Kitchen! or “Look What My Husband Did”

Remember this?  That’s what it looked like when we moved in, and more or less what it looked like a month ago.  Plus some clutter. 

 

Now?  Here it is:

Just for fun, here’s the image from the IKEA kitchen planner that we used to help us envision what we were doing.  The only thing we actually bought from IKEA was the wood for the countertop (if it were closer, maybe we would have done more shopping there).   We ended up doing less reorganization of cabinets than we had considered, but this was a useful tool to help us sort through our options. 

What we got rid of:
-Cabinet Hardware
-Shelves in the pass-through window
-Vinyl floor (and several layers worth of linoleum)
-Ugly countertop
-Sink, faucet, garbage disposal, and all associated plumbing

What we did/added:
-Painted cabinets and added shiny new hardware
-Tile backsplash
-Butcherblock countertops, including a new “bar” area in the window to the dining room
-Tile floor
-New threshold (made by Matt) and trim
-Installed new sink, faucet, and garbage disposal
-Moved one cabinet across the kitchen to make room for a dishwasher
-Installed the dishwasher (twice… the first one didn’t work)
-New under-cabinet lighting
-Utensil storage area next to oven
-LOTS of plumbing and electrical work
-A hundred other little things involving paint, tools, etc.

Other things we’ve done (previously):
-Pot/lid storage
-Stemware rack
-Hooks for measuring cups/spoons

Things I really love:
-Pass through window/bar makes it so easy to get things ready for meals and to clean up… no more having to walk around the wall to get everything between rooms!  Should be great for entertaining when we’re ready to allow people back into our house again. 
-Sink… roughly the same dimensions as the old one, but a little bit deeper and has only a half wall dividing the basins, making it so much easier to manage large items (and bathe babies???).  And so pretty, too!
-Faucet… Love the height, pull-down sprayer, and soap dispenser
-Garbage disposal… so quiet (yet efficient), and now the switch is on the wall where it belongs (rather than under the sink)
-Dishwasher… obviously.  I also love that my husband was kind of enough to wire it so that there is a shut-off switch under the sink so the kids can’t mess with it during the day. 

I am thrilled with the way everything turned out and despite the hard work involved, I’ve been happy to have a project to keep me (us) busy over the last few weeks.  I continue to remain in awe of my husband.  His work ethic (you should have seen the flow chart he whipped up as we were getting started), attention to detail, style (I have to give him credit for pretty much every one of the choices we made for the room), and his willingness to jump in and do the tough stuff.  He really did use just about all the tools that he owns (including some new ones) and with a couple of exceptions, did it all by himself.  Unless it involved tile or paint, in which case I was able to help.