Criticizing my own kitchen

Ok, so you guys know that I'm up for a renovation this summer.

Here is what we're working with....

Not really the worse space in the world right?

As you can see, the former owners wanted a very modern/contemporary kind of kitchen.

The countertops are quartz natural stone and cabinets are sleek maple colored laminate.

Floors are vinyl tiles in the same color. So what am I complaining about??

CRITIQUE #1

As you can probably tell, the color is the SAME Light brown color from the floors, cabinet and countertops - too monotonous & not a very relaxing color combo for me. To top is all off, they painted the walls brown too! I personally do not like the cabinet style since it REALLY reminds me of OFFICE CABINETS. Am I right or not?! The style is also too modern for me, I like contemporary but the kitchen of my dreams is more 'modern traditional'.

You can clearly see my point here

 I do love the hardware and definitely for sure, keeping them all.

The counter tops are really hard to let go of, but for the type of kitchen I want, I think this counter top won't work at all for the design.

Do not fret  though, I HATE WASTE, and we will be re-using the countertops for our basement kitchen which is currently laminate. The cabinets will also not be thrown out, they will head to the garage for storage use.

The dishwasher has to go since it's showing some problems already and I would want the appliance there to match the refrigerator (which we bought).

CRITIQUE #2

I think that the former owners didn't cook much... How can I say this you ask? Well, Just take a look at the work space. The Island is very small,  and the closest big workspace is 5 feet away!! I'm no chef, but I think this is TOO MUCH space. I know for a fact none of the former owners where disabled or in a wheel chair, so I don't know WHY there was so much space here.. for some dancing perhaps?! Maybe they were romantics and needed some dancing space while they cook, who knows. You can read my other criticisms in the picture above.

The small island

If the cooktop  & drop-down vent wasn't on the island, I'd say it's a pretty decent size island. However....

... this island does not have any storage space for spices, oil and other  cooking paraphernalia.

CRITIQUE #3

As you can see all my 'stuff' are on top of the island for easier access. The knives and other cooking utensils are in the 2 drawers, underneath, I have some produce basket and my big pots in the cabinets. My everyday pots are on another side of the kitchen. This island is just too small for the room and not very cook-friendly.

The only complaint I have about this side is that it has a trash compactor we never used.  Also, you can see, I added a make-shift breakfast nook on the side closer to our eating area.

Office Area

 The lay out of this area is ok, again, I just don't like all that useless space above the upper cabinets.

Pantry Cabinet

Yup, you've read it right, this is a pantry cabinet, not a refrigerator, but a cabinet. It is 15 inches deep, so no need for drawer inserts inside and the reason why it has a shiny door is actually our fault.

When we bought the house, one pantry door was missing, we tried hard to find a replacement but we couldn't find the right shade or size, etc. If we had one custom-built it would cost as about $300 for A DOOR!!!!! No way!

So my husband built a door! However, he left the door outside, it warped and we had some silver paint left from another project, so we just painted it all silver to match the refrigerator! :-) Since we knew we were going to renovate this space eventually, we just left it this way. Looking back, I should have painted it with chalkboard paint instead since a lot of people open this door up thinking it too was a refrigerator!

Breakfast area

Probably my favorite part of the kitchen. Would love to have a bench seating close to the window and see the pool better during the summer. We're lucky that the sun never goes directly thru the windows so it's a great space to sit and read and just hang out.

Huge blank wall

I never hung any art here. And again, this was because, I knew that I would be renovating.  

I have plans for this wall.  Nothing dramatic, just wait and see.

Make-shift breakfast nook

I would love to have a breakfast nook for my new kitchen, and this would be the perfect spot for that.

There you have it our current Kitchen.
I will show you the first design here soon and take you along every step of the way on how we make the choices we make and other things to consider.

How about you?
Is there any room in your house that you have a lot of criticisms about?
Go ahead, let it out,  a good objective criticism is 'healthy' just don't dwell on these criticisms too much and just find a way around it like I will try to do in the next weeks or so!

Have a Wonderful day!

Linking back to...
Tuesdays Treasures 132 - My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Wow Us Wednesday 116 - Savvy Southern Style
Transformation Thursday #202 - The Shabby Creek Cottage
Weekend Bloggy Reading - Serenity Now