Ode to My Kitchen

I love my kitchen.  I really do.  There is nothing I would change about it.   When we bought this house, the kitchen was a disaster.

The puffy blue baby chair was left behind by the previous owner.

From this photo, you can get a general idea of how ugly it was.  Warped pink counters, cupboard doors that fell off when you opened them, funky floor, and the island was not only slanty, but lacking in storage.

We worked with an awesome remodeling company.  The first time we met with the carpenter about the cabinets, he had some great ideas such as slide-out shelves in the pantry and cabinets on both sides of the new island.  He got excited about the project, and that got me excited.  Before we met with him, I had felt kind of doomed.  Especially when I posted this picture on Facebook and a couple of people responded with "I like your kitchen!"  HA - they had never been in this kitchen.  Maybe the baby chair gave them the feeling of "homey," I don't know.  The fact is, this kitchen was worse than the one we had lived with for 10 years.  It was time for BIG CHANGES!

The new kitchen, with beautiful new appliances, fits our lifestyle exactly.  We extended the island, added cabinets underneath that can be accessed from both sides, installed a giant, deep sink, and picked a floor that looks close enough to real stone to satisfy me.

The pot rack was left behind by the previous owner too!

We considered adding a door between the kitchen and laundry/mud room, and might do that in the future.  Instead, all my cooking pictures will include that view (and sometimes it's not this pretty).

It is such a joy to cook in a kitchen that meets my every need.  I'm starting to forget how nasty it was, and how expensive, and how it seemed to be taking forever to remodel.  I love you, new kitchen!  Thanks for all the inspiration!