Kitchen and Living Room Remodel Continued

Here is our kitchen. Michael was able to return the bar and hutch back to their assigned spot this past weekend. I can't tell you how much I missed the bar area. He now has dry wall on the wall behind the hutch. He hasn't finished it yet so I haven't put all of my dishes back on the shelves. Last night he was thinking about a new kitchen design. (The Lord help us all)! He is now wanting to close in the doorway that leads into our hall. If he does that, he will put the refrigerator in that area. He wants to take out my big pantry cabinet, which is the tall cabinet to the right of the stove, and place it where the refrigerator is now. He will have to build another cabinet to go into the corner, but it would give me more storage area.

This picture was taken from my living area with me standing just by the fireplace. As you can see, most of the wall dividing the living room and dining area has been removed. We haven't started replacing our floor yet. For now, we are enjoying the lovely gold and orange kitchen flooring! The plan is to remove all of the tile and continue the floor that we have in our living room throughout our dining room and kitchen.

Here is another view standing by our couch. If you are sitting on our couch, you are looking straight into the dining room. (This is why he wants the refrigerator moved to the other side of the kitchen. The pantry cabinet would have a much more finished look about it from the living room. I have to agree, but I didn't want to tell him that)!

This is the view when you first walk in the front door. You see the whole living room and dining area. (The doorway behind the dining room table leads into my laundry room. We still have to put a door there so people don't have to view all the dirty laundry)! He is still in the process of putting up dry wall. It will take some time before we are ready to paint. We also have to save up the money to purchase the floor and new french doors that go out to our deck. These doors are in terrible shape. If you stand by them when the wind blows, your hair will move! The door behind my rocking chair leads out to our carport. Missy, the English Mastiff, has done great damage to all of our doors. We think we can sand this door down and repaint it. She scratches the doors whenever she wants to go outside. I hate to spend the money on all new doors for her to scratch them again. We are scolding her for scratching and most of the time she seems to be catching on to our desires. However, with just one swipe of her massive paw, she can ruin a new door!

Here is where I need your help. What would you do about closing in the kitchen area and moving the refrigerator? I am a bit concerned that I will feel like I am in a box. I like it the way it is and it flows just fine. I do see that his idea has a lot of pros though. We already have all the material in the shop to make another cabinet so there wouldn't be any added expense. We would have to add a bit of extra counter top, but we are hoping to replace all the counters with a more neutral color soon. I like the idea of the pantry cabinet being seen from the living room. The refrigerator is a bit of an eye sore. I told him he could just build an enclosure box for the refrigerator and make the same panels that he made for the pantry cabinet for the sides. Then all you would see would be the front of the refrigerator. He still wants to move it. If we move it, I get more cabinet space and working space. It will make my kitchen a better working area. What would you do?

grace and peace,

julie