To update kitchen, or not to update kitchen?

Nat009 · November 2015

When we recently sold out house, we did a kitchen refresh and painted the cabinets. And it was HORRIBLE. So much work to do it right, and who knows if it ever even paid off?! Our cupboards were just ugly flat panels, so to also have to work with the detailing that yours have, it would be even more difficult! I would be in the boat of not painting. I would carry the more rustic theme through, like others suggested, and do a nice, warm neutral on the walls and shelf over the oven. Maybe a nice semi-flush mount light or hanging glass pendant? Wouldn't do the extra cupboard above the fridge and would hide the microwave. Our kitchen was tiny, so I donated our microwave so that the counter space seemed larger and it worked like a charm even though it was annoying at times not to have

Good luck and congrats on your hubs promo!

brij2006 · November 2015

So do you girls think it would be a good idea for me to paint the kitchen a light grey? Including the backsplash. Then leave the counters? Or should I swap those out anyways? I think we could find the stock laminate and swap it out for around $200-300. Right now it's laminate fake looking butcher block.

formerlyGDaisy09 · November 2015

I like grey, pretty neutral. we just painted our office light grey and added some blue accents, it's pretty...but without the blue to brighten it up it looks a little cave-like. golds and terricottas also look nice in kitchens...however any paint with yellow or red undertones is a PITA to cover with something else if a potential buyer didn't like it. Seriously our master bedroom was light yellow, it took 3 coats of a darker paint (premium paint with primer) to cover the yellow.

honestly, I don't think the new counter is necessary. I'd be inclined to get some fresh paint on the walls, finish the other projects and get it listed. It sounds like it's already going to be one of the nicer homes on the market in your area. Things like counters and wood versus painted cabintes are personal preferences so I think your better leaving a potential buyer feeling like they have options. Leaving the cabinets as they are would let the buyer choose to paint them if that was their preference (whereas painting them would take away their option of wood).

what kind of shape is the current countertop in? does it need to be replaced or you just don't like the way it looks?

brij2006 · November 2015

@formerlygdaisy09 The counter top is just very dated and dates the kitchen. I feel like if I updated the handles on the cabinets to a more modern style (it's small silver handles now), and updated the counters, it would look a lot more updated and pass as so.

Here's an old picture, but it's closer up. It's a 1970's fake butcher block laminate. So the design in the laminate makes it look like a butcher block, but it's glossy like regular laminate.

Xstatic3333 · November 2015

I think a very light grey is a good way to go. I agree with many PPs about not painting the cabinets; for me, natural wood would be far preferable. For the counters, if your current laminate is in good condition I'd probably leave it and list the house. If the current laminate is cracked, peeling up, etc. that I would go through with the replacement since it can be done so affordably. The one other change mentioned that I would consider trying to DIY is a backsplash.

Congrats to your H on the positive job changes! Sounds like great news for your family.

smetter04 · November 2015

Agreed that if the counter-top is in good condition, I'd leave it. Our house has the same laminate-fake-butcher-block counters, which I'm not a fan of (actually, our cabinets looks like yours, too), but we bought the house anyway because I wasn't going to let a countertop guide my decision. Also since the rest of your house is mostly updated, that's a huge plus for potential buyers. We bought ours with nothing updated, so you're already ahead of the game there. If the kitchen is the biggest/only item a buyer would need to update, it's not so bad.

julieanne912 · November 2015

Light grey would be an awesome idea. I didn't suggest painting only because it sounds like you just did it. But I would put grey everywhere if I had my way haha! It's a popular color right now. A really nice one that looks good in most places is Sherwin Williams Repose Grey.

I'm still all for painting the cabinets, but if you decide not to, updating the hardware and backsplash would go a long way. I do think if you leave the cabinets you should do the counters, or vice versa. The two together are not very attractive at all.

short+sassy · November 2015

Xstatic3333 said:

I think a very light grey is a good way to go. I agree with many PPs about not painting the cabinets; for me, natural wood would be far preferable. For the counters, if your current laminate is in good condition I'd probably leave it and list the house. If the current laminate is cracked, peeling up, etc. that I would go through with the replacement since it can be done so affordably. The one other change mentioned that I would consider trying to DIY is a backsplash.

