I have the weirdest kitchen.
Seriously. It looks normal on the outside but at the very core…it’s just plain awkwardly bizarre. It’s like the Napolean Dynamite of kitchens. Except this one is not so hot with a bow staff.
For one – there are 10 walls…not counting the bay window near the table. That’s ten different planes to work cabinets, appliances, a desk and a table around. Then there is the location of appliances…which doesn’t totally make sense. For one – the fridge opens up and makes it impossible to have kitchen stools on one side of the kitchen island. What is the point of an island with an overhang counter that you can only put one chair under? Then there are two sinks…directly across from one another. (???) There are two arched windows (the only two arched windows in the house besides the really big one over the master bathroom tub)…which don’t match the other windows in the room. Then there is the island…the one that is not centered on the room…or the stove…or anything. And to top it all off…we have weird lighting.
And that’s what I want to chat about today…lighting.
We had a gold chandelier over the table (you can see it in all it’s gold-goodness pictured above) and we decided to get our ORB on and change that sucker up. It tied well into the pendants over the island in the new color.
But honestly these pendants aren’t our cup of sweet tea. They aren’t terrible by any means…actually they are one thing that I contemplated keeping. They have a nice shape and a classic traditional air about them. In the end though, I know that eventually we would find them not jiving with our more country-meets-contemporary-meets-preppy style.
So we went window-shopping (err….pendant-shopping) to dream about what we would end up hanging over the island. We were really drawn to the more industrial style of pendants….ones in a dark finish to tie in with the dark countertops.
(shades of light, pbkids, lowe’s, home depot lights)
Enter our vacation to Washington & Richmond last October. On our way back from visiting some unknown and very non-house-savvy friends, we stopped at the Pottery Barn outlet to scope out the clearance section. Imagine my surprise when we walked in the door to find a rack sitting right there with sale items on it – including some dark pendant lights for only $30 each.
I may have required a newspaper from the staff to soak up that yellow puddle on the floor.
Eight months later, we finally get around to putting them up. Don’t judge. We were trying to get pregnant. Lighting wasn’t a priority for our spare time, if you know what I mean. HUBBAHUBBA.
And now….the kitchen looks a fraction less weirdo-pants.
I love how they tie in the countertops…and hopefully soon we will be able to put cabinet hardware on the doors and drawers in that same rich blacky-bronze color. I’m thinking these for the drawers. Now I only have to find simple matching knobs…which is surprisingly hard since the finish is wrought iron…not black.
The other recessed lighting still needs a sprucing. See how the covers are gold? What’s up with the previous owners fixation with gold?! I heard they were from Africa so maybe it’s a cultural thing. Maybe they were literally from the gold coast and just making a figurative statement with their very literal recessed light covers. Who knows.
All I know is that I plan on painting them – probably white to go seamlessly with the ceiling. We want those suckers to disappear since they aren’t centered on anything either.
And because lighting is one of those tricksy things – I thought you should see how it looks with the lights on too 🙂
Oh here’s a good angle so that you can see how uncentered these pendants are. See how that one on the left is REALLY far left? Hopefully when we tackle the stove top vent situation (or lack of one), we can also move these pendants over to be centered on the island.
At night, it’s really nice too….a little ambiance. romantic, no!?
That’s it. Just a little update in a room that we live in around the clock (who knew that toddlers had to be fed so often!? I mean, they are so dang little!). Any improvements that you’ve been itching to do for the last 8 months? Anything sitting around waiting for you to tackle? Or perhaps that anything is really an anyone 🙂
p.s. Thank you guys so much for all your hugs and kisses yesterday on our aniversary – you guys are the dark chocolate chips in this vanilla world 🙂
Sorry if this is a duplicate comment. I typed it up and then my computer when wack…
Love the new lighting. Great deal!
My kitchen has a similar layout and it makes me crazy daily. We put one stool at the end of the island and some day hope to get a new island counter top to get rid of the side overhang. One stool doesn’t work well with three kids… first come first serve I guess. 😉 Some days I find two of them sharing the stool.
