Before and After: The Kitchen

Here is my first set of before and after shots:
The Kitchen!

Before:

The entire kitchen, breakfast room, and family room were painted this odd color. We think they were trying for a light colored wood grain look, but it was not very successful.

That oven ended up having to be replaced right away. It was 40 degrees off, and the knobs fell off in my hand.

We also got new counters and floors.

After:

Our "new" kitchen!
(The fridge still needs to be moved back in place in this pic--oops.)

This picture is taken from the same perspective as one of the "before" pics. Very different now!

We had this little bookshelf built at the end of the counter, and I really like it. It's the perfect place for my cookbooks, and the little knick-knacks are all kid friendly.

Because this house did not have a pantry, we had one built. It's there in the corner on the right.

Love those drawers! How awesome is it not to have to bend way down to see what's in the back on that lowest shelf?
Also, now I have enough room to have each drawer devoted to a category of food: potatoes/onions/bags of fruit, all baking ingredients, canned goods, and spices. I'm a little nerdy about it, but it makes me feel very satisfied to be that organized.

By a long shot, we've done more in this room than in any other (other than the bathrooms, most of the house just needed fresh paint more than anything else). And so far, I'm really enjoying our new kitchen! We still have some painting details to finish up and so on, but all the major stuff is done, and I think it came out well. It's much lighter and brighter, which is what we were aiming for.