Congrats to your H on the positive job changes! Sounds like great news for your family.

I agree with all of this, but especially the bolded. I don't think changing out laminate for a more updated looking laminate will make all that much of a difference.

Light gray is the current popular color in the "neutrals" categories and I think it would be a great choice. I had to paint the entire interior of the duplex I recently purchased and did a lot of research on paint colors. I chose a light gray for the whole house, including the kitchens.

hoffse · November 2015

Grey could be good, but try a few samples. The undertones in different greys read very differently in different light. It's kind of a difficult color to nail down. Make sure it compliments the cabinets, which are warm.

I would switch out the counter top. If you can do stock pieces it would cost a few hundred bucks tops, and then you will have an opportunity to marry the paint color with the cabinet color through the counter top pattern.

I would also brighten it up with some colorful fabric or glass jars/crocks or something. Not too much because you don't want it to be cluttered, but a pop of red or blue against grey looks great.

White subway tile backsplash would be less than $100.

I agree that hardware needs to go.

formerlyGDaisy09 · November 2015

brij2006 said:

@formerlygdaisy09 The counter top is just very dated and dates the kitchen. I feel like if I updated the handles on the cabinets to a more modern style (it's small silver handles now), and updated the counters, it would look a lot more updated and pass as so.

Here's an old picture, but it's closer up. It's a 1970's fake butcher block laminate. So the design in the laminate makes it look like a butcher block, but it's glossy like regular laminate.

personally, I'd leave it. when we bought our house I kept saying that the counters were literally the only thing I didn't like, that didn't stop us from making an offer, nor did it impact what we were looking to spend. really, if buyers don't like it, it probably won't imact their decision much...they'll also know that for an easy $200-300 they can pick out their own replacement for the counter. Here's the before of our counter, the finish was actually wearing off the top of it...like I said, it didn't impact our interest in the house or what we were willing to pay, this was as I was prepping it for the faux-granite finish our realtor pointed out we could pick-up at the local paint and decorating store for $75.

Here's the granite finish...I can live with this for another year or two..100% improvement over the red.

julieanne912 · November 2015

formerlyGDaisy09 said:

brij2006 said:

@formerlygdaisy09 The counter top is just very dated and dates the kitchen. I feel like if I updated the handles on the cabinets to a more modern style (it's small silver handles now), and updated the counters, it would look a lot more updated and pass as so.

Here's an old picture, but it's closer up. It's a 1970's fake butcher block laminate. So the design in the laminate makes it look like a butcher block, but it's glossy like regular laminate.

personally, I'd leave it. when we bought our house I kept saying that the counters were literally the only thing I didn't like, that didn't stop us from making an offer, nor did it impact what we were looking to spend. really, if buyers don't like it, it probably won't imact their decision much...they'll also know that for an easy $200-300 they can pick out their own replacement for the counter. Here's the before of our counter, the finish was actually wearing off the top of it...like I said, it didn't impact our interest in the house or what we were willing to pay, this was as I was prepping it for the faux-granite finish our realtor pointed out we could pick-up at the local paint and decorating store for $75.

Here's the granite finish...I can live with this for another year or two..100% improvement over the red.

Just speaking from YEARS of real estate experience, both in selling and being a home stager, many buyers don't think like you do. Here on this board, we're all into saving money when we can, etc. I've had buyers not want to buy a house because they didn't like the paint colors in a few of the rooms, I'm not even kidding. I remember one buyer I had, a younger single woman, think that it would cost her $5,000 to paint a 2 bedroom 1000 sq ft condo.

I took my own husband to look at a short sale that was gorgeous... on 2 acres, had a wraparound porch, mountain views, great location really close to our old house etc. It was priced well below market. He didn't want it because the hardwoods needed to be redone and the whole house needed to be repainted inside and out. Never mind it was literally about $50,000 below market... he was just completely turned off by the (what I considered to be minor) cosmetic work to be done and lost all interest.

formerlyGDaisy09 · November 2015

julieanne912 said:

formerlyGDaisy09 said:

brij2006 said:

@formerlygdaisy09 The counter top is just very dated and dates the kitchen. I feel like if I updated the handles on the cabinets to a more modern style (it's small silver handles now), and updated the counters, it would look a lot more updated and pass as so.

