Kitchen Before & After

Our kitchen remodel was started in December 2010. It began with moving the laundry room upstairs and has progressed through modifying the layout by ripping out a couple walls, adding a couple cabinets and replacing or resurfacing, well, almost everything. Most of the work was done in spurts during time Eric took off from work, to, um, work more! I will use the word "we" in a lot of the comments, but please know that my man did most everything himself--sometimes I wonder if it wasn't because he was afraid I would just mess it up. 

Before:  Cooking/Cleaning area all original to the house built in 1991 (except the counter microwave that we needed since the built-in died a few years back--made a great, oversized timer!)

Before:  Food storage area, pantry w/pull-out drawers in cabinet on left, the "pile" counter, fridge.

Before:  Dining area looking into the living room.

During:  Wall between the kitchen & living room ripped out (July '11).  Before view of the sliding glass doors and "extra" back door (that half window to the left of the sliders).

After:  Cooking area with a peek at the bar & window that replaced the sliders.

After:  New bar (now has stools & valance over the window) & broom cabinet.

After:  Close up of backsplash (tile from Heartland Tile & Stone in Raymore, MO) -♥ the mosaic details- & granite (St. Cecilia) inspired by the designer show house I toured in Topeka, KS last spring. 

After:  Close up of our painted & glazed cabinets.  I did all of the cabinet resurfacing using Rustoleum's Cabinet Transformations light kit in Linen.  Hardware in Antique Bronze from Locks & Pulls in Overland Park, Kansas.

After:  View standing by the previously unused backdoor looking into the kitchen.

So there's the nickle tour!  The "After" pictures were taken on Christmas Day 2011, so we've had some time now to live in the space and it's truly been enjoyed by our whole family.  Hope you like what we've done--it was a lot of work and we're still wrapping up the redo of the room that was the original laundry area (through that door to the right of the stove--there is a 1/2 bath and then the room).  It's transforming into a walk-in pantry/utility room full of shelves and purposeful storage---yay!