Love your really long kitchen rug. Where is it from? Thanks!
Love those pendants they really make the room seem more your style. I know you’ve probably already decided, but if there’s any room for opinions I think the cabinets look beter as is than they would painted. But hey, it’s your house and I’m sure it’ll be great no matter what.
It’s from Shades of Light…I believe it’s called the Trellis rug.
xo – kb
Love the new pendants, KB!
I wonder if that one pendant is so far to one side because it was meant to illuminate the wacky sink-across-from-sink?
I would check Lee Valley for cabinet hardware. Their website is a bit weird to navigate, but there are some great deals! (I bought these for my kitchen.) You might also try Hardware Hut, and My Knobs.
Yeah – we went back and forth. If the cabinets weren’t stained and if there wasn’t just so much dang wood in the room, we would probably keep them as is but since the room is like a lumber yard (so freaking dark too) and the previous owner didn’t care whether the cabinets got stained or not, I’m thinking a lighter color would break it all up, cover those stains and brighten up the space.
xo – kb
Nice improvement! The formal chandelier is odd in a not formal space, but your ORB definitely improved it.
What a score on those lights! We live up in MN so I’m always jealous of bloggers with Pottery Barn Outlet stories- we don’t have any up here. At our house we finally got to one of those “waiting forever to tackle it” projects this past week. We put wood floors in our Kitchen, Living Room, Dinning Room and Foyer when we moved in, but hit a stall. Now we finally completed the wood floors in the hallway and Playroom, and I’m so excited about how they turned out! http://oneprojectatatime.blogspot.com/2012/06/188-replace-trim-in-playroom.html
Hey, Katie. You have a creeper mailbox in your post 🙂
Love the pendants…..but more importantly…we share the same anniversary as you and Jeremy!!! Yay I am that much closer to being more like you!
I have two sinks as well but the island sink is at the opposite end of the island and is to be used as a “bar” sink or vegetable “prep” since it’s directly opposite the refrigerator. I will say, however, that there were times I wish it was in the location of your sink because I’ve needed to dump pasta water and my main sink, conveniently located for that purpose, is full of dirty dishes. So, if you think of your island sink as an advantage in that one (!) instance and also use it as a designated washing-fruit/vegie sink (I guess the idea is that it won’t be contaminated with dirty dish stuff) right near the fridge you might not hate it as much.
Except I see now that your sink is really tiny. Hmm, don’t know what to tell you now!
10 walls is a lot! With that said, I like these new pendants more than the old ones (although I didn’t hate those). Do you think you’ll re-use them elsewhere or maybe sell them?
Either way, I’m excited to see what you do next in the kitchen!
Your new pendants look great–& what a bargain!! I love the ones you found @ Lowe’s, too. Are the lights centered over the cabinet of the island? (not the counterTOP?) That’s the way the builders here hang them. I’d love to have your prep sink! You can have dirty dishes/dishwashing going on in your primary sink, and still prep veggies & fruits @ the prep sink on the island. I ran a catering bus for several years, and learned to really appreciate those little extras 🙂
Happy belated Anniversary! Loving the new pendants. Have you considered all pulls ala Dana from House*Tweaking?
http://www.housetweaking.com/2012/06/05/the-horizontal-hardware-mambo/
Love the new pendants…dana at housetweaking.com just turned her cabinet pulls horizontal and I like how industrial it looks….just something for you to look at….oh and I laughed out loud at the newspaper comment..
True story. My toddler actually did had a potty accident in Pottery Barn Kids. I had to do the walk of shame to the check out counter to tell them there was pee on the floor. The poor staff took pity on me and made me feel better by telling me that it happens far more often than you’d think and most people just walk out and don’t say anything.
