Kitchen before & after

When we bought our house in 2006, the kitchen cabinets were painted with garage floor paint.

 We painted the cabinets and made the best of the awkward layout and minuscule counter space, knowing that people have been cooking with far less since the beginning of time.

For over six years, I cooked in this kitchen almost every day.

I knew that SOME day, we would right all the wrongs in this sweet, old house.

I knew that SOME day, I would have a beautiful, functional space.

Beyond the kitchen was an old porch that had been closed in to make a laundry room.

Behind the wall (below) was the original pantry, which housed the water heater and electrical panel.

The renovation began on January 2nd. The water heater was moved under the house and we updated/moved the electrical panel, so the wall finally came down. Check out the light flooding in from the east side of the house. We only expanded the kitchen 5 feet and the laundry nook another 6.5 feet, but we tripled our counter space. We also added closets, a second bathroom, and a new den off the kitchen. The kids have a room of their own and they no longer have to share a closet and a dresser.

After 3 months of toaster oven cooking, the cabinets and lights were installed. 

A week later the countertops arrived. We choose rough honed, black pearl granite 

and for the baking station and bathroom vanity, Cherokee marble.

Our neighbor, Matt Donald, designed, built and installed our lovely range hood. 

Next the 3X6 American Olean tile (color: Biscuit) backsplash was installed.

On the opposite side of the kitchen is the pantry cabinet, fridge, window seat, baking station, and laundry area. I ordered the baking station and bathroom vanity unfinished. I had pine wood planks installed vertically above the baking station and had them primed and painted.

The baking station is painted Winter Flannel by Valspar. The color is discontinued, but I had it color matched at Sherwin Williams. 

I had trouble making decisions about paint, so I hired designer Shea Kelly to help choose the colors for our walls and baking station. It's so easy to mess up paint colors and I was frankly sick of making decisions at this point in the process, so it was well worth the $85. The wall color throughout the entire addition is Farrow and Ball Pale Powder (below) and the trim is Farrow and Ball White Tie.

 On Friday, our appliances were installed. I was so excited to have a working kitchen, I had trouble sleeping that night.

 I researched appliances for weeks and I finally settled on the GE Cafe dual fuel range, the Samsung french door fridge, and a Whirlpool Gold dishwasher. The range hood insert is a Broan. 

 Check out the light fixture above the open shelving. It's from Restoration Hardware. 

I purchased the other schoolhouse fixtures and the globe pendant (below), from Lucent Lampworks on etsy. 

One of my favorite things about our kitchen is the new sink. I choose this baby over a year ago and it's finally home :-)

Come by and see the kitchen. I'll cook for you!