Kitchen Renovation completed!

OK - so in reality the kitchen was finished on July 2cd but I've been moving stuff back in and organizing for weeks since.
On Mother's Day our kitchen looked like this - and keep in mind these pic were taken with all the lights on in the middle of the day that is how dark our kitchen was before:

the main kitchen - before

the oven and fridge (soon to be the new pantry)- before



the breakfast area - there ended up being two layers of wallpaper which had been painted at least twice
that light hanging there would end up being the only thing that remaining intact from the old kitchen

The cabinets were solid wood so our original intention was just to have them repainted and replaced counter tops and floor.   We assume the cabinets are from 1979 when the house was build, originally they were stained and then painted white with an oil based paint.  Between the work that would be required to strip them down enough to paint, the doors not fitting straight anymore and the hinges needing to be moved inside - it was just going to cost to much to take on the risk of the paint chipping and peeling in a couple of years.  Our biggest reason for the renovation was because the tile floor was difficult to clean with the large grout lines and very hard because of the tile.  So we finally decided to start from scratch so a few days after mothers day, they demoed the whole place down to the wood beneath.  Which means we lived out of a kitchen on the screened in porch for about 7 weeks.  It actually worked out fine since GA weather cooperated by keep the rain and heat away until we were almost done.  We moved the refrigerator out there and set up a makeshift pantry on the bakers rack and counter top on a 6 foot serving table.

 

In the old kitchen we had a huge antique hutch that said on the wall opposite the bay window (it was already gone when I took the before pictures. It gave us the additional storage and counter space we needed but took up a huge chunk of the open space of the breakfast area. It was totally my mothers idea to not bring the hutch back in and instead have a full wall built-in at the end of the room and a window bench in the bay window. This was a huge factor in making our new kitchen seem so much more open and light, I think. Instead of the table being in the middle of the space with only a small walk way around the hutch to get to the pantry/laundry we ended up with a huge open area that also allowed for great storage and a place to put the TV that was not on the counter.


during - brand new build in and window seat in the breakfast area



The final kitchen product was great beyond our expectations.  Our contractor stayed on schedule, even with some difficulties and changes along the way plus we ended only slightly above budget.  Our new kitchen is inviting, spacious, easily organized, accessible and most surprisingly because I choose gray paint very light!!  I won't bore you with more words - here it is!!



the long view



eating area to new pocket door



new kitchen table all set!



new pantry with deep drawers - LOVE having the food actually in the kitchen!  Plus this new large capacity fridge is heaven.



My mom found the greatest little counter stools for this space - it ended up a little smaller than I had intended but the drawers on the left are exactly what I need - one for each girl for their school stuff.



Love the look of the new farmhouse sink and it is so big.  We took away the over window cabinets and did pendant lights instead - well worth the loss of some hard to reach storage.
I also did the box canvas paintings to give us some color in this area.



Still getting used to the gas stove top but the hood and tile are my favorite surprises from the process.  The hood was a huge pain to buy and install but I love the slightly modern look it adds to the kitchen.  My dad and his friend did the tile and we absolutely love the pattern he came up with for the silver accent pieces. 

My 200 photos of fruit to get these two shots ended up being more than worth it, thanks to my mom steering me towards the 30x30 canvas size - they make the perfect impact in the otherwise gray and white space.

The green fiesta dishes were a little bit of a splurge but I love the way they look in this seeded glass cabinet.



It was great to get the TV off the counter but I'm surprised at how much I love having this display area.  A lot of the items hold special places for me - the dish set in the middle belonged to my grandmother, the green class plate was Ric's grandmothers, the rooster pitcher from Italy was given to me by my sister-in-law, and the tiles the girls did for me.



Close up of the tile Cate did in her 1st grade art class - it is a representation of the blue horse from the Eric Carle's book



the new pocket door into the mud room/laundry room



Laundry

  

 

"Mud Room" built in my dad did for us - the girls are doing great going here first to deposit shoes in their baskets and hanging bags or coats on their hooks - it has already saved me a ton of time searching for shoes

Thanks for hanging with me on my little blogging hiatus!  Cate is off and running in the second grade and Lucy is beginning her Pre-K adventure so I'm sure I'll have more to post this fall after we all get into our new routines.