Kitchen Updates

This post is a long time coming. It is almost a year to the day when we started demo on our kitchen. I thought optimistically that we were going to be without  a kitchen for about 6 weeks and then it would be all put together again. I also thought we were going to do the whole thing ourselves with the help of some family members.  Boy was I wrong.  We did do much of it ourselves and we owe a huge thank you to family and friends for helping out but in the end there were certainly pieces which we just didn't have the time to complete. Thank goodness for hired help. 

One of the biggest lessons we learned from this project is that although it is OK to do things DIY, it is always, always nice to leave for work and come home to a completed project. 

 The kitchen isn't really 100% done. You can see in the pictures there is still a few touch ups, mainly painting to finish up but for the most part you can get the picture. We actually have moved on to a few other things now so really that painting may need to get complete for a very long time. 

We kept the layout mainly the same from the old kitchen.  You can see before photos here.  We debated long and hard about keeping this L shaped outing of the counter top. During the demo process we did have some sort of function kitchen without the L shape and I came to really enjoy the openness. I still go back in forth between loving the extra counter and storage and missing the openness. 

We went with a few open shelves and I love the extra sunlight through the sink window.

We got white subway tile for the back splash and white cabinets. I love white. I also love how the white is offset with the dark grey Quartz counter tops. I will mention that Mr. J laid all new hardwood floors.  He did this, for the most part all on his own, with a bit of help from yours truly as his assistant and wood cutter. 

We lost a double oven and gained convection. I miss how fast the old oven used to heat up but I am glad we ended up getting the oven and microwave combo. 

My favorite part of the new kitchen is the gigantic farmhouse sink.  I love it.  It's 3 feet long and you can put so many dishes in it.  This was my splurge. I was wanted a farm house sink and this one became the object of my affection. I knew once I saw it we were destined to be together. It served as a wonderful bathtub to Miss O for many, many months. 

This is the view from the kitchen out. We always had this cabinet here in the old kitchen. We went a while without having anything there but in the end it is much more function to have a resting place and storage here.  As we finish the dining room more completely this may get moved. 

The biggest change came with the refrigerator. We moved it across the way to gain more cabinet and counter space.  Mr. J never liked this idea but I think it works out just fine.  The refrigerator is the one appliance we kept from the old kitchen. It's a bit small but works fine and meets our needs.  I am hoping it lasts a while because new ones sure are expensive. We added a pantry cabinet along the refrigerator and a mud bench for the top of the stairs, our main house entry.   

This was a long closet of wasted space. Now it is much more open and useful. We still have to figure out a shoe solution but I love this area. I cannot imagine not having it here. 

The old pantry was opened up and painted.  I keep some storage, small appliances, and it is our drop zone from going out. I am working on figuring out the best use for this space.  Our little storage cart is a favorite of Miss O to get into; she loves grabbing the potatoes.

The kitchen was pretty much in this shape back in January. It took a while to get those last cabinet pulls on.  I intend to put in all of the sources information but given how long it took me to just take the pictures and post it could be a while.