Should I stay or Should I go?

9/20/2017

There are many things I love about this house, but the kitchen is last on the list. It's a dark and narrow forgotten room at the back of the house. There was only one entrance into the space and you would walk around a gigantic double-sided chimney to get to the sink. To be fair - the whole house was dark until we cut back a lot of the overgrowth around the house. But the kitchen didn't improve that much as far as natural light goes. Originally - my plan was just to open up another doorway on the left side of the fireplace so you would have two entrances into the kitchen - essentially giving you the ability to walk around the giant chimney. But the more I considered it, the more I just wanted to knock down the chimney.

This is the first of many decisions that are swayed by money. This chimney is huge and has 4 fireboxes. So it’s going to cost thousands of dollars to remove and we have a very tight budget for this renovation. Never the less, the plan was to knock it down. That is until Paul started demolishing the kitchen and actually opened up the wall to the left of the dining room fireplace. Now it actually feels much more open and bright. I'm torn! On one hand - I would love a big open kitchen. On the other hand - the fireplace feels charming. Decisions decisions...

18 Comments

Alyssa

9/20/2017 11:51:43 am

So if you save the chimney you lose the island, no? I kind of love the chimney but an island is so nice too! What could you do with the savings? :)

Jess

9/20/2017 12:56:47 pm

Right now the savings likely would go towards a new water line! ;-)

Claire

9/20/2017 12:33:05 pm

Tough call! I can see the appeal of keeping the chimney but having it open and the additional seating is a hard toss up. Is the plan to have an actual dining room or are you hoping to make it more of a kitchen/family room space? I'm just in the middle of an install where the chimney didn't have any actual fireplaces, just for the furnace. Gave her multiple options keeping the chimney, incorporating it into the island or taking it out. She went with the take it out approach and now everything is open with a big island. It does make it very open and with little kids, easy to keep an eye on them when cooking, etc. Seating/dining options are what would sway me.

9/20/2017 12:57:29 pm

I also wonder as the girls get older how much more they will want to cook with me. Evie is already a big helper in the kitchen so it might be nicer to have more space.

9/22/2017 10:49:40 am

Planning for the girls to eventually help with cooking and clean up is good! I'll admit I designed my current kitchen without thinking about that. I made it work for me - 1 prep, 1 cook, 1 person clean up - which is of course is no longer how things happen. I have a small kitchen and having my bench/table seating plus laundry in the kitchen was priority to me. I love it but that configuration makes the other space tight now with 3 kids. Live and learn! :)

9/20/2017 12:56:01 pm

If we keep the chimney - no island. I could probably wrangle some sort of seating in the kitchen still for the girls and the dining room table would be right there...so we would likely just eat there. But it definitely cuts down on my prep/cooking space and for entertaining its not as ideal. If we take out the chimney, the dining room would be less formal, so there is the downside of when you have a holiday you are likely having dinner next to a potentially messy kitchen - unless Paul does the dishes before we eat..ha!

gail

9/20/2017 12:57:55 pm

Two sided fireplace has a lot of appeal - seems it would help save on heating bills, too.

9/20/2017 03:17:22 pm

I'm sure that is why there are 8 fireplaces in the house! But since we are insulating and putting in new HVAC its just for looks and fun factor for us

Greg

9/20/2017 01:40:39 pm

Two words: Pizza oven!

9/20/2017 03:16:30 pm

I love this idea! And if the chimney stays it may happen ;-)

jon link

9/20/2017 03:34:03 pm

Keep the fireplace! Has it been inspected? That has a lot of intrinsic value, much more than the cost of tearing it down and replacing it elsewhere. How about expanding the kitchen to the rear of your plan?

9/20/2017 05:13:08 pm

It hasn't been inspected yet, but expanding the footprint of the house is unfortunately not in the budget at this point!

Jacquie

9/21/2017 07:14:58 am

Have you considered building around the chimney? MYbe closes it up, using the brick as accent piece as part of you island or a portion of support with the island? Hmmm... love open concept, and there is value in preserving the character...gods tough decisions.

9/22/2017 09:25:07 am

That is an interesting idea. The chimney is almost 4' square so if we leave it, there will be no island at all - maybe a small seating area. But if we do leave it we will definitely keep the exposed brick in the kitchen.

km link

9/22/2017 10:29:04 am

I know it would initially cost more to move water and possibly gas lines but would you consider putting the kitchen where the dining room is in the heart of the home? More light, more central, pantry off of it? Just an idea. The current kitchen could become a cozy dining room or sitting room with the fireplace still there.

9/22/2017 04:10:50 pm

I've considered this idea, but the dining room has a lot of existing doors and windows. In order to move the kitchen there, we would have to change some of the exterior siding which we are not planning to do (it opens a whole other can of of worms!). Also - we would then sacrifice a real dining room and we typically host family get togethers.

Edmund Matczak

9/22/2017 11:49:29 am

As a neighbor of yours I am happy to see the house is being renovated. Let me know if you want to see what my house is like and may you will get some ideas. My house was built in 1836 and is in he Rabbit Hill district.

9/22/2017 04:11:22 pm

That is a very nice offer! If you send me a private email I will take you up on it :-)

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Should I stay or Should I go?

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