what is your budget?

if you are saving for a new home, then I d focus on that and live with what your family home has to offer unless you want to renovate the kitchen for your relatives or a prospective tenant to use.

I assume the current kitchen is functional and the renovation will be more for a better quality of life for you. also, you mentioned that you will be there fore two years. your renovation could easily take six months or longer depending on the scope of the project.

Here are some pictures of the kitchen.

Hi Kelly. Thanks so much for writing! We are a very close family and will still spend many meals here. We will be moving somewhere else in the same town, and at that time I plan to convert a room or 2 in the house into my office for the foreseeable future. So, I don't want to go crazy on the renovation, but I'm happy to spend $15-20k to make the place more pleasant for us in the short-term and everyone in the long-term. Makes sense?

Here are some photos of the breakfast room. You can see the small pass-through window fit for a maid rather than owner.

Here's the Bosch dishwasher I am thinking of buying this week:Bosch 24" Stainless Dishwasher

I'm thinking of using subway tiles like these for the backsplash and walls:

Subway tiles

Love it!

I'd love to hear opinions on what to do inside these cabinets. Repaint and/or contact paper?

well, it looks and sounds like a major renovation is in order. I'm not sure what you can accomplish with your budget and/or will you hire out all the work.

I think opening the kithen up into the dining room is good idea given the need for more space for the extended family. it is just a matter of extra costs.

I would first look at the kitchen and dining room separately.

do you need to replace or repair any of the plumbing and wiring in the kitchen in particular?

will you better served if the kitchen is rearranged or can you deal with keeping the appliances in the same location?

if you need to rearrange the kitchen and move appliances, then I would look more seriously at opening the kitchen and dining room into each other.

keeping your budget in mind, I would say that you can't do more than change out the appliance and surfaces. I would price out the cost of refacing the cabinets versus the cost of budget minded ikea cabinets.

I really like the white subway tile running to the ceiling with the opening shelving. I think that would be a nice change for some of your upper cabinets. it will make the space much lighter and brighter.



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I would try to keep the appliance in

I'm in Los Angeles and have a better grasp of renovation / building costs here than in other places.

I like the subway tile with the open shelving.

Hi again, Kelley. To round out the story a bit more, there is also a large formal dining room, so that's where we eat on the occasions. The breakfast room and kitchen are for ordinary meals (which happen at different times for different people and therefore never really need a lot of space).

We are definitely keeping the cabinets, as that wood color is really nice in person. I just need a better way to brighten it up, so that's another topic.

I agree that it will cost too much to start thinking of moving appliances around. Right now, all plumbing and the gas line for the stove work fine.

Thanks for the positive feedback on the subway tiles. I think they will be a good start to the lightening up of the room.

For the counter top, I'm thinking of Cambria in Snowden White or some other very light design: Cambria Snowden White

The repair of the breakfast room has started. Wallpaper is gone, and wall is being patched up. We got rid of the rotting wooden blinds and curtain rod. Any suggestions on paint color?

The original cabinets of your home are gorgeous and appear to be in incredibly good condition. Great choice keeping them! The first thing you should do is completely remove the unit of cabinets the microwave is on. They are unnecessarily cramping the space. If you can, recycle part of the peninsula cabinets being removed and place a cabinet next to the fridge. Purchase a professional refrigerator that is wide enough to fit between the cabinets (you will be able to take this with you when you move in a few years). On the long wall of cabinets, remove the center upper cabinet doors to display the open shelving inside. Do not clutter the open shelves with too many items and this will open the space up a bit. Remove the existing backslash and install a subtle, chic, modern tile that will accentuate the original cabinetry, brighten up the space, and make the room look brand new. Black granite counter tops would look sharp with the hardware on the cabinets, and a light floor tile would complete the room. Can’t wait to see the finished product!

Flooring...