Here’s a genuine 1976 kitchen. A bicentennial kitchen! Thirty five years young. The original appliances are long gone, some recessed lighting has been added, and a different tile floor put in, but otherwise it’s all original.

We improve kitchens like this quite often. Let’s explore why they need help.

Dated finishes like plastic laminate countertops and backsplashes, cabinets with an unflattering grain pattern and glossy yellow-brown stain, and generic ceramic tile flooring all contribute to a less than inspired kitchen experience.

Placing a cooktop against a back wall means the cook is in “time out” and has to face away from her friends and family hanging out at the bar.

Inexpensive, builder grade, face frame cabinets are the bottom dwellers of the craft. Low storage with few drawers put most things out of easy reach. “Dead” cabinet corners are really out of reach. Face frames between doors and drawers waste valuable interior storage space.

A family’s “command center” is the place where mail, bills, gizmo chargers, phones, calendars, and laptops live. This does not want to happen on a kitchen countertop, but in an adjacent, shielded place.

Cabinets that stop just short of the ceiling result in almost inaccessible high shelves that catch dust and force most people to decorate them with poorly lit, questionable art objects.

Multiple kitchen doorways and circulation paths [especially in corners] disrupt work zones and chop up cabinet runs.

Narrow, deep, dark pantry cabinets without pull-outs ensure a frustrated cook when he can’t see / find / grab anything behind the front row of goodies. Way in the back you’ll find interesting aged foodstuffs, long forgotten.

Naked, deep refrigerators cause visual pain and block pathways, and contribute to even more clutter when odd objects are stored on top of them.

Mismatched appliances [black and white] just ain’t right!

Shallow sinks are not friendly to large pots and pans.

Small windows with high sills don’t exactly flood kitchens with daylight.

Large capacity trash and recycling bins at the sink are fundamental, and need a home. Not in this kitchen.

“Space Saver” combination microwave / exhaust hoods recirculate hot air into your face and create a low and deep slot above the cooktop, cramping the cook’s style.

Narrow “slot” counters are useless except to create more clutter when things land and stay there.

Kitchen peninsulas trap you in the kitchen away from adjacent areas; islands don’t.

This kitchen was fine 35 years ago, but the bar has been raised dramatically since then. Will we be able to fix all of these problems in this kitchen? We’ll see.

What about your kitchen?

Stewart

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