Before and After, Kitchen and Bar

The original kitchen was miles of peach formica.  It covered the cabinets and went right up the walls.  The bar was small and ended in a wall.  This picture to the right is the view from the family room into the kitchen during the construction process.

This is the new kitchen layout.  The biggest changes are the wall we took out and the shift in the 'magic triangle'.  We moved the refrigerator from the left of the entry door across the kitchen so it is next to the eat in area and the window.

We moved the cooktop to the island which required jackhammering and running electric and gas to the new island.  Last, but not least, we centered the kitchen sink up under the window, it was offset below a cabinet before.

 Previously, the bar had a 'burled wood' formica top and an antiqued yellow paint job.  The mirror wall and glass shelves were in good shape so we decided to keep them.  We repurposed the light fixture into another room and added a simple pendant light.  We replaced the top with Silestone and painted out the cabinets in a bright white.

I will collect up some more of the before and after shots and put them here for your review.  Don't blast me in the comments for my choices, it's way too late to change this stuff!!

--  Sandee Wagner

You CAN Get What You Want

Since I did such a whiny post about the original cabinet install, I thought I'd do an update and let you know how the changes went.

When the cabinets went up, there was a HUGE piece of trim at the top of them.  I was devastated that the cabinets did not go all the way to the ceiling as I had requested.  

The finish went on and the construction continued while I negotiated with the builder and the cabinet maker.

They even came by and tried to tell me, "They look GREAT!"  My realtor came by and said, "It's kind of like the cabinets would have been done in the house's building period."  

Regardless, I was not happy.  When I finally got that through to them, they came up with some ideas to change things to make me happy.  There were a couple of solutions batted around, but until I said, "then he'll just have to remake all the uppers!" they didn't really take it seriously.  At that point, they got it.

The solution I opted for was to put a box at the top of each cabinet upper, then give it a glass fronted flip up door at the top.

The paint guy did an amazing job of staining the new wood to match the existing cabinetry.  I was afraid it would be easy to see the old vs. the new.

The cabinets went up with the glass fronted door panels and I could not be more pleased.

The glass gives the dark cabinets a little more reflective property and a bit of interest.


I like it!  I've already stuffed half of them full of kitchen things I don't use that often.

The added benefit of having the cabinet maker back out is that he readjusted ALL the doors.  The painters know how to remove the doors to paint them, but often, when they are putting them back on, they will flip left to right or vice versa.  The cabinet guy hung the new doors and very carefully adjusted all the doors so they hung right and soft-closed correctly.

I am very pleased with the outcome.

I'm glad I stood up for myself and insisted they fix it.

When you pay this much for something to be remodeled, you need to be happy with the finished product.

And I am VERY happy with my new kitchen!!

--  Sandee Wagner

Lights! We Have Lights!!

The electricians came back because the ceilings were finally all painted--and they installed some of our light fixtures.

All the scary neon tubes are down in my "up lighting" trays that surround the sunken living room and the great room media area.

The electricians were totally freaked out when I asked them to check it and see if it was all right--it was not.  We pulled the old wiring (bare wires--so scary!) and all the neon tubing and replaced it with LED rope lights.

The light cast is a little different, but it's way less maintenance and should pull a lot less electricity.



The bar area got a new pendant light.  The old light was going to be reused...until I saw how pretty the bar looked with the new Silestone counter top.  Then I couldn't put up that old brass fixture.

I went to Lowe's and purchased a pendant kit and then got a gray and white swirled glass cover for it.  It's not disco ball shiny, but it was affordable and it really shows the same colors as the counter top.  Now, I just need to spend about two hours cleaning all that mirror and glass shelving!!

Finally, we got the kitchen lights all installed.  There is a fixture above the eat in table area and a matching pendant over the sink.

I picked a smooth brushed nickel light with a shiny chrome stripe hoping it would go good with all the appliances.  They really turned out nice!

What you can't see from this picture is the new LED under counter lighting.  It is so BRIGHT!!  I love it.  I can't wait for this to get finished so I can cook in this kitchen and mess it up!!

Things are really starting to come together.  Of course, the rooms are still filled with boxes waiting to be unpacked and furniture waiting to be unwrapped.  I left a lot of it until the construction was completed.  Seemed a little crazy to unwrap the leather furniture when some paint would be slung around.  Most of that should be done by the end of this week, so maybe we can get all the large furniture pieces placed this weekend.  Time will tell.

--  Sandee Wagner

The Kitchen Countertops

Stain! and Countertops!

 Well it took them a couple of days to stain all the cabinets, then coat them with a couple of layers of clear coat (shellac? laquer?)

All I can tell you is that it was stinky.  We picked Sherwin-Williams Burnished Walnut in the hopes that it would look good and blend with all our other furniture.  It turned out pretty well.  I think the cabinetry looks good dark.  There is still that soffit to be dealt with, but that is an ongoing discussion.  There will be a change--if they can't come up with anything else, they will remake the uppers.

Yesterday, the countertop guys showed up and did the install of the new Silestone countertops.  What an enormous amount of work!!

Those guys worked non-stop all day.  They did all the kitchen counters, the backsplash on the island and the bar top.

The color is called Platinum White.  It's hard to tell in my photos, but some of the chips in that surface are mirrors and reflect the light.  It's the first time this crew had installed this type of Silestone.  They kept petting it and saying, "shiny".  Which was exactly why I picked it!

I made all the decisions on this remodel.  DH has been working a new job and kept saying, "whatever you think is best" when I offered him choices.  So this is really all me, when it comes to selections.  I didn't have any choices on the layout or design--but all the finishes were my choice.  If it looks like crap--it's on me.

Last night, when we were admiring the countertops, DH stroked the smooth surface and said, "I should never ask you how much this cost, should I?"  He is such a smart man.  It is one of the reasons I love him.

--  Sandee Wagner