1970s kitchen renovation

[Jason]

Here's the 70s-era kitchen that we inherited when purchasing our house. 

What would you do with it?

Jason

[Kermit]

[ProjectPete]

• Take those wall cupboards down - opent he place up a bit.
• Replace that "groovy" splashback with a frosted glass one.
• Replace the stove with an upright stove/oven cooker and pop in a rangehood.
• I dare say the cupboard and flooring need replacing from an aesthetic POV
• Personally I'd have an industrial style pine benchtop fitted. And I'd see how much I could increase its size from the wall for some extra workspace without taking away too much floor space.
• Would definitely swap that sink out for a double bowl version and would be aiming for a more square shape to modernise. Black staps/faucet for sure.
• I'd consider extending that capping above the sink out toward the lviing room to turn it into a breakfast bar.
• I'd have hanging/inverted herb pots hanging above that area.
• Obviously a new dishwahser would be making an appearance too.

[Fyre]

Remove the lot.  Old house like that, the benchtop depth will be around 450mm, standard now is around 650mm.  Most undercounter appliances like ovens or dishwashers won't fit if you look to modernise.  May have problems with new sinks as well.

As someone else has pointed out, it needs to be opened up.  Hard to tell from that photo but I would remove the wall between the kitchen and the living room and install an island bench there instead.  That could still house your sink and remove the need to do massive plumbing changes.  A large enough island could support some stools on one side to use as a breakfast bar and also have enough space to have a dishwasher.

Floor needs to be updated as well.  Been seeing a lot of houses now with floorboards in the kitchen.  Never understood that with water and items like knives being dropped and damaging the floor.  Would stick with tiles.

I would still run cabinets on the wall above the counter top as you can never have enough storage.

[Jason]

We did go with the sledgehammer option. The old laundry was behind the kitchen so we trashed the lot to open it up. The laundry is now behind the bifold doors which you can see on the second photo below on the right. 

[Andy_Mann]

@Jason

Your makeover looks absolutely stunning.

The doors with the horizontal handles, to the right of the oven, are they pull out drawers? I love the pull out drawers that are available now.

On a similar note, when we built in the mid-70s, walk-in pantries were the go, so we were chuffed at the time to able to include one in our build. Only thing is we soon found out that they aren't space efficient, having shallow shelves & an awkward corner space.

On my wish list is a full height pull out pantry, with both side access that are available now, but my full time Finance Approvals Officer has blocked every application that I've submitted. : (

[Jason]

Thanks @Andy_Mann.

We have two large pull out drawers next to the oven for pantry items, jars and food containers. They are very convenient - fantastic for maximising storage space and allowing easy access to a lot of items.The two cupboards above them are appliance cupboards - the higher one for a microwave, the lower one has a pull-out base and houses things like the kettle and toaster. 

Good luck with your negotiations with the finance department.

Jason

[mikedoeslife]

Catching up on things, this looks great @Jason! Love the slightly vintage feel the pendant lights help to maintain. Great work.

[Andy_Mann]

@mikedoeslife, I'd swap those pendant lights for a kegerator in a heart beat, lesson 1 complete.

[Brad]

@Andy_Mann don't you need at least two though so you can drink one while the other brews?