Finally!
Today, we are making good on a promise to ourselves and a promise to you! We started this kitchen project so long ago, it’s hard to believe the day has actually arrived where we can show you the results. Today will be mostly pictures of what we’ve accomplished. Later on, we’ll probably do a source list post and a budget breakdown too. But for now, we want to revel in our accomplishment – six months in the making. 🙂
As with any good story, we must start at the beginning. This was the kitchen when we moved in last June. And then again after we painted the uppers and pulled down a cabinet by the window. 
Dated, builder’s grade cabinets, clouds on the ceiling, terrible lighting and some other oddities thrown in for good measure. If you’d like to see the full on blow-by-blow try these posts here, here, here and here.
Here’s that same view now …
The only surface we didn’t touch was the floor, but even that got some DIY treatment with our DIY kitchen mat. We had new counters installed around the full length of the room. We opted for a ‘bar top’ cut instead of a traditional cut to keep the line between the back of the counter and the wall smooth. It’s a small change that really modernizes the space and it doesn’t cost any more to have done.
We tore out the cabinets flanking the window to open it up, and added in a blown glass pendant to illuminate the area without detracting from the water view. We thought about window treatments, but there’s no privacy concern and we love to see the waves from the sink.
We replaced one of the cabinets with simple bracket shelves. Because they are fairly small (only 24″ long) we aren’t too worried about them being messy or dusty. We use the things on these almost every day, so they’ll change frequently.
Same goes for the new open shelf we created where the fridge once stood. Remember how we made the $4 back splash for that area? We matched the wood of the bracket shelves to the shims to give some beachy continuity and levity to the entire room. And who can forget Dan’s awesome, space saving, custom built basket shelf. Love.
Speaking of space saving, our rolling kitchen pantry is still serving us well. It was harder to get a photo this time, because when we built it, we had no counters, so I could get into a corner to snap a shot! Anyway, it’s not much to look at, but it streamlines the room nicely and packs a storage punch.
We chose a cool sky blue for the walls as a compliment to all the white in the space. The walls are Opal Seas by Behr and the back splash and cabinets are Igloo White by SICO.
Speaking of the white, we opted to keep our ‘colour lines’ as continuous as possible. Some don’t believe it, but this room is only 10’x10′. Keeping the cupboards, back splash, trim and bulkhead the same colour eliminates visual clutter and makes the room feel taller and more open.
Here are a few Before and After shots for comparison. 🙂
So? What do you think? Worth the six month wait? Haha. We can’t tell you how good it feels to have a fully functioning kitchen that we did ourselves and that uses every square inch of space.
