The next room on our house tour is the kitchen. It's a pretty small kitchen, but no smaller than what we've lived with in our previous apartments, so it will do! The first improvement we made to our kitchen was ripping out the fluorescent light fixture that covered up the whole ceiling. Once we pulled down the plastic panels and wood frames, we were thrilled that the ceiling was a foot and a half higher than it had appeared. We replaced the light fixture with four energy-efficient can lights, and had the border of the ceiling framed in crown molding. This one adjustment immediately made a world of difference! The room feels a lot bigger with the higher ceiling and it was a relatively easy change to make. Next, Brandon and his dad ripped out the linoleum floor, only to find out there were three layers of linoleum laid on top of one another. This became quite the ordeal of a project, one Brandon may have referred to as "the worst thing he's ever done in his life." But now we have a clean subfloor to work with!
As you can see from the before pictures, the cabinets had a very strange, streaky paint job and diagonally placed hardware. We removed the hardware and had the cabinets painted white, more specifically Valspar "Subway Tile." (We left this painting job to a professional.) We bought new satin nickel hardware for the cabinets that we haven't gotten around to adding yet. The wall color is the same as the rest of the house: Benjamin Moore "Timid White." We'll also be buying a new cooktop. (Holding out for a Black Friday deal!) For now, the rest of the appliances will stay.
So there you have it! It's by no means a dream kitchen, but I've always wanted a white kitchen, and now I've got one! I love how it still has a retro flair and I can't wait to set my "Martha Stewart blue" KitchenAid mixer right on that countertop and get baking! Thanks for following along!
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Learn more about our house remodel here: 1. House Tour, The Before Pictures (October 2012) // 2. House Tour, The Living Room (November 2012) // 3. House Tour, The Kitchen (November 2012) // 4. House Tour, The Den (November 2012) // 5. House Tour, The Bedrooms (November 2012) // 6. House Tour, Remodel Phase 1 Completed, (January 2013)