Here's an old picture, but it's closer up. It's a 1970's fake butcher block laminate. So the design in the laminate makes it look like a butcher block, but it's glossy like regular laminate.

personally, I'd leave it. when we bought our house I kept saying that the counters were literally the only thing I didn't like, that didn't stop us from making an offer, nor did it impact what we were looking to spend. really, if buyers don't like it, it probably won't imact their decision much...they'll also know that for an easy $200-300 they can pick out their own replacement for the counter. Here's the before of our counter, the finish was actually wearing off the top of it...like I said, it didn't impact our interest in the house or what we were willing to pay, this was as I was prepping it for the faux-granite finish our realtor pointed out we could pick-up at the local paint and decorating store for $75.

Here's the granite finish...I can live with this for another year or two..100% improvement over the red.

Just speaking from YEARS of real estate experience, both in selling and being a home stager, many buyers don't think like you do. Here on this board, we're all into saving money when we can, etc. I've had buyers not want to buy a house because they didn't like the paint colors in a few of the rooms, I'm not even kidding. I remember one buyer I had, a younger single woman, think that it would cost her $5,000 to paint a 2 bedroom 1000 sq ft condo.

I took my own husband to look at a short sale that was gorgeous... on 2 acres, had a wraparound porch, mountain views, great location really close to our old house etc. It was priced well below market. He didn't want it because the hardwoods needed to be redone and the whole house needed to be repainted inside and out. Never mind it was literally about $50,000 below market... he was just completely turned off by the (what I considered to be minor) cosmetic work to be done and lost all interest.

this is true, but a buyer who would be turned off by laminate butcher block is probably also not going to be thrilled with cheap laminant. wouldn't it be the realtor's job to point out that if they don't like the counter it could easily be replaced with something newer for less than $500? I just think decor things like counters are so preference sensitive (I know there are a few people on this board who hate granite...but that's basically my dream), spending a few hundred to replace something that has nothing functionally wrong with it could be throwing money out the window.

short+sassy · November 2015

hoffse said:

Grey could be good, but try a few samples. The undertones in different greys read very differently in different light. It's kind of a difficult color to nail down. Make sure it compliments the cabinets, which are warm.

I would switch out the counter top. If you can do stock pieces it would cost a few hundred bucks tops, and then you will have an opportunity to marry the paint color with the cabinet color through the counter top pattern.

I would also brighten it up with some colorful fabric or glass jars/crocks or something. Not too much because you don't want it to be cluttered, but a pop of red or blue against grey looks great.

White subway tile backsplash would be less than $100.

I agree that hardware needs to go.

Good point. The gray I chose has a purplish tone in certain lights. And other grays I looked at had other color tones.

julieanne912 · November 2015

formerlyGDaisy09 said:

julieanne912 said:

formerlyGDaisy09 said:

brij2006 said:

@formerlygdaisy09 The counter top is just very dated and dates the kitchen. I feel like if I updated the handles on the cabinets to a more modern style (it's small silver handles now), and updated the counters, it would look a lot more updated and pass as so.

Here's an old picture, but it's closer up. It's a 1970's fake butcher block laminate. So the design in the laminate makes it look like a butcher block, but it's glossy like regular laminate.

personally, I'd leave it. when we bought our house I kept saying that the counters were literally the only thing I didn't like, that didn't stop us from making an offer, nor did it impact what we were looking to spend. really, if buyers don't like it, it probably won't imact their decision much...they'll also know that for an easy $200-300 they can pick out their own replacement for the counter. Here's the before of our counter, the finish was actually wearing off the top of it...like I said, it didn't impact our interest in the house or what we were willing to pay, this was as I was prepping it for the faux-granite finish our realtor pointed out we could pick-up at the local paint and decorating store for $75.

Here's the granite finish...I can live with this for another year or two..100% improvement over the red.

