I hate this kitchen. I was going to write another post about the progress of getting our washer and dryer installed (spoiler: we’re still taking our laundry to my dad and Wendy’s). But when we were driving home from getting ice cream with the girls…

… Chris and I somehow got started talking about the kitchen. My secret that I didn’t want to tell Chris was that I HATE the kitchen. There are SO MANY projects in this house and many will take priority over the kitchen – both for cost and time – so I haven’t really wanted to stress Chris out with another thing I want to tackle that we don’t have time for 🙂

But Chris told me, “I don’t know about you, but I’m already sick of that kitchen.” HOORAY!!! I cannot tell you the joy I felt in hearing that. It made me so happy – HE HATES IT AS MUCH AS ME!

But don’t get too excited yet. Sadly we likely won’t be able to really sink our teeth into this space for another 3 years or so. Why? Well, we estimate that it will probably cost about $30k. We want to do about 90% of the work ourselves, but we also really want to do the job exactly how we want it. There will be a lot of cabinets – probably $10-15k in cabinets. There will be a lot of countertops – probably $5-8k. We’ll take out the tile and install hardwoods. We’ll need a new cook top and oven. A GIANT sink. There will be a lot of tile for the backslash… You can see how things pretty quickly start to add up. So the project will be something we need to save for.

Now you also know why it makes SO MUCH SENSE that I’m posting about this now 🙂 But I’m just really excited about my dissatisfaction with the kitchen and Chris sharing that feeling that I’m going to get 3 years ahead of myself. M’kay? 🙂

First off: I FUCKING HATE WHERE THE LIGHT SWITCH IS

I always walk into the kitchen turning tightly around the fireplace. And then I realize the kitchen is dark as fuck. So then I need to walk back out of the kitchen and into the dining area to flip the switch. And then walk back into the kitchen. Yes, I know that’s not that big of a deal, but I do it several times a day, EVERY DAY. Sometimes I wonder why people don’t pay more attention to where switches should be. That one drives me insane.

2. The cabinet doors never stay closed

Always. Open. Never. Closed. Always.

Those fucking upper cabinets are open all the time because they never god damn stay closed. Always. It’s so annoying. I’ve smacked my head into the doors several times. And it feels really sloppy having the doors falling open all the time.

3. The counters. Oooohhhhh the counters

I cannot tell you how much I FUCKING HATE these counters. First off, you already know the ceramic tile is my least favorite counter material. They just feel dirty ALL THE TIME. And they’re not 24″ deep. Which doesn’t sound like a big deal, but when it’s a couple inches short and you’ve got a drying rack, or fruit basket and you’re trying to put a cutting board in front of it and it doesn’t fit – it’s pretty aggravating

Ooh, and there’s this ridiculous lip on the front of the counters

So the cutting board never lays flat. And the plates don’t either. Ughhhhhh.

4. I HATE DOUBLE BOWL SINKS

Ooh my fucking god I HATE having a double bowl sink. I HATE IT. It makes washing anything bigger than a plate such a fucking bitch. We cook at home a lot and washing pots and pans is highly annoying. We had a giant single bowl at Picardy and boy do I miss it.

5. I really love having a big pantry, but when you’ve got a toddler having it all open isn’t so great

The pantry at Picardy was tiny. So it was always a challenge trying to fit everything. This pantry is probably a little more than twice the size. That is AWESOME. But Zoe can also see where all the food is. And likes to constantly take it down from the shelves and go “grocery shopping” because it is always completely accessible. This is both adorable and annoying because I’m constantly wondering where the hell the baking powder went.

6. I’d love to change the cabinet layout

There is actually a shit ton of cabinet space in here, which is pretty great. We actually don’t have most of the cabinets completely full (probably only about 75%)

but it just feels a little awkward how things are laid out. I can’t really put my finger on how it feels strange to me, but it just has a really chopped up feeling to me.

7. I can’t wait to make things feel more open

I CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS! I loved how the kitchen was more open to the family area at Picardy. I really got tied to that more open floor plan. Now when Zoe yells at me that she needs something or Chris is watching a basketball game I have to holler that I can’t hear them and then come running around the corner. It’s like a teaser of an open floor plan. The kitchen is around the corner from the living room, but there’s a super thick brick wall separating the two so it’s hard to really hear what’s actually going on. I can wait to rip out that pantry wall and have the kitchen open to the living area – he peninsula will go bye bye and instead we’ll have a floor to ceiling pantry cabinet and the fireplace will stay – don’t worry! 🙂

8. It just feels dirty

I think we just have PTSD from when it looked like this

The previous owners left it SO GROSS. In the photos you can’t see the grime EVERYWHERE. It’s certainly 100% cleaner now than it was. But it just feels so dark, dingy and dirty.

So there you have it, my whining post 🙂 I just forgot how awesome it is to constantly be cooking and living in a kitchen you like. We gutted Picardy the second we moved in and then had a working kitchen 9 months later (yeahhhh, took us a little while 🙂 hehehe). But for almost 7 years I never had to deal with these little annoying bits. It definitely made me spoiled, yes, I know. Very spoiled. And I can’t wait to get back to that point. A cleeaaannnn and functional kitchen that feels more open to our living space so we can all hang out and talk while we’re cooking, the kids are playing and there’s a baseball game on TV….. ahhhhhh, the dream 🙂