Our Peanut Project: Kitchen before and after

We’ve made a few changes to our kitchen. So Peanut can see what it was like while before she was born, we decided to organize a little before and after. Here’s a few of the major changes:

A tad more space. Before Rising Sun, we had shown our kitchen to a few professionals. Each kitchen planner who drafted plans suffered the same challenge of improving such a small and awkward space. Then, Chris came in and said, "you just need to change the space," and proposed adding a mere 126 square feet. Suddenly, we had a plan that would totally improve our kitchen.

The outer walls of the kitchen were built on concrete piers with Structurally Insulated Panels (SIPS) provided by Mid-Atlantic Foams. SIPSchool, in partnership with Mid-Atlantic Foams and Rising Sun, is using our house for education and training purposes. By wrapping the entire house with SIPS, the house will be the first Green Retrofit of its kind in West Virginia.

BEFORE - outside of house

Glad we decided to add on. Although it doesn’t sound like much, the new space made us a pantry, entry way, and a dining area. Now, the ceiling beams trace the old outline of the house, but it’s difficult to even remember how it looked before…

AFTER - outside of house / kitchen

BEFORE - wall and bumper pool doorway

Goodbye wall. A wall once separated the kitchen and the living room; a narrow doorway that I deemed the “bumper pool” walkway provided entry to the living room.

Although we’re both athletic figures, we still had to pay attention not to bump into the doorway each time we went though. One attempt to pass in the doorway left us stranded for days. Now, the door is a new wall, and the old wall is a wide opening between the kitchen and living rooms.

BEFORE - battling doors

The end of the battling doors. Our old kitchen entry was marked by battling doors; the former entry to the house aligned with the door to the basement. Oft heard in the Zegre household: “Love, [insert sound of smashing doors] ouch! I’m home!” If either caution or luck prevented you from slamming the doors into each other, there was one additional obstacle: the stove and sink were positioned so you had to carefully slide between them to avoid hitting either. The challenge was heightened when pots were boiling on the stove and/or knives were drying on the edge of the sink. Now, although there’s not much of a challenge in getting in the door, our entrance is more Peanut-proof.

BEFORE - ceiling cabinets

Trading ceiling cabinets for an island. Awkward cabinets once hung from the ceiling separating the cooking from the dining areas. While in the kitchen, the cook would have to hunch under the cabinets, turning an ear to the counters to be able to talk to talk to anyone in the dining area. The configuration made the cook feel like a slave, but offered the diners the “breast” view of the cook.

AFTER - the island

Venting the smells of the kitchen. We love cooking. Blindfolded, I could identify our old kitchen by the lingering smell of eggs and curry – and maybe the spray painted cabinets. Kitchen smells would linger in the kitchen for hours, sometimes days. And, often our entire house would smell like the last few meals. The new kitchen has two sources of central air, as well as a dream kitchen component: a hood. Now, those wanting to smell last night’s dinner have to stand on the roof.