Johnson/Soler recently completed a job where future flexibility was part of the brief. Here is a description of the project from Steve, filled with good things to keep in mind for anyone planning a renovation:
We did this project for a young couple who had just bought a historic bungalow in the Beverly neighborhood of Chicago. They loved the house and could deal with all the quirks an old house has to offer, except for the tiny kitchen with all its retro-80's flair. Eventually, they would like to create a large open kitchen and entertainment area by combining the kitchen with an adjacent room, but for the time being they just needed a kitchen that didn't make them want to tight roll their jeans while they cooked.
With the future expansion in mind, we opened up the kitchen by removing a pantry and closet attached to the room next door to give them a spacious area to work with. We covered the floors with a free floating snap in laminate flooring that matched the rest of the wood flooring in the house. This inexpensive option makes future remodeling easier by making demolition of the floor simpler if they want to eventually install a tile flooring.
Finally, we finished out the kitchen with Ikea cabinets with butcher block tops. These cabinets blend nicely with the existing Bungalow interior but without the cost of custom cabinetry. The butcher block tops add a sense of casual warmth to the space our clients were looking to achieve. Eventually, the cabinets will be relocated to the basement workroom when the kitchen is expanded. This makes the butcher block counters appealing because they can be re-cut in a new configuration at that time, avoiding the cost of new counter-tops.
Our clients love their "temporary" kitchen and appreciate the amount of forethought we put into it to make the future renovation more cost effective and speedy.
MORE INFO: Johnson/Soler
Thanks, Steve!
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this could very well pass up as a permanent kitchen! nice job.
looks better than my permanent kitchen. i wonder what this set them back.
Quick fix or not, this looks great. Nicer than my permanent kitchen too. I'd also be interested in getting a ballpark on the price.
As a homeowner who has done on or two of these "half-azzed" renovations over the years, my suggestion is to live with what you have until you can do what you truly want to. I definitely have regrets over these types of renovations because it is unlikely that I will never have done what I really hoped for.
I think "half-azzed" renovations work if you have an end product in mind. Within a year or two of buying my house, I added a few kitchen cabinets and moved my washing machine to the carport. I'm now rewiring and changing out the flooring and adding some more cabinets. I intend to add a mudroom/pantry to the carport entry eventually, but that will wait. It's more practical for me (someone who has sworn off debt) to break it into manageable $1000-$2000 chunks, than $7000 ish all at once. Plus it's more fun than just waiting.
When I redid my kitchen, I camped out in the dining room for six months with a microwave and a toaster oven.
But please! Three beautifully frames prints over the stove!?!?!?!? Won't those be covered in grease, or wilting from the stock pot in no time flat? Am I missing something?
I have been looking for something to hang over my stove, and I am stumped. I don't want jello molds. I think I need something in a wrought iron, but I'm not doing a chicken. Even then, I will have to clean it due to the grease.
I am very impressed with the way the old and new flooring meet up if that is what I am seeing. I would be happy with that kitchen as long as it held up. Great job!
The pictures look like they're covered in glass, so all they're going to need is a quick scrub with a spray of dishsoap-water or some degreasing cleaner (grease lightning, whatever) to keep them clean.
The heat probably means the colors won't last for yeaaars, but it sounds like they'll be changing the room before then anyway.
I wish there were some before photos!
I definitely don't think that this project was "half-azzed" - who knows what this couple's timeline is in terms of "eventually" opening up the kitchen- which likely would be a 50k+ project and they might need to save for 5+ yrs in order to afford that project. I doubt many people would bother even doing a budget kitchen re-do for just 1 or 2 yrs. We joke about having 5, 10 and 15 yr plans for our home, but until we can afford to move some walls around we had to get a dishwasher that worked, floor tiles that weren't coming up and countertops that weren't water damaged.
My only concern would be investing $$$ in appliances that might not work w/ the "eventual" dream plan.
@czg - it looks like they splurged on the appliances, and probably will be taking those into the new design.
i think it looks fantastic for a 'temporary fix' for them.
love it!
@Village - http://www.thebrooklynkitchen.com/web-store/novelties/3011-knife-cutout-small-santokus/
I want to see the before pictures. What exactly does an 80's kitchen look like?
Interesting!
Wow! This is really nice. Very soothing. I am so admiring that bank of windows in photo #2 - they look like they're in the dining room?
Sorry, it's not doing it for me. Too many shades of brown. The room needs color. Even white cabinets would have been better. Very bland and uninspired. I'm also not getting the flexible and temporary part. That range hood looks fairly permanent to me. These people must have money to burn.
I love this! We just moved and will soon be doing the same thing. Our tiny, partially demoed kitchen will someday be expanded into what is now a bedroom. For now I need I a functional kitchen that doesn't look like its halfway between old and new. Thanks for the tips...we will keep them in mind :D
I did exactly this same thing, ikea cabs, countertops, cheap peel&stick flooring. I think it ran a little over $2000 and it lasted about 9? years in pretty good condition.
Of course, my previous kitchen was not very livable when I bought the house from one of those hoarder types that you see on TV.
When I did do the full kitchen, the IKEA cabs got moved to the basement for a storage/craft area. The only thing that didn't get reused was the sink, cheap faucets and the flooring.
What I'm seeing here isn't all that "temporary"...
...Then again, I guess you could consider that 25 y/o 1980's kitchen relatively temporary as well.
Hmm, not exactly an eco-minded approach but it does look nice enough. It has a modern "cabin" look to me with all the wood. I'm pretty good at long term design so I would guess that I could make the all the appliances, even the sink and faucet work in a new design down the road - but the thing is in my area "custom" real wood cabinets just aren't all that expensive (I've gotten bids and visited the cabinet maker's workshops to see) - Ikea's prices aren't exactly low end. I'm not sure how much this is "saving."
I think it's a smart approach. The cabinets look nice enough that if they end up deciding to sell before they get to the dream kitchen, they could sell as-is or even put in stone counters for resale.
I like the way that the dark cabinets combine with the lighter butcher block and the stainless steel. It's a harmonious mix. It's a great small kitchen.
I like it, but I wish we could see some before pictures!
I think it's great that they were able to do this now and how much thought was put into being able to re-use the things they chose. This way they can take their time, to save, or just live in the house for a while without feeling pressure to re-do the kitchen. It's nice to not rush into a big project like that shortly after moving, and I bet they'll be happier in the long run.
Temporar!? It's beautiful and well crafted. Anyone would be proud of that for a long term solution.
I work at a thrift store for home improvement, and we see this fairly often. Folks come in and tell me they've just bought a house at an auction, but it's terribly torn up from hoarders or because the previous tenants were kicked out and not happy about it. So they have to fix the foundation, install a furnace, repair a crumbling roof, etc. before they can get to creating their dream kitchen. But in the meantime, they just need some counters or a few more cabinets. So they pick up a gently-used cabinet set from our thrift store for a couple hundred bucks, use it for a year or two, and then eventually donate it back or move it to their basement or garage workshop.
Another 'like it as is' opinion. This would be my permanent kitchen...only I would paint the walls a color. It would've been nice to see how the kitchen looked originally.
Dang... why would they want to make huge changes to this? I think it's very nice as-is, although it needs a bit more color on the walls.
It must be nice to have enough money to renovate your kitchen twice.
hummmmm... backsplash art..... that's a first!
There have been a lot of requests for some before pictures of this project so we posted them on our blog. Take a look and thanks for all the great comments.
http://johnsonsoler.tumblr.com/post/1600875983/before-and-after