Kitchen Remodeling Project

Last year I had to go buy a new refridgerator.  When it got delieverd I realized very quickly it was too big to fit into my small kitchen.  It was that moment that I decided to remodel my kitchen.  When I bought the house I knew some day I would knock down the wall in between the kitchen and dining room and create an eat-in kitchen.  The new refridgerator is what started the kitchen remodeling process.  The whole remodeling process took 7 months from beginning to end. 

I designed the entire kitchen all by myself.  From the size of the cabinets to the colors to the positioning of the appliances.  I am very proud of myself for doing that!

My color choices and design where very simple.  I wanted a black, white and grey kitchen with everything having straight lines.  As you can see below the previous kitchen had red cabinets and apples EVERYWHERE...what was I thinking?

BEFORE

 

 

This is what the kitchen/dining room looked like the day after the refridgerator arrived and I realized it would not fit in the kitchen.  I knocked down a small part of the wall to fit it in the kitchen for the time being.  The picture above was taken from inside the kitchen and the picture below was taken from inside the dining room.

 

 

This is when the whole wall between the rooms was taken down.  It was a load bearing wall so support beams had to be installed in the attic which is why the drywall on the ceiling was taken down.

 

 

AFTER

 

 

It was my dream to have a very large island in the kitchen.  I decided to make it 8 feet long!!  Pardon the one stool being different than the others.  I have a child and I had to have a back on at least one stool.

 

I prefer to have nothing on the counters...no toaster...no coffee maker...I just hate clutter.  All that is kept in the cabinet until it is used and after I use it I put it away. 

 

I have a ton of counter space and cabinet space now.  I love it!

 

The coolers pictured above and below where a spontaneous buy.  I was out shopping on Black Friday and they were such a bargain that I knew I had to add them to the kitchen.  The left one is a beverage cooler for soda and juice boxes and the right one is a wine cooler.

Decided on hardwood flooring instead of tile.  It was definitely the right choice!  It is so beautiful.

 



 

I love my oversized island.  Some people put sinks in their island or do other fancy things.  I thought about it but decided to keep it plain so that it could be the gathereing place of the kitchen without seeming cluttered.

 

I bought the microwave and stove at Best Buy on Black Friday and they were very cheap.  I did not want a gas stove like I previously had so I decided on electric.

 

 

Overall, the kitchen remodel was great.  I saved a ton of money by not rushing the project, buying laminate countertops, buying preassembled out-of-the-box cabinets, buying everything when it was on sale and making sure to get the best deals on things during Black Friday.  I also saved money by having a friend help with the project and hiring his dad to do most of the hard work.  Although I will not say exactly what I spent on it, I know it was a good investment.  It added at least $35,000 to my homes value and I did not spend even close to that amount on it. 

 

 

I LOVE MY NEW KITCHEN!!!