April 14, 2012

House Before and After: My favorite room, the kitchen!

This is where I wish I could magically produce pictures of the kitchen in our last house. You just can't even begin to understand how much I appreciate this new space after cooking so many meals in a kitchen the size of some people's closets. Our last kitchen was a galley kitchen, and had very little cabinet and drawer space. I bought a shelving system to use as microwave cart/storage area, and that helped some, but the cabinets were overflowing and I had to store stuff above the cabinets as well. I even had some serving pieces and things I used less often (fondue pot, punch bowl, etc) in containers out in the garage.

It was bad.

But I was thankful for the roof over my head. And for the working appliances :)

And then came this beauty...


Yikes!


A little closer look...



I'm assuming the cabinets were original to the house (built in the late 70's). I'm not sure if you can tell, but the counter tops were TILED! That brown door you see in the left in the first picture is to the pantry, which I talked about here. Also in the first picture, if you can see the partial wall (with chair railing) that broke up the kitchen and the dining room.

Here's the other side of the kitchen, where the fridge was:




I've said it before and I'll say it again. This whole experience was amazing because I literally got to pick every single thing that went into this kitchen. So everything you're about to see was stuff that I fell in love with! The cabinets and hardwood floors came from Southeastern Salvage, the cabinets and hardware came from a local company that I can't for the life of my remember their name, and the backsplash tile is from Mountain City Tile. Appliances, sink, and faucet are from Lowe's.


Now let's get to the reveal!!! We had the partial walls separating the kitchen and dining room taken down, which opened up the space and extended the area so we could have some more cabinets and counter top space. Bonus!






I stinkin love our sink, because it is so deep. You can't tell, but I definitely had a dirty pan in the sink while taking these pictures :)





Tired of the all the pictures yet?



Close up of the backsplash:




On to the other side!


Got a great deal on the fridge because there was a dent on the side. You know, the part you can't see!



I went with pulls on drawers, and knobs on cabinets. I'm not sure if this was what normal people do, but I think it loos good. I guess that's what counts!




Call me old-fashioned, but I just don't care for the smooth surface stove tops, but the generally don't have coil tops in stainless steel. So I had to special order one! Thanks, Lowes!




One last thing, and I'll let you go on your merry way. We have a nifty little "gadget" that we keep on our dishwasher that we change to show if the dishes inside are clean or dirty. Very handy! You can find them on etsy.








So there ya have it! By no means the fanciest or most amazing kitchen, but I love it and appreciate the space so much. It's a dream cooking in here with so much counter top space. We definitely have room for a small island, which we may consider adding in the future, but for now I love being able to move around and not feel cramped.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!










10 comments:

  1. I think it looks great! Mmmm...shiny new appliances....mmmm.....
    ~cathy

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  2. Wow...what an amazing kitchen. Would you mind sharing this inspirational post at our WIW linky party? Hope to see you there!

    Paula
    ivyandelephants.blogspot.com

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  3. Looks lovely, we have a kind of galley kitchen, I'd love this new one too, all that space!

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  4. Hi! I saw your kitchen reveal on before and after! So - I had to come over to your blog and see more! AWESOME!! I love love love it!!! Great job!!

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  5. Beautiful! I bet you enjoy cooking meals so much more now! Beautiful finishes, all of them. Visiting via Better After!

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  6. What a great transformation! You did so many wonderful changes. Beautiful job!

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  7. Hi! I also saw this via Better After, and would love to know what counter tops you went with. I love them, and adore the backsplash tile you picked out too!

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  8. Hi Ann, thanks so much for the sweet compliments. If I can find the sample of the countertops, I will let you know the name. We got it AND the tile at local shops, but I'm sure you could find the same or similiar materials in your area :)

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  9. Dana, wow, what a fabulous renovation! I really like the backsplash tiles you chose. Thanks so much for sharing and thanks for joining the DIY Talent Parade. AND, I'm off to make my own version of that DIRTY/CLEAN magnet. We definitely need one of those ;0D

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Thanks for stopping by! I'd love know what you think!