After three years, it's time
for a kitchen renovation! (plus 4 new, free recipes)
After nearly three years in our house, the time has finally come to renovate the kitchen!
When we bought our Hudson Valley farmhouse in the summer of 2022, we did a few things immediately- we tamed the backyard, painted the house inside and out, refinished the floors, and got rid of a bunch of ceiling fans. Our plan was the renovate the kitchen and bathrooms the following year. But a cookbook, a baby, and many unexciting but important house projects later (a new well pump, water filtration system, and driveway, to name a few), we are just getting to it. Buying an old house turned out to be no joke!
The silver lining of having waited to renovate the kitchen is that I’ve now cooked in it many hundreds of times. I have a clear understanding of how it works, and how it could work better.
Like many houses, the kitchen is the heart of our home. It’s the place we cook, eat, and have our morning coffee, and of course, the most fun place to hang out during a party.
It’s also my office. As a professional recipe writer, the kitchen is where I develop and test recipes, as well as film cooking videos, so I want it to look and feel like me AND be functional above everything else.
A few things I’d like to change:
-The corner sink makes the space feel smaller and cuts off the flow of the room, so I want to make that a normal “L” shaped corner and move the sink closer to where the dishwasher is now.
-The upper cabinets don’t go to the ceiling, so they are dust magnets, and they also crowd the windows, making the room feel darker.
-Our kitchen has a decent amount of storage, but with my ever-growing collection of cookware and serving pieces, I need to maximize storage and organization as much as possible. Every cook knows what a headache it is when it’s hard to access the pot or pan you need!
-Finally, the Tuscan-inspired tiles and two-toned cabinets need a Lidey update. They’ve been fun a for awhile, but it’s time. It’s just time.
The vision:
I am endlessly inspired by classic shaker kitchens designed by Devol and Plain English. Since cabinets from England are not currently in our budget, we’ve been working with our local hardware store, Herrington’s, to fine tune our vision and design a kitchen that feels both timeless and fresh. Our house was built in the 1870s, so we want to respect the age and style of the home while still making the kitchen feel modern and functional.
Once we place our cabinet order, I’m moving on to appliances, countertops, lighting, and hardware. If all goes to plan, we’ll be installing our new kitchen towards the end of this summer. We aren’t working with an interior designer, aside from occasional helpful hints from a couple designer friends, but we have a great contractor lined up and are taking our time to do plenty of research before making the big decisions. (I am a notoriously slow decision maker. Thankfully I have Joe to help move things along, or we might never have a new kitchen!)
As with most endeavors, I’m sure we’ll learn a couple things the hard way, I just hope they aren’t big things.
If you’ve renovated your kitchen, I’d love to know what you discovered or learned in the process. Anything you would have done differently? Anything you wish you would have known before you got started?
Leave a comment, and I’ll collect the advice and share with everyone in my next kitchen post!
I’ll be back with more kitchen and house updates soon.
In the meantime, my latest batch of recipes for New York Times Cooking are live. I’m excited to share these gift links (no subscription NYT Cooking required.) Be sure to let me know if you give any of these recipes a try!
Roasted Fish and Leeks Vinaigrette
Pork, Asparagus, and Snap Pea Stir Fry
Have a great week, and I’ll see you soon with the third installment of All Things Delicious. (It’s a really fun one!!) Get a closer look at my kitchen and catch up on the first two episodes if you haven’t already.
xoxo
Lidey
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We switched from a gas stove to an induction stove. I will never look back! Apart from the safety of it, it's environmentally so much better. And cleanup is soooooo much easier. It is just as responsive as gas and wow, does a pot of water come to a boil fast!
Spend the money on cabinets-I bought store made cabinets and I am an avid cook and they are all trashed from my use. I also made a two person island and wish it was 3-4 seats. I bought Viking refrigerator and 6 burner stove with grill and hood and do not recommend any of them. The stove is difficult to clean especially the burner grates. The refrigerator has had many issues and was completely replaced at 7 years old. I think it is important to know if you have a local company that will be available for any issues. I love my pot racks over my kitchen windows. And my stainless countertops!