New Year, New Kitchen

Ben's office was closed for the entire week following Christmas and I was able to take some time off too. W had daycare and that was awesome! We had planned a week of seeing movies and pretty much jacking around. But we ended up spending almost every minute (including New Year's Eve until we passed out at 11:20p) working on our kitchen.We've been planning a minor remodel for several months. The plan was to have a cabinet piece built for what is essentially an empty wall in our kitchen. We couldn't use pre-fab cabinets because the unit had to be high enough for our portable dishwasher to slide under. Then we'd need to put counter tops on, replacing existing counter tops on the other wall, and get a new sink. But as we began to understand what a custom cabinet piece would cost, we got nervous. We were looking at $3,000 for the carpentry work alone. Without much hope, I pulled up the Ikea website to see if there was something there that would work and allow us to do this project ourselves. What I found was a Christmas miracle!But before I get to that, let's see the "before" kitchen.Freestanding shelving and a butcher block island provided a lot of open storage, which I like. But it wasn't safe for W which is why we had a gate blocking entrance into the kitchen. The island, while useful, was definitely a road block when moving around the room. We also needed to get rid of that high chair, W just looked silly in it since he's so tall. But that meant we had to replace it with a different eat-in option. Once I found the Ikea units that would serve as the cabinets and counter tops, I drew up a scaled plan.Using two Giman butcher block islands, side by side, we would be able to create a cubby for the dishwasher and install a cabinet to hold our recycling bins. To the left of that, we would have an eating area at counter height, perfect for placing two scoop back chairs from West Elm. Total length of the pieces side by side is 106". Total length of our wall? 107"! Wall mounted shelving would hold our dishes, pots/pans, and other kitchen necessities. The price tag would end up being about $1,300, a huge improvement over $3,000 for the cabinet alone!But as we began assembling the units, we saw how big they were. Considering the fact that when you walk in to our house, you see this wall immediately, we were concerned it would just look overwhelming. So we decided the best thing to do is shorten the legs on the eat-in side to regular table height. Getting those cuts was definitely the hardest part. Turns out not that many people have table saws. After a marathon expedition, Parr Lumber on NW 19th made our day and only charged us $4. Shortening the table also allowed us to get regular height chairs which saved us $50.Still a few minor things to do like hiding the Direct TV cord in foreground, and choosing and hanging an art piece on the big blank space above the table. We might also add a third shelf at the top, on either side of the pot/pan rails. The counter tops and new sink will wait until phase two (aka more money gets saved) but now that we have much less area to cover, we can afford a better material. And finally, some day in the future, we will resurface the existing cabinetry. They are perfectly good, just need a bit of a face lift.We are thrilled with the outcome. It is a delight to cook and entertain in our new space. And W is still complimenting us. Last night he said "I like this work you did mama." So here are the results!Yay!