Our new kitchen

Jason and I starting remodeling the kitchen last November.  Do you remember what it looked like?  1984 Fabulous.  I did like the painted faux bricks but overall the kitchen was really dark.  The countertops were stained and just gross.  They made me so mad.  One section near the sink (you know, the part that I used most) would snag my shirts and tear holes in them.  I lost so many shirts that way.  And I can't believe I didn't rip down that valance over the window.  Ick.  Apparently I never looked up.  Anyway, here are some "before" photos.

We replaced our old, stained formica with granite countertops.  We found a smokin' deal on them.  The color is Indian Emerald Green but they are almost black.  The granite has a lot of crystals that reflect the light and you can see all the way down into them.  It's really cool. 

Then Jason and his dad, Tom, refinished and painted the cabinets white.  Off white, really. There was a whole lot of sanding, painting, sanding and more painting.  They sprayed all of the cabinets so they have a professional finish.  They also added the bead board to the back of the cabinets.  To finish it off, Jason also added a some crown molding to the top of the cabinets as well as the bottom of the upper cabinets.  The under cabinet lighting also lights up the work surface when I'm cooking (or baking cookies).

We even talked my dad into forging all the door and drawer pulls for us.  I love the custom, handmade hardware. 

 After the cabinets and countertops were finished, we had a really hard time deciding on a back splash.  We spent more than one date night discussing options at Lowes and Home Depot.  Finally, we decided to put it off until after Christmas.  In January, I saw a beautiful kitchen in Martha Stewart's magazine with a simple subway tile backsplash.  The photo inspired our choice.  Simple but classy.  It blends in with the rest of the colors and doesn't scream for attention.  I am really happy with our choice.

This was the last update in the kitchen.  I saw something similar on Pinterest (my new favorite thing- it's so inspiring!) and just had to make one for our house.  I had already been hanging the kids' art projects on this wall.  After all, I think it's important to display art in the home.  But the scotch tape didn't look all that nice.  This project fixed that right up.  We just finished hanging it on Sunday.

We are so happy with our new kitchen.  We may switch to black appliances at some point but we need a new roof first.  It will have to wait.