Kitchen Remodeled!

We are so close to having a complete kitchen, dishwasher included. We have lived for 2 years in a very old house that came with lots of old house problems and no dishwasher. We were so excited to finally find a house that we could call our own. The problems with this house were merely cosmetic and being of the HGTV generation we were determined to do it ourselves. We were blessed with so many friends and family that helped us in many different ways. Some kept the girls, some laid tile, some installed cabinets, etc. We had a different set of friends help us on every phase of this project, including move in day. What a blessing to see all the helping hands and I wish we could do something for everyone, but then we couldn't make our mortgage payment! So thank you to all our amazing friends and family that put something into getting us into this house!

Before......It was really pretty bad. I wish now I had taken more pictures, but then it was so awful I couldn't imagine wanting to see it again.

This oven was tiny, none of my cookie sheets fit in there. The cabinets were very old and some didn't close all the way, while others were crooked. The fridge went in the empty space to the right.



The stove top was on this wall and was a 30 inch stove top for a 32 inch hole. Apparently they don't make 30 inch stove tops anymore. Only one eye worked anyway and the hood didn't work at all. Loving the white laminate countertops, white cabinets, and white walls? YIKES! You get a great view of the cabinets being crooked (under stove top).

I think this was Andrew's favorite day. He came in, turned some music up, and took out alot of grad school frustration.

And finally....the after pictures. The cabinets are cream colored with cushion stop closures and granite countertops. You may be wondering where we found the money tree because band directors don't make that kind of cash. I have to say the Lord has truly blessed us. All the appliances are Kenmore Elite, that's not what we had originally planned on. We shopped and budgeted for the middle of the row appliances, and surprisingly found all of our amazing appliances on closeout at Sears. They were display models. We paid for the upgrades what we would have paid for the ok ones we had chosen earlier. Andrew got a great deal on KraftMaid cabinets by shopping around and comparing prices. Then, because we bought from Lowes, they hooked us up with a granite company that was cheaper by leaps and bounds than everyone else we had talked to. The granite company gave us the huge single-bowl undermount sink for only $100. And of course we have saved a lot of money by doing the labor ourselves, thanks to our skilled friends. So all this to say, we have to give the glory to Him. It's His house anyway!

this is where the oven originally was

The plumbing is being installed tomorrow, so the dishwasher was pulled out.

and the faucet's not installed yet, we just put it in to get the idea of what it's all gonna look like.

We've just made the decision about cabinet pulls so this is the only one that's been put on. And this is our trash can that pulls straight out, in case you're wondering why it's sideways.

the fridge is where the bar originally was. the window next to the fridge prevented us from extending the kitchen out into the dining room.

The fancy dishwasher that I can't wait to have installed! And we tiled the whole kitchen/dining room area.

Lighting over the island

over the dining room table

the island. this was Andrew's idea and it's all for me. It's for baking, that's where all my baking supplies are stored and he ran electricity to it so I can put my mixer there too. Putting an island there instead of the bar allowed us to increase the floorspace and give the effect of a larger space.

the pictures don't really do the granite justice. it's a beautiful cream/gold color with black flecks throughout. you'll just have to come by and see it in person!