Kitchen Remodel… Before and After

I am participating in the Hooked on Houses House Tours Blog party.  Head on over there after you view this post for amazing house tours – they’re all just breathtaking.

I am showcasing the amazing (in my mind) transformation of a 50-year old kitchen.  It’s a bit old-fashioned with modern touches.  But then again, we have a 50-year old house.  Enjoy!

I thought posting the bare after pictures with it will help us appreciate the difference much more so here they are.   Forgive the “yellowness” of these pictures.  It’s the camera’s fault!  I have a better quality semi-finished set of after pictures of my dream kitchen in a previous post.

Just note that this was a 50-year old kitchen and we had to tear down all the walls and ceiling.  It was plaster and you know how bad that could go.  Demolition took a week and a half.  Oi!

Do you see how the drawers and cabinet doors don’t close?  Well, it was worse inside.  The lower drawers were never used by us – and the dishwasher was filled with plastic bags.  I guess the previous owners used it to hold stuff and not dishes.

We replaced the refrigerator just 2 years ago so we are keeping that for now.  The floors had 3 layers of plywood and 4 linoleum (vinyl) sheets in between.

What?  Tiles on the walls?  Ummm…. yes!

On the right side of the bottom picture are wood panellings.  It’s really in good shape and I think we kept some of it but it’s really not my taste for this kitchen.

Do you see now how it was?  😉   But yup!  we used it for 3 years.  It was alright, just not comfortable.

And now, the bare after pictures…

We replaced the windows when we first moved in so that wasn’t touched.  Do you see the tag on the window?  Yes, it’s been there for 3 years.  We never removed it.

Notice the island legs.  That’s my pride and joy.  Rather than spending $2040 FOR 3 if we order them from the manufacturer, we bought materials and stain and polyurethane – all for under $300!  Similarly, we didn’t order the moldings from them.  Instead of paying $1200, we spent less than $100 for the top and bottom wall cabinet moldings.  That’s huge savings!  And we love them.

At this time, the kitchen hood still had it’s plastic cover that’s why it is white.  We used two colors of granite for the countertop,  Santa Cecilia and Black Galaxy.  It’s perfect!  The backsplash wasn’t expensive but the glass tiles in between the plain marble tiles and the upper portion was a bit.  It matches the square glass tiles scattered by the stove. 

So here they are, with under-cabinet lighting and all.  IT’S ALL WORTH IT!

I love every bit of it.  It is much more meaningful since we were the ones who picked everything.  We were scared and concerned that our choices wouldn’t come out well together.  In the end, I think it did.  What do you think?