waited as long as we have.

The lack of counter space. And the wall between the kitchen and dining room. Installed an island in it's place giving me the counter space I needed.

Just heard today that my new sink is arriving next week on Thursday. I seriously am considering throwing it a welcome party. lol Well, maybe not seriously, but it will be a party like atmosphere when it arrives!

LOL! poohpup - our sink arrived several weeks before it was put in and we kept that huge box in the middle of the mid-reno space. It worked as a great place to drop tools and electrical parts and whatever. It even was a table for lunch at times. We loved that sink before it ever was installed. I love it even more as a functioning sink.

suzannes, love it! I just may do the same with my sink. What kind did you get?

My dh has listened to me complain about our old sink for 5 1/2 years. I think it is possible he is almost as excited as I am about the new sink just so I'll quit complaining. lol

Poohpup, I highly recommend the sledgehammer. On day 1 of demo I was in there like a dirty shirt, sledgehammer in hand. For me it was the icky tile countertop that I just couldn't imagine ever really being clean. And I'm not even a clean freak! Oh it felt good to get a few swings in. And hear it crack. And just smash it to bits. And toss it in the bin bit by bit.

May you find much joy in the demo of your indescribably awful sink!

Nothing like wielding a sledgehammer later on too, when the GC comes back to you with the "by the way, when we took off the drywall we found xyz, which will need to be fixed and will put you over budget by zyx" conversations. Keep that sledgehammer and perhaps a bit of your detested sink close at hand for those times when you just need something to swing at!

mmhmmgood, I totally plan to wield a sledge hammer on that sink. And you've given me a great idea to kill two birds with one stone. I'll take out my anger, frustration and aggression on that sink while the GC is present. Then turn to him and say "I always do this when I get upset." Might even save me some money. lol

AngAx - no fair that you didn't put your after pics up!

Do I have to pick just one?

The white sink that stains at the drop of a hat and doesn't clean?

The awful layout which leaves very little workable counter.

The 6" between the counter and stove that traps dirt like crazy but is so hard to clean?

The drawers that are falling apart? (literally)

The wonderful yellow formica counter?

The fridge tucked in a corner that is hard to access?

From Kitchen Plans

From Kitchen Plans

From Kitchen Plans

Here you go - much better than the pink. :)

We went from 80's explosion to the OTK. :)

Dirty grout lines in my ceramic tile floor and cheap builder grade cabinets that were a poorly conceived means for storage.Half my storage space was in a corner cabinet and under the island. They were both big black holes where things got piled up and lost.

I went with hardwood in my new kitchen and base cabinet drawers, pullout trays.....a super susan...anything I could think of that would prevent "stuff" from being pushed to the back of big cavernous spaces. I am a much happier cook, now.

Hands down for me is the need to separate my kitchen from my main house-heating woodstove. My current room (9.5' by 26') also has five doors and three windows beaking up the space in addition to the hearth along one of the long walls. But it's mainly the dirt and mess of the w/s I'm trying to lose.

So, since I can't eliminate the woodstove (only source of heat in my old house) I'm moving the kitchen out of the room.

Then I'll have a w/s-free kitchen and a sitting room with a nice gathering space around the w/s where I can't see the kitchen mess and commotion. Perfect!

L.

I had tile countertops in an old house which I really did not like. I also had electric cooktops in previous homes, I like cooking with gas much better.

In my current house, I don't like:
laminate countertops
white appliances
layout
color of cabinets (too close to color of wood floor)
not enough cabinet space

I barely did any research for our current house, but we built it about 10 years ago. So thankful for Gardenweb now! I'm looking forward to the new kitchen in the new house!

I hated the WHOLE kitchen! I hated the 30" icky bleached oak upper cabinets, and the fact that there were too few of them. I hated the awful white 3 x 3 ceramic tiles on the countertops and island. I hated the ugly base cabinets, with their narrow drawers and huge spacers. I hated the cheap, old appliances, except for the fridge, which we bought. I hated the deep white double bowl sink that didn't hold any of my big pots. I especially hated the 4-burner electric cooktop in the island, and the 4 ugly canned lights in the ceiling. So, there wasn't anything I liked. The layout was TERRIBLE. I hated having to store all my big platters, all my vases, and cookie jars on top of the cabinets because there was NO place to put them. Naturally, they were always dusty.

I hated fighting with DH (who hates clutter) because the cabinets and drawers were all jammed full and it was sometimes difficult or painful to find a needed kitchen gadget. Some drawers were 9" wide and 12" deep!