I think we will probably list them on Craigslist just to see if we get a bite. Surely someone down here with a more traditional flair will be able to use them!
xo – kb
ha. That happens when too many people look at the post at the same time – Photobucket has a hard time keeping up. Check back later and it will be gone 🙂
xo – kb
Lookin good girl! Virtual high five!
xo – kb
Wow!! Holy Huge kitchen Batman!! I think the entire 2nd floor of my house would fit in there. I don’t think I have ever noticed just how big it was… so jealous!! LOVE the new lights, we have been trying to find ones similar to those. Thanks for the options at the begining of the post; would not have thought of PB kids. The ones I fell in love with were at Restoration Hardware, husband said NO. Strange, he didn’t even look at them, just the price… YIKES!!
Everything is gold in my house too. It was built in the early 90’s and I think that was in style then. I really want to take out my gold shower stall – but that will cost too much. Your new lights look great!
Hi Katie,
I just sent you an email about them! Hope to hear back from you! 🙂
-Darcy
The pendants look perfect in there and, may I say, excellent shopping, savings lady!
Mornin’ Katie!!
So… to start with. i love your wierdo kitchen. hahaha i do. something about different things make me smile… but i have 2 questions.
1) what is that darn wall color. i love. like love love.
i work for a home builders so i get to choose tons of colors and i know the perfect house for this color..
2) does the kitchen not have a hood/vent over the cooktop or is the cooktop a down draft? I seriously LOVE cooktops vs. the whole hood/ventilation/slide in-stove/cooktop kind of thing. haha just wondering about the exhaust.
3) HOW IS BABY!
I have not seen any more weekly pictures and i’m hoping for happy healthy pregnancy and baby for you guys! you deserve it!
shoot. that was 3 questions. couldnt contain myself.
The new pendants are a GREAT improvement. I just can’t help but think that your island would much better suited for the space if it was rotated 90 degrees and then stools could line up on the side closer to the dining area. We went through a major re-do of our kitchen island several months ago and it is amazing how it transformed our kitchen flow (and added actual knee space for our stools rather than a tiny overhang.) But alas, we still need to move the lighting that is above it and add pendants. Baby Steps!
Love the new pendants!! And, I can’t believe you got such a great deal on them! Color me jealous!
Love the new lights. Are you selling the old ones? Or do you know what brand they are? I ask because I think they might go in our traditional 1910 Victorian house above our future island. I’m slowly gathering things because I have big big plans for our kitchen (http://thisdiylife.wordpress.com/2011/12/22/island-living-part-2/) so chances are that it will come with a big big price tag. Since we are a cash only family, buying over time helps break it up and helps my husband see my vision 🙂
Where did the barstools go? They disappeared from the photos. Hmm, wondering if you are replacing them too.
Katie, we had the same issue with an unusable overhang on our kitchen island. When we remodeled, we converted the area underneath the counter into a built-in bookshelf. I’m not sure how deep your overhang is, and I see that doing the same would require the removal of some trim and brackets, but it came in very handy for cookbooks, etc. If you’re looking for that type of storage in the kitchen, it might work well for you, too.
8 months in the making…? Why yes, my living room getting repainted was 8 months in the making. Ha Ha! You can check it out here (http://www.diapersanddivas.com/2012/06/green-with-envy.html)
Crazy how things just happen to get left behind… Glad we both got ’em done. I wish we had a spot for pendant lights because I really love those industrial pendants. Maybe they’re too cool for me.
Katie, is that one tiny little wall oven all you really have in that enormous kitchen?
Awesome lights!! Wish we had a PB outlet ( actually any PB at all would be fab!!). We have been working on our kitchen for a year, apparently kids at age 5 & 7 need to eat all the time too!! Our counters, backsplash, and floor tile sit patiently in the basement waiting for the day they can be put to use, and who knows how long it will be :(. Why does everything take so much time and money?? So glad to hear that I’m not the only one who takes their time to finish a project, lol.
