We had corner cabinet doors that were hinged in the middle. The hinges holding the door on the cabinets were worn out, they were no longer made and the upper corner door fell on me one too many times.

I was OK with my little galley kitchen, but I never used the room next to it - and the wall between them was not weight bearing. I decided to take out the wall and expand my kitchen, giving me much more space in a room I used (my kitchen) and get rid of the room I never used (wasted space). The challenges mandated by the restrictions of my condo unit required a little compromise, but I love it! And since everything was getting redone, I got the things I wanted (lower drawers instead of cabinets, single bowl sink, induction range), even though I never would have done a kitchen reno just for those.

Many people told us they thought our before kitchen was very nice... it looked okay at a glance, but it was a very unpleasant space to work in. The cabinets were 25 years old, and they were the cheapest stuff you could buy at Lowes or Home Depot and the hinges weren't working well on most of the doors, the shelves were bowed, one set of doors didn't even match if you looked closely enough, there was water damage under the sink, the drawers were too small to be practical and the only drawers large enough to accommodate my silverware were in a terrible location. Also, the island cooktop had NO venting and I like to cook high heat dishes often, so that was a terrible mess and it was so close to the edge that I hated having my stove top so exposed. The shape of the island meant I had almost no prep space (I have a large family and I cook big.) My cabinets wouldn't store my small appliances. The original cabinet pantry was not working well for us at all because I buy in bulk. And I despised the granite, you couldn't tell it wasn't clean until you ran your bare hand across it and felt all the nasty crumbs you missed when wiping it down, it was also stained and had an unsightly and horrible repair job done where a large chunk on the outside corner of the island had fallen off. I thought I was going to like the original white, cast iron sinks that were in the kitchen, but I discovered I MUCH prefer the ease of stainless steel and I adore my large single bowl sink now compared to the divided one that was there when we bought the house. We also had this massive and awkward 25 year old tv nook that was between the kitchen and hearth room (where we keep our kitchen table) that we were never going to use for a tv and it took up valuable space and never looked right no matter what I put in it for decoration. We tore that out and gained valuable counter space and drawer space and made the kitchen look much larger than it originally was, also making the hearth room look more integrated into the kitchen. I love my kitchen now, it's truly my dream kitchen and now I never want to move away from it. LOL!

Ps, my before photo isn't a true before photo... we had already finished the new pantry in that photo. We bought this house with the original kitchen six years ago. We finished the new pantry about 3 years ago, but the rest of the kitchen didn't get started until we were there for 5 years and got totally finished right before the 6 year mark. I was actually only without a functioning kitchen for only 2 weeks. Ours was a DIY gut job and my hubby designed and built all of the cabinetry (and did electrical, gas, and plumbing... he's an aerospace engineer and handy with stuff, LOL!) but I lived for many months without doors to my cabinets or drawers until he got time to finish them. ;)

Although I think the picture speaks for itself, imagine it with 4 cabinets with no doors (because the hinges broke and the replacement hinges are only available on eBay for $40+ a pieces), drawers that don't work, and several small appliances sitting on the counter. Now add it the grimy white floors and lights that don't work, a fridge that opens into the busiest walkway in our home, a pantry with bi-fold doors that no longer operate and no space for more than 1 cook. Then I think you will know. (Picture #1 was how it looked when we moved in. Picture #2 is after we replaced appliances.)

I have been working on our new layout for a couple of years with the hope of ordering cabinets in the next month (or maybe two). Everytime we come up with a design we think might work, we run into snags like load-bearing walls or a main drain that cannot be moved without significant expense.

We are beyond renovating our kitchen because of how it looks. We are absolutely in a place where function is our main motivator.

The last straw was pulling a drawer out and it literally fell apart.

I think the real impetus was that only 1 side of the 30 year old range worked. Only range replacement option was another Jenn-Air downdraft. Couldn't bring myself to buy it since the range location was crappy to begin with.

Lots of other problems though. Drawer slides and cabinet shelves falling apart. Fridge shoe-horned into an old built-in. Washer and dryer blocking the door on partially enclosed porch with some exposure to the elements. Shallow double bowl sink. No storage.

Though I was strangely charmed by the green cabinets, pink counters, and yellow walls. Somehow it worked.