kitchen construction.

A few weeks back the hubs and I worked with a contractor friend of ours to tackle a project that I had in mind since day one of buying the house: knocking down part of our kitchen wall to create a more open concept between the kitchen and eat-in kitchen area. Since we’re not in the market for a full-blown kitchen remodel, we’re sticking with our little galley kitchen but slowly making updates to it (like so) in hopes of making it feel not as small and closed-in, as most galleys do.

While this project didn’t go quite as planned (we weren’t able to open up the wall the full 26 inches across like originally planned thanks to the unfortunate discovery of a copper waste pipe and heat vent behind the wall  — reference second pic below), we settled for what we could get: 10 inches across and six inches overhead. Not the ideal situation but sometimes even the smallest of updates can make a huge difference and we’re happy with this project in the end.

And now for your viewing pleasure:

In the midst of construction…

The before & afters…

can you spot all of the changes?

newly acquired ledge, new trim, open shelves in place of old cabinet, valance above sink removed, new light fixture, & new paint on the walls (the same color as the eat-in kitchen area to create flow between the two rooms)

 open shelves now replace the cabinet — perfect for storage and easy access of cookbooks and dried pastas

the “EAT” letters found a new home above the pantry since they no longer fit above the updated doorway

*Source list: Paint – Valspar in ‘Asiago’; “EAT” letters — Hobby Lobby; shelves — DIY / brackets — IKEA; light fixture – allen + roth via Lowe’s; window “curtains” — burlap sacks via Dunn Bros

Next kitchen projects to tackle:

• Paint the cabinets white + replace the hardware (happening this month!) for a more modern and clean look (as opposed to the current distressed cabinets that are giving off an old and dingy vibe)
• Replace the currently cracked and chipped beehive-like tile in favor of dark wood that matches the eat-in kitchen
• Replace the out-dated appliances with sleek stainless steel ones

Updates to follow! – Stay tuned!

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