Since we didn't have enough things to blow money on, we decided to address our dark kitchen. I should tell you up front that I do like my kitchen. It's not one of those granite-everywhere double recessed stainless steel sinks and appliances type, but it's pretty nice (I think). In fact, it's what sold us on the house in the first place. I like to cook. (Actually, I used to like to cook. Now I'm sick of cooking for my ungrateful children that turn their noses and say, "what's that green stuff??" But that's a post for another day). Anyway, we didn't have to do too much to the kitchen when we bought it. We refinished the wood floors, have replaced all the appliances except for the ginormous refrigerator, and spent hours tearing down all that wallpaper and repainting. Other than that (I'm rolling my eyes) we didn't do too much. (I am aware that a kitchen reno can be a very costly venture).
We've rented a LOT of places over the years and none have had nice kitchens. Ever. So, complaining does feel wrong to me. BUT (here it comes) because of where our kitchen is (north side of the house) we don't get a lot of daylight. Most of the light comes into the living room which is on the south east corner of the house.
About a year ago, I asked my visiting stepfather to please make a window opening between the kitchen and living room. I had seen pictures of my friend Christine's gorgeous house in Florida and she had one and I thought... "hmmm... I need one."
The window definitely improved the lighting, air flow, gave a modern flair, and helped me referee who indeed "started it" in the living room when I was cooking dinner.
But the kitchen was still mostly dark. I had to have the lights on all day long. When I first talked with Bob, the builder, I had wanted the laundry area moved to another part of the house. I wanted the entire area opened up to give the kitchen more square footage and make it more of an open floor plan. I said, "well, it will help brighten it up a bit too." Bob quickly said, "if you need light, stick a sky light in here." A few months later, when construction was to a halt and I was really antsy to see SOMETHING get accomplished, I called Bob and asked him to put the skylight in.
Now, that giant hole you see is not the window size. Bob said that to avoid a tunnel effect and provide more light, he made the opening at the ceiling level double the size of the actual window, like a tray effect.
Putting in the skylight was totally worth it. I love it. It makes the kitchen SO bright that there have been times that I have to wear sunglasses in the kitchen to make lunch. (That's not a cheap joke, I'm serious)
In addition to the skylight, we added one additional high hat and reconfigured three to make more sense. (You know, we trashed the kitchen ceiling. I had to repaint the whole stinkin' thing to make it all match up properly). But, now each high hat points directly over a work area and within equal spaces from one end of the kitchen counter to another.
After doing this little project I realized that I never ever want to redo my kitchen. Ever. This project took about 3 days to complete (umm.. a kitchen would be significantly longer). Bob had to wait for a full day of perfect weather before busting through the roof. He didn't want to start to go through and then have the rain start (and this was December, anything could come down from the sky). So we had to wait a couple of extra days. But, having them set up in the kitchen on ladders all day, blocking the main areas of the home, doors and attic wide open (the attic is very cold in the winter), not allowing me to make chicken nuggets whenever it was requested, was really difficult.
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