Adel MB in 60 sq. ft.

KnitDragon · Nov 4th, 06, 6:21 pm

We're starting with a 8'1" by 7'7" (60.7 sq. ft.) galley kitchen with one doorway, no windows, and a pass-through/ventilation-type thing on the south wall (the right side in all of my images). Why remodel? Although the amount of cabinet space is decent for the size of the place, it's rather difficult to cook in. Here is the original floorplan (more or less):

There is a total of 12 sq. ft. of countertop broken up into one 12", two 18", and one 24" chunk, so there's no good place to put a cookie sheet or anything else. In addition to being extremely small, I find it hideous. Everything is terribly cheap and of generally mediocre quality, which I attribute to the fact that the building was originally built as cheap rental apartments 16 years ago (and I think the appliances were used when they went in). I was never excited about the kitchen, but one day this past spring, I came home to find that the contents of my pantry had ejected themselves onto the floor. After cleaning all the broken glass, pasta sauce, honey, and salsa off the tile, I discovered that the top shelf had collapsed and set off a chain reaction with the shelves below. This was the last straw. It was time to start planning.

Here is the layout I came up with using Adel Medium Brown:

In the 3-D views I has to delete the cabinets on one side or the other because they blocked the view. The gaps on either side of the microwave cabinet will have filler, but I couldn't get it to show up in the planner. I'm a bit concerned about having so little space on either side of the range, but that's the only way I could get the 36" wide fridge and large expanse of countertop I want.

The plan:
Base cabinets: one 18" 3-drawer, one 36" sink base, and two 36" full-height door cabinets, plinth around the bottoms.
Wall cabinets: one 36"x24" over the fridge, two 25" corners, one 36"x39", one 30"x24" over the microwave/hood, and two 36"x30" over the sink and dishwasher, deco strips on the bottoms.
Appliances: new stainless range, microhood combination, & 36" counter depth fridge, old dishwasher
Countertop: granite, if I can find any that I can afford
Keep the tiled floors (for now, anyway), some kind of tiles on the wall

The goal: Get all of this done under $10,000. Realistic? Probably not, but it's a goal nonetheless.

And now, on to IKEA before the 24-month free financing is over!

**DesignDiva** · Nov 4th, 06, 7:57 pm

Hi knitdragon and welcome!

Makes you wonder what was going through some people's minds when they decided to build a kitchen in what is essentially a closet, or a hallway! Bizarre.

I think you could probably cut your sinkbase down to 30 or even 24 inches if you wanted to gain a bit more base cabinet space. That might allow you to use the 37 inch corner cabinet with the lazy susan (or the 36" base cabinet as a blind corner with the Lee Valley unit) and make that stove wall a little more functional. Or, you could go with a bigger range! They come 36 inches wide and if you're not using the space for anything else, go for the bigger one. You can get larger OTR microwaves to match.

You might want to go with a shorter cabinet over the sink, to give yourself a little headroom.

KnitDragon · Nov 5th, 06, 10:44 am

Thanks for the tips Eva!

I did quickly realize that the standard IKEA cabinets would work much better with a 24" sink, but I am still wary of my dishwasher and would be lost without a double bowl sink. So my design solution isn't perfect, but I think it will allow me to get everything I want in there.

Extra headroom over the sink... I'll have to think some more about that one.

I'mplanning on two 36" blind corners. To the left of the range I'll use the Lee Valley unit (which is in the mail right now - I can't wait for it to arrive!) since 18" of my 36" cabinet will be visible.

Theother corneris going to be a bit unusual. (This is where my boyfriend looks concerned, says "I hope you know what you're doing" and removes himself from the discussion.) Immediately to the right of the range there will be a 6-8" pull-out unit. Then there will be a few inches of filler to allow for door handle clearance. In the cornerwill be another 36" unit, but only 12" of it will be visible so I'll order an extra 12" door. Then, to make the cabinet more functional, I'll have some 10" by 20" by 4" boxes made with casters on the bottoms so I can slide the boxes out whenever I need to access anything in the blind corner.Thisworks beautifully in my head, and I see no reason it won't work in real life.

KnitDragon · Nov 5th, 06, 10:50 am

Here are pictures of the kitchen taken from the hallway:

KnitDragon · Nov 5th, 06, 9:37 pm

The cabinets are here! In a mad dash to get them purchased by the end of November 5, we first tried the Bolingbrook IKEA. Alas, they did not have enough doors. So then it was on to Schaumburg . With my stock number inventory in hand the ordering process took about 10-15 minutes. The order was put together and ready to take home within 30 minutes after we paid for it. (I think the checkout time was the longest part!)

The whole order is shown below (currently in my dining room). All in all, it was not as large as I expected it to be for 4 base cabinets and 7 wall cabinets. Still, it was waytoo much for my car. Keli at Bolingbrook estimated about $200 for delivery, so we opted to rent a van from the Enterprise at the Schaumburg location. It was only $36 for just under 2 hours, so it was quite a deal compared to the delivery service. (Of course, this is only an option if you have someone willing and able to lift all those 60+ lb. boxes.)

Now, all I have to do is rip out the old cabinets and countertop, buy a new countertop and new appliances, put together and install the cabinets, have the new counter installed, figure out what to do about the walls and the lighting... And to think I wondered why my friends disappeared forthree months when they redid their IKEA kitchen earlier this year.