Just speaking from YEARS of real estate experience, both in selling and being a home stager, many buyers don't think like you do. Here on this board, we're all into saving money when we can, etc. I've had buyers not want to buy a house because they didn't like the paint colors in a few of the rooms, I'm not even kidding. I remember one buyer I had, a younger single woman, think that it would cost her $5,000 to paint a 2 bedroom 1000 sq ft condo.

I took my own husband to look at a short sale that was gorgeous... on 2 acres, had a wraparound porch, mountain views, great location really close to our old house etc. It was priced well below market. He didn't want it because the hardwoods needed to be redone and the whole house needed to be repainted inside and out. Never mind it was literally about $50,000 below market... he was just completely turned off by the (what I considered to be minor) cosmetic work to be done and lost all interest.

this is true, but a buyer who would be turned off by laminate butcher block is probably also not going to be thrilled with cheap laminant. wouldn't it be the realtor's job to point out that if they don't like the counter it could easily be replaced with something newer for less than $500? I just think decor things like counters are so preference sensitive (I know there are a few people on this board who hate granite...but that's basically my dream), spending a few hundred to replace something that has nothing functionally wrong with it could be throwing money out the window.

It is, but some buyers don't even believe their realtor, trust me.

jessica490 · November 2015

When we sold our condo, all of the bathroom vanities and kitchen cabinets/counters were the original 80's looking wood with crème colored laminate counters....we thought about updating all that but decided against it because it was a condo, so we just painted pretty colors and re-did all the flooring. When we had showings, no one ever said anything about the lack of updating on the counters/cabinets...maybe they were thinking it but never gave the feedback to our realtor but it sold within a month...I think if you can just dress up the kitchen in other ways you can avoid having to redo all that unless you really want to.

kmurphy2131 · November 2015

We are looking to buy probably this spring or next, and look online at houses all the time. I always say that it either needs to be a great completely updated kitchen, or a completely not updated kitchen so I can justify doing it my way - I wouldn't buy a house that has a partially redone kitchen or that used lower end upgrades because then I couldn't justify redoing it myself, but it wouldn't be what I wanted either. So I wouldn't want to pay extra for a house for new laminate counter tops.

That said, I literally spend 3-4 hours at least twice a week baking and cooking in addition to 30-60min a day cooking/baking. So kitchen is super important to me.

edited because I said it should be be an "ungraded" kitchen instead of not updated. I literally have no idea what that would even mean.

brij2006 · November 2015

Yeah I'm fully aware that most buyers can't look past colors in houses. Us MM girls are a rare breed. ;-)

Our living room also has 2 deep red walls. I'm debating whether or not I need to lighten that up as well. There's going to be quite the projects on our list to get our house ready.

dragonstarjk · November 2015

hoffse said:

Grey could be good, but try a few samples. The undertones in different greys read very differently in different light. It's kind of a difficult color to nail down. Make sure it compliments the cabinets, which are warm.

I would switch out the counter top. If you can do stock pieces it would cost a few hundred bucks tops, and then you will have an opportunity to marry the paint color with the cabinet color through the counter top pattern.

I would also brighten it up with some colorful fabric or glass jars/crocks or something. Not too much because you don't want it to be cluttered, but a pop of red or blue against grey looks great.

White subway tile backsplash would be less than $100.

I agree that hardware needs to go.

Agree with all of these points. If you go grey, I'd try to find something with a warm blue undertone; the cabinets do give off a warm vibe and I think cool grey would clash. Also, if the countertop would only be $200-300 to replace, I'd do it; not because you are going to a nicer material, but because the current countertop doesn't match the cabinets AT ALL and isn't going to look any better after painting. I still think if you do countertops, fresh paint, and fresh hardware, it sounds like you could come in under $1000, and it could be the thing that helps you get the higher end of your asking price.

formerlyGDaisy09 · November 2015

brij2006 said:

Yeah I'm fully aware that most buyers can't look past colors in houses. Us MM girls are a rare breed. ;-)

Our living room also has 2 deep red walls. I'm debating whether or not I need to lighten that up as well. There's going to be quite the projects on our list to get our house ready.

our contractor, who started out as a painter, would probably say this will take 3-4 coats of a good paint+primer to cover, I do think a fresh coat of paint goes a long way in selling a house, even if buyers can look past colors, clean walls that are move-in ready with minimal damage from previous decor are a big plus so you can take your time picking colors after you've moved in.

