Dawn ~ do you have any pictures of your kitchen as it is now? What ideas do you have for this space?

Try not to stress and have fun while doing this project. : -)

I just posted some pics of our remodel project over in the conversation side.

FlowerLady

Hi, yes pictures would be great, because with something complicated like a kitchen, knowing at least what it looks like now matters. Are you going to completely gut it? Just replace one counter? Get a dishwasher when you've never had one? Add an island or peninsula (off one counter's end) with new bar stools? Do you want a pantry? There are SO many scenarios, and you're asking about trying to make it look larger, but having no idea where anything is to start with, and what you'll consider necessities in terms of including them and where will matter a lot... it's not like a hallway where the obvious answer would be to throw up a mirror and double the space.

One thing I did in our last house made a huge difference in the appearance of size. I had my neighbor, carpenter guy :^), remove the center raised panels from the doors on the top cabinets on one side of the kitchen. I had glass put in. The inside of the cabinets were white and I only had to touch up the exhaust fan pipe.It made the room feel so much larger. We did not have things that needed to go in the cabinets as far as cooking things so I put my pretty china in them.

I also agree pictures of what you have now and what you hope to change would make it much easier to give you ideas.

Chris

One change that might give the appearance of more space: some open shelves instead of all closed upper cabinets; or add a simple hanging shelf and put your everyday dishes on the shelves or maybe a nice collection of mugs or teapots/teacups - whatever you want to have out handy and ready.

I agree with the glass cabinet door also.

Try having minimal or no window treatments in the kitchen if you have no privacy issues. Lots of natural light will help the area seem bigger and brighter.

Teresa

teresa ~ Open shelves do make a difference, as does windows with minimal treatment. I love how light our new space is in the kitchen. It makes me feel happy to walk out there in the mornings.

FlowerLady

What we're hoping to do in our next house is to have almost no overhead cabinets, and have some windows instead. Overhead cabs really make the room close in on you, esp. if they are dark, and DW can only reach the bottom shelf without resorting to a step-stool. We plan to get rid of the mish-mash of dishes we have now, and buy a reasonable amount of dishes that match the decor and each other. These will be on open shelves. The same goes for glassware. It'll be just two of us- how many cups/bowls/plates/glasses do two people need? Instead of cabinet doors, I plan to have nearly all drawers. Measure the inside of your cabinets versus the actual volume of stuff in there- you'll find about 3/4 of it is empty air space. I'm going to have a dedicated spice drawer, with matching jars, with labels on the lids. The bottom of the drawer will be labeled as well, so you know at a glance which spice goes where. We have dozens of different spices, and it's a major expedition to find the one you need with our current set-up. I'm also going to borrow an idea from my grandmother's house, back in the 50's. She had a corner pantry, about 4X4 feet, with the front on the diagonal. When you opened the door, there were lots of shallow shelves with all sorts of things on them. Best of all, the back of the pantry door had pegboard, with all the cooking utensils hanging on hooks. No more rummaging through crowded drawers to find the right spatula!

Being a guy, I look at the kitchen as a work space, just like the machine shop I work in. As such, tools are laid out neatly near where you use them. I'll even outline the pegboard with the various utensils, so again, you can tell at a glance where everything goes. I keep my garage organized that way- why not the kitchen? Maybe I need to get a big 12 drawer rolling toolbox like I use at work, paint it 'kitchen' colors, and stock it with kitchen utensils, LOL!

I agree with the suggestions made so far, and would add these. Choose light colors for your walls, cabinets, counter tops and floors. Plan to install under cabinet lighting to illuminate your counter top(s). Put your lights on dimmers, so you can control the level of illumination and save yourself some money on electric bills. But don't get dimmable compact fluroescent bulbs because they have not been perfected yet.

You did not mention the actual size of the kitchen and whether it is an eat-in. If it is an eat-in, plan to get a round table, say in glass clear or frosted or in a light colored surface. Stay away from curtains and shutters because they clutter up a room. Go with thin venetian blinds instead.

Try to have fun and don't get too upset when things don't go exactly as planned. They rarely do.

I agree with haus proud. Light colors for sure as that makes any small space look larger.

dawn ~ how big is your kitchen? Do you have any before pictures to share with us? Do take pictures before, during and after, to record the project for yourself, even if you don't show them to others. You'll be amazed at the results and all the work that went into your project whatever it is.

Just take it one day at a time and try not to stress. Take breaks, drink plenty of water, pretty soon it will be all behind you and you will be enjoying your new kitchen.

FlowerLady

I also say use light colors. My little house was renovated/re-done by the previous owner. He installed black/grey counter tops. They look great in the kitchen, but they really are too dark even with my bazillion windows & natural light throughout the house. Many times I think I want to install under cabinet lighting to brighten it up at certain times of the day...but then I think if I just get a new counter top I won't need the lights.

We bought our house with its UGLY tiny pink kitchen, pink countertops,pink phone, even a pink floor, and remodeled it completely six years later. One mistake-we got 36 inch tall cabinets and built soffets above them. Looked nice, but we always need more storage space. So last year we replaced the soffets and cabinets with cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling. We gained one-third more storage that way. fo