Here are the pictures of the kitchen. Please note that since the pictures were taken, I now have crusty counters and a messy sink because I've been baking up a storm for my Big Trout Lake Cafe at the Women 2 Women event which by the way was a blast! Definitely looking forward to having another one next year. Anyway, back to my kitchen...I am in the process of cleaning it up and it's such a pleasure to clean it...
Ok so here we go. Oh wait, maybe I should include the before shot just to make it look even more dramatic!
BEFORE:
As you can see in this BEFORE shot, the kitchen was pretty much contained to half of the room, on the other half, we had a small table with chairs and a storage unit which I don't have pictures for it. We decided to change the layout of the kitchen and make it instead a galley kitchen which basically means that we would put cabinetry along the walls. That would mean that we would lose the eating area but we already have a dining room right beside the kitchen so we could afford to lose it.
So here's the right side of our galley kitchen:
The cabinets are from IKEA and were very affordable which was what we wanted for this kitchen. The handles are also from IKEA and we wanted to make a statement so we went with oversized ones. All four appliances (fridge, stove, microwave and dishwasher) were also purchased at IKEA and made by Whirlpool. You may be wondering where the fourth appliance is? Well the front of the dishwasher has cabinetry as a door so it blends in with the rest of the bottom cabinetry.
And the last thing we got at IKEA was the countertops. They're white with grey specks and it's made of Quartz. This countertop is not made by IKEA , it's from HanStone and the colour is called Swan Cotton. It is probably one of my favourite things and it's so resistant to stains. I lo lo lo love it!
Another of my favourite things in this kitchen is probably the sink! It has square corners and is under mounted. It's not only extra wide but extra deep so deep in fact that one day Joshua was out playing in the mud outside and when he was done making a mess of himself I just sat him on the countertop and washed his dangling legs and dirty little feet as he sat there quite amused. And that funny looking grill at the bottom of the sink is the most amazing thing I ever bought impulsively. It's wonderful for sitting some dishes to dry while elevating them from the bottom of the sink. I don't know how to describe the several uses I've come up with it but it's great, trust me on that!
Notice the handsome faucet? It's as gracious as a swan don't you think? It's imported from Italy and I must confess that I did splurge on this one but only for one good reason: In almost 8 years that we've been living in the house we had to replace the faucet 2 times only to be disappointed in the quality of them and ended up having leaks. I learned my lesson thank you very much. Plus this faucet came with a cute little matching sidekick, what do ya think of the soap dispenser to the right of the faucet? It is in my opinion a little piece of heaven not having to display an ugly bottle of dishwasher soap on your counters.
Let me talk a little bit about the appliances. I was advised against stainless steel by a repair man that came to fix our old oven once. And he was such a nice guy he had me almost convinced because he said they're high maintenance and so easy to scratch. But my heart was set on stainless steel and with IKEA's 5 year-warranty we could not go wrong.
So we bought a fridge...hello handsome
I have two words for ya: counter-depth. Magical words for a visual freak like myself. I sacrificed a little SQ footage inside of the fridge just because I didn't want it come out too far from the cabinets. Oh it's all in the details. I drive Dan mad!
Next meet the ceramic top stove...hello gorgeous
Ok this one I have to say I didn't want. There I said it. I used to have a coil stove and I HATED it! Food stuck underneath all the time it was a pain to clean and it smelled if food got on the burners...ugh! I knew my only choice if I wanted to get rid of that problem was to get a flat surface but everyone kept telling me how hard it was to keep the surface clean and how it was so delicate and hard to maintain. But then this lady told me that she loved hers and because it's a flat surface it doubles up as extra countertops. That's all I needed to hear and I was sold on it. It cooks perfectly and the oven is awesome!
I like the microwave but for some reason it doesn't seem to suck up the smoke as much from when I cook so we're looking into that.
What I love about our kitchen is the extra storage I'm getting because of the height of the upper cabinets. I used to have 30" cabinets and there was a bulkhead above them using up space needlessly. So once we punched some holes in the bulkhead as you can see in the BEFORE picture, we figured that there were no pipes inside or anything so we could put 36" cabinets instead.
So they go all the way to the ceiling:
Yes that's tall and I'm short.
very.
short.
But, the average person couldn't reach the top shelves either so it's for storing things I don't really use often. I remember entering my kitchen when it was finally finished, I felt like Alice in Wonderland after drinking the shrinking potion ha!
So let's move on to the other side of the kitchen shall we?
This is what I call the breakfast bar:
It's not an island where you can sit at because I don't plan on using it like that. It's where I do breakfast so I have the toaster and coffee maker there (soon to be replaced). Since the picture I now have all my serving trays and bowls for hosting on the floating shelves and glass cabinets which I think give you a break from all that dark wood used in the kitchen. I also like that my contractor was able to meet a requirement we had to make custom cubbies for wine bottles on each side of the cabinets. Isn't that neat? That's Dan's favourite part of the entire kitchen :P
And finally the area that is most used in this kitchen:
It mimics the breakfast bar with its glass upper cabinet doors and floating shelves. I have put my recipe books and the children's school's binders there. I love that we managed to squeeze in a computer area for the kids in a high traffic area. It makes me cringe every time I hear a parent say that his son/daughter has a computer/laptop with internet access in their room....seriously? Ok moving on...
Last shot of the kitchen with both sides but unfortunately I don't have a wide angle lens so I couldn't capture the computer area. But this is what it looks like finished:
And other little things that make me happy are:
-under the counter lighting
-new potlights with dimmers
-oversized and inexpensive subway tiles for my backsplash (it cost me a whooping $34 for the entire surface...PLOP! (that's the sound I just made hitting the floor, dying and going to heaven)
-a working dishwasher! This is truly a blessing. I feel so spoiled even Joshua can't get over the fact that the dishes wash themselves...wow!
And there you have it, my loverly kitchen so if you'll excuse me, I'm off to hug my fridge and kiss my countertops.