Xstatic3333 · November 2015

brij2006 said:
Yeah I'm fully aware that most buyers can't look past colors in houses. Us MM girls are a rare breed. ;-)

Our living room also has 2 deep red walls. I'm debating whether or not I need to lighten that up as well. There's going to be quite the projects on our list to get our house ready.

I'd do it. That's a relatively affordable fix to make the place seem like more of a blank slate to buyers.

H and I are constantly pinching ourselves about how lucky we got with our house. It's layout and lot is amazing, and we're pretty sure that if it weren't for the 1970s boomerang laminate counters and ugly yellow backsplash it wouldn't have been in our price range.

simplyelise · November 2015

dragonstarjk said:

hoffse said:

Grey could be good, but try a few samples. The undertones in different greys read very differently in different light. It's kind of a difficult color to nail down. Make sure it compliments the cabinets, which are warm.

I would switch out the counter top. If you can do stock pieces it would cost a few hundred bucks tops, and then you will have an opportunity to marry the paint color with the cabinet color through the counter top pattern.

I would also brighten it up with some colorful fabric or glass jars/crocks or something. Not too much because you don't want it to be cluttered, but a pop of red or blue against grey looks great.

White subway tile backsplash would be less than $100.

I agree that hardware needs to go.

Agree with all of these points. If you go grey, I'd try to find something with a warm blue undertone; the cabinets do give off a warm vibe and I think cool grey would clash. Also, if the countertop would only be $200-300 to replace, I'd do it; not because you are going to a nicer material, but because the current countertop doesn't match the cabinets AT ALL and isn't going to look any better after painting. I still think if you do countertops, fresh paint, and fresh hardware, it sounds like you could come in under $1000, and it could be the thing that helps you get the higher end of your asking price.

I agree. After seeing the second picture, I actually quite like the wood cabinets. But the counter top is definitely out of date. If you could keep it under 1k and get a bit higher price and/or get it sold more quickly, it would be worth it to me to paint the walls and update the counters. Here in non-STL/KC Missouri, your kitchen is right on par with the homes we look at in the 150-175k range. (Just looking for fun of course!) The oven hanging out by itself is not ideal and certainly not something you'd see in the standard Property Brothers kitchen, but you've got a good amount of square footage in there, tons of counter space, and a lot of cabinets.

hoffse · November 2015

simplyelise said:

dragonstarjk said:

hoffse said:

Grey could be good, but try a few samples. The undertones in different greys read very differently in different light. It's kind of a difficult color to nail down. Make sure it compliments the cabinets, which are warm.

I would switch out the counter top. If you can do stock pieces it would cost a few hundred bucks tops, and then you will have an opportunity to marry the paint color with the cabinet color through the counter top pattern.

I would also brighten it up with some colorful fabric or glass jars/crocks or something. Not too much because you don't want it to be cluttered, but a pop of red or blue against grey looks great.

White subway tile backsplash would be less than $100.

I agree that hardware needs to go.

Agree with all of these points. If you go grey, I'd try to find something with a warm blue undertone; the cabinets do give off a warm vibe and I think cool grey would clash. Also, if the countertop would only be $200-300 to replace, I'd do it; not because you are going to a nicer material, but because the current countertop doesn't match the cabinets AT ALL and isn't going to look any better after painting. I still think if you do countertops, fresh paint, and fresh hardware, it sounds like you could come in under $1000, and it could be the thing that helps you get the higher end of your asking price.

I agree. After seeing the second picture, I actually quite like the wood cabinets. But the counter top is definitely out of date. If you could keep it under 1k and get a bit higher price and/or get it sold more quickly, it would be worth it to me to paint the walls and update the counters. Here in non-STL/KC Missouri, your kitchen is right on par with the homes we look at in the 150-175k range. (Just looking for fun of course!) The oven hanging out by itself is not ideal and certainly not something you'd see in the standard Property Brothers kitchen, but you've got a good amount of square footage in there, tons of counter space, and a lot of cabinets.

