When I bought my cute 800 square foot bungalow, I knew the kitchen would be a problem for resale - its awful! I want to tackle it early so I can actually enjoy a new kitchen. The 24" stove is in the middle of a wall blocking counter space and storage, there is only counter on one side of the sink, and there are three doorways AND a window in the kitchen.

Also, when I have guests over, everyone either sits in the living room and I'm completely cut off from everyone, or they all congregate in the kitchen and mostly get in the way.

I have attached some floor plans of the space. The first picture is the current layout.

The second picture is the floor plan with dimensions (its pretty much to scale - all dimensions are given in inches).

The third picture shows what I am considering...taking out the structural wall! There would then be a beam running along the ceiling, and possibly a couple posts under the beam (denoted by the dotted line). I am then thinking of switching the kitchen and dining areas. (Unfinished laundry room below so plumbing and electrical will be a cinch).

Wall removal (drawings and the actual removal - this is not something I want to tackle myself!) will cost about 4-5K and I can't figure out a way to make this work otherwise. However, I've talked to some experts and its within budget (but everything else will be really tight or done in stages).

My questions...(drumrollll)....

1. Does anyone have any bright ideas that do not require structural work to make the kitchen footprint work?

2. If I do remove the wall, I'm worried about traffic flow and kitchen layout, and what to do with my long narrow living room!

3. the back left window extends below counter height so if I want to put cabinets along that wall, there will have to be a creative solution. If I replace the window with a smaller window that matches the other window currently in the kitchen, I think the outside might look funny because its virtually impossible to match stucco.


I have a good feel about colours, faucets, flooring, lights, etc etc....but I'm worried that I might take out this wall and end up with a big open space that doesn't work! I'm stressing about the floor plan because I feel I need to have a fairly solid plan BEFORE I take the wall out.

Appreciate any and all ideas!

(also, does anyone know a good engineer/contractor in the Ottawa area? Efficient and budget friendly)