A Casas Life: Kitchens and A Summer of Two

The kitchen is easily where I spend most of my waking hours. I'm either fixing a meal, cleaning up after one, organizing something or planning for the next day. It all happens in my kitchen. Lucky for me, I really like it in there. That's because this was one of the first rooms we renovated.

When we purchased our house, the kitchen had great bones but needed a lot of work. The walls were bright yellow. The cabinets were a beautiful cherry color. Several of the cabinet doors were broken. The hardware was brass with pink roses. Worst of all, the countertops were forest green laminate that was falling apart. The disposal was broken. The sink was very shallow and worn. The faucet leaked and had lots of stains from water build up. It also had stainless steel appliances, a double oven, built in microwave, glass front upper cabinets, tons of storage space, a huge pantry, and a gas stove. Oh, this is a cooks kitchen. Here's the before pictures:

This was during the inspection

Double oven. The doors were broken and wouldn't stay shut.

Island Stove

Panty with all of their belongings. Notice the lolly pop stuck to the floor. Lol

Recess Lighting and Open Cabinets

It took a while to get everything clean. I'm still trying to find a way to get my cabinets to shine. They are dull from so much wear, but will get there. We replaced the counter tops with gorgeous granite from United Granite in Elkridge, MD. I highly recommend them. They also did the counter tops in our town home. We put in a huge, deep, stainless steel sink and a new faucet. The hubby replaced our broken disposal and we changed out the hardware. We have a thing for brushed nickel hardware and a string distaste for brass. Did I mention every piece of hardware in our house is brass?! Finally, I painted. I wanted to paint first, but I was worried the granite installation would tear up the walls or not be the same hight as the old cabinets. It was the right choice to wait. We chose a very light tan to open up the space and compliment our lighter counter tops. Dark cabinets like ours needed lighter counters and walls. There is only one window in the main area of our kitchen so, we needed it. Here is the after picture:

This picture will become the before picture one day. Here is my kitchen to do list:

-replace the broken doors (3 of the base cabinet doors are cracked and one drawer).

-install a tile backsplash.

-sand and re-stain the cabinets to make them shine like new and match the new doors.

-find and install a new window treatment.

-paint the pantry, clean the pantry shelves and get more organized.

-replace the dishwasher and refrigerator ( they aren't broken but have their quirks and were not well cared for).

-replace the floor tile. Our current tile has lots of hairline cracks and shows every speck of dirt. It was obviously not installed properly and a poor color choice for a kitchen.

A girl can dream, right?! In reality, I might get these things checked off my list in the next 10 years. OR maybe some HGTV host will show up at my door and do it all for me for free. I could also win the lottery. Let's not hold our breath. This house is a massive undertaking and we have hacked away at the big stuff for the first 6 months. I think we are ready for a lull in the renovation work. I will end this post with a few pictures of how the little one and I have been spending our summer days when we can.