Umbau der Küche, des Ess- und Wohnbereichs

We have lived in our house for 20 years that was built in 1961 and is in need of a interior remodel. We want remove some or all of the interior walls to open up the space. We have a kitchen, dining room, living room and a family room which need to flow well together. We would like to have more light so be creative with the lighting. The windows on the east wall can be changed in any way needed to help the design. We expect to replace all of the kitchen and update the living spaces and flooring. We would like a light modern open living space.

KITCHEN
We are looking for a modern open space with a an updated kitchen that flows well with the living room and dining area. We don't like the small galley kitchen and our family room has more space so maybe the kitchen can move into the family room. We would like a kitchen island with a breakfast bar with 2-4 bar stools instead of a kitchen table. We would still like a dining room that seats 6. We are including in the remodel new cabinets, countertops, flooring, lighting, and appliances.

We want hide our dirty dishes so a deep sink and maybe 2 level island will help. Our living space is a little dark for us. More lighting and a skylight but be able to minimize commercial aircraft noise overhead. We will replace the windows on the east wall and can move and change the size of those windows. This living space needs more natural light.

BOOT AREA
It would be nice to have a bench, shoe and coat storage by front door. Kitchen should have: pantry, stove, oven, dishwasher, fridge, microwave, sink, etc.

FIREPLACE
The fireplace has a big long brick bench in front of it. We would like to remove the bench, change the fireplace to burn natural gas and make it look modern.

LIVING ROOM
Maybe place the TV over the fireplace since we watch TV there. We are looking for a comfortable seating area where we can entertain guests. The breeze in the afternoon comes from the front of the house to the back of the house. Take advantage of that to cool the house.


- We have a galley kitchen and find the current kitchen very small when there are several people in the kitchen.
- We will remove the soffits to provide more ceiling height.
- The interior walls are not structural so they can be removed.
- The door to the garage can be moved a little if needed.
- There is a permiter foundation with a crawl space under the house.
- We like wood cabinets, wood grain floors, not too much white.
- We are not enlarging the footprint of the house.
- No tile floors in kitchen.
- A gas stovetop is great. The rest of the appliances can be electric.
- We like manufactured quartz counter tops.

We have included some photos of kitchens that inspired us. We like the modern European styles.

What is the overall budget?
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We haven't set a budget at this stage although we don't want your design ideas to be overly constrained by budget considerations.

Selection Criteria
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Design selection will be based on the creativity of the solution that best meets our criteria and provides a WOW factor. The level of detail in the cabinet layout and specifications, and, supporting materials selections specifics will greatly influence our decision.

Non galley kitchen.