Before: [IMG]http://i1145.photobucket.com/albums/o508/summerbabies2/IMG_0003.jpg[/IMG]

After:[IMG]http://i1145.photobucket.com/albums/o508/summerbabies2/IMG_0011.jpg[/IMG]

Here is a link that might be useful: My Kitchen

Before:

After:

Mine was the contractor grade double sink when I first moved into the house. The kitchen at that point was about 7 years old. I made my husband replace the douple sink after putting up with it for couple of years. I just had enough of it. I could not wash anything in this dysfucntional sink. So we replaced the sink with the same size cut out single bowl sink and a new faucet (had to be taller to be useful) for about $300 total. This was a huge improvement.

I also had a very wimpy cheap gas stove. I think the burner put out about 5K BTU of heat. I replaced the stove with a mid level gas range for a few years. Then I replaced that range with a Viking all gas range after a few years without doing the rest of the kitchen because I had an opportunity.
Then other appliances died and got replaced over time.

During all this time, I had a wonderful layout in the kitchen with large useful counter spaces and a big one level island for our breakfast. There was plenty of storage in the kitchen. Unfortunately, the kitchen was UGLY!

I lived like that for about 12 years total from when I first moved into the kitchen. During that time, we did/had to do other large major remodels that cost multiple times of what the kitchen remodel ended up costing.

My kitchen waited the longest to get done! Since I had a very workable floor plan AND good appliances, I was NOT desperate. I mostly ended up with cosmetic upgrade and a few functional tweaks. (lower drawer versus cabinets...)

I am glad that I waited. If I had done the kitchen at the beginning of my extended remodel, I would not have had as clear idea of what my design goals were. My design sense and taste became much more clear and defined as I became more exposed to design and learned more about it.

LOL, it'd be a shorter list to tell you what I did like about my old kitchen....and that would be that it was open to the dining area and that I could talk with people while cooking. By myself, as I had 5 square feet of floor space. there was no room for a second person, and if the portable dishwasher was running, there was no room for even one person. The only venting in the kitchen was an ancient bathroom fan in the ceiling. A screech and a shower of sawdust accompanied the opening of any drawer. Need I go on?
Old Kitchen:

My new kitchen. After a year and a half, I still smile when I'm working in it, and appreciate the work space, the venting, the built in dishwasher, and the cherry cabinets that I lusted after for years--and that have darkened up beautifully. I think I need to take a new picture. It's still not quite finished (backsplash, back door needs staining...the white splotch has since been painted, though!) but it's a joy to work in and I love it.

Cj

Well, we did a mini "refresh" on our kitchen in 1999 to add a dishwasher and standard-sized range, as we had one of those apartment-sized ranges that DH detested. When we did the mini refresh, we also changed countertops, sink & faucet, and we had put in peel and stick vinyl over the hideous gold linoleum when we first moved in.

That being said, we still had issues with layout, with the only really useable countertop being the 15" to left of the range and 5" to the right of it. There was a small swath of countertop across from the stove, next to the sink, but because it was right by the back door, it became a catchall. When I took anything out of the oven, it pretty much had to go on the stovetop. Baking cookies just wasn't very fun after a while. I sorta stopped doing it. :^(

Then there was the wall between the kitchen and livingroom that made the kitchen seem so dark and cramped.

The lack of storage was the biggest issue we had. I still get the heebs when I think of that cabinet where the plastic storage containers lived. I don't know how many times I sat on the floor and cleaned out that blasted cabinet, just to have it heave out plasticware all over me the next time I opened that door. I'm pretty sure that DH would open the door *just enough* to throw an item in there.

We had no venting over the range, instead we had a cabinet directly over the range, and it was lower than standard. When we did the remodel, we could see big black burn marks underneath. Lovely.

Our garbage was located across the kitchen on the stairwell landing. If I had gunk in my hands, I had the pleasure of carrying it across the floor, leaving a nice little dribble trail. Fun times!

The giant fluorescent light box, with that hideous tube light. I tried to "tart it up" at one point, but in the end, it was just a big rectangle with an ugly light, so it had to go.

My peel and stick vinyl tiles, so wonderful and bright when we installed them, were pitted and cracking in places. No matter how long I scrubbed on my hands and knees, there were areas where the tile was worn, and the dirt was embedded. Yuck.

The kitchen wasn't awful; it just was not a joy to work in. Now I enjoy baking and cooking in there, and putting away the tupperware is not an exercise in frustration! Hooray!

Oh, happy day! :^)