It's Head Over Heels Friday Time! My obsession this week is something I mentioned in our 2012 House Project Wish List- adding kitchen storage!
Like the rest of our old house, our kitchen is totally lacking when it comes to storage. We only have a few lower cabinets, no upper/ wall cabinets, and some open shelving. That has worked fine for a while, but the fact that we can't buy another kitchen gadget because there's no where to store it finally made me realize that we have to change something. As I searched for ideas online I found something that made me fall Head Over Heels- Vintage Styled Hutches!
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| From Marriage to Motherhood |
They are so nice to look at AND can add a TON of storage for a kitchen! Plus it isn't something that has to be installed and becomes permanent in the house (like those awful cabinets that we had to remove).
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| Country Living |
Here's a couple more that I liked...
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| The Inspired Room |
The rustic pulls and handles are beautiful!
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| Decorating Ideas Online |
Now, if we got one, where would it go? Here's a look at the kitchen (also shown as an attempt to illustrate our lack of storage cabinets)....
The only spot available is our Kitchen Nook, which we have struggled with defining since we moved in. It originally had LOTS of cabinets for storage, however we couldn't get over how ugly it looked and you couldn't open the lower doors without them hitting the opposite size. We dubbed it "Cabinet Alley" then ripped them out.
We added those corner shelves and a table with shelves, but still to this day I don't like it. Perhaps a hutch could fit in here? I would just have to make it look pretty of course... which means redoing the Nook...AGAIN. Sort of funny how this is coming full circle with wanting some sort of cabinet in there, but I do not regret getting rid of "Cabinet Alley"!
What do you think? Are you Head Over Heels for vintage styled Hutches too?
Let me know if you have any other ideas for adding storage into our little Nook, maybe it is something I haven't thought of yet!
Have a great weekend everybody! For the husbands and Michiganders out there "GO LIONS"!
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Love it, Carla! Do it! I think a hutch would look great in your breakfast nook.
ReplyDeleteI think a banquette would work perfectly in your nook. You could incorporate storage into the seating.
ReplyDeleteWe actually did want to put something like a banquette in there from the beginning, but we realized we wouldn't ever really use it. That is what was in the house orginally at some point I think, if you look back at that 1st nook post there is an image of one. I would like that orginal touch/ look though, so tough to decide!
ReplyDeleteI love all the hutches but the first one the most (either with glass or solid--more like an armoire)But the style would depend on if you want more of a display area for pretty pieces or to hide things away. Do you use your breakfast bar? Could you move it more in your kitchen area as an island for prep space? You should be able to find a fun hutch/cabinet at one of your antique spots or second hand stores & paint it up. Looking back at all your pictures of the space, I think I would have taken out only one side of cupboards to keep the storage space if the stools & breakfast bar aren't used much. Good luck & I am looking forward to the final reveal.
ReplyDeleteLove your inspiration photos! I recently talked about this in a post myself because I'm tired of seeing all of our pots and pans sitting out in the open on our crappy bakers rack. I think I came up with a solution, so we'll see. Can't wait to see how your nook turns out!
ReplyDeleteRachel
xoxo
I love the idea of adding a hutch to your breakfast nook! I am obsessed with hutches in general and actually extended a wall in our breakfast nook to fit a hutch from a previous kitchen! Yours would look gorgeous stacked with black and white ware! You must!!
ReplyDeleteIf it were me I'd do a total re-do but it may not be an option or something you'd like ...
ReplyDeleteI would actually remove that breakfast bar then have a longer line of cabinets along that sink wall then an island type deal in the middle of the area to have another prep area & seating & to be honest I would make that little 'nook' a bang up smashing butler/ walk in pantry.
Thanks for more ideas everyone! As far as any kind of big project, like redoing the whole kitchen or putting in an island- that isn't within our budget right now, and the rest of the kitchen works fine for us (minus the storage part). I'm hoping to get something in the nook that can solve that problem. Maybe a small seating thing too? We do use that breakfast bar thing since it connects into the dining room and living room, we use that more than the nook really for seating. Anyway, love the feedback! It's made me think about new things!
ReplyDeleteCan one of the walls in the "alley" be removed to open the space? Perhaps that is a solution. I totally understand trying to get more storage space. I have a walk through galley kitchen with just two cabinets . I actually recently was gifted a hutch & it is just inside my living room just outside the kitchen door & I use it for my pantry, pots & pans & decorative items in the top part with glass doors. Best to you in your endeavor. I LOVE hutches too!
ReplyDeleteIf a person put in a hutch, it could be shallower front-to-back compared with stock cabinetry, so it could fit the space better than "cabinet alley." I would probably fit out the area in a modified version of "cabinet alley", and call it a "butler's pantry" with shallower, floor to ceiling cabinetry on one side and perhaps a bit of a counter on the other with no overhead cabinetry so it wouldn't feel too closed in.
ReplyDeleteOr perhaps I would build or buy a countertop-height work table with a nice hard surface like tile or stone with locking casters so it could be moved elsewhere - perhaps to be used in a dining room as extra buffet space for parties.
All of this in my imaginary perfect world, of course.
I'm in the process of looking for a hutch for my dinning room as well. We need more kitchen storage too and a kitchen re-do totally isn't going to happen anytime soon. Finding a big enough, but not too big of a hutch seems like it could get tricky. So for right now hubby and me have been making the most of our space with added racks for spices, dishes, lids and etc. When everything has an organized space it seems to make more room. There is a limit and I think we have exceeded that in our kitchen though!
ReplyDeletehello! I've been toying with the idea of finding a great hutch piece myself, but 1: I haven't tried very hard, and 2: I'm not convinced I will like the piece that ACTUALLY GOES with the style of my home (SO stream-line 70s) - we'll see.
ReplyDeleteIn my Mpls house, one things I did to add storage, but didn't have a ton of space: I turned to good pal IKEA. Normal base cabinet depth = 25" deep or so, while wall cabinet depth = about 15" - I mounted wall cabinets as a base and added a countertop - for cheap too since it was pretty narrow. Anyway - It was great to get the storage I needed without taking up a tons of space. I mounted one cabinet above + some shelves, etc. It really worked out well as a serving space – butler’s pantry-ish, like how your nook feels. I'll have to send you a pic!
just a thought.
-e
WOW! Thanks so much for your thoughts everybody! My mind is spinning with more ideas now! One question was if we can move a wall on either side of the nook, and we can't. There is a bathroom on the other side of one wall (which we need of course) and then other side is the outside edge of our house. Loving the shallow butler pantry idea and maybe a table on casters so we could move it if we need for entertaining or cooking. Hmmmm, I will follow up with a post this week!
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