House Tour, Kitchen

 Our little kitchen was pretty dated when we moved in.  The cabinets were original.  There were laminate countertops, almond colored but immaculatly clean appliances, floral wallpaper and the most heartbreaking thing, no dishwasher and no room for one.  Although we hadn't had a dishwasher in any of our apartments we REALLY wanted one.  We didn't have the budget to gut and start from scratch and we didn't have the budget for much of anything right off the bat so we lived with it for about 6 months.

the before, after we scraped a bunch of wallpaper, notice the light that my electrician called a ghetto light, ouch!

the floral wallpaper above the old caloric oven that was actually in great shape

view from the other side

 We decided to have the cabinets professionally sprayed.  We toyed with the idea of doing it ourselves but we ultimately decided to go with a pro.  We were both happy with the end result but I do wish we hadn't been overwhelmed with the idea of painting them ourselves and just gone for it and saved a bit.  We decided the only place for a dishwasher was to the left of the sink and there wasn't enough room for a full size unit without continually bashing your hip into the corner of the cabinet which I would undoubtedly have done so we went for an apartment size unit.  It works pretty well for us and on weekends when we are cooking a lot or holidays we run it twice if need be.  A cabinet maker that worked with the painter cut the cabinet to the left of the sink out and used the end as the side panel for the dishwasher.  We also had him make a little upper cabinet for the left of the window.  He did a great job matching the existing cabinets and added new trim along top of all of it.

We splurged on granite counters.  I love the look of marble in the kitchen but was a little frightened at how it would do with stains so we chose a granite that has a similar look.  It has proven to be pretty absorbant and we have to be extra careful but it looks great so it is worth it.  We put cup pulls on the drawers and matching knobs on the cabinets.  We got stainless steel appliances and added a new light.  Now it feels like a brand new room and it didn't break the bank!

the after!

and with it's current holiday flair

ta da!

the alternate view

the granite

We talked about painting the walls green but once they were primed we loved how bright it made the room look so we decided to just paint the room white.  I worried that since we had to keep the soffit above the cabinets green paint would have broken things up too much and made the room look smaller.  I made the roman shade on the window using a tutorial from Little Green Notebook http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2009/02/make-shades-out-of-mini-blinds.html it was pretty simple and it is holding up great.

We have a baker's rack that you can just see the edge of in the second photo on the other side of the kitchen.  It gives us a little extra storage but its nothing fancy and we'd love an upgrade eventually. Perhaps more cabinets on that side.  Maybe a little extra counter space or a little desk area...  we need to marinate on that for a while though.  The next step is a white subway tile backsplash.  That will hopefully be a post-holiday January project!  

ah, light and bright!

There it is!  I'd say we are about 80% done but we've come a looooong way don't you think?  Stop back soon for the next room!