Why Not Move the Refrigerator?

Doorway from hall to kitchen

After my friend had put up studs, hung drywall, and plastered, oops, I mean finished the drywall, I felt the old doorway from the kitchen into the hall was redundant.

I measured the refrigerator and guess what? 

I bet you've already figured it out.

The opening between the end of the base cabinet and the wall was about 6 inches bigger than the refrigerator! I was ecstatic!!

So, I disconnected the ice maker and moved the refrigerator to the other side of the kitchen. By myself. After working all day. Sometimes I just become possessed with an overwhelming desire to DO something.

Kitchen on the right with 'fridge in original location. Note the cute little shelf on the left.

Kitchen w/o 'fridge.

Here is the kitchen without the refrigerator. Except for the stuff piled all over the stove and counter it looks bigger already. 

I do like the white cabinets and the crown molding around the top. Please take special note of the last half of that sentence.


 
 In the garage I had stored a kitchen hutch. It had fit perfectly in the eat-in kitchen at my previous rental house. 

My philosophy when I moved was to keep everything, store it in the garage, and as I settled in and renovated rooms add pieces and sell the rest.

PS That painted wall is Holmes Cream. Not Pink!


So, I wrestled the hutch into the kitchen and was in for a shock! As any fool can plainly see, it was going to be too tall to fit under the little cabinet on the wall. Grrr.
 

Well, it was time to learn a new skill: removing a kitchen cabinet. It was as simple as taking off the doors, and then unscrewing the four long screws that held it to the wall.


Once the cabinet (and the crown molding) was removed the hutch slid easily into place.


I tried very hard to reinstall the crown molding, but after hours of frustration I gave up. It was not a good feeling to admit defeat. The only consoling thought was that I do want to replace the upper cupboards--one day. And for now it can be dressed up with fake ivy, although I'm sure that's a decorating no-no.

This inexpensive hutch gives me the cottage-y look I love.

Here's the finished re-configured kitchen.

Refrigerator on the left and nearly flush with the base cabinets. This was achieved by backing it into the old opening from the kitchen into the hall.


Cute cottage-y hutch on the right is filled with things that mean a lot to me and that I love.

Ta-da. All done. Well, almost. Did I hear someone inquire as to what happened to the back of the refrigerator--which is now facing the opening in the hall? Funny you should ask. Below you will see the back of the refrigerator, which will eventually be covered with paneling.



 

Remember the cute little shelf from the picture above? Well, it's not cute anymore since I ripped it out.








Here's the hall with a skeleton made of 1 x 2s fastened to the studs and header of the opening. This will give me something to attach the sheet of bead board (imagine that) paneling.

I lived with things looking like this for quite a while.

So here is where I leave you to ponder what will happen next.

Stayed tuned!

I wonder what's behind the drywall...

I fail to understand why anyone would design a kitchen which was connected to the dining area only by a pass through and a door way into a hall. It made the hall balanced and symmetrical, but isolated me in the kitchen when I was cooking. Not fun.

The ledge wasn't wide enough to put anything significant on and it certainly wasn't wide enough to use as a breakfast bar.

Day after day I longed to poke a hole in the drywall, on the kitchen side, and have a little look 'round.

Day after day I chickened out and played my favorite game: What If.

What If I poked a hole in the wall and encountered a sewer pipe? 

What if I poked a hole in the wall and encountered electrical wiring?

Who was going to patch up that hole? 

Certainly not me. I didn't know how. In college we had always used wet toilet paper to patch holes in our dorm room walls. And I certainly wasn't going to repeat those shenanigans!

All I had to do was make the merest suggestion to my friends who were doing the tile work and BOOM!

First a look-about hole. We looked about and guess what? No wires. No plumbing. Nothing. Zip. Zero. 

Watching my friend have all that hammer whacking, drywall destroying fun must have been what whet my appetite for M.O.R.E. That coupled with ripping up carpet, prying up tack strips and chiseling up 100 tiles, I was hooked. The demo and remodel bug got me. Well, at least the demo part.

At first I just envisioned a doorway/opening into the dining area. 

But the wheels they keep on turning. Day and night.

I think my friends began to worry that I might just keep demo-ing things and never quite getting around to fixing them back up. 

I've seen houses like that. 

One can get used to living in chaos.

A friend suggested DIY and remodeling blogs like Green Seed Creations and The Lettered Cottage, etc. They were awesome! They filled me ideas and inspiration. While at work I longed to be at home with a hammer, my "Red Devil" tool, and the Robo-grip pliers.

After the wall was opened up I was able to enjoy that wonderful transitional look of unfinished projects until a very kind friend came and put up studs to make the opening not quite so wide, hung drywall (I think I helped), and even plastered over it.  Recently I was informed that is it not called "plastering" it is called "drywall finishing." Okay. That's good information. 







Sorry, can't show you the finished wall unless I show you what having that unfinished wall led to.

So, up next: Why Not Move the Refrigerator?