The old days of separating the kitchen from the rest of the house by putting it in a closed area at the back of the home is no longer what people seem to want.  Instead, the kitchen has become the heart of the home.  Most of the folks I talk to would prefer to have their kitchen be more connected with the rest of their home.  Opening up a wall can be the dramatic change that is needed.

The Ardee renovation was going to include a complete overhaul of the kitchen.  The original kitchen was cramped and filled with too many large appliances and not enough cabinets.  If you entered the home through the back door you’d have to snake around through the kitchen to get to the dining room and the rest of the home.

My plan was to nearly completely remove the wall between the kitchen and dining room.  Leaving a short section that would enclose the fridge on the left side.  This wall was load-bearing so I had to build some temporary supports for the ceiling joists above and replace the wall with a large header that would carry the load.  This is usually not terribly complicated, but the change is noticable as soon as you can begin to see how the room will feel once it’s opened up. 

In addition to removing the wall at this home, I decided to move the back door to where the window was in order to have more room for cabinets and appliances and improve the flow of the house.  The exterior of this wall is the backporch which was getting renovated as well, so it was fairly convenient to make these changes at this point in the process.

The finished kitchen turned out great.  I had room for plenty of cabinets and the kitchen is now open to the dining room and on into the living room.  If you include the screened-in back porch, I’d say that this would be a great home for entertaining.  I can just imagine people mingling throughout the entire downstairs living space.