Kitchen Reno - finally!

Some visitors to my kitchen don't pull punches, making comments like "This is the worst layout I've ever seen!" or "How do you cook in this space?"  It's true, it's less than ideal.  The working triangle is pretty crunched, with a traffic path cutting through dead centre. There's nothing wrong with a compact mise-en-place, but the fridge door can't even open up all the way.  I have more drawers on my sailboat than in my home kitchen!  

There's a lot I like, though:  the view to the backyard being a major attraction; the colours and painting of the cupboards that Rob did for our DIY kitchen reno more than ten years ago; and how we maximize every square inch of available space.

We considered enlargening the footprint by cutting off the side entrance, but easy access to the basement in muddy boots is useful for gardening. 

So we're keeping the existing footprint, but rejigging the triangle.  One option involved closing off the sliding door entrance to make room for more counter space and additional cupboards.  As much as I wanted more working space, I wanted to keep the existing view even more.

We've lived here for 20+ years.  The thing that attracted us to the property in the first place was the ravine, with the view of woods and garden.  It's a daily pleasure to look out back. I just couldn't bring myself to shut  out the floor to ceiling view, so it is staying. 

Unfortunately, the kitchen table has to go to make room for the additional counters, so we won't have a breakfast nook anymore.  The table was a magnet for clutter, anyway, quickly crowded with the wooden fruit bowl, magazines, newspapers.  We love sitting there, connected to the outdoors.  To make up for losing the eat-in kitchen, we're expanding the view of the garden in the dining room.

New sliding doors go in this week, hopefully with minimum disruption and producing the desired effect.