Suggestions on what to do with my old kitchen

[Di1]

Hi there, I'm now thinking of my kitchen reno, having almost finished my tiny bathroom.  (Will post pics of the bathroom as soon as it is painted.)  Inspired by the makeover kitchen posted recently which now looks fabulous, btw, wondered if anybody could suggest a makeover for my old kitchen.  I am now on a very strict budget and so wanting to save as much money as possible but yet do the very best I can with it.  Here's a couple of pics of it.  The room is quite large.  I have an old wood stove in one corner and the picture of the kitchen sink and window just shows it on the left hand side.  I am wondering whether to have it removed and try and sell it and then take away the mantlepiece but that will cost money on its own!  Help!  Keeping it there means I lose valuable counter top space.  Any suggestions would be helpful, thank you.

  

[Jason]

Wow, fantastic first post @Viena. I'm sure that @Di1 really appreciates the effort and thought you've put into your design. 

Welcome to the Workshop community - I'm sure you are going to be a popular member! Feel free to post anytime you need a hand with your own projects or just want to join in the discussions across the site. And please let me know if you ever need help getting the most from the site or have any feedback about how we can improve Workshop for you.

All the best,

Jason

[artspeaking]

I have recently renovated my kitchen which was 70 years old. Yours looks modern compared to what mine was like. Definately keep your woodburning oven, it is an asset for the look of your kitchen with a mix of rustic and new and if there is a blackout, with some candles for your lighting you'll be sweet!  Regards Gail

[LesleyJH]

Hi, I have almost exactly the same situation only I haven't started yet. Will be eagerly following this post.

[Di1]

Hi Redracer01 - re my water tank, I've now found out a bit more about it.  I now have the painter here painting my bathroom walls.  He is really handy and I mentioned how the cold water is hooked up to the tank, rather than the mains.  He went out and had a look at it.  He said the tank is almost completely full (how I don't know, because you can count on one hand how many times it's rained in the last six months or so!).  He also showed me how to tell how full it is by knocking on the sides of the tank and hearing the different sounds if it's full or empty.  Sorry, I'm a bit pathetic with these things, never having been used to country life before.  So until I strike a problem re that, I won't bother about it.  Thanks for your continued help!  So appreciated.

[Di1]

Hi Gail

Gosh, I can't imagine a kitchen worse than this!  Did you come across unexpected problems?  Most of mine are laid out in front of me so at least I do know I have to just pull the whole lot out and start again.  I'm interested in your comment about keeping the wood stove.  A few other members have said the same.  This wood stove would need to get a complete overhaul if I were to keep it.  I would never use it.  However, the painter made me an offer to buy it yesterday.  He said he'd take it out for me as well.  Worried about the chimney above, though, as it looks pretty wonky to me.  He would use it to make an indoor/outdoor area for bbqs and things like that.  I went online to find out how much brand new ones are and they are around $6,000 to buy, obviously uptodate in all respects, looking really rustic but clean straight lines at the same time.  Mine is a grimy affair with a broken door which would have to be repaired (the painter said 'that's nothing to worry about,") and the inside walls are all lined in old fashioned laminated sheets which look pretty grim.  The ironwork is all rusty.  BUT yes, I could clean it up and keep it as a museum piece, I suppose.  Your point about electricity cuts, etc, is a good one.  Hadn't thought of that.  The other thing, too, Gail, is that apparently it is absolutely toasty warm in winter if you have it on all day.  Mind you, apparently, you have to build the fire in it around 5am to get it going and it takes some time to heat up.  I'll put a picture up.  CheersWood burning oven in kitchen

[redracer01]

This is a beautiful stove. I strongly suggest to keep and refurbish. If you ever decide to sell the house it becomes one of its best features.

[DIY-Rob]

Hi Di1 I can see a lot of potentual in your old kitchen to create a great and functional kitchen. My wife and I have just completed our kitchen in what used to be a rental house so the old one was pretty grotty. I started off with Karboodles online planner to get the initial layout the went into Bunnings with a good idea of what we wanted anfine tuned it from there. The team at Bunnings were great being ever so helpful. The total cost of the flat pack was just on $8500 this included benchtop, back splash and range hood all the cupboard and draws hardware and rotary shelf for a corner cabinet. We bought the oven and cooktop elswhere for under $1500 so the complete pacckage was under 10 grand. I have photos up in gallery. We did the assembly and installation ourselves. Our ages 65 and 75.The bench top is 4.7 m long, 2 joins. 

[Jason]

Hi Gail (@artspeaking) 

Perhaps you could hit the start a discussion button and share some before and after pictures of your kitchen. I'm sure the community would love to see it. Everyone loves a good transformation around here!

Let me extend a very warm welcome to Workshop. We're really pleased to have you join the community and look forward to reading all about your plans and projects. Feel free to post anytime you need a hand.

Jason

[Jason]

Hi @LesleyJH,

Welcome to the community. Perhaps you'd like to share some photos of your kitchen space in a new discussion so that our ever-helpful and creative members can assist with some ideas and inspiration? We have loads of members sharing friendly and encouraging advice.

Please let me know if you ever need help getting the most from the Workshop site. 

Jason

[Di1]

Really?!!!!  Oh, well, I will see if there are any refurbishers out this way.  There might well be because so many of the locals have been here since the day they were born and have rellies that go way back to the days when Binnaway was an important hub in the railway system, believe it or not, so many of the older citizens will know these stoves like the back of their hands.  

Such a shame that these now small towns are losing all their history and absolutely no government spending allowed for them.  They are just left to fend for themselves.