Agreed - but you see this a lot in Rehab Addict houses (my new love). Somehow she manages to make totally bizarre kitchen layouts work with appliances that just don't fit in old spaces.

@Brij, I would have a lot of fun decorating that kitchen around some of the quirks. I would 100% keep the oven off-set, since the house is an old Victorian.

I've been reading that open floor plans are slowly but surely becoming less popular. After living with an off-set kitchen, I absolutely love it. We are messy cooks, and I think it would stress me out to be able to see a kitchen mess from the living room when we are cooking. I don't think we will be looking for open floor plan in our next house.

julieanne912 · November 2015

hoffse said:

simplyelise said:

dragonstarjk said:

hoffse said:

Grey could be good, but try a few samples. The undertones in different greys read very differently in different light. It's kind of a difficult color to nail down. Make sure it compliments the cabinets, which are warm.

I would switch out the counter top. If you can do stock pieces it would cost a few hundred bucks tops, and then you will have an opportunity to marry the paint color with the cabinet color through the counter top pattern.

I would also brighten it up with some colorful fabric or glass jars/crocks or something. Not too much because you don't want it to be cluttered, but a pop of red or blue against grey looks great.

White subway tile backsplash would be less than $100.

I agree that hardware needs to go.

Agree with all of these points. If you go grey, I'd try to find something with a warm blue undertone; the cabinets do give off a warm vibe and I think cool grey would clash. Also, if the countertop would only be $200-300 to replace, I'd do it; not because you are going to a nicer material, but because the current countertop doesn't match the cabinets AT ALL and isn't going to look any better after painting. I still think if you do countertops, fresh paint, and fresh hardware, it sounds like you could come in under $1000, and it could be the thing that helps you get the higher end of your asking price.

I agree. After seeing the second picture, I actually quite like the wood cabinets. But the counter top is definitely out of date. If you could keep it under 1k and get a bit higher price and/or get it sold more quickly, it would be worth it to me to paint the walls and update the counters. Here in non-STL/KC Missouri, your kitchen is right on par with the homes we look at in the 150-175k range. (Just looking for fun of course!) The oven hanging out by itself is not ideal and certainly not something you'd see in the standard Property Brothers kitchen, but you've got a good amount of square footage in there, tons of counter space, and a lot of cabinets.

Agreed - but you see this a lot in Rehab Addict houses (my new love). Somehow she manages to make totally bizarre kitchen layouts work with appliances that just don't fit in old spaces.

@Brij, I would have a lot of fun decorating that kitchen around some of the quirks. I would 100% keep the oven off-set, since the house is an old Victorian.

I've been reading that open floor plans are slowly but surely becoming less popular. After living with an off-set kitchen, I absolutely love it. We are messy cooks, and I think it would stress me out to be able to see a kitchen mess from the living room when we are cooking. I don't think we will be looking for open floor plan in our next house.

I've got the open floor plan now, and I kind of don't like it. Our last house was open, but had a separate dining "room" (no doors on it, just open doorways), and also had a bar height counter that blocked the view a bit from the living room. Now it's just all one big space and I don't love it. It's great for casual parties because I can use the island to set out all the food but Thanksgiving is making me nervous... just cause everyone can see everything.

brij2006 · November 2015

julieanne912 said:

hoffse said:

simplyelise said:

dragonstarjk said:

hoffse said:

Grey could be good, but try a few samples. The undertones in different greys read very differently in different light. It's kind of a difficult color to nail down. Make sure it compliments the cabinets, which are warm.

I would switch out the counter top. If you can do stock pieces it would cost a few hundred bucks tops, and then you will have an opportunity to marry the paint color with the cabinet color through the counter top pattern.

I would also brighten it up with some colorful fabric or glass jars/crocks or something. Not too much because you don't want it to be cluttered, but a pop of red or blue against grey looks great.

White subway tile backsplash would be less than $100.

I agree that hardware needs to go.

Agree with all of these points. If you go grey, I'd try to find something with a warm blue undertone; the cabinets do give off a warm vibe and I think cool grey would clash. Also, if the countertop would only be $200-300 to replace, I'd do it; not because you are going to a nicer material, but because the current countertop doesn't match the cabinets AT ALL and isn't going to look any better after painting. I still think if you do countertops, fresh paint, and fresh hardware, it sounds like you could come in under $1000, and it could be the thing that helps you get the higher end of your asking price.

