The kitchen finally happened!!!
It doesn’t happen often that we have all 5 kids and their families together, but this year we all plan to be here at our home for a whole day during the holidays, and I am over the moon excited. Someone please remind me to take a picture!!!! So, you know I am busy planning, making lists, shopping, wrapping, decorating, and on and on. I want everything to be perfect or as close as to perfect as I can do, which will be nowhere near perfect!!
If you follow my blog, you know that our house remodel has gone on for about a year and a half now, and the last really BIG project was to be the kitchen. Well, until the next big project of the addition and our dock is started. But for now, I am celebrating my kitchen and the fact that I can cook for my family for Christmas.
I thought I had a couple of pics of the makeshift kitchen we had the past year, but I haven’t been able to find them. Frank built a counter out of plywood and 2X4’s that he mounted a kitchen sink in. We bought a refrigerator when we moved in and a couple of stainless commercial type tables with shelves underneath for storage. I used a propane gas iron two burner cooker for cooking, along with my crock pot, microwave, grill and smoker. Let me assure you, we did not miss any meals. My waistline can attest to that! But, my new kitchen is so much better.
Our white shaker cabinets came from Super Home Surplus in Madison, TN. I met with the kitchen designer, Jill, and she was fabulous. She has many years experience and has great ideas and always responds promptly to calls and emails. I highly recommend her for any of your cabinet needs. Once we nailed down the layout, we placed the order and the cabinets were ready for pickup in about three weeks. We did the delivery and install ourselves. Frank and Jimmy also did the trim work. Our appliances are from Lowes. I waited until October to order those, as that’s when the best appliance sales are. 😉
Can we just talk about this fabulous island??? I think I could do a whole blog about it alone. Mr. Junior Brown of Waverly, came out and met with me to get my ideas and measurements. He had built cabinets for us at another house and knew he did excellent work. I had several pics that I printed from the internet and tried to explain how I wanted to combine them into this beautiful, functional, work of art. He could not have built anything I would have loved any more!! For me, it has become my favorite part of the kitchen. Mr. Brown also brought his counter top guy with him, Mr. Swaner, which measured for our quartz counter tops. I wanted to go with a gray counter top on the white cabinets and a white Carrera top for the island.
Did I mention, besides being beautiful, this island is functional? I asked for a double trashcan pullout, pullout shelves, and an oversized silverware drawer. I love being able to chop up veggies and rake off anything that I don’t want into the trashcan. The plastic white silverware separators come out and go in the dishwasher for easy cleaning. We originally planned to build a pantry across from the island, where the fish pictures are, but after seeing how much room I have in the island, we decided against it. I added a bench there, and it has become the place to catch my bag and jacket or whatever I have in my arms when I come home. The bar stools and wooden bench are both from Wayfair and the fish prints are from Etsy.
Last, but certainly not least, is the backsplash and floating shelves. It took me a while to finally decide on the backsplash. I brought home several different styles of subway and mosaic tile to compare to my counter tops. All of the grays made my countertop look brown and I wanted something different than the stark white against my white cabinets. I hadn’t really thought about glass, until I laid one down on the countertop. That was all it took. Frank wasn’t sure about them, but after installation, loves how it looks. Tile is from Lowes.
I showed Frank what I wanted for shelves and we measured for what we needed and a week later, I had the last element that I had been waiting on for the kitchen grand reveal!! I love how the shelves turned out. You too, can have floating shelves. Just email me with your measurements and if you want them stained or painted, and we can give you a price. mitziemcd@gmail.com He can also do the wooden window shutters and flower box that I featured a couple of posts back. Be sure to check them out!!
Well, that’s it for now. I hope you all are getting ready to make lots of fun family memories! I plan to do another post of Christmas decorations soon, so stay tuned!! Until then, you better be good, cause Ole Santa is watching!!!
xoxo – Mitzie