We have the wall oven (I think it is probably pretty standard size) and then the stove top and two microwaves. Since we zap a lot of food, we actually feel really well covered 🙂
xo – kb
We definitely thought of that….it’s such a waste of space right now…but I also wanna see how hard it would be to move the island. If it’s crazy hard, then maybe the shelves would work better but I hate that the entire thing isn’t centered.
xo kb
We plopped them down in the first move in photo – but realized pretty quickly that they were always in the way. So now they are in the basement (hopefully we can use them down there one day!)
xo – kb
That’s funny because our house was built in 2003 🙂
xo – kb
1. I love it too but I have no idea.
2. It’s a down draft that doesn’t work. I want a really chunky overhead hood that blends seamlessly with the cabinets…and a bigger stove top that isn’t jacked up.
3. GOOD!
xo – kb
I saw her pulls – not my style…but still look good!
xo – kb
I just noticed the rhino (I think its a rhino head) handing on the side of your fridge cabinet with a towel hanging on it. I’m all about finding animal hook lately; can I ask where you purchased it from?
Yes – it does look industrial – very modern and minimalist and industrial…not really what we are going for here…but still cute!
xo – kb
I’d die for your kitchen! Except, I think I would have the island turned 90 degrees with the people looking away from the dining room with maybe a small sink near the fridge. That may sound weird but it may help open up the fridge area and make it room-ier. 🙂
I do like the lights a lot better! And who needs lights when you’re busy making babies?!?
What a nice change! Looks great love the new lights.
This site has a ton of hardware to choose from…
http://www.leevalley.com/en/hardware/index.aspx?cat=3
Just thought I would share.
Nice update with the lighting!
My husband just replaced our kitchen light and fan while I was out of town this weekend. I’d been wanting a new fixture since we moved in (3 years ago!). It was the only thing the previous owners didn’t update and it stuck out like a sore thumb, even though my husband isn’t sure why we replaced a perfectly good (super ugly) fixture.
The bad news is that we went from 5 bulbs down to 2 and our kitchen seems so much darker! Any suggestions?
what a score on the lights- i have only gone to a PB outlet once and found something i had a hankering for that really had a price on it that felt like ‘outlet’ worthy (obvs we bought it!). win!
i was surprised to hear that you were replacing the other ones, but that’s why i read this blog- the new ones are amazingly much more of a fit. 2 points for the bower team, right?
As a current duplex renter whose kitchen has ZERO windows, I am SUPER JEALOUS of all the light in your kitchen! I understand that the colors make it dark, but I am drooling over your undermount lighting. Can’t wait to see you try to move the island, I can see how it would drive you nuts and makes your space less functional.
We have the exact same off-centered lighting issue above our kitchen island. Seriously, what were the builders thinking?? Ours are recessed lights, and I’ve contemplated switching them out to pendants but haven’t pulled the trigger due to the off-centeredness. If that’s a word. But now that I see how you pulled it off I’m tempted to give it a go.
Eeeeee! I love lamp. Seriously, they’re great. And thanks for the missions statement yesterday and happy birthday and all that. Go eat cake. Again. 🙂
Love the new lights,…they really look terrific, and the finish is lovely! I agree about that awkward spot on the island. Maybe you could install some bookshelves on the refrigerator side of the island. That would make a great place to put cookbooks, and wouldn’t get in the way of the refrigerator door…just a thought. You could also get rid of that extra little sink, and then cover the whole bar with butcher block or steel, which would allow you to change the shape of the island to accomodate a couple of stools at the kitchen table end.
Growing up at my parents’ house, we had an un-centered kitchen chandelier. If you put your table where the chandelier demanded, you’d have to crouch under the kitchen island’s overhang. In other words, I feel your pain!
Just curious how you like the French door fridge after a year of using it. We are buying a house that doesn’t come with one, so we need to buy one ASAP!
I love those pendant lights! I have been hoping to find some at that price! Congrats! Here’s to hoping that I can now locate them!
LOVE the new lights…and what a great deal you got! I sure wish I lived close to a PB outlet store, I’d probably be their best customer, ha!
