With winter dragging on, my wife and I were once again discussing updating our kitchen. I've sketched it out below as a rough guide, none of these are proper measurements, but this gives you a pretty good idea of the layout. I think that the room is roughly 15' x 10'? or close to it. But this is the footprint we have to work within.

I think we are okay with the general layout and we'd be looking to make mainly cosmetic changes. When cooking, there's a lot of wandering back and forth from the fridge to the stove, but I don't know of any other way that it could be arranged. Any thoughts on the placement of major appliances?

This is partly to get all of the ideas down on "paper" but also want to get some thoughts.

Going clockwise from the top:

- Currently we have a low computer table and rolling 2'x3' cart microwave cart in the open space next to the stove. We've toyed with the idea of adding a door here for easy access to the backyard.

- I'd like to extend the cabinets over the stove and add an undercabinet range hood, the stove sits against an exterior wall, so we would be able to vent out the side, or up to the roof above the kitchen.

- All of the cabinets need to be refaced. I think that all of the carcasses can be reused, but many of the painted fiberboard doors have deformed over the years.

- The top right corner has 3 shelves in each cabinet, the lower angle is a 3/4 3 tier lazy susan. This works well and holds all of our baking/cooking stuff.

- New dishwasher was installed last year, position is fine.

- Sink is standard two basin stainless steel, we'd likely just replace the handles/arm. An apron front farmhouse sink might look nice too.

- There are two double hung vinyl windows above the sink which are just high enough and sticky enough that they are a pain to open and secure. If the upper sash slides down while closing the lower, I need to climb up on the counter to reach the top and push it back. Would love to replace with a large bump out/garden window with casement cranks on each side. We get a lot of snow in the winter, are these prone to to leaking?

- Lower cabinet to left of sink is where we keep the garbage can, would like to install one of the pullout garbage/recycling units.

- Upper cabinet is the catch all overflow cabinet, baby bottles/candy/snacks, it's fine. Upper corner is lazy susan for food storage.

- Lower corner cabinet is THE WORST, it's a narrow door and like 3 feet deep, and is the blackhole where tupperware go to die. Is there a way to combine this cabinet and the narrow one next to the fridge? (which can only fit a toaster and waffle iron...

- I hate where the fridge is because the light switches for the kitchen are behind it, but no other place to put it.

- Opening to the side door and basement stairs. Nothing to change here.

- Pantry was the former laundry chute, years ago someone cut open the wall and added some shelves. Works fine, though we might try to eak out a few more inches next to the enclosed chimney.

- Broom closet is just large enough to fit a broom and Swiffer. We might be able to buy some extra space If we removed the built-in ironing table cabinet, move a full height door to the end cap, possibly build it out a few more inches to fit the vacuum in as well, maybe some shelves above for cleaning supplies.

The dining room side is open to the living room. Nothing to change here.

Others:

Counter: The laminate is wearing out and is very dull looking now. I like the idea of a wooden/butcher block surface as a contract to the walls/white cabinets, I don't think I want the oiling maintenance. Also, no stone wanted.

Cabinet faces: White shaker panels with Brushed Nickel hardware. Pulls, not knobs! I'm sick of catching pockets as I shuffle along while doing dishes/cooking.

Walls: Thinking that we'll do white subway tile/dark grey grout as the backsplash. Paint for the rest of the room, maybe a desaturated blue or green. Dining room is a dark red/orange.

Ceiling: Something needs to be done here. Currently, acoustic tile drop ceiling. Only reason would be to access the plumbing for the upstairs shower/tub. My guess is that the ceiling was in bad condition, the tub leaked and it was cheaper to use tile than drywall or replaster.

Floor: Linoleum runs from the kitchen, down the hall to the front door, and the steps down to the side door. Likely about 20ish years old, but showing more age than that. The rest of the first floor has the standard 1920s 2-1/4" southern yellow pine flooring. Found a section of the original flooring under the cabinets when doing some plumbing work. It was a green patterned linoleum like produc, still debating what we would do as a replacement flooring.