The first time we toured our house, we walked through the entry foyer and into the kitchen and I immediately noticed something weird: the ceiling was low. About a foot lower than the other ceilings in the house, to be exact. We knew that we wanted to raise the ceiling to be flush with the others, but we had to know: what was in the dropped ceiling? If the ceiling couldn’t be raised to eight feet, then the house was a no-go.
During the home inspection, we got our answer—there was nothing in the ceiling. And by nothing, I meant there wasn’t anything that couldn’t be moved. When the plumbers built the upstairs bathrooms in 1973, they, for whatever reason, dropped all the plumbing below the ceiling joists, rather than running the pipes through the joists like standard practice today. And to hide the low plumbing, they installed an entire set of new joists running perpendicular to the existing joists, attached drywall, coated it in popcorn and called it a day.
So, before we could start tackling the kitchen, we first had to tackle the ceiling. And thanks to Dan’s muscle and my dad’s ingenuity, the plumbing has been neatly tucked in the ceiling like it should have been from the get-go. It wasn’t without some heartache—and needing to go ahead and demo the floor in both upstairs bathrooms—but it’s going to be a game-changer.
Rethinking the Kitchen Layout
The original kitchen was U-shaped, with soffits making the already low ceiling even lower. A peninsula with overhanging upper cabinets separated the cooking space from the dining space, which was situated in front of a bay window and near the wall separating the kitchen from the den. The entire space measured roughly 20 feet long and 13 feet wide—not small by any means! Adjacent to the kitchen is the house’s dining room—a 12 foot by 13 foot space.
We knew we could utilize the space better to meet our wants and needs: ample prep space for cooking, a dedicated space for coffee, a large island for entertaining friends, and plenty of pantry storage. To make the kitchen more functional, we’re making some pretty big changes:
Widening the doorway from the foyer to the kitchen to create visibility from the front door
Removing the wall between the kitchen and den to create an open living/dining area
Replacing the bay window with a counter-height window to gain counter space and replacing the other kitchen window with one the same height to create symmetry
Subdividing the dining room into a pantry and laundry/mudroom off the kitchen for function
That’s right, we’re ditching the dining room. Our 10-foot island and nearby table will provide plenty of seating options, plus we’re just not formal dining room people. And rather than tearing down walls, which is what we’ve been doing a lot of lately, we’re building them to create smaller, more functional spaces.
Farewell to the Finishes & Fixtures
The kitchen fixtures and finishes themselves all have to go. I’ll dive into more finish details in my next post, but everything in the kitchen, except for the dishwasher and refrigerator, are original to the house. The orange Frigidaire appliances, the wood-patterned vinyl floor, the red checkerboard wallpaper—all of it. We’re truly starting with a blank slate, and I’m having so much fun picking out all the fixtures and finishes that are going to bring the space to life.
Check out the before photos below, and let me know if you’re in the market for some vintage appliances…
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