I agree. After seeing the second picture, I actually quite like the wood cabinets. But the counter top is definitely out of date. If you could keep it under 1k and get a bit higher price and/or get it sold more quickly, it would be worth it to me to paint the walls and update the counters. Here in non-STL/KC Missouri, your kitchen is right on par with the homes we look at in the 150-175k range. (Just looking for fun of course!) The oven hanging out by itself is not ideal and certainly not something you'd see in the standard Property Brothers kitchen, but you've got a good amount of square footage in there, tons of counter space, and a lot of cabinets.

Agreed - but you see this a lot in Rehab Addict houses (my new love). Somehow she manages to make totally bizarre kitchen layouts work with appliances that just don't fit in old spaces.

@Brij, I would have a lot of fun decorating that kitchen around some of the quirks. I would 100% keep the oven off-set, since the house is an old Victorian.

I've been reading that open floor plans are slowly but surely becoming less popular. After living with an off-set kitchen, I absolutely love it. We are messy cooks, and I think it would stress me out to be able to see a kitchen mess from the living room when we are cooking. I don't think we will be looking for open floor plan in our next house.

I've got the open floor plan now, and I kind of don't like it. Our last house was open, but had a separate dining "room" (no doors on it, just open doorways), and also had a bar height counter that blocked the view a bit from the living room. Now it's just all one big space and I don't love it. It's great for casual parties because I can use the island to set out all the food but Thanksgiving is making me nervous... just cause everyone can see everything.

*SITB****

Oh man, open floor plan kitchens. Hate them! We're actually looking at 2 houses on Saturday. 1 of them has an open floor plan, the other does not. I'm leaning toward the one that doesn't. I want a big kitchen so people can hang out in there, but I love cranking some music on a Saturday morning and cooking breakfast while H plays with DD in the living room. Completely separate from the kitchen.
My kitchen is my domain, but spending time in there baking is also my "me time." So our old Victorian layout works perfect for that, and I'm so afraid to give that up to the new style homes with open floorplans.

cbee817 · November 2015

hoffse said:

simplyelise said:

dragonstarjk said:

hoffse said:

Grey could be good, but try a few samples. The undertones in different greys read very differently in different light. It's kind of a difficult color to nail down. Make sure it compliments the cabinets, which are warm.

I would switch out the counter top. If you can do stock pieces it would cost a few hundred bucks tops, and then you will have an opportunity to marry the paint color with the cabinet color through the counter top pattern.

I would also brighten it up with some colorful fabric or glass jars/crocks or something. Not too much because you don't want it to be cluttered, but a pop of red or blue against grey looks great.

White subway tile backsplash would be less than $100.

I agree that hardware needs to go.

Agree with all of these points. If you go grey, I'd try to find something with a warm blue undertone; the cabinets do give off a warm vibe and I think cool grey would clash. Also, if the countertop would only be $200-300 to replace, I'd do it; not because you are going to a nicer material, but because the current countertop doesn't match the cabinets AT ALL and isn't going to look any better after painting. I still think if you do countertops, fresh paint, and fresh hardware, it sounds like you could come in under $1000, and it could be the thing that helps you get the higher end of your asking price.

I agree. After seeing the second picture, I actually quite like the wood cabinets. But the counter top is definitely out of date. If you could keep it under 1k and get a bit higher price and/or get it sold more quickly, it would be worth it to me to paint the walls and update the counters. Here in non-STL/KC Missouri, your kitchen is right on par with the homes we look at in the 150-175k range. (Just looking for fun of course!) The oven hanging out by itself is not ideal and certainly not something you'd see in the standard Property Brothers kitchen, but you've got a good amount of square footage in there, tons of counter space, and a lot of cabinets.

Agreed - but you see this a lot in Rehab Addict houses (my new love). Somehow she manages to make totally bizarre kitchen layouts work with appliances that just don't fit in old spaces.

@Brij, I would have a lot of fun decorating that kitchen around some of the quirks. I would 100% keep the oven off-set, since the house is an old Victorian.

