The Kitchen Reveal

I have gotten so many notes and comments from readers wanting to see a few new house interior pictures. For a bit I thought..no wait until it’s done. Then I thought no way..you aren’t that patient, and let’s face it, it will likely be years before the house is really done. So for now, this is as done as the kitchen is.

If you remember, you know that I’ll be starting childcare soon so all of that is getting set up and in place too.

When I took the picture I was standing in the dining room. To the left is the cupboard Hubby bought. The baker’s cabinet in the center is half of our island. Hubby and I refurbished that. The childcare table just got brought in from the garage and needs a good cleaning which is on tomorrow’s agenda.

The kitchen looks a little crowded in the picture but it really isn’t. I should have taken a picture so you could see what it looks like to the left but I’ll save that for another day.

The flooring that you see is all of the flooring that we pulled out of that old farm house. It cleaned up really well.

I absolutely LOVE the kitchen. It’s my work place and it’s very easy to work in. I love the layout…and doesn’t it look like it’s old??

From the shot below you can see how Hubby designed the baker’s cabinet to be the perfect height and size to but up to the butcher block to create our island. He did an amazing job. I am proud of him!

You might remember that I wasn’t sure how I felt about the red counter tops. That has completely changed. I love them too. I took this picture so you could see how the cabinet builders did with matching the cabinets. The upper with the glass doors is the vintage piece we found and bought for $300. The lowers and the cabinets to the left were all built by our cabinet maker. We are pleased with them.

It’s fun to have the vintage look of the uppers with the modern features and functions of the lowers. The cabinet in the middle under the mixer is a pull out garbage. I love that too.

Opposite the stove is a antique wash stand we had. I didn’t want the microwave on the counter and this was a compromise Hubby and I came up with. At one time we thought to have the cabinet makers build a built in on this small wall that would house the microwave but we nixed that in a round of budget cuts and I’m am really glad we did.

The red box on top was one of the first vintage pieces I ever bought. It now houses our silverware. It works great for it.

To the left is the laundry room. It needs work yet. I am hoping that in the next week or so Hubby will put a cabinet in above the washer and dryer. On the right of this picture you can see the side of a cabinet. Remember the one Craig and I stripped?? The one I re-injured my wrist working on?

Well here it is now….

The cupboard looks so good. It’s better than I expected. If you don’t remember it’s original state, here’s a link back to a blog post that shows it then. Again it’s something that needs some work. When we took it in for them to stain and varnish we had to remove the pulls and hinges. Of course they were painted and some didn’t make it. We’ve been looking for new hinges locally but haven’t found any. We haven’t did an online search yet. That’s on the long list of things to tackle..it just hasn’t happened yet.

Remember the cute chicken canisters that Kalissa bought me. They found a home too.

There is lots to do yet. The doors and windows all need trim. The kick plates under the cabinets need to be installed. We planned on a door for the laundry room too. All this will happen with time and honestly, that part doesn’t bother me a drop. The things in the house that bother me are the storage places that need to be put in place. I’d love for the selves to be up in the broom closet…in the laundry room..in my bedroom closet…oh I won’t even go on with the list. Thankfully Hubby is really handy and he’s gradually getting to things.

The only thing that isn’t our favorite about the kitchen is the lighting. Originally we had asked the electrician to put in another light over the table, that didn’t happen. We didn’t notice it until it was a little late in the construction. We decided to give it a try without it….wrong choice. We didn’t really want any fancy under the cabinet lighting or recessed lighting as that didn’t seem to “go with our vintage look”. We really wanted a ceiling fan in the kitchen. We love them and use them a lot. It turns out they are almost impossible to find with the ability to illuminate with four bulbs or with high wattage bulbs. I thought we should get a different fan but Hubby loves this one. We’ve investigate a bit and think we found something to try by the cabinets. It’s back to when does Hubby have time for that too.

We both LOVE the kitchen. I’d say 80% of our awake time is spent in the kitchen so it’s good that we love it. We know it’s not everyone’s style but it is our style….and by the way, I especially love my low window in the kitchen. Ruby does too. I wouldn’t change it even if I could.

There you have it…a small kitchen tour. Watch for later this week, I’ll try to get a few more pictures so you can see how things are when entering the kitchen from the other direction.