The Big Debut!

Before I show you the kitchen, lets take a stroll back down memory lane and see what it used to look like to refresh your memory. (It will be a part of mine for a long, long time).

I hated how the cabinets went all the way to the ceiling. If you were to open them and see what we put on the top shelf, it was pretty much nothing, or just extra storage stuff that collected a lot of dust. I could never reach it, even with a stool.

The drawers didn't have rollers. It was just wood rubbing on wood and "wood-dust" would get into all sorts of things like my measuring cups. I got really used to re-rinsing.

The grout in the pink tile was permanently stained with everything you can imagine from its past. I could never get it clean. I will run far away if I see tiled countertops in a potential house again.

Also, because we had to put child-proof locks on our bottom cabinets, it somehow caused the cabinets to never be able to fully shut. Probably something to do with the old hinges. As you can see from the photo above, all of them are ajar. But really, they never shut well anyways.

Probably my #1 least favorite thing in the kitchen was the sink. It too, never looked clean. It was an old cast iron sink and everything stained it: spaghetti sauce, juice, blueberries, anything with color, it stained it that way for weeks. It literally had to be bleached to become white again. It was also really small and shallow.

This tall cabinet space used to be a pantry cabinet I think. But the previous owners took the lower cabinets out and put the microwave and garbage can there instead. I actually kinda liked having the garbage can out of the way and able to cover it up with the curtain (especially when Emmett finally discovered it).

Free standing stove, and dishwasher. A.K.A, countertops.

Also, the cabinets you see above the dishwasher is the only space I had for pantry/canned/packaged foods. It was very small.

Anyways, enough of memory lane.

Without further ado...here she is!

2 pantry cabinets on either side of the fridge.

Mike installed undermount lighting under the cabinets.

And I got a big beautiful sink that can hold dishes for days. ;)

Mike (with the help of several family members and friends) did all of the work and I couldn't be prouder. There were only a few times I doubted him (mostly in the electrical department). But he did an AWESOME job!

So was it worth it? Definitely. It was a dirty, dirty job (to the ENTIRE HOUSE). And there were times when we asked ourselves "why did we decide to do this?" But I'm sooo glad I don't have my old kitchen anymore. You just have to suffer through a month or so of torture to get there. We still aren't completely finished yet. We still have to do baseboards, windowsills and a little bit of painting, but as far as the kitchen set up goes, its completely done!

We had a lot of help along the way. Neighbors, family, and friends offered tools, their muscles, dinner, and their time on multiple occasions and most without being asked. We appreciated it so much!

Now, who wants to come over for dinner?