How To Choose a Range Hood: One Room Challenge – Kitchen | Week 3 Update

It’s officially Week 3 of the One Room Challenge! This week we had to focus on how to choose a range hood because we are removing our current hood and cabinets. (If you’re unfamiliar with the One Room Challenge, it’s a biannual design challenge where 20 designers (and even more guests like me) tackle a room makeover in 6 weeks.) For the ORC we are updating our kitchen, which is definitely a daunting task. We are hoping the tight deadline keeps us motivated so we can get our work done and enjoy our refreshed kitchen!

I don’t feel like we have a ton of progress to show for this past week. Along with working on the kitchen we’re chasing a toddler, sleep training a baby, doing post-graduate work and trying to stay on top of the laundry. However, we did learn how to choose a range hood. We will be doing a TON of work this week, including ordering a new range hood. Before I go into those details, let’s review what all needs to be done.

Here’s the plan for our One Room Challenge Kitchen Makeover:

• Paint the cabinets 
• Replace the outdated hardware
• Replace the current back splash
• Take out a few cabinets
• Add floating shelves
• Repair and repaint ceiling
• Paint walls

Over the weekend we finished painting the cabinet doors and drawers, so they have been curing all weekend. I need to make a final hardware decision this week so that I can put them all back. It will be SO NICE to have the cabinets fully functioning again. Currently, the kitchen is blocked off with baby gates to keep Mara from playing around in the cabinets. It’s amazing how annoying climbing over a baby gate can be after a few days! Along with attaching the hardware and rehanging the doors, I also need to reinstall all of the baby-proof cabinet locks. Those aren’t pretty, but you can’t see them from the outside anyway! 

Along with reinstalling cabinet doors and drawers, I also need to clean out the cabinets above the stove. Everything in those cabinets will be moving to a new, permanent home. Once I get everything moved I will definitely be shopping for a few pieces to help keep the cabinets better organized. Living with empty, doorless cabinets has made me realize that we don’t have as much “stuff” as I thought we did. We have an average amount that is poorly organized, making it seem like we are short on space. I love that this design challenge has pushed me to purge and pair down to the essentials, and my absolute fave “non-essentials.” It’s like an added bonus to having a beautiful kitchen. 

The cabinets are getting cleaned out because we have amazing, wonderful, beautiful friends that are coming to help us take the cabinets down this weekend. They are all one massive cabinet, which means they are too heavy for Jesse and I to handle solo. The cabinets are screwed to the ceiling with approximately 249 screws (for real, there’s a lot), but our fingers are crossed there wont be a ton of damage to the ceiling. Once the cabinets are out we need to decide how to choose a range hood. We have to address an issue we’ve discovered with the new range hood. Our current hood is an under-cabinet mount, which means once the cabinets are removed we will need a new hood. Since our stove sits in a peninsula between the kitchen and dining room, we need a ceiling mounted hood, aka an island hood. The issue is that the ventilation for our current hood is located at the back of the unit, but island hoods have centered ventilation. This means that if we use our current ventilation, the hood will hang out several inches past the back of the stove. Not only will this look off, but it also means that we run the risk of constantly running our heads into the range hood. In the two diagrams below you should be able to see the difference in the hood layouts. 

We won’t be able to 100% address the range hood issues until the cabinets are out, but fingers crossed this is less of a big deal than we think. If not, we will have to hire someone to correct the issue. Which means that we could get pushed past the ORC deadline. I really don’t want that to happen, so I’m crossing fingers, toes, legs, arms and sleeping with my pjs inside out! Or does that one only work for snow?

Once the cabinets are out we will move on to the backsplash! Again, we don’t 100% have something picked out, but we have a good idea of what we want. I’m excited to work on the backsplash, but Jesse kind of wants to hire someone so it will take less time. Time is of the essence for us right now, so we are weighing those pros and cons. The biggest factor for me is whether or not we can get someone out in time for the end of the challenge. If we can, I’m all for saving some time! Especially since I’m a novice tiler and the world’s slowest DIYer.

Once the backsplash is done it will be on to painting, installing the floating shelves and then accessorizing! I can’t even begin to express how excited I am to stage and shoot this space when it’s finished! I’ve wanted to update the kitchen for so long, it’s like a dream come true.

One Room Challenge – Kitchen Makeover Plans (Week 1)

One Room Challenge – Kitchen Update | Week 2