Kitchen: DONE!

Our labor of love kitchen is done!  Here was the MLS listing with the 'before'.  Our house is almost 10 years old and the guy we bought it from lived in it for a very short time, and rented it the rest of the time.  Prior to us, the renters had 3 children (and I think 1 more on the way).  The floor was gross linoleum with divots and marks that collected dirt.  Luckily 2 years ago when we moved in, that was the first to go.  As well as trading out our stainless steel appliances and taking these white ones to our rental property. 

 

 

 

 

The cabinets were in bad shape.  We were going to just get them fixed, but quickly learned these would need to be sanded down and restained, which was more costly than painting them white.  So the project sat for well over a year.  That tile grout made me never feel like the kitchen was truly clean! 

 

Finally, in February things got rolling with countertops and backsplash. 

 

Then we had the sink issues.  Not so 90 degree corners, and misalignment of the sink to the counters.  And the seems of the countertops were not where we wanted them and things just looked bad.  So finally that got fixed!

 

We were going to get new door and drawer fronts, but Uncle Sam took a few grand from us, so we decided to keep what we had, and always know we could do it later if we really felt compelled.

 

I love the faucet too.  The handle gets attached via a magnet clasp.

 

 

 

I'm happy with the carrara marble herringbone backsplash too!

 

 

 

 

And sealing the grout at 10pm was super fun too!

 

 

 

 

The knobs and pulls really helped bring the old cabinets to life too!  Eric was a rockstar and got all of the hardware installed.  It was helpful to use this template too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I definitely knew that I wanted to embellish the island so it wasn't so plain.  I still carried through with the shaker door style on the island even though we didn't get the matching doors/drawers.  They removed the quarter round and put in a new baseboard trim piece.  I also had them move the electrical from the sides to underneath the new island bar overhang. 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also bought new crown molding for the top.  The installer thought it would look bad and that it was too tall when he saw it, but I knew it would look great, and I love it!  And so does he!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I never got around to lining the drawers when we moved in, but I figured now would be the perfect opportunity!

 

 

Before pantry area

 

 

After pantry area

 

 

 

Before appliances area

 

 

After appliances area

 

 

 

 

 

And just for fun, the MLS picture of the kitchen looking into the family room. 

 

 

 

 

 

We wanted to stay in a hotel for a night so we wouldn't be inhaling the fumes, so we stayed at a hotel by the beach and ate a lot of delicious food, and had fun at Legoland!

 

 

 

Oh this project was way more costly than we originally thought through, but I'm so happy that it's done, and I really think it will add a lot of value to our home. 

And a big thank you to Eric (and the boys) for dealing with this mess for the last month or so, and letting me follow my vision through...(despite Eric thinking that our old kitchen was perfectly fine!)  :)