Problem: Tiny 80's kitchen, Solution: Mr. Gagnon, Tear Down that Wall

Ronald Reagan had the right idea. Walls sometimes need to go. Walls can define a space, walls can offer opportunities for storage, or help display art. Generally walls are a good and functional thing. Sometimes though, walls can be a hindrance, a physical block between spaces that keeps energy, air flow and traffic sidestepping, redirecting and congested. In walks this kitchen from circa 1984.

A tight space, and heavily lacquered wooden cabinets. Even though there's a huge bay window, this room and the tiny formal dining room beyond felt dark, and did not flow well. In mid transition, we decided to take the least expensive measures and see what paint would do for this space:

 The paint really helped freshen the whole feel of the space up and brightened things considerably. However the square footage was still a big issue..

One space saving idea was to build storage seating in the eating area. Still tight, but it was a nice little project.

Now the big ideas started coming into play and we realized, while all of these ideas were good ones, they still didn't solve the issue of space to the degree needed. While I was on this journey of changes, I did discover an awesome way to reface cabinets and if  you're interested check out this post:

Easy Cabinet Refacing Idea.

You'll love this easy technique and you wont believe how durable and lovely it is! It's a great refacing hack that you will want to do on all of your cabinets including in your bathrooms!

Now back to our program. You'll notice in the photographs there is a doorway opening on the far wall leading into a dark room. This was formerly a tiny formal dining room with only one window. It was stuffy, with no flow, and under used. No one wanted to go into this space. The good news was the wall between the kitchen and this tiny dark room was not load bearing. The solution: Tear down the wall and open up the space to create one large bright eat in kitchen.
Result: