R.I.P Walk-in Closet

Booooo.  This is the part of the project where we have to be super duper honest about our DIY capabilities and/or willingness to have strangers tearing down walls in our bedroom and kitchen.

Let me back up...

The pantry/closet is just off the kitchen.  The "R" is the refrigerator.  

Our pantry is essentially a square.  Currently, our closet juts in on the left side of the pantry, making the pantry an L-shape (see super helpful diagram, above).  Knocking down the two walls that make up the closet would create a giant, square room with two doors--the closet door and the door to the pantry.  The plan was then to frame in the door to the kitchen, put cabinets, etc. on that new wall, and have a glorious walk-in closet.

Here are the drawings that Jose created for us:

The pantry door is currently behind the fridge.

Another angle.

But then we got nervous for about a thousand reasons, a few of which are below:

THAT CORNER: It's really tight in there with a hulking fridge and a sink and a dishwasher.  There were three options:

• Layout as above: If someone is standing at the sink, there's only 12" clearance before the handles to the fridge.  That means the person standing at the sink would have to move (or suck in his/her gut) for someone else to get into the fridge.  Dinner prep and cleanup is pretty dynamic around here (e.g., Drew starts to cook while I do stray dishes, I pack up leftovers while Drew does the dishes, etc.) so that was going to be awkward. 
• Switch the dishwasher and fridge: We tried putting the refrigerator where the dishwasher is and putting the dishwasher where the refrigerator is, but then the dishwasher is behind you as you stand at the sink.  I had fears that one of us would end up like Zach Braff's mother in Garden State, who fell over an open dishwasher and got paralyzed (yep, I remember all the worrisome things from all the movies).  Also, it would make dishes awkward because you can't have the dishwasher open while you're at the sink, and that's how you do dishes (at least that's how I do dishes).  It also closed off the space considerably to have a giant hulking fridge right next to the door.  Not functional or visually pleasing? Nope. 
• Corner sink: We also thought about putting in a corner cabinet and having the sink in the corner.  That's the way our upstairs neighbor has it and it looks great.  She hates the layout though, because she bangs her elbow on the fridge all the time while she's doing dishes.  Cue Drew standing at the sink and flapping his arms (think: chicken dance) and saying "See? I can't do this if the sink is here! I have to be able to do this!"  So silly.  Really though, we are two differently sized people and we both need to be able to use the sink without injury.  I don't want poor Drew banging his elbow on something for our entire stay in this house.  The corner sink was a no-go.  

None of the three plans gave us a layout that we were happy with.  I am not knocking down walls for something that makes the kitchen less functional than it was to begin with.  

THE PANTRY:  Pantries are, in fact, a selling point for houses around here.  Almost all the condos we looked at had them, and people like them.  When they're nice, they lend a bit of old-world charm to kitchens.  Our pantry isn't in great condition (and the giant fridge takes up way too much space), but with a little TLC it could be a great little space.  We don't eat a ton of packaged food, so our pantry is full of stuff like a dustbuster and laundry supplies, but other people fill pantries like it's their job and our future buyer might be a spam-aholic or make his own preserves or something.  Furthermore, this house is over 100 years old and it feels a little ... something ... to replace a feature of the house that's been here forever (and stored lots of food for lots of families throughout the years) with a walk-in closet.  Call me sentimental, but I would feel a little bit guilty about somehow "defacing" the house so that I could store my shoe collection more neatly.  I fell in love with our pantry while we were thinking of tearing it out, so I'd rather hold onto it and keep the kitchen layout functional than get rid of it and take away Drew's ability to flap his arms like a chicken while doing the dishes.  

ELECTRICITY:  On the more practical side, knocking down the closet walls and building a new wall across the doorway would have involved lots of moving electricity.  There is a plug in the pantry on that wall and there is no electrical anywhere near the wall we would need to build (which we would need to add to plug the fridge in).  This would have involved significant work by an electrician (No, I will not take my chances DIYing electricity, thankyouverymuch).  Electricians cost money.

THE GREAT UNKNOWNS:  When you start knocking down walls in 100-year-old houses, you find weird stuff.  Mold?  Pests?  Dead bodies?  Plumbing/electrical/gas lines you didn't know existed there? Anything could happen.  'Nuff said. 

THE COST:  Because of the electrical issues and the great unknowns, it's likely we would have had to call in the experts to help with this part of the project.  We understand that every home repair project ends up costing more (in money or gray hairs) than planned, but we were nervous about starting at the top of our budget to begin with.  

THE TIME:  Our bedroom and our kitchen are two rooms we use a whole heck of a lot.  Maybe this whole thing could be done in two days while we're at work and it would have been just peachy, but maybe the great unknowns would cause delay and we'd be sleeping under a fine coat of plaster dust for a month.  If we decided to DIY the whole thing (other than the electrical), we would absolutely be sleeping under a fine coat of plaster dust because we both work full time and it would have taken FOR. EV. ER.  

All that stuff factored in, but the real concern was that we were about to spend time and money on a kitchen that wasn't functional.  Function is the name of the game when you're cooking, so it wasn't going to be worth it.  

So, we've retooled the plans.  We're keeping the pantry and the layout almost the same as they are now.  I handed this drawing to Jose, who was impressed with my mad drawing skillz and asked me what I did for a living.  I told him I was an attorney and he told me I had a real future as an artist, should I decide to pursue a Plan B.  I'm not sure there's a living to be made drawing cartoonish representations of pretend kitchens, but I'll take my compliments where I can.  I also made sure our friend the wooden chicken made it onto the open shelving, obviously.

The two changes we're making are (1) scooting the stove to within 18" of the wall and (2) inserting a smaller sink cabinet.  Moving the stove allows for a long stretch of counter space to the left of the stove.  The stove is currently centered, with 36" of counter on each side.  36" isn't big enough for two people to stand side-by-side and it's not really big enough for one person to do any serious prep work either.  We're also putting in a smaller, deeper sink to replace the shallow double bowl monstrosity we have now.  Don't worry - Drew stood 15" from the wall (which is, in theory, where the new sink drain will go) and was happy with his arm-flapping capabilities.  Otherwise, we've got our open shelving (yay!) and we'll be able to put a little love into the pantry (and get a fridge that isn't as big as a space ship) with all the money we save not changing the layout.  Here are the new color elevations:

So much glorious counter space on the left!

The left cabinet overlaps the trim by 1" so we're changing out the 24"
cabinet (pictured) for a 21" cabinet.

Also, there is definitely not a window right there - that's the bathroom.  

We had to buy two more "cabinets" to get the super deal on the Woodmark cabinets,
so we bought two wine racks (they were the cheapest option).
We're not sure they'll go right there, but now we'll have approximately a
thousand bottles of wine for when y'all come visit!

So that's that.  We're both feeling better about the plan and like it will be a more manageable project.  We'll have to buy a wardrobe so poor Drew can move his clothes out of the guest room, but we can do that.  We are headed to Home Depot to sign final papers tonight, and the cabinets should come in about three weeks!  So exciting!

Happy Friday!