The Before

Existing flooring

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Challenges

• House is VERY open concept, which may present some challenges as kitchen is close to wood stove.
• Kitchen flooring has Nuheat heating installed, but it stopped working shortly after we moved in. Not sure how this impacts new flooring install (do we need specialist for this..? do we try to fix, or remove?)
• Whole house is done in the same flooring; if we redo the kicthen flooring, we’ll likely have to redo the whole house flooring…
• Dining area is a bit awkward and has never quite felt right. (Also pendent above the table is offset by quite a bit)
• Large window in dining has lack of privacy as neighbours patio looks right into the window. It also gets no light so we keep the blinds closed 100% of the time… (take this window down and turn wall into pantry walls??)
• Finding reliable contractors can sometimes be an issue in our location, though we do have lots of friends we could possibly tap.
• Popcorn ceiling - how does this impact doing cabinets to the ceiling?
• Where do all the light switches go, and how does that all work given how open concept the house is? </aside>

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LIKES

• Open concept
• Countertop space for uninterrupted prep
• Nice separation between table/guests and chef
• Looking out into the yard when washing the dishes </aside>

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DISLIKES

• No tall cupboard space whatsoever! Max height of 9” on ALL shelves except the one above the stove, which means a lot of appliances and food items have to stay on the counter.
• No base drawers, only cabinets, hard to get items (I have a healing hip injury, and holy is it a pain in the ass)
• No real pantry :(
• Small kenmore fridge, with freezer on the top. Tough for meal prepping, and food gets lost in the depth. Also VERY loud high pitched sound drives me crazy.
• The way the refrigerater protrudes so far out from the wood panel!
• Very little storage options because of short cupboards, so all appliances are on the countertop, making things pretty cluttered.
• Downdraft oven makes it challenging to fit more than one big pot/pan on the stovetop at a time, and food falls in all the time.
• Style of cupboards (give me slab!)
• Color - the whole thing feels so ORANGE and makes me very sad. That combined with the very harsh overhead lighting. There’s little “task” lighting (above the sink is the only task lighting)
• Lots of lost corner space in both upper and lower cabinets
• Cheap/ineffective lazy susan corner in base cabinet
• Old, dirty, grungey edges in bottom cabinets
• Empty space above cabinets that collects dust
• Double basin sink - too small for washing baking pans or large pots
• Wall blocks the nice morning light

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