Everything but the kitchen sink!

So finally after a month of pain and agony, we have completed our kitchen project! I have before and after pictures for your viewing pleasure. Unfortunatly, the only "before" pictures I have were from our final walk-through before we purchased the home in 2008. Fortunatly, the only way to truly apprecieate just how far we've come is to see the kitchen from the very begining.  I give you....BEFORE:

 

 I'm sorry. But the original cabintry from the fifties is really no laughing matter...

This is a great shot of the apple spice motif. I am sure some people love this (in fact, I have been complimented on our kitchen before...) it's not my style though.  Here's a shot with the original appliances that came with the home (and didn't work).

Someone had a great idea to convert the old fold-down ironing board into a shelving unit. We took it one step further though...

So to be totally frank, the kitchen had two very expensive things going for it when we moved in.  The first was the beautiful travertine flooring. The second was the granite countertops.  It's pretty much unheard of to see someone put brand new granite on 60-year-old cabintry, so I guess we lucked out.  Even luckier to find a cabinet guy who would save our countertops and re-face what was below and re-build the guts of what was below. FEW.

So what has changed and what have we done?

• Remove 60 years of wall coverings and moulding
• remove box that the cabinets hung from and remove the old cabinets
• wire new light fixture over sink
• move electrical switch box down four inches so new microwave woudln't cover switch
• wire in new microwave (thanks to dad and mike for staying up until 2am to do this)
• remove old backsplash
• even out wall behind backsplash
• tile backsplash
• install new faucet
• install new beadboard and chair rail
• plaster and sand ceiling and other spots (including where the old light switch was)
• install new light fixture
• new windows (done previously)
• new blinds (also done previously)
• eat all meals in our living room
• eat a lot of fast food

I am sure I am missing many items on our list. But after a month of eating out, good by "I heart my country kitchen," and HELLO to our NEW KITCHEN!

 Ta-da!

I have so much more cabinet space that I brought up a TON of food from our storage room (no more running down stairs for rice or flour) and I even have an empty drawer that I'm not sure what to do with!

 You can't see Mike's 6 varieties of cereal any more. It's now hidden in a cabinet. Better yet? I don't have to keep my cookie sheets in the basement anymore because there's room for them too!

From laundry board to decorative shelves to SPICE CABINET!