It's done, it's done!!!

It's hard to believe, but it's done!  After 5 weeks of frozen food and takeout and a 2 1/2 week delay waiting for counters to come so the sink could be installed, we've got a brand new, gorgeous kitchen!!!  I'm SO excited.  I'm beyond excited, actually.  It's helping to lift my mood (see last post) immensely! 

They finished on Friday afternoon and we promptly left town for the weekend for my DH's family reunion (lots of toddlers, but only a couple of preggos who are lapping me, it wasn't as bad as expected), so all we've done in it so far is run a load of dishes and stare in awe at the whole thing.  But, let me tell you, this dishwasher is INCREDIBLE.  We decided to test it's mettle and put all the nasty baked-on bowls and things that had built up in the past week or so where I'd been so busy and so annoyed at the whole process that I hadn't really been cleaning anything.  I figured it wouldn't possibly get out the solid mortar that is leftover oatmeal.  But...it did!  (I may or may not have gotten down on one knee and held the clean bowls up to the sky as a choir of angels sang.)

There are a few things we still need to do -- there's a piece of counter missing that the manufacturer cut incorrectly and we haven't put in the trim on the bottom of the cabinets (or some of the tops) or re-done the ceiling.  But, as the contractor said "You are never really done, you just leave." 


After about a year of collecting appliances on clearance and storing them in our dining room, seeking out deals on cabinets, etc. we finally have done it!

(I've always wanted to be on HGTV, so here come the dramatic before and after pictures.)

View from the dining room:

  Before.  (This is just a taste of the clutter that has been going on in this room for the past year or two.  It's been making me NUTS.)

After.  (Cue choir of angels.)

After.  Gives you a better sense of how it all comes together.  I really love the breakfast bar.

 View of the south wall.

Before.  Dark!  Walls closing in on me!  Don't make me spend time in here!!  Ah!!!

After.  Beautiful, bright, calming.  (Yes, it helps that it's actually decluttered...)

View of the north wall.

Before.  "Eat-in" part of our kitchen.  With a handy phone nook (it's still open on the other side).

After.  Yeah, I'll sacrifice that phone nook for a GORGEOUS wall oven and double pantry cabinets.  Swoon.

Views of the east wall.

Before.  Hated stove with only two working burners.  And, essentially all of the counter space in the room.

After.  Whoever invented the french door, freezer on the bottom refrigerator should be praised.

Before.  Cluttered corner with dish rack and annoying soffit -- it looked like storage but was nailed shut.

After.  Who needs a cluttered dish rack when you can have a gorgeous dishwasher!! 

Views of the west wall.

Before.  Fridge with way too much junk on it (the new fridge won't hold a magnet on the front...that's probably a good thing!  It will keep us from getting to this point again...  Cute nephews or no, they shouldn't take up our entire kitchen.) 

After.  I swear this is the same view.  Love the look-through.  If someone is sitting at the bar on the other side, you can look them in the eye if you're standing there and cooking or working at the counter.  (And, yes, it is possible that I turned the burners on and off several times because I was just so excited to have a gas cooktop.)

Before.  So closed in.

After.  So open!!  (Sorry the picture is so dark.)

Close up on the floor.

After.  Scroll back for the "before" shots.  It was a kind of dirty looking yellowish linoleum.  This is still, actually, a vinyl floor, but we're really happy with how it looks.  We weren't planning on getting a dark floor, but I can't believe how nice it turned out!

I can't wait to start cooking in it!! :)  YAY!!!