Texas College's 2023 Retool Your School project is the renovation of the President's Living Room Kitchen in the Willie Lee Glass Building. The renovated kitchen will serve as an undoubtedly beneficial campus enhancement when the space is transformed into an operable food preparation and service station with commercial functionality. Given the kitchen's location, directly connected to the President's Living Room and the President's Living Room Patio, the updated kitchen will be able to adequately accommodate both areas simultaneously for a multitude of activities catered toward student, faculty, and staff use, as well as alumni, and other key stakeholders and external populations, when applicable and appropriate. The renovation project adds a much-needed dimension to the collective space to provide services beneficial to the College's constituents.
In its current state, the kitchen maintains the original equipment, appliances, and cabinetry from when it was constructed in 1956. However, these outdated and inoperable appliances, as well as a lack of other appropriate accommodations, render the space unusable, which inhibits full functionality of the two directly connected spaces it serves.
Although the physical renovation of the kitchen is forthcoming, the project is well underway. Following a multitude of ongoing collaborative meetings with The Home Depot in Tyler, final measurements and safety tests were completed at the end of September and the project nears the demolition and installation stage.
The renovation of the President's Living Room Kitchen will transform the space from its current outdated and inoperable capacity into a modernized commercially designed operable food preparation and service station that will afford comprehensive functionality. To achieve this, the kitchen renovation includes:
- New commercial-grade kitchen appliances and equipment;
- New commercial-grade sinks;
- New cabinetry and countertops;
- New shelving and storage;
- New flooring; and
- New paint.
