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A Work in Progress – Our Kitchen

Our kitchen is definitely the most used room in out house.  When we bought the house, the fact that it was so small wasn’t really an issue.  It was just my Better Half and I and so the small space was fine.

This is the kitchen shortly after we moved in 17 years ago.  At this point we had updated the counter top and added knobs to the cabinet doors.  We also installed the dishwasher.  I can’t seem to locate pictures from before these changes.

This is a better picture of our pink counter top 🙂  Here we had upgraded to new Kraftmaid cabinets.  We live near the factory that makes them and at one point they offered the scratch and dent or returned cabinets to the community for a fraction of the cost.  We paid less than $500 for all new cabinets.
Since our family quickly grew from two to six, space became an issue and we began looking for ways to make our home appear bigger and give us more space.  We started taking out walls…sounds simple…not so much.  We took out the wall between our living room and dining room first and saw that it was very do-able (that’s a future post).  So, we decided to try the wall between and dining room and kitchen.



If you look past my darling daughter and son you will see the wall that we are taking out.



This is demolition day.  Our walls were plaster so we were prepared for a big mess.  We really had no idea how bad it was going to be!!
There were cabinets mounted on this wall.  They had to come off before the demolition.



This is from the kitchen looking into the dining room. This wall is a load bearing wall so we had to replace the wall with a beam for support.  We built a temporary support wall until we could get the beam in place.

Check out all the dust in the air…ahhh, good times!
Gettin’ Better!



The beam is in place and that mess is cleaned.  The rest of the demolition and 3 months of chaos was well underway!!



We wanted a bigger door and needed to move it toward the dining room to accommodate the new kitchen layout. (the refrigerator is going where that cabinet on the right is now)


 Next, we gutted the kitchen.  We wanted to put new insulation in the walls.  It was EXTREMELY drafty in this old house!   This particular wall was not insulated at all!  The new insulation has helped our heating and cooling costs drastically.
After demolition, things started to get better.  The “putting back together” was promising.  I began to think that I may be able to quit washing dishes in the tub!



This is the placement for the refrigerator and the stove.  The stove is now where the sink used to be.  I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have poured water on the stove…trying to find the SINK!
We laid new laminate flooring, hung drywall, and installed recessed lighting…which I LOVE!







 We reused our old cabinets but repositioned them for a more practical layout.

 




Repurposing parts from an old pantry, we neatly hid our trash in this DIY rolling, under the counter trash can.



While putting cabinets in their new place we ended up with about a 5 inch gap between the stove and nearest cabinet so My Better Half made some little shelves out of plywood. I found these jars at a discount store and I store my flour and sugars in them.


 We installed bead board on the lower half of the kitchen walls and I LOVE IT!!  It looks so clean, classy, and country.

The island was a factory, mass-produced island.  The top is made of 12 slate tiles which I hand picked and laid myself.  It was super easy and I am thrilled with the look.

We did all the work ourselves.  From drywall to plumbing and electrical.  It was honestly one of the hardest times in our marriage because we were so exhausted, tired of the mess, and ready to be finished.  I never dreamed the work it would be.  I do love the results and am thankful we survived.  I’m not sure that we will ever take on such a big project again, but we sure learned a lot.  Take a look at the finished product…




 These are some of my recent changes:  Coffee Corner


I love having everything right at my fingertips and I’m thrilled with the coffee corner sign.


It adds a lot to the kitchen.
As you can see in this picture the update of my new ReStore Buffet turned Island, increased the character of the kitchen.  



 Don’t you just love it!?  So much better than the factory one!!





These are all the changes we’ve made over the past 17+ years.  What do you think?

Blessings,

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Comments

  1. Very pretty, Carrie (Just noticed, this is the second comment I’ve done for you tonight, after spotting you at Coastal Charm’s linky party)

    I like the new “island” base better, yup!

    Smiles,
    Suzanne in NW Illinois

    Reply

  2. I love the Restore island base! That makes it look so custom to your family. I can’t imagine having to do the dishes for six in the tub! Agh! Glad it’s back together and it really looks great. We’re in the process of re-doing our kitchen too, but we are avoiding taking down walls, electrical and plumbing! I’m not that brave!

    Reply

  8. Whoa! That was a major change! I love the new layout and the colors you used! How beautiful! I have a party going on over at my blog if you want to join! I’d love to have you! Check it out under the “Stache Party” page on my blog: mylilpumpkinpatch.blogspot.com

    Reply

  14. Wow! No, double Wow!! Ya’ll did a great job. And with four kids in the house! Truly amazing. I love the new restore island. The slate looks awesome (we did slate backsplash this year). Lucky you living near KraftMaid – cabinets will bust a budget. The open door way..just perfect to make the whole area more open. OK…ya’ll done good. : )

    Reply

  15. Great kitchen! I love before and after pictures. Especially kitchens. It’s like looking back at our old hairstyles. EEK! Very nice island. The more substantial base looks great under your slate counter. Nice work.

    Reply

  19. you guys did a great job and soooo much work…congrats to you both!!…I like it all, especially that little spot for the stool with the computer on the counter…clever…new follower…come on over for a visit….happy weekend, Mariaelena

    Reply

  22. What a lot of work, but what fantastic results. Your new kitchen looks fantastic and I love the island you made. You must be so proud that you and your hubby did so much work and that is looks so great. It’s a kitchen that would be a joy to cook in.

    Reply

  24. WOW, your kitchen looks GREAT! Love all the changes that you and your husband made. Your coffee sign is adorable. I made a coffee sign a while back and I love mine in my kitchen as well.

    Have a wonderful day,
    Gail

    Reply

  25. What a huge amount of work! Don't you love the sense of satisfaction of having done it yourself? The finished product looks great and much more functional for a large family.

    Reply

  28. Your kitchen was worth the work every inch! It turned out gorgeous and I love the open sorroundings, very country, lovely and cozy. You made me laugh, as when we redid our kitchen we placed the cook top where we had our sink before and yeah, you cannot imagine how many times I would take a pot to wash in the wrong side!! LOL!,(I did post my new kitchen) You must be so happy and feeling wonderful

    Reply

  31. Looks great! We’ve been doing our kitchen renovation for about a month now, and I’m so ready to have it done! It’s nice to see other people’s kitchens and know that there is light at the end of this long and laborious tunnel. 🙂

    Reply

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