The Kitchen...at last!

note the "country" hardware from the "before" photo

I know that you have been waiting, on the edge of your seat for this post....well, mabe only my husband has.... The kitchen is finished! O.K., finished is not really the word, because if it was FINISHED I would have NEW cabinets, a wall would have been moved, there would be new countertops, flooring and appliances. We are doing our house in a basic 77 phase plan (ha ha) and much of what we will do in the next few years is just "sprucing up" what we have. Nothing too major (read, "expensive") or disruptive.

The original plan to "spruce up" the kitchen was to paint the cabinets, replace all of the old (ugly) hardware, refinish the bar, and replace the (horrid) yellow linoleum. Andy has finished the cabinets, the bar will wait until we have time to devote to it and the floor will have to wait until after summer, when I will resume my regular hours and my regular paycheck.

The cabinets were pine and I honestly love the look of wood cabinets over painted, but the finish was very old and had yellowed badly. Not to mention the fact that the wood was a completely different color under the hardware, making it impossible to replace unless the cabinets were refinished. The yellowish cabinetry, combined with the mustard yellow walls and yellow floor were really too much and made the space look small and dingy (no matter how many 100 watt bulbs I put in there!) The hardware was just plain ugly to me, although I have since seen it used in a way that I like, it just didn't "do it" for me in our kitchen. So we plowed ahead without any real "plan" and Andy began to dissasemble the entire kitchen. The job took longer than expected and the final touches were done while I was away at my scrapbooking weekend. I think that Andy did a great job and the white cabinets (after getting used to them) look spectacular...the room is much brighter and even looks a little bigger! I might add some details to them, but for now...I am pleased! I also LOVE the hardware that we chose and plan on removing it and putting it onto our new cabinets...maybe in 5 years we will get that "dream" kitchen going on?

Here are the before...and after photos.....please ignore how much crap is plastered to the front of my refrigerator...in my "dream home" I have a playroom with a giant bulletin board for the children's art work...in my "real home" it is all on the fridge!

I forgot to take "before" shots, before Andy started to take it all apart!

Here it is! All sparkly and new!

A close up of the new hardware...I love the cool design!

The bar is next and we have an exciting plan for it... the top will be extra super cool and involves broken stained glass and the cabinets will be the same as the kitchen...part of the bar is in the family room and we don't know if we should paint it white, or the wall color of the family room. The main problem there is that the family room has not been painted yet, as you can see in the picture, it is yellowish, outdated paneling... a project for "later"! Stay tuned.....