the kitchen

So I don't have any great "before" pictures so we'll have to make do. Suffice it to say that this was the original 1957 kitchen with built in wood cubboards. None had tall enough shelves to hold a box of cereal... it was the ideal canned foods kitchen. Ugly, wierd pull-out drawers, an entirely rotted floor, so we had to rip all the way down to the sub-floor. A wall oven that couldn't fit some of my cookie trays, and definitely not a large turkey... unusable space; poor layout. Junky, pink laminate coutertop, gorged out, degraded lineoum floor that still looked filthy even when it was clean.

So pretty much anything would be an improvement. Steve has done a fantastic job and he's been working so hard on this for the past 6 weeks. I married a good man. We are at the point now where it's not quite finished... (there are some detailing things to do like base boards, transition pieces, paint touch-up etc.) but it's functional and I suspect the details will happen once they HAVE to happen (i.e., when we get ready to sell the house.) But I am pleased and so... here are some pics of the journey:

The closest thing I could find to a before picture, too bad you can't see the floor:


This is Steve's buddy Brian who traded lots of man-hours in help for many suppers and some beer.

Xavier learning the trade:

"You might be a redneck if you hook up your dishwashing machine to the hose in the backyard during a kitchen remodel."

Steve, The Perfectionist.

And the results!

I have a full-size oven range! I can't wait for Thanksgiving!

Look at this gorgeous (kid-mess friendly) ceramic tile we put in:

So, it's still a tiny kitchen, but it's no longer the wart of the house... it's officially "quaint" and a pleasure to be in!

One of the final touches, this lovely pewter hardware we sprung for: