Small kitchen becomes heart of a home

A family of six make the decision to improve rather than move and this involved knocking down walls to enlarge a small kitchen into an open plan space that includes a family room. If you are planning to extend or renovation your kitchen - this is a must read. 

 

Taryn Hayes and her family wanted to sell up and move, but with house prices being too expensive, they decided to improve and update their existing home until prices stabilised. With a little wriggle room in the bond the starting point for their home renovation was the kitchen.

The existing kitchen had served the family well over the years, but this family of 6 definitely needed more space to move around.

Taryn home schools her children and school activities are not confined to a single room in the home, and the decision was made to knock down the wall between the kitchen and family room to provide a more open plan and larger area.

The laundry / scullery is positioned just off the main kitchen. The space offers enough room for a large washing machine and tumble drier, and plenty of storage space, but take a look below to see how this room was transformed.

For the kitchen renovation Taryn contracted Jeremy Louw and his team. Reasonably priced and willing to accommodate along the way, Taryn was very impressed with his work ethic and the workmanship of the completed renovation. The first step was to rip out all the old cabinets and fittings, so be prepared to be without a kitchen for a couple of days if you are thinking of doing your own kitchen renovation!

If your kitchen cabinets are still in good condition, rather than relegate these for the trash heap, have the cabinets taken apart so that they can be sold and re-used. There are plenty of homeowners who would love the chance to be able to buy secondhand cabinets that are still in good condition.

The next step in the renovation process was to knock down the walls between the kitchen and entrance and those separating the kitchen and family room.

Knocking down walls means plenty of mess, with dust just about everywhere. Taryn and her kids moved out to her folks for the week, but hubby stayed behind.

Although you can see that plastic has been placed to cover open doorways (below), Taryn advised that the guys originally forgot to cover open doors and ended up with a layer of dust everywhere. But the good news was that Jeremy arranged to have everything cleaned... at no cost.

Any renovation that requires chasing out with an angle grinder for new pipework, etc., is messy. I recently completed a couple of tiling projects where tiles were removed from the walls, so any methods to contain the dust can save you on a big clean-up at the end. Cover large furniture with drop cloths and put electronic equipment out of the way where it won't be damaged by dust.

Since the original kitchen design was being completely altered and the kitchen occupying a much larger space, electrical conduits and plumbing needed to be moved and re-routed. Over and above the cost for new cabinets, this usually takes a large chunk of the expense, which is why it is a good idea to try to renovate around the existing electrical and plumbing points if possible.

The new kitchen cabinets were supplied by Rock on Wood. "We had a small hiccup or two, but nothing that wasn’t sorted out pronto. Thanks to Colin and his team from Rock on Wood, we had an awesome design and all these little extras that Colin insisted I had to have but managed to fit into our budget," Taryn said.

"When we decided to take the plunge and renovate our kitchen, removing walls and creating large gaps in the flooring, we realised that a complete re-flooring would need to be done. We made the choice to go with vinyl floors. Vinyl? Yes, vinyl. As in the same stuff as mama’s 80s Novilon floors, but then, so not the same. No curling edges or stain-easy sections.. Instead we get beautiful wood-like flooring that is warm underfoot, stain-resistant, waterproof and did I say beautiful?"

To ensure a smooth finish, the floor was carefully screeded with a self-levelling screed. After screeding came a very  fine sanding job done with a stone. This creates a ton of dust, but every day the guys swept up beautifully.

The original hole-in-the-wall breakfast nook was now a full-on kitchen island with plenty of seating for the entire family, thanks to knocking down the walls that limited the area space in the original kitchen.

When deciding on the kitchen splashback Taryn wanted tiles but just couldn't find anything she liked. After much discussion and plenty of searching Taryn stumbled across the beautiful brick tiles that add a warm, natural touch to the kitchen.

If you wish to get in touch with Taryn regarding here kitchen renovation, you can contact her at www.hayesfamily.co.za/blog/contact.