Just wanted to add that we recently bought a home & the cabinets and drawers were plain like yours. I really didn’t like that look & so we added some bronze drawer pulls & knobs & it is seriously AMAZING
oops….got cut off! As I was saying….
It was seriously AMAZING how much of a difference it made! I love our new look & am so happy to have made the change (as is my hubby who poo-poo’d the idea in the beginning!). Can’t wait to see your kitchen when you add these accessories to your kitchen!
Sorry, I need to break up with your blog. The comment “What’s up with the previous owners fixation with gold?! I heard they were from Africa so maybe it’s a cultural thing” . . . that’s kind of racist. It didn’t sit well with me. You are completely entitled to say what you want, but I think that kind of statement is unnecessary. Why make it about where your previous owners are from? Why make it about a continent of people? Icky, very icky. And I’m outta here.
Sorry that struck a bad chord with you. Obviously it wasn’t supposed to be a racist thing – I didn’t want to discriminate or be hurtful at all…just wondering if the taste was different because of the previous owners culture or if it was just a matter of personal preference. Some people are affected by their culture when it comes to everything from clothing to fixtures. I think you could substitute any country or continent in there and it would have the same meaning. Would you be offended if I said I heard they were from Australia? Just food for thought.
xo – kb
Well…I certainly hate the freezer. And I have never put a deli tray in there. I do appreciate the ease of cleaning with the double doors…and as a preggo, I certainly like not having to bend over to get the fruit outta the bottom drawer. I think it’s a draw between the double door and the french.
xo – kb
You can be from Africa and not be black, so why did your mind automatically go there? I have zero tolerance for racism and when I read that I knew exactly what she meant… Golds not exactly a hot commodity for young American home owners these days.
It’s a pig head 🙂 And I got the original one from my Grandma’s house and then it broke….so then my mom found an exact replacement from Goodwill 🙂
xo – kb
I usually read the blogs and don’t comment alot, but I wanted to let you know that I did not read that sentence as racist. There are different races on every continent—I took it that maybe gold trim was popular in their country of origin and they carried it over to here. The same could be said for many places the world over. Keep up the good work.
Your new pendants look great! I love the old ones and would have loved to buy them if I only had a place for them. Have you checked vandykes.com for cabinet knobs? They have several iron choices. I bought furniure legs for our bathroom vanity from them, and wood appliques, no problems at all.
Sometimes I think those who so quickly yell racist are the ones with a problem. There are differences in culture all over this world, even in different parts of the US. I’m from Georgia- the culture is different even from Atlanta to the mountains of north Georgia. When I read Katie’s statement about culture, my mind didn’t go to race, but differences in regions.
I like the new kitchen lighting.
I love the rug, wherever did you find it?
She meant her blog anniversary, not wedding anniversary. 😛
Love the new lights! I’ve seen them in stainless too, but I think I like the dark better!
I totally laughed at that comment, especially when you said maybe they’re from the Gold Coast. A joke, people.
Gotta say that I actually really love the idea of a second sink (I think it’s called a veggie sink?)… Want to eventually install one if we upgrade our kitchen and add an island. I would use it for just washing fruits & veggies, not for dishes or for meats/eggs/anything that I would need to heavily sanitize after. Don’t get me wrong, I would clean that sink too 🙂 … but it would be nice to not feel like I need to sanitize it every single time.
I do think we need to be careful… if someone says they’ve been hurt by something, it merits us thinking about their perspective a little bit, rather than immediately telling them not to be hurt. If a blogger mentioned something about “people from Georgia…” for example, I would probably skim over it without any reaction, whereas someone born & raised in Georgia may notice the comment and not enjoy it. Unless it’s about your particular area of sensitivity, you probably won’t notice it… so we should listen and think about it if someone says our comment rubbed them the wrong way.
Maybe she wouldn’t, but I would wager that some of your Australian readers would then feel compelled to answer. Maybe not all out of a sense of being offended, but at least to clarify whether or not gold is a cultural thing for them… and the fact that gold isn’t generally portrayed in a positive light in this post does put some negativity into the association w/ culture.
