My New Kitchen Renovation

You have seen peeks of my new kitchen in other posts, but here it is in detail. I have also just posted it on RMS. Click the link to visit. I know it's not one of those expensive designer dream show room kitchens, but we are very pleased with it. It was a complete gut job remodel on a budget, using the same footprint as the old kitchen.

The cabinets are 42" high, with crown molding, painted white with a brown glaze. They are custom made. I know custom and budget sound like a contradiction, but because the kitchen is so very small, only 9'x11'4", we didn't need that many cabinets and we got more function than from stock cabinets.


The bank of drawers and the sink are actually one cabinet. If it were stock, there wouldn't have been room for a cabinet of drawers, only one of those skinny cabinets to hold trays and cookie sheets.



Both upper and lower corner cabinets are lazy susans. The base cabinet has a stationary shelf, so the lazy susan doesn't need a post.

Are you ready for the before? Here it is:

There was no dishwasher. The cook top hardly worked. The refaced plastic on the old cabinets was peeling. And it just looked small and old. The worst, was that there was only 18" of prep space on the counter back in the corner. The first thing we did when we moved in, was purchased the portable island from Lowes.

The refrigerator is relatively new and we purchased our other appliances to match in stainless steel.

My GE range has two ovens. We use the small upper oven most of the time. It preheats quickly and uses less electric to cook our food because of the small capacity. The large bottom oven is a convection oven. When we roast meat, there is a probe we can insert into our roast and the internal temperature of the meat is displayed on the back panel of the range. Of course, the glass cook top is easy to clean. The GE over-the-range microwave frees up counter space.

Over to the left of the refrigerator is the Bosch dishwasher. We purchased last year's floor model at a big savings. The only thing I would have done differently, would have been to get a dishwasher with a cabinet front panel.

My back splash is filled travertine that my wonderful son-in-law (Wait... did I just put that in writing? OK, I'll go with it...) my wonderful son-in-law installed. The 4" tile was purchased at Lowes. The accent tile was purchased at Carpet Mart. It is hand made in Spain and a little pricey, but I didn't need much. I still need to grout it.

Opposite the window is this built in cabinet. I designed it to look like a hutch. To accommodate the traffic flow, the cabinet is only 13" deep. Glass doors show off my pitchers, tea pots and tureen. I have puck tap lights in the upper cabinet. Bead board is used as the back splash here to go along with the hutch look. I keep my small appliances in the bottom. I wanted a counter to use for things like a place to charge our cell phones. I have a little rooster lamp I found at Cracker Barrel and a rooster candy jar from Ross. Up on the top I'm displaying wooden ducks and a wooden chicken.

This is the door to my laundry room and then to the garage. I painted and glazed it to match the cabinets. The black panel hides an old cat door and has chalk board paint on it. I trimmed the panel with molding and then glazed it. The memo board helps keep me organized.

This is the door before:

Over the refrigerator is this cabinet with vertical dividers to hold trays, cookie sheets, our griddle, etc.

One of the design solutions I came up with was this bookcase. I didn't want the metal side of the range showing, and it came right up to the edge of the kitchen floor. There was also a baseboard heater there. I thought to put a bookcase in the dining room, up against the range. It is elevated so it isn't interfering with the heater. I think it works. The sliding patio door is just to the left and we keep doggy treats and small binoculars to watch the birds on the top shelf. My cookbooks are on the bottom shelf.

I painted the island cart black and sanded the corners to distress it. I changed out the wooden knobs to brushed nickel knobs. I removed a wooden towel bar and replaced it with a paper towel holder. I love the hidden spice rack on the end.

We reduced the width of the window to accommodate another cabinet. The window is very energy efficient. Being green is important to us. The pendant light matches the ceiling light and the DR light. Of course, with CFL bulbs.

The floor is a floating laminate floor and another green product. It is made out of recycled material. The manufacturer is Alloc. The pattern is travertine. It is easy to clean, easy on your feet and not cold like tile. We didn't go with the wood-look laminate, because it is adjacent to a real hardwood floor.


Jen from Sanctuary Arts at Home is hosting Make-Over Open House. Check out the fab dresser she made over and other make overs.