Friends, it’s time to say goodbye to a companion I’ve been close to for over 13 years. My kitchen.
The kitchen at Glover Gardens is about to be dismantled and remade into something that fits our lives far better than its galley-shaped, 1990s-pink-countered, pickled wood-cabineted, white ceramic-tiled current self.
A blended family circa 2008, we redid just about everything else in what had been the Grill-Meister’s house with his son, now my ‘bonus son’, AKA the Best Eater here in the blog. My son, the Musical Millennial, and I were welcomed with open arms, and the house became a home for all of us as together we picked paint colors, collaborated on designs for the new game room, outdoor kitchen and pool, and updated carpets and floors. But we ran out of mojo, or money, or both, and never got around to doing much in the kitchen other than a few minor cosmetics right when my son and I moved in after the wedding: the mocha wall paint, new light fixtures and custom curtains designed by my aunt. The kitchen didn’t have ‘good bones’ and I didn’t just want to do any more of a facelift by spending money on new flooring, cabinets and tile without changing its footprint – and usability.
This Glover Gardens kitchen remodel has been so long in coming that some other rooms here at Glover Gardens have been redone twice since we combined our families into one. Both boys’ rooms were done back in the days of ‘early our marriage’, and we waited at least a day or two after their college graduations to retake that real estate and remake those rooms into an office and a studio. I haven’t shared those pics with y’all yet, and should. They are fun rooms.
But this remodel is the BIG one. BIG BIG BIG. We’re going from tight, somewhat closed-in spaces to something a little more open, although we have to work around a stairway that divides the kitchen from the breakfast room.
Friends and family have been urging us to do this for years. Years. “Kim, this isn’t a kitchen for a foodie” said one. She was right! I was willing to wait, though, until the time was right, and the new kitchen will be all the sweeter for that waiting. My food pictures won’t have rose-colored or white tile with dirt-colored grout any more! There will be many more spots for staging food shots and recipe-based blog posts. Entertaining will be much easier in terms of flow and places to put different courses.
I am JAZZED! And ready to share this journey with you, starting with the “before” pictures, taken just last weekend during our last time to host family before “the siege” (the demolition stage).
Not a lot of space by the stove; the stairs are on the right and their wall makes the room feel cramped; the whole section with the stove and the pantry behind it will be removed to open the living room and bar to the kitchen 
Check out how close the dishwasher is to the island; you can’t have the dishwasher door open and walk freely past it 
The breakfast room is on the other side of the stairs 
It looks out to the patio and pool 
We love the antique table in the breakfast room and will refinish it and keep it; the pie safe will move upstairs 
The space under the stairs (on the right) is a Harry Potter-like cave; that water cooler will move into the laundry room 
It’s a choppy transition from breakfast room to kitchen 
And you can’t really see the person cooking at the stove from the breakfast room because of the wall 
We have stuff along the walls because there isn’t a good spot for it 
The living room looks into the breakfast room, and also has a bar; behind the bar is the (very messy) pantry 
It’s a choppy transition between the living room and breakfast room; sounds carry because of the opening, but they are still like separate rooms 
The bar looks a lot better when the pantry door is closed; that whole wall will be removed 
The butler’s pantry will become the pantry 
It leads to the dining room, where we are busily storing items from the other rooms to get ready for the demolition phase 
The broom closet on this side will become cabinets for small appliances, like the toaster oven 
The laundry room and cat haven will also get a refresh
So there you have it, friends of Glover Gardens. We are about to have a huge disruption, followed by a big improvement. Will you accompany us through the process?
In closing, I have to admit that I feel a little sentimental about this old pink kitchen. She has been good to us, in her way. We’ve had many, many marvelous parties and family gatherings, and much bonding over nutmeg, turkey skin and sweet potato biscuits. I’ll share some pics from some of those good times during “the siege,” as we’re calling the demolition and remodeling, when we won’t be able to cook and will have a huge dust storm and a couple of freaked-out cats. Please humor me in the nostalgia as we move forward to the future of better kitchen days.
Have you done a kitchen remodel? We’d love to hear your stories. We’re all about the stories here at Glover Gardens.
This post is part of the Glover Gardens Kitchen Remodel Series. To see the rest of the chapters, click here.
© 2021, Glover Gardens
The siege hasn’t even started yet, and I’m ready for it to be over!
Same here!!!!
Lest someone think this is a bored reader (as did I, at first blush), I’m sharing that this comment was from the other inhabitant of this empty nest, the Grill-Meister himself. He says he hates moving, and that this process has all the hallmarks of that one. I told him that I need his A-game for the siege, and he got in line with the plan. 😊
Oops, forgot to login when I made that comment…..now that the siege has started, I’ve realized I’m okay with it after the third Glenlivet….
I can’t wait to see the finished product bc I fully expect to have a major case of #kitchenenvy. Knowing you and Tom, I know it will be incredible. 😀
How sweet you are! I have patio / outdoor kitchen envy from your lovely remodel picsl Got green sauce?
Wanna 8 burner, griddle, grill with two ovens and a couple of warming drawers? It’s French and it’s blue.
Yes! It won’t fit in the new Glover Gardens kitchen, but I want it anyway… 🙂 My next house, if I should be so lucky, will either be in Tuscany or the south of France, and that stove would be perfect, LOL!
I like that the kitchen had something old, something new.
I’m looking at pix on my phone, squinting thru my “drugstore specs”, so tomorrow I’ll be inspecting it on the big screen.
It reminds me of my Nana’s kitchen in Vt. Woody, warm, full of love and good vibes. Crowded, noisy. When you walked in her back door, the Pine Room was to your left (aka now a Media Room-ugh) then on to a narrow long kitchen, way too small for her family. But attached was the Nook. All wood, long high backed benches on each side, built ins. Under butts on the benches were jigsaws, games, coloring books, jacks, marbles, etc.
Three walls were all windows looking at her dry stone walls, her cut flower beds, fruit trees, and her bird feeders. Past them was her huge veggie garden, pool and a big pond.
Tangentialing is a side effect, annoying but somewhat endearing, of my doddering towards 70. Forgive me.
I'll be waiting for you to regale us with the infuriating delays, back ordering, the 5 trilliin decisions you make, and lying in bed saying, "Why oh why did we start this? Let's just burn it & start over!"My only experience with that is our rebuild after Katrina. That is a story for another day.
Oh, who am I kidding, it’s more like the Iliad and the Odyssey, War & Peace and Gone With The Wind!!
Good times Kim, good times.
Let me know if you plan on Labor Day visit, I’m aiming for meeting a new friend. Even this introvert is getting a little hinkey, and hubby who usually works in his shop is inside due to heat.
Calgon, get me the hell outta here!
You call it tangentialing, I call it three stories in one! I love the mental images of your grandmother’s kitchen. It’s so interesting how those memories last a lifetime… I bet you could name the games that were in the window seats, and recall playing them with your cousins. Grandchildren are another driver for this kitchen remodel… I have visions of little ones lined up on bar stools at the new island, eating their sweet potato biscuits with butter dripping down their chins just like at my grandmother’s house.
But I digress… yes, the Labor Day visit is on, and we must meet! I have an aging email draft half-written to confirm – you know what a tardy correspondent I am. I will hit Send soon, I promise, and also look forward to having a new friend.
If you ever want to be a guest blogger, let me know. You have a way with a word or two. 😊
I feel we have to face the same challenge, as everything is showing it’s age from our last revamp c2009. I just can quite face it yet …
I bet your c2009 kitchen could win awards from Architectural Digest compared to our 1993 one! But I also am cheering for you to gin up the strength to do what needs to be done. 😀😀