Almost Finished!

The kitchen is now done, except for touching up the paint and putting the pretty stuff back up on the walls.  So, here is the House Beautiful photo shoot of the kitchen.  Trust me, it won’t look like this for long J These two photos show the big picture. Notice the subway tile backsplash and the chair rail, which wasn’t in before now. 

I have more space to store things in the kitchen, and a lot more counter space, so the counters are much clearer than they used to be.

This is the new working counter I’ve been so excited about.  Plenty of space to bake, prepare pizza and plenty of storage underneath for all the supplies. And, any pizza toppings that I’ve prepared on the stove are easy to grab from the pizza prep spot. 

Another view of the mega counter. We scooted the cooktop closer to the wall. It used to have a tiny little ledge next to it that was too small to be functional for anything. Now, it holds cooking supplies or the plate of heated tortillas for burritos quite easily.

This counter we extended and we added the cupboard at the end. That cupboard now houses the trash can. The trash can is much smaller than we're used to, so the kids will need to be emptying it more often. But, it looks great. And, one of those drawers is actually empty at the moment. That's amazing!

A view of the pantry. Yes, that’s two jars of Nutella.  Apparently, one of the kids couldn’t find the open jar (can’t blame them in the mess we had up until now) and opened the 2^nd jar. So, we’re forced to eat them both J The LED lights in the pantry turn on when you open the pantry door.  Gotta love having an electrician in the house.

Magnetic switch and lighting from inside the pantry.

Knowing how much we use the sink, we opted for a Moen faucet. A Grohe was definitely out of our budget, but we didn't want to go with a cheap brand. There are some (many, actually) areas of the house that get way more use than the standard 4 person household where everyone goes to work and school during the day.  The sink is one of those.  We cook a lot. When I say cook, I don’t mean we heat things in the microwave.  We don’t even own one, actually. We cook from scratch all day, every day. And, as a result, we wash a lot of dishes.  So, we need a faucet that will stand up to that kind of use.

And now for some detail pictures.

I’m loving the mason jars for storage and for decoration. And, our chickens have been laying lately. Go figure. Chickens laying in January. But, I won’t complain.

Close up of the subway tile backsplash and the cute, yet functional, things on the counter.

Oil rubbed bronze hinges and drawer pulls.

Close up of cupboards and beadboard decoration. With the beadboard decoration and the great paint job, you would never guess that these cupboards were built in different decades.

The cutting boards were hard to grasp and pull out, so dh added some cute little drawer pulls to them to make it easier.

I must say, I love the granite.  It’s so beautiful. And, what counter is complete without a jar of olive oil.

LED under-cabinet lighting.

Dh also put the LED lighting in the storage pantry under the stairs. Plus, he added a couple of shelves on the wall.  They just happen to perfectly house my 1 gallon buckets.  I love the buckets, but I have to find a cuter way to label them.

And, the working counter that I’ve been raving about perfectly houses all my baking supplies. The drawers have spices on the left (which now need to be labeled on top), basic baking stuff in the middle and rarely used stuff on the right.

The cupboards hold ingredients on the left , small appliances in the middle and rarely used stuff on the right (not pictured).  The Bosch Universal and the grain mill are used many times a week.

Here is a slightly more realistic picture of the kitchen in use.  The two little guys are helping me cook pizza for a birthday dinner.

And, since I have so much counter space, this counter is completely clear while we’re cooking pizza! This used to be my pizza prep spot and it was quite crowded. This time I used this counter for serving the pizzas when they came out of the oven.

I’ll do one more blog post on the kitchen remodel after the paint is touched up and the pretty things are back in place.

The Kitchen, Cont.

The counters are in!  I've been looking forward to this.  The black, granite counters are in!  This is the only picture I have, because dh covered the counters with paper to protect them when the backsplash is put in.  But, I'll have more pictures later.

He also started installing the plumbing - faucet, garbage disposal. 

Backsplash is next. 

The State of the Kitchen

This was a big week in kitchen transformation.  Most of the week involved us not being home. The paint and lacquer fumes were a little too much.  But, I was glad that we weren't home much because this is the current kitchen.  The laundry room sink and counter are currently in use as the washing area.  It's tiny, but it sure beats using the bathroom sink, which is the only other sink on the same floor as the kitchen.

And the great room currently serves to hold everything we took out of the kitchen. It's not very organized, I can tell you.  But, it serves the purpose. And, it's easy to access the stuff I  need.

This was the week of the painters.  They came in one day and prepped all the surfaces and taped and plasticed (is that a word?) off the kitchen. By the end of the next day, the kitchen looked like this.

By the end of the week, it looked like this.  Now, it may not look very different from earlier in the week, but the paint has been distressed and the final coating has been applied.  It looks great!

I love the beadboard.

And, here is a close up of the distressed beadboard. 

Can't wait til the kitchen's all done.

Write Them on Your Doorposts - or the plywood under your counter

Day 6


We had the whole family working hard today.  We removed all the cupboard doors and the hardware from the cupboards, doors and drawers - hinges, magnets, drawer pulls, door pulls, etc. 

We numbered all the doors and the places they came from, so we can put the doors back in the right spots when the painting is done.  

We also removed everything from the kitchen refrigerator and moved it to the refrigerator and freezer in the garage.  We had a couple of reasons for that.  One is that we won't be able to access the inside fridge this week while the painting is being done.  Two is that the freezer has been having frost build-up issues and it hasn't been making ice.  So, after letting it defrost and plugging it back in again, hopefully it will work properly again.  But, if not, it's still under warranty.

The most time consuming job we did, though, was removing the shelf paper from the drawers and shelves.  Some of the cupboards didn't have any because they were already painted. Any shelf paper in the kitchen was there when we moved in.  We didn't remove it then, and now I know why. Some of the paper came up easily and some of it really didn't.  I'm looking forward to having the shelves painted so we don't need any shelf paper or liner.

The best thing we did today was adding scripture to the plywood that is going to hold the counters.  In the spirit of Deut 6:6-9

And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

We each chose at least one scripture to put on the plywood.

When the kitchen is done, no one will be able to see the scriptures, but we'll know they're there.

When we were done today, this is how it looked.

And, for those interested in what scriptures we wrote, I'll show them here.

But Martha was distracted with much serving and she approached Him and said Lord do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me. ~ Luke 10:40

I love serving others in my kitchen, but I don't want it to distract me from what is most important.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. <3 ~ 1 Cor 13:7
Love in the kitchen, love in the house.  What's better than that?

Serve the Lord with gladness: come before His presence with singing. ~ Psalm 100:2

I look forward to serving Him with gladness often in the years to come.

He has given food to those who fear Him ~ Psalm 111:5

Speaks for itself.

Let love of the brethren continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. ~ Heb 13:1-2

Hmmm...

And he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made savory food, such as his father loved. ~ Gen 27:14

Lots of savory food is prepared in this kitchen :)

Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so. ~ Gen 1:11

When you put it together, it makes yummy food!

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God ~ 1 Cor 10:31

A great blessing for a kitchen.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ~ Gen 1:1

Give us this day our daily bread. ~ Matt 6:11

He does that and so much more.

In love of the brethren be tenderly affectioned one to another; in honor preferring one another; in diligence not slothful; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing stedfastly in prayer; communicating to the necessities of the saints; given to hospitality. ~ Rom 12:10-13

Another great blessing for a kitchen.

For you, brethren, have been called to liberty: only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." ~ Gal 5:13-14

Enjoying food together is a great way to do that.

And the woman had a fatted calf in the house; and she hasted, and killed it; and she took flour, and kneaded it, and did bake unleavened bread thereof ~ 1 Sam 28:24

Let's party!