I've been reading that open floor plans are slowly but surely becoming less popular. After living with an off-set kitchen, I absolutely love it. We are messy cooks, and I think it would stress me out to be able to see a kitchen mess from the living room when we are cooking. I don't think we will be looking for open floor plan in our next house.

This is us exactly! Our house was built in the 1930's and is surprisingly open for an older home, but thankfully I can't see the kitchen from the living room. I always tell DH that I don't want to see a sink full of dirty dishes when I'm sitting on the couch (I'm a neat freak anyway so that rarely happens, but just in case!). I like the separated spaces- less overflow from one room to the other and I feel like our house is more organized because we have designated areas.

We have a chimney in the corner of our kitchen and we just worked around it- the cabinets go up to it on each side and the counter goes around the chimney. We embraced the bump out of that corner and it worked out great. Nicole Curtis is definitely one of my faves- and Chip and Joanna Gaines of course!

simplyelise · November 2015

Add me to the list that doesn't like open floor plans. I'm okay with it being open kitchen/dining or just an eat-in kitchen. But I don't want it open to the living room ever. I actually pretty much hate the current on-trend design style on HGTV, so something a bit more closed off with a decent amount of counter space is great.

I have a friend looking for houses with her husband right now and she is just completely upset that she can't find an HGTV-style home for under 200k. How can she buy a house if it doesn't have a 12'x5' island with quartz countertops and gray-brown wood floors? In reality, that home just doesn't exist here.

lbonga1 · November 2015

I agree with painting, changing the hardware, and the countertops. I wouldn't paint the cabinets. To me they really don't look that out-of-date. Also, we have white painted cabinets in our bathroom right now, and dirt and fingerprints stick to them like crazy. I think the countertops do look out-of-date, and especially if you decide to paint the kitchen a light grey, they would not match at all.

Btw, I took a look at the Sherwin-Williams website when @julianne912 mentioned that grey color, and it looks like they have a 30% coupon running through the 30th!

brij2006 · November 2015

Thank you everyone! Our realtor is coming Saturday to give us some advice on things to fix/update before listing, along with an idea on listing price. So I'm definitely going to purge the room a bit and then ask her about the updates as well.

vlagrl29 · November 2015

simplyelise said:

Add me to the list that doesn't like open floor plans. I'm okay with it being open kitchen/dining or just an eat-in kitchen. But I don't want it open to the living room ever. I actually pretty much hate the current on-trend design style on HGTV, so something a bit more closed off with a decent amount of counter space is great.

I have a friend looking for houses with her husband right now and she is just completely upset that she can't find an HGTV-style home for under 200k. How can she buy a house if it doesn't have a 12'x5' island with quartz countertops and gray-brown wood floors? In reality, that home just doesn't exist here.

Houses here that do have those open floor plans are around $350k. I personally love them. One day way into the future when we buy a new house that's what I'm going for.

Xstatic3333 · November 2015

vlagrl29 said:

simplyelise said:

Add me to the list that doesn't like open floor plans. I'm okay with it being open kitchen/dining or just an eat-in kitchen. But I don't want it open to the living room ever. I actually pretty much hate the current on-trend design style on HGTV, so something a bit more closed off with a decent amount of counter space is great.

I have a friend looking for houses with her husband right now and she is just completely upset that she can't find an HGTV-style home for under 200k. How can she buy a house if it doesn't have a 12'x5' island with quartz countertops and gray-brown wood floors? In reality, that home just doesn't exist here.

Houses here that do have those open floor plans are around $350k. I personally love them. One day way into the future when we buy a new house that's what I'm going for.

I think there's a happy medium for floor plans. Our house is pretty open; wide doorways, no real hallways, etc. However, a bar separates the kitchen from the sitting room and a double fireplace separates the sitting and living rooms. The dining room is set off by wide, arched doorways. I love our layout, but one gigantic room with no divisions would be a bit much for me.

ETA H and I have a running joke when we watch HGTV renovation shows. One of us always says "Hmmm, maybe they should try something different this time, open up the kitchen to the living room and add an island."

To update kitchen, or not to update kitchen?

Re: To update kitchen, or not to update kitchen?

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