I know it has been a while since my last post. I will promise to get back to posting semi-regularly. Part of the reason for my long hiatus was planning and constructing our new kitchen.
We basically set our budget to match our tax return. Of course, a kitchen budget never ends up what you plan it to be...c'est la vie. You just don't realize what goes into a new kitchen until you are in the middle of it. It is so much more than appliances, cabinets, counter top, sink...items such as knobs, tools, screws, materials, the faucet...things I didn't think of initially.
I now love my kitchen, which was previously my most unhappy room in the house, especially for one who loves to cook. It was nice upon first look, but when you really looked into it, you could see how monstrous the original 1936 built-in cabinets were. I could not even stir a bowl with a large spoon on the counter, because it would hit that wall cabinets. And if I ever wanted to use my blender of food processor...forget about it...they didn't fit either!
The oven was stand-alone, which was annoying and unsightly. And not to mention dangerous, as my 3-year old had more opportunity to reach her hand over the side and burn herself. Previously we only had cabinets on one side of the kitchen, and now it is galley-style, with cabinets on opposite side, and the oven built into the cabinets...as it should be. We did keep the oven, which is white, and decided that is something the new owners can replace, as our budget was quickly dwindling.
And my most hated aspect of the old kitchen...we had a dishwasher that you had to roll over and attach to the sink to use!! This was something I didn't realize until we bought the house, I went to turn on the dishwasher in those first days, and wondered why it wasn't working. I literally cried for days over this one fact. And refused to ever start it. I admit it, I am a kitchen snob. But those days are over, and we now have a brand new installed dishwasher!! And I am actually starting the dishwasher for the first time in almost 2 years. I am sure Martin loves this.
So now I love it!! We tried to keep the style of the previous kitchen with the shaker cabinets. Which incidentally is the style I prefer. We were going to stay with white, but decided to do a warm maple. For the counter tops we did a black granite-looking Formica. Of course I wanted the real thing, BUT we didn't have it on our budget, and since we are going to put our house on the market soon, I wasn't sure we would get the money back for it. We also had a large 1936 farm-house sink, that we also decided to ditch. I grew to not hate it so much, but I am still happy we have a new one, even if it is smaller. And though we have more cabinets now, the kitchen seems so much larger than before. Maybe because the space is better used and there is less clutter with the stand-alone appliances.
We were very lucky to have Gary coming over for a 3-week holiday, so we recruited him to help with a lot of the work. His work was invaluable! Everything from demoing to installing the cabinets, and all the stuff in between...he even removed an old ironing board closet that was being used as a spice rack behind the old oven--ewww. And now it is nice smooth drywall. We did go to the beach in Florida while he was here...so it was not all a working holiday for him.
I am still trying to get used to where everything is, I feel lost in my own kitchen sometimes, but I don't mind, because I love it.
BEFORE:
The oven was stand-alone, which was annoying and unsightly. And not to mention dangerous, as my 3-year old had more opportunity to reach her hand over the side and burn herself. Previously we only had cabinets on one side of the kitchen, and now it is galley-style, with cabinets on opposite side, and the oven built into the cabinets...as it should be. We did keep the oven, which is white, and decided that is something the new owners can replace, as our budget was quickly dwindling.
And my most hated aspect of the old kitchen...we had a dishwasher that you had to roll over and attach to the sink to use!! This was something I didn't realize until we bought the house, I went to turn on the dishwasher in those first days, and wondered why it wasn't working. I literally cried for days over this one fact. And refused to ever start it. I admit it, I am a kitchen snob. But those days are over, and we now have a brand new installed dishwasher!! And I am actually starting the dishwasher for the first time in almost 2 years. I am sure Martin loves this.
So now I love it!! We tried to keep the style of the previous kitchen with the shaker cabinets. Which incidentally is the style I prefer. We were going to stay with white, but decided to do a warm maple. For the counter tops we did a black granite-looking Formica. Of course I wanted the real thing, BUT we didn't have it on our budget, and since we are going to put our house on the market soon, I wasn't sure we would get the money back for it. We also had a large 1936 farm-house sink, that we also decided to ditch. I grew to not hate it so much, but I am still happy we have a new one, even if it is smaller. And though we have more cabinets now, the kitchen seems so much larger than before. Maybe because the space is better used and there is less clutter with the stand-alone appliances.
We were very lucky to have Gary coming over for a 3-week holiday, so we recruited him to help with a lot of the work. His work was invaluable! Everything from demoing to installing the cabinets, and all the stuff in between...he even removed an old ironing board closet that was being used as a spice rack behind the old oven--ewww. And now it is nice smooth drywall. We did go to the beach in Florida while he was here...so it was not all a working holiday for him.
I am still trying to get used to where everything is, I feel lost in my own kitchen sometimes, but I don't mind, because I love it.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
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