{ the kitchen } It has begun

There is no turning back now.

This morning, this was my kitchen.  

What I love?  Our kitchen has lots of space and countertops.  When we bought the house, one of the things I loved was the spaciousness of the kitchen.  During holidays, when the house is full of people, we can easily fit many family members in here to cook and prepare and visit. We can spread out our cookies to cool and have plenty of storage for lots of things we never knew we needed.

The original owners meant to put in an island and then thought there wasn't need for one. While we still have little ones doing laps through here, we don't see the need either.  Maybe something on wheels that I could scoot about and use for buffet or extra seating someday, but not right now.

I love the secretary hutch in the corner.

I love that the dining area gets lots of light.

I love my appliances, which we have slowly replaced over the years.

She has good bones.  (Dark, shiny outdated bones.  One painter that came by for an estimate said that in 25 years of painting, he had only seen a similar high gloss finish in a home before and it was in a man-cave-library kind of thing.  Not a kitchen.)

What this kitchen needs is a face-lift.

What I don't care for?  Shiny-dark-cherry-stained ash cabinetry intended to 'blend' with the dark cherry laminate flooring.  Bright white 4" square shiny backsplash tiles.  Shiny chrome pulls. Laminate countertops.  A oversized countertop ''bar' that we can't use for seating, because you'd be sitting in the middle of the living room.

And, above the range....we've got two straight feet of clearance, Clarence.  Those cabinets feel painfully short.  That flat 3-part section is getting replaced with a staggered combination that will include a middle section that goes flush with the ceiling (which is also getting some new trim). 

All of the cabinets will be painted a creamy white.  (The two little missing doors were removed to use for paint sampling.)  We're getting new knobs and pulls.  New tile backsplash.  New countertop with a narrower bar. 

She's getting special treatment.  This secretary stands alone in the corner and will get her own finish in a warm espresso.  The builder is adding a piece to the right of the desk so she will reach to the floor and resemble proper furniture.  No more just hanging about for her!  Oh, and the chair is moving to a new place and getting a new slipcover.

This is what used to be my dining room.  It is now my walk-in pantry.  :)  Thank goodness for a stash of vintage sheets.

Something we are also having done at the same time... replacing the 3" trim with taller, beefier moulding around the dining nook.  It's a nice small thing that will make a big impact over here, I think.

(I feel like I need to apologize for the wonky lighting in each of these photos.  I took most of these photos early this morning before we had proper sunlight on the west side of the house...)

Four hours later... my painter left with half my kitchen in his truck. This takes some getting used to.

So we're off!  Emptied and ready for additional demo and prepping.  It's so exciting and terrifying.  The inconvenience is kind of funny and it's not permanent.  My eldest got up this morning to make breakfast and kind of freaked when she saw all the cabinets and drawers were empty.  She had no idea what to eat or bring to school for lunch, so she just grabbed a tub of leftover Chinese white rice and ran out of the house.  LOL  We'll have to fix that.

I'm going to try and update daily if I can...I have lots of out of town family that is just plain curious and I'm kind of a documenter anyway.  I've dreamed about doing this for years and cannot believe we are going forward with it... it's happening!  So just bear with me for a bit, if you will.  I know it's not crafty or thrifty anything.  Shoot, it's not even DIY.  But it is a huge, doable project.  And since I spend about 50% of my life in the kitchen, it's also making me want to turn cartwheels just thinking about it.  Whee!

What's up tomorrow?  The tile is getting ripped off.  It's going to get messy in here.  :)

Comments

[erin]

it'll be worth all the hassle! and it will be beautiful!
(sitting here, floor redone again, loving my kitchen.)

[miss chris]

@erin: Thank you. I hope so!

[emily@remodelingthislife]

so exciting!! i can't wait to see the progress.

[Lisa Clarke]

I think the *before* pictures are beautiful - I can't wait to see the *afters*!!

[Diana]

Yay! This is exciting! Document away...can't wait to see the progress (and hopefully steal ideas for our sad little kitchen) :)

[Carmen]

Can't wait to see the end result!! Maybe I will have my eldest bring your eldest a goodie bag tomorrow:)

[beki]

Good luck!

[laeroport]

oh, yes! I'm excited to see the progress and look forward to a shared up of coffee in the finished space. xo

[Sarah :: greenclogs]

So cool! There's nothing better than having an awesome new kitchen. I'll love watching the progress.

[Dalai Lina]

How exciting! I can't wait to see how it looks! Be careful of those paint fumes - especially when you are pregnant. Nasty stuff...

[jessie]

I've been trying to convince my husband to let me re-do our kitchen cabinets with a refacing. I want a creamy white kitchen, too!! Even worse, we *chose* the cabinets we have now when we built the house just four years ago.. so I have only myself to blame! Can't wait to watch your progress.

[Ali]

Oh how I would like to re-do mine. There's nothing terribly wrong with it, but it wouldn't have been my choice and it doesn't make my heart sing. Looking forward to seeing yours transform into a beautiful butterfly!

[Shelly Pope]

How fun! It looks like our walls are the same color in the kitchen!

[Tammy]

Agreed, it will be so worth all of the inconveniences. Its so exciting isn't it!?! So much fun that we get to follow along.