Kitchen - Final Reveal

Last week I introduced you to our "beautiful" kitchen.

If you missed that post you can find it here - My New Kitchen - Part 1

As a quick review this was the kitchen when I looked at it almost two years ago.  Mountain Man and I were full time RVer's and we loved it.  In May, 2010 I flew home to see my youngest daughter leaving Mountain Man in Alaska for a week.    We had talked and thought it would be a good time to buy a house due to the low prices of houses and low interests rates.  So, while visiting Lake Placid, I found this house.  It was a foreclosure and in pretty bad shape BUT the bones were good.  It was on the second canal off the largest lake in town which Mountain Man LOVED.  I took many pictures of the house and sent them to MM in Juneau.  After long talks on the phone we decided to make an offer on the house, which the bank accepted just three days later.  We knew that there was going to be a lot of work that would need to be done - but we thought we would do one project at a time while we "wintered" in Lake Placid for three months of the year and travel the rest of the year.

Well, it is amazing how things work and how the good Lord has different plans for you.  Right after the bank accepted our offer my daughter and I drove to Atlanta to visit my mom (her grandmother). I was going to fly "home" from Atlanta instead of Ft. Myers.  

As some of you know, my mom lived on the main level of a HUGE house in Atlanta while my brother and his wife lived in the walk out basement.  Well, to make a long story somewhat short, while we were visiting my brother passed away unexpectedly.  That changed everything!

Mountain Man and I had to come off the road and we settled my mom here in Lake Placid.  So, instead of taking our time with the remodeling project,  we decided to tackle the whole project all at once!

Now that you have a little (okay, you have a lot) of the background of how we got to this point - let's move on to the project.  I will warn you now -  there are a TON of pictures in this entry - (even more than I usually do) - so if you aren't into looking at all these maybe you could just jump to the end of the post.  

If you are not scared off let's get started.

Last week I showed you how we gutted the entire interior of the house - down to the studs and then started to rebuild.

 Some people have asked how we got everything done so quickly.  Well, I will confess that we did not do it all ourselves (remember Mountain Man is not a spring chicken anymore ha! Ha!).  After talking seriously about the project - we decided that we would hire outside help to do the actual demo.  We also hired someone to do the electrical work and the plumbing.  (Mountain Man did not want to climb up into the attic to do the electrical work - and he HATES to work on plumbing!)   However - after the shell was put back together he did the rest of the installation of the kitchen.

The picture above shows where the new pantry will go.  To the right is the laundry room.

To save on money we did not change the footprint of the kitchen - the stove, refrigerator, dishwasher, and sink all stayed in the same location as before -

Week 8 - Mountain Man working on the installation of the cabinets

The electrical work is being done - see all the wires hanging down under the cabinets.

Week 9

Granite counter tops are installed, floor is installed,  and the kitchen is FINALLY operable!

My kitchen today - 

This was actually a mistake that we made work.  When we bought the cabinetry for the pantry the wall was extended during the construction phase by 18 inches to accommodate the pantry cabinets.  However, we didn't think about that when we bought the drawer cabinetry - until we started to install the cabinets and had an eighteen inch hole between the last cabinet and the wall.   OPPS! 


What to do, what to do?

Well, I had this brilliant idea to add a wine rack above and cook book shelves below - perfect!    While these units were not the right size -Mountain Man trimmed the cabinets to fit the space - So, the mistake turned into a golden opportunity to add a little extra storage.  (See my Gooseberry Patch Cookbooks?   Love them!)  Once again - if you think out of the box beautiful things can happen.

One of the things that I REALLY wanted in our new kitchen (other than my pantry and some pull out drawers that you'll see later) was a farm sink.  Ta-daaa!  I "heart" this sink - it is -

 Perfection!

Yes, that is Pass Christian hand soap and lotion on the sink - thank you for noticing.

Our new island - lots of storage and where MM and I sit for every meal when we don't have company - another GREAT addition to our new kitchen!

When constructing the island we connected a base cabinet and a drawer cabinet, put them on a base to make them tall enough to accommodate the bar stools, backed them with beadboard and extended the granite counter top for the overhang.  They are also attached to the half wall for stability.  


Next -

My wonderful, beautiful pantry!

Oh, and my "little grocery list" project.

I absolutely adore all the storage that this pantry gives me - the drawers pull all the way out - it is fabulous - I would have to say it is one of the best things we have ever done in any of our many remodeling projects. 

(and there have been MANY!)

 The drawers are a fabulous feature also.

(See my great Kitchen Aid Mixer - my Christmas Present from Mountain Man - isn't he the best!)

I have so much pull out storage - pantry, 

drawers for the pots and pans

and

this.

  You know how you always lose stuff when you have one of those things in the corner - your stuff falls off in the back and you can't reach it.  Well, that will never happen with this little jewel.

  Why?  

Well, take a look

It pulls all the way out!

GENIUS!

 Now,  while we have done a LOT of work on the kitchen - and I love what we have done, I have a confession to make -


Gasp----

It's not finished! 

Nope, we have not installed the back splash yet or the trim work on the cabinets.

We were ready to do the back splash when Mountain Man had his heart cath - and that put everything on hold.  We are hoping to finish it  in the next month or so, trying to save up the money for the tile.  We are planning on using white subway tile.  I know that some people do not like white kitchens, but I love it!  It always looks so clean ( maybe because I clean it more often?) and to change it for the seasons/holidays - all I have to do is use different dish towels and change the curtain.  
Done!

Now that I have overloaded you with pictures I'll leave you with a couple more.

 Remember 


we went from this:

to this :

and while we still have things to do 


I love what we have done so far.

What do you think?

Hugs -

Carol

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