2 Architects and a House: The Open Kitchen / Breakfast Room

The kitchen has been a work in progress over the past 2 months. With the completion approaching, I am ready to sit down and tell you all about it.

Prior to even looking at kitchen cabinets and other finishes, we needed to get the area prepared for cabinet installation. The majority of the demo process and prep work we did ourselves.

We did have a beam installed where the wall once stood. Even thought the wall we removed was not load bearing per se, the continuous rafters supporting the floor above were not sized to span the entire kitchen and breakfast area. The lumber in the ceiling is 2x10 and should be at least 2x12 for the span which is what we found in the basement. Better safe than have a floor cave in.

We also had to relocate some of the ductwork we found in the wall. This did alter our kitchen plans slightly as we would still need to conceal the duct work and the space couldn't be entirely open. We decided to design a pantry to conceal the ductwork.

In addition, we had some electrical prep work done before we closed up the walls. This consisted of bringing power for undercabinet lighting, a garbage disposal, and a vent hood. The photos below are what the kitchen looked like before the cabinets would be installed.