My Bitchin' Kitchen, Finally Finished (Mostly....)

At long last, I'm finally ready to post pictures of our remodeled kitchen. While all the cabinets, counters and appliances were installed by the beginning of May, the devil, as they say, is in the details.I still have some caulking to do and yards of trim to paint - and we really need to get a table for the kitchen - but aside from those minor things, we're finished :) Without further ado, I present my Bitchin' Kitchen:

 A full view, before and after - I cannot get over how much BIGGER my kitchen seems now, even though we only moved things around a bit. Cabinets now run almost to the ceiling, and the refrigerator is no longer on the left wall, taking up a good 9 square feet of floor space. Our good friend saw it for the first time this weekend and commented that our ceilings looked taller now :)

Taking the peninsula out of the room and replacing it with a small island has made a HUGE difference in how our kitchen functions. All the food storage is now on the left side of the kitchen, and I love having the stove on the outside wall now - I can actually talk to people at the table while cooking, instead of having my back to the room.

The wall where the fridge used to sit is now my list-writing, kid-drawing, calendar-keeping chalkboard wall. I LOVE CHALKBOARD PAINT! Matt was worried it would be too much, and wouldn't work well - he's changed his tune and is really loving the convenience of it :) I let the kids have at it for the first few days, but have since confiscated all the chalk. Ok not all of it, and I let them have the lower half of the wall for doodling :)

I was really hoping that by removing the peninsula (which held the dishwasher) and replacing it with an island would improve the functionality of our kitchen, and I'm happy to say that it truly did. Matt's mom and I were both able to work together, each in our own work area, to make dinner while they were visiting, and we each had plenty of counter space and access to the sink. While she prepped veggies and worked on a salad, I used the island to prep some things while working at the stove. HOORAY! Of course - my small people still like to come in and stand with me in between the island and the sink, and at 38" wide it's really not big enough for that - but overall a HUGE improvement over the little corral we had going on here....one way in, one way out.

Lastly, the former 'desk' area and basement stairs. That desk was such a sad, sad unfunctional thing, and it had so much wasted space - a drawer that no longer worked, a knee hole no one sat at, and a counter that just held a lot of clutter. Craptacular.

We now have a message center/organization center/newspaper and mail drop/place for receipts to accumulate that I'm doing my damndest to keep neat and tidy. That wall is also chalkboard paint, but I doubt I'll ever write on it. Maybe. Who knows :) I'm really hoping that the wall pockets and cork board will help me keep on top of things without having piles of things-that-must-be-dealt-with all over the place. Fingers crossed! The buffet is a skinny 12" deep, which fits just perfectly in that spot, and is just what I'd pictured going there - so happy to have found it, and thank God for the internet. If it's not on the internet, it doesn't exist, no?

These are a few of my favorite things.....

Soaps on a little cake plate - thank you Pinterest!

Chalkboard paint!

The pendant light I spent weeks agonizing over, but LOVE LOVE LOVE :)

The lantern over the future kitchen table :)

The plastic buffet table is next on the hit list, but everything else is so pretty!

My organizing area :) Needs some work, but a great, functional start!

The dinner bell. TJ Maxx, $10. No more yelling - I ring it, and the kids come running from wherever they are.

Marble backsplashes make me happy :)

My hidden dishwasher makes me happy :)

Towels hanging on the hidden end of the island makes me happy :)

My ginormous clock - Matt said it was too big before I ordered it - makes me happy :) Love the copper!!

So, that's my remodeled kitchen! Feels like we were on Extreme Makeover Home Edition, except the crew never showed up to help. I have other rooms to share, and lots of other projects to finish, but I'm happy to say the kitchen it pretty much done. Well worth every penny, and every bit of effort we put into it, and Matt is happy to hear me saying 'I love my kitchen! I can't tell you how much I love my kitchen!' instead of 'I HATE THIS (BLEEPING) KITCHEN!!!!!!' :) Now I just need to keep my children from destroying it.......