Katie Bower, you truly do have a loving heart (I’ve been reading the blog long enough to know that!) I also happen to know your Savior and I know that He puts His inexpressible love into each of His true followers, and teaches us as we go. That’s why I wanted to point out what I said above, so please take it as from a faithful friend (Prov. 27:6). I know that negativity is not what was in your heart at all… it may have just come across that way to someone sensitive about that particular issue.
Love the new pendants. Everything is just coming along nicely! Keep up the good work.
B.
The previous ownners had some serious design delimmas!! I remember when you first did the house tour (before you guys moved in) the crazy light fixtures in like every room!! I picture them like Napoleon Dynomite’s uncle always reliving the 80’s..Just saying maybe newer readers can’t fully appreciate how far you guys have come from what you had to work with!! Oh and I love your beautiful new kitchen lights too BTW:-)
Those new pendants look awesome in your kitchen! I looked at them recently, but they dont really go with the “look” I’m going for in mine.
It’s from Shades of Light – it’s called the Trellis rug I believe and YAY! they still carry it 🙂
xo – kb
I love the blue color of your kitchen.
wow what a great steal on those lights! im very jealous of them =) what did you do with your old ones? and the part when you said you peed your pants because you saw the price on those lamp, ahahaha priceless!
For those on a strict budget looking for pendant lighting, the Hobby Lobby now carries them. And everyone who shops at the Hob Lob knows that things go 50% off every other week.
Interestingly enough, it was the Europeans that first labeled West Africa the Gold Coast because of their own interest in trading gold. Later that exploitation turned to the slave trade and colonization. I think we all agree that is one of the saddest pieces of our world’s history and it still has ramifications today. Not that I think Katie was trying to make a blatantly offensive joke about Europeans exploiting Africa or even about race, but that is the problem because she wasn’t even aware that she was offending. Often nativity can lead to ethnocentrism, which is exactly what those comments were–ethnocentric and culturally biased. As already pointed out it is natural for a culture to favor certain aesthetics over others, but clearly those were negative comments about another culture’s (perceived) preference. Which is another thing that I am bothered by–Africa is not one culture or one country. Africa has over 50 countries, thousands of languages and thousands of ethnic groups. And even as another reader commented, not everybody is black that lives in Africa (although the vast majority are).
I however am not breaking up with this blog quite yet. I find it to be challenging to read about other people’s ways of thinking and ideas even if don’t always agree. Generally I bite my tongue when I read things on here that bother me, but found this conversation interesting enough to jump in on.
When we built our house and had to finish the kitchen from scratch, I decided to be cheap and find knobs on ebay. I wanted ORB finish and they usually run around $4/each at Lowes which really adds up! I found knobs for $1/each and pulls for $1.50/each on ebay. They are a little smaller and much more lightweight than the Lowes counterparts, but you can’t really tell once they are up, and more importantly…they still open the cabinets!! And I only spent $25 on them!
More about how we saved megabucks in our kitchen:
http://mattandallisonkelly.blogspot.com/2012/03/kitchen-budget-breakdown.html
Very well put, Kristy.
Um, let me explain white privilege to you, Ms. Bower. When you as a white person make a “joke” that touches upon not so favorable stereotypes of a minority culture, that is simply racist and ignorant. I know you didn’t mean harm, but just had to point that out as a minority (chinese-american) that may not sit well, esp. since as your smart readers correctly pointed out that the gold coast was named by **Europeans who were exploiting Africans.**
Yeah, I have to say, just based on the reader profile pics here, I see that there are hardly any african american readers. Gee, I wonder why? I love your blog, but pls try to stay away from cultural “jokes”–they are actually not funny.
that is very weird, I was thinking 80’s for the gold, and that is a tiny little sink! I am sure there was a plan, we just don’t know about it yet.
