It begins....

I have NEVER liked the island in my kitchen- never, ever, ever. Sure, it offered storage and countertop space and it had electrical outlets but.... BUT!

This island was, for lack of a more apt word, odd. It had an odd shape, it created odd traffic patterns due to it's placement and size/height and it ate up space and made the kitchen seem smaller than it actually was.

Now, in my mind, the kitchen design layout wasn't well thought out or, at the very least, wasn't designed with much thought as to using the space better. Case in point: there's a whole wall in the kitchen that has no cabinets or countertop- because of the placement of the doorway to the dining room, this wall is simply a walk way between the kitchen and dining room. I dream of relocating the refrigerator, moving the door to where the fridge currently sits allowing for a new wall of cabinets to supplement the space that is laughably called a pantry.

Well, THAT scenario is not in the cards right now due to budget considerations but I CAN do something about the elephant in the room; the island.

See? It's not exactly a triangle, this side is curved and the back is angled, it's got two levels but the top one is only 8" so all it is good for is to display dust-catchers or other junk that never seems to leave and it's too high for anyone to eat at and there's no knee space to do so anyway. Each "short" side of this beast measures 51" so you can imagine the square footage that this island occupies. Again, it does offer some storage space but look at the middle cabinet- it's angled, so the storage space is awkward, at best. It. Must. Go.