Kitchen Inspiration

I've been stalking kitchen blogs for months now, trying to figure out exactly what elements to put in our kitchen.  Sherry and John over at Young House Love are redoing their kitchen and are putting in a range hood and open shelving above their stove kind of like this: 

I don't know who took this photo, but I found it here. 

Swoon, right?  It's not like our kitchen will ever look this good (hello huge island, exposed beams, giant window, etc.) but I really liked the look.  Drew agreed.  He thought it looked "hip," which we strive for (and fall short of) on a daily basis around here.

We wandered into Home Depot's kitchen department (and by "wandered in" I mean I steered us there on a mission) and met Jose, a kitchen designer there.  He told me that open shelving and range hoods are very "in" right now.  He proceeded to show us a million design magazines that featured the same setup and I became convinced that I was ultra-fashionable (or at least that Young House Love was).  Jose did a mockup of our kitchen with new cabinets and the open shelving/hood combo near the stove and away we went.

Then I started thinking.  We are doing this renovation so we can get more enjoyment and functionality out of the space, but we also want to increase the value of our home (or at least not have people walk in and say, "omigosh I could never live with that").  Some people (the kind folks at Young House Love included) make a very powerful case for open shelving near a stove, saying that if you have a good hood, only keep frequently used stuff on the shelves, and dust every now and again, you'll be fine.  But what if most people felt differently?  I turned to trusty old google and found that open shelving near a stove is a love/hate thing - about 50% of people who posted on the subject were all hot and bothered and adamantly against the idea and the other 50% passionately defended it.

After a brief discussion, we jettisoned the idea.  If we had been head-over-heels in love with the open shelving/range hood idea, we would have done it and hoped that a buyer from the 50% of people who love open shelving would scoop up our little house.  But we weren't in love enough to take the plunge. I also hate the idea of having to climb onto the counter to wipe a potential grease/dust combo off of something that hasn't been used in awhile.

Furthermore, after more discussion with our upstairs neighbor, we found out that none of the ranges are actually vented to the outside in this little house of ours.  Nope!  They blow right into the room.  Super odd, but whatever.  Decision made.  The over-range microwave will stay, venting its little heart out into the center of the kitchen.  (Note to self: Do not turn on the vent in case of a stove fire).

Here's what we're thinking now:

I am relatively proud of the top drawing.  Not the bottom one, though.
My sixth grade art teacher would kill me for my terrible perspective. 

Scooting the stove over to the right (from its current spot in the center of the wall) will give us more usable counter space and cabinetry on the left.  Those of you who can decipher the ill-conceived drawing in the lower right-hand corner will see that the idea of open shelving has survived, albeit in a cleaner area of the kitchen.  I figure we can keep our plates and mugs and mixing bowls and other lovely items on those shelves.  There will be plenty of closed storage in the stove area for the ugly stuff.   We may also throw a corner cabinet in there and bridge the spaces between the fridge and cabinet and between the cabinet and wall with open shelving.  Other inspiration photos are below:

Photo Credit

Photo Credit

Photo Credit

So that's that for now!  We have an appointment with Jose, who I will tell you lots more about, tomorrow.  In the meantime, I'm enjoying a lazy day at home, drinking tea and watching the snow fall!  Happy Saturday, everyone!