The Kitchen Episodes 1 and 2

When I first looked at my house with my real estate agent in August, I knew I wanted to change a few things in the kitchen. The wall between the dining room and kitchen had to go. I didn't think anything would change for a few years because I knew kitchen remodels were expensive. Fortunately I have an incredible family and a grandma who can find deals on Craigslist like no other, so my kitchen remodel has come about sooner than planned.

When I got the keys to my house, I walked into a kitchen that looked like this:

I loved the stove, but the yellow cabinets, formica back splash, and mismatched counter tops had to go. Unfortunately, the stove ended up having to go along with these items.

The first kitchen related decision I made was to cut a hole in the wall separating the dining room and kitchen.

First, I was just going to widen the door. Then, I was going to tear out the wall and create an island. (After weeks of my brother, Justin, convincing me that was the best idea.) Finally, my dad was able to cut a hole in the wall and make it look beautiful with an arch. I love it.

That happened while I was in Nepal, so I don't have any cool pictures of the process. I know Mom captured some, so I may have to do an appendix post to this one explaining how he was able to cut an arch into the wall.

That was episode 1. Episode 2 is the kitchen cabinets. (Some where between there wood floors were laid, and window was removed, and this cool ceiling was put up, primed, painted, and painted again to be a bit glossier.)

Have I mentioned that my grandma is a Craigslist addict? Thanks to her random searching, I was able to score a kitchen full of cabinets for $100. Yes, you read that right, $100. Dad ventured out on a snowy Wednesday and helped the guy remove these cabinets from his kitchen so he could put them in my kitchen.

We weren't sure how they would work since we had to work with what we got. Thankfully, all we ended up needing was an upper 24 inch cabinet. Dad went down to Holden, MO earlier this week to see if he could find a cheap one there, and the guy ended up giving him one for free! It has been hung next to the corner cabinet you see here.

We moved one of the pantry doors onto the free cabinet, and Dad's cabinet making friend is re-creating the doors of my Craigslist cabinets to replace the pantry door we stole for the upper. So, my grand total for cabinets is going to be under $150, plus paint. Here is the current look of my kitchen, with my new light. I love the suspended light above the sink!

And here I am in my almost-new kitchen. We're hanging the cabinets at ceiling height to make the kitchen appear taller. Since they are the size of regular cabinets, we'll be adding a shelf between the counter and cabinets. Hopefully you can see that in the next episode, and coming up soon: my bowling alley countertops!!!

Next decision that needs to be made = wall color ... or possibly paper! Feel free to let your voice be heard!

Love, Jenny