Well here's our kitchen in all of its original 1985 glory!!

Guess it could be a lot worse... it has largely held the test of time unlike some 80's kitchens that I see and has been a great space for feeding a busy family of six over the years. The dishwasher has been replaced several times and my Thermador cooktop died last year, but otherwise its all vintage! Ha!

We love the space and I STILL love my old rose colored Walker Zanger tile. We'll be remodeling this fall and in my heart I know that my old tile needs to go, but since I can't find anything with as much personality and cheer, I'm not totally happy. On the other hand, I'll celebrate when I take down the border, replace the old knobs and get a new faucet that doesn't conserve water by gradually shutting off by itself!

Our remodel will be more of a facelift. We'll replace the counters, remove the wallpaper, do an undermount sink (will get another Elkay triple), lightly sand and recoat the cabinets and do new flooring. The custom cypress cabinets will stay and we'll recoat them with our original treatment of Benjamin Moore Stays Clear which was tinted to achieve the honey color.

RE the windows: They are Pella and came as one unit with the center fixed and the two ends casement. Our walls are 6" thick so there is no bumpout, the window is flush with the outside wall. I like the molding touching the cabinets on the sides. Since the windows and trim and the cabinets are all stained and finished the same, it gives it a cohesive look and makes it look like the perfect fit that it is. If my moldings were going to be one color and the cabinets another, I think I'd rather have a gap there perhaps. Ceilings are 9' and at the time of the original build we couldn't have afforded to go to the ceiling with the cabs so that's the way they'll stay during the remodel too since I don't want to replace them.

We don't have a ledge under the windowsill. We hung the window heightwise so that we had on full bullnose tile underneath it and that single tile border carries along the rest of the countertop. Remodel will do the same thing only since my backsplash won't match the counters I'll be able to carry the backsplash up all the way to the cabinet bottoms. It would have been too much pink before so I left it wallpaper instead except behind the range.

Love my windowsill and really don't have a problem with splashing. The sink specs show the faucet where I have the lotion, soap and sprayer and viceversa. When we built, it seemed that the faucet was a little close to the windowsill, so we swapped their positions and put the faucet closer to the front. Same distance between the holes so it wasn't a problem and it has never seemed backwards to us and has helped with the splashing problem I'm sure.

Grace

Thank you so much for the photos and all the info! Now I know what we need - a windowsill! We have the same Pella window, but it has trim all the way around, no windowsill. So, as we figure out what sink and faucet to get, where the holes will be for the faucet and anything else behind the sink, how far forward we can make these holes, etc. and talk to the contractor into building a wood windowsill that will look like it's part of the original window, your photos will be the inspiration. Thank you!!! By the way, flipping through a kitchen design book this morning I saw a photo of windowsill behind the sink, where a semicircular curve was cut out of the windowsill to accomodate the faucet. It's unbelievable what can be found if I search for it! We are also going to add a 2nd window, on the opposite wall of the kitchen, matching to this window, so I need to talk to Pella to see if we can get it with a windowsill. Or maybe they will also be willing to get us a windowsill for the old window...

I like your remodel plan. Your layout works, and the cabinets are in good shape, so no need to replace them. I remember ripping out the same border from the bathrooms when we moved into this house (built in 1983), and although someone before us painted the kitchen walls white I recently realized that they used to be the color of your tile. I also feel bad removing good tile. That's the situation in our bathroom - great tile, but grout has to go. Regrouting existing tile is probably as big of a job as replacing the tile. But, our kitchen is going to get redone first. Then we can move on to the bathrooms, etc. Again, thanks!