I love your cabinets! I don’t know why everybody wants to paint EVERYbloomingthing??!?!?! Kitchen cabinets are a bitch to prep and paint too. I know, cause yes, I painted mine.
When we moved into a house that was overly oaky, I just kept it that way, painted the dang furniture instead.
Love the pendants. What color are your walls?
Don’t have a clue! They were that color when we moved in!
xo – kb
Couldn’t basically all of the layout issues with your kitchen be fixed by replacing the island? It’d get rid of the awkwardly placed second sink, the lack of centering, and the fridge vs. bar seating tension all at once. It’s very trendy nowadays to have a contrasting island (with a different cabinet color and/or countertop from your perimeters), so you’d not even have to match any finishes or anything.
The way your fridge, stove, and main sink are placed is actually kind of clever. They’re very close to each other, so you’re not walking all over the place when you cook, yet if multiple people are in the kitchen, even if you have a person at each one (the main sink, stove, and fridge), they’d still not be bumping into each other AND each one would have plenty of immediately handy counter space right next to him/her.
It’s just the island that’s making things weird.
If you want bar seating, an island this shape would let you have seating at the island without the current issues: http://imgur.com/MDO0N The curve would allow three or four seats, and it’d echo the curve of the arched window, making the arched window seem less random.
If you want a second sink, that’d be a bit more work, but if you move the ovens, you could turn where they are into a stretch of counter (made from the current island counter top) with a little sink. The ovens could then either go under that sink or in the island. Dedicating the current oven wall to counter would also open up that door/walkway. Forgive my impertinence, but that door/walkway is a little dwarfed now with the tall fridge on one side and the tall oven cabinet on the other.
Also, have you thought about removing the cabinetry on top of the fridge? That would lighten the presence of the fridge, balancing the room better, and would also make the span of upper cabinets (between the window and the fridge) basically symmetrical, making the room feel even more balanced. The cabinet above the fridge is never the most accessible storage anyway, so it’d be no great loss.
We might be able to move it when we redo the floors but until then, it’s fine for us. (cheaper too!) We don’t need the extra seating (it actually helps a lot to NOT have seats for Will to climb on) and the wall oven is really growing on me. I’m no kitchen designer but I know that it works for me right now 🙂
xo – kb
I actually think bar seating’s a little redundant in homes where there’s an actual kitchen table right there, so I very much support this plan. And if you don’t want bar seating, then I think the existing island shape is better than what I suggested, since it allows more space to stand in front of the fridge and the open doors and spend some time deciding on your sandwich ingredients..
And I know you think the island placement is odd (not centered), but I like it. It honestly looks well-thought-out-and-deliberate because it allows enough walkway around it, plus extra for the aforementioned sandwich ingredient contemplation in front of the fridge.
For what it’s worth, if it were my home, I would keep this island where it is, but re-top it to get rid of the awkward second sink and maybe build in a bookcase under the existing overhang, so the island wouldn’t have badly-thought-out bar seating anymore.
Actually, what if, instead of re-topping, you rejiggered the sink pipes within the island, then picked up the island counter top (with sink) , rotated it, and re-installed it so the second sink ended up on the end of the island closest to the desk?
I bet that would cost less than re-topping and then you’d also have a second sink where it’s not totally annoying for someone to use it while you’re using the main sink.
P.S. Sorry for so many suggestions. I just finalized my own kitchen layout and now I kind of miss moving things around. It was fun to consider all the possibilities!
Haha…yeah…imagining truly is the fun part!
I’m sure down the line I’ll have to come back and read all these ideas!
xo kb
I followed the link to here from your big island reveal Part 2. Is it just me or did the builders who built your house not line the pendant lines up over the island? I see what you mean about not being able to use stools because of the refrigerator door and not lining up the island with the stove, but the lights seem off center, but maybe it’s just the way I’m looking at it.
Nope. They be crazy 🙂
Seriously, the pendants don’t make any sense. I think they ran the electrical before they designed the kitchen…badnewsbear, right?!
xo – kb