Kitchen ideas

Andrea and I went to Ikea today to get ideas for the house, because we've been feeling pretty overwhelmed with this huge project we're starting. Thankfully, we came away with a lot of really good ideas. I'm posting this mostly as a way to organize our thoughts because we looked at a million kitchen and storage and lighting combinations and it's hard to sort through it all.

We really love the Liatorp entertainment center for the living room. We were going to knock out an entire wall separating two rooms, but with a center like this we could leave a section of wall that's the same width as the Liatorp (which is approximately 132", or 11 feet) . Our 46" TV would be perfect for this spot and if we're doing work on the wall we could also hide all the wires. It might also save us some money - we'd be trying to shave down a load-bearing wall, so the more that's left standing, the less expensive the structural work would be.



We really liked the built-in molding and recessed lighting. I think it would look pretty slick. The matching coffee table was pretty good-looking, too.

We spent most of our time looking at kitchen options, mainly because there are just so many ways to construct one. We might convert the whole den into a kitchen /eat-in area since it could feel too small otherwise. Andrea wants white cabinets since we're going for an airy beach bungalow feel, but we haven't decided on what color the countertops will be yet. We're either going to choose quartz or granite, and it may just come down to price. One kitchen stood out in particular - standard cabinet frames with a cottagey finish on the doors:



Definitely want some cabinets with glass fronts, they contribute to that open, airy look that Andrea wants so much.
Ikea has great organizational storage systems to fit their cabinets. Lazy susans and shelves that slide out into the room mean you never lose an item in the back of a cramped cupboard.
The drawer hardware is also really impressive. They have special hinges that shut slowly on their own even if you try to slam a door. Good stuff. Here's a couple cabinet/counter combinations we liked:



I prefer the black, she likes the lighter color. Although the lighter countertops might be more airy, I really like the contrast of the darker color. This could be similar to what we might be going for:



We both love the glass shelving. Backsplashes are gonna be a tough decision.

I was going to write about ideas we had for bedrooms, bathrooms and the office, but that can be saved for a later post. The kitchen is enough to think about on its own, and sorting through the 100+ pictures we took is a task in and of itself.

So we're going to do some more shopping around for kitchen inspiration, but the cool thing is that Ikea has a kitchen planner/measuring service that will come out and help you design your kitchen as well as measure what you need. Each respective service costs $99, but they subtract the cost from your final bill. I don't know what other cabinet designs cost because we haven't looked at them yet, but sturdy hardware/hinging is a big deal to me so hopefully they're all as good as what we've looked at. Ikea kitchens definitely give you a great balance between aesthetics and cost.

I guess for now we need to focus on getting the house empty, namely removing the furniture and gutting the kitchen. Hopefully that will happen soon because I'm pretty eager to start planning this in earnest - we need to get an idea of what the realistic budget will be.