Thursday, December 10, 2009

Kitchen Reno

Personally, I am glad we got rid of the stein because well, I love my new kitchen much much more. I really can’t think of anything I want for Christmas because this is it!

Ktichen IMG_1627 IMG_1634 IMG_1641 IMG_1642 IMG_1649

Because we had a small amount to work with AND because this is more of a facelift than a remodel to tide us over until we do a BIG remodel (I am actually fine with it now) we had to consider a few things.


We couldn’t get a piece of laminate countertop long enough to go across the back so we went with an apron sink which eliminated an extra seam and well it is an apron sink.
We kept the original cabinetry but painted them in a light yellow so the kitchen wouldn’t look too sterile and put new hardware on. We also repainted the insides of the cabinets which has made it way easier to see the contents.
We put wood on the island because that is what we could get in a width to fit the island. We also added a few inches making it a functioning island that people can eat at, do homework, and I can fit my cookie sheets on it in any direction. Not sure about the blue, but well it is just paint.
The dishwasher is OLD but it works great. It was rusted on the outside so we painted it green. It came out real nice and glossy but the kitchen looked too Lego-like so we did a sparkly dark grey to match the bench tops. We were limited to what you can buy in a gloss spray can so no matching yellow.
Tore out the cabinets to the left of the window giving me WAY more shelf space. Our cabinets are original to the house and are not frameless so before I couldn’t put my dishes in because there was well a huge frame in the way. Now I can unload the dishwasher standing in one place-FABULOUS!
Since we eliminated the cabinets we had to change out the fluorescent light so carefully hidden :) to a little bit of bling.
We went with the classic white subway tile because well it is classic and we don’t know how long we are going to have to keep the kitchen this way so we needed something cheap and classy. We did grout with a more coarse grout to add some texture and to prevent it looking like a faux linoleum tile facade.


Mark removed all the outlets on the back wall and put them up under the cabinets so we don’t have to look at them and yet we can plug away.
Now we can wait for our appliances to slowly die and replace them with stainless steel. Although I don’t think they will and I don’t know how much I want them to because they work great.
Still need window treatments and a large mirror under the baking racks to reflect the light from the window and add more natural light to my dark space.

10 comments:

Jillo said...

Really awesome guys! What a great transformation! I personally like the blue island.

Claire said...

I love your kitchen. It looks absolutely amazing! Please come to Eagle, and help me with my house.

Chris said...

Sara, it looks fantastic! You guys have really done some great work on your house. Bravo.

MikeHu said...

Looks great! As we are embarking on some cabinetry refinishing of our own soon....did you guys use a stripping agent on the finish of your cabinets and sand them before you painted them? Really, really great work!

sivab said...

Thanks everyone. Mike, our cabinets had the original stain on them and were in pretty good condition on the outside. We sanded them and then put a couple of coats of quality primer on it then painted with a paint that had primer in it. Hope this helps. Our cabinets were super dark so we had to use about 4 coats of paint on top of the 2 coats of primer.

me said...

This is just fabulous! I'm always dreaming about what kind of kitchen i'll have when I finally get my own house and that sink is top of the list of my favourite things. Also, the house we're moving into in two weeks is pretty dark in the kitchen so I will definitely be stealing the idea of adding a mirror.
And I didn't even realise that those cabinets were the original ones, it's such a transformation!

sivab said...

Ali, all I have to say is thank goodness for Ikea!

deesha said...

Pretty, pretty, pretty! That is a "Sara" kitchen if I ever saw one! LOVE the sink! LOVE the subway tile! LOVE the bling! And what a great idea to put the outlets up underneath the cabinets! Can you ask Mark to come do mine! Now I keep looking at them and they are SO unsightly!!! LOL! What window treatments are you going to do? Cafe curtains? Well done! That must have been a ton of work. Can't wait to see all of your confections that come out of that LOVELY new kitchen!

The Cammocks said...

Sara I love your new kitchen ... I love the sink, I think it is so cool and I love the colors you have picked ... it is wonderful! I imagine that you cannot spend too much time in their ... lots of baking going on.

PS I am loving our boy Lars ... he is sooooo cute ...

The gingerbread house turned out really good and Alice has done a beautiful job of decorating it ... I am loving Christmas this year ...

sivab said...

Deesha it so true. I never noticed the outlets until mark pointed them out now I chuckle whenever I see them on bang for your buck. I am not sure what to do about the curtains yet-cafe curtains is definitely on my list of options though. I do have a confection idea in the works.
Liz, thanks for the compliments. I am sure it is so nice for you to be able to spend some time with Little Pete. I saw Alice's gingerbread house on facebook it looks like it turned out great and that Alice had a lot of fun.