What's Cookin'?

So today we are going to take a look at our kitchen.  The kitchen was actually the first room we decided to tackle in The House and I have to tell you that when we were 1/2 way through it I was fearful that we were never going to finish.  It took A LOT of paint. 

I was in charge of the cabinets where The Husband and The Father-in-Law tackled all of the wood paneling.  There were two very frustrating things about the kitchen.  1) Black cabinets and wood trim =  too many gallons of white paint 2) It all had to be done by hand. 

By day three I was ready to be finished but there was NO WAY The Husband was going to let me cut any corners so we still had one more coat to finish before we could start putting everything back together again.

The funniest part is that when all is said and done, the kitchen will be totally gutted!!  Everything will go except the fan.  I love this fan:)

So what's the plan?  Well first, the cabinets have to go.  Although the coat(s) of white paint made them look better they are not pretty.  Here is where good ol' IKEA enters.  We have the cabinets picked out and the butcher block counter tops, even the farmhouse sink just sitting and waiting for us to come purchase them.  Why haven't we yet?  Well, because before we do that we are going to have to replace the flooring.  Easy enough - except for the fact that the floor is really uneven so we will need a trusty contractor to come in and help us fix that.  I would love to put brick floors in, when we are ready - but I have absolutely no idea how much that will cost.

The other thing we have to do is fix the window behind the sink.  I don't know if you can tell from the picture but whoever re-did our kitchen, they put the sink cabinet right in front of the window so if you are looking in from the outside you can see 8 inches of the back of our sink (just one of the many "what were they thinking" moments we have had since moving into The House).  So, we would need to turn that into a 1/2 window and board/brick up the rest of the opening.

Other things on my to-do list:
Add a dishwasher were the cabinets are to the left of the sink
Replace the microwave cart with a true cabinet
Keep the open shelving but replace the metal bracket with wooden ones
Get a new fridge, and maybe a new oven with a hood
Find a way to incorporate Subway Tile into the kitchen - I love Subway Tile!
Add an island

Now, after telling you all of that I do want to say that I love my kitchen!  I don't know why because, obviously, there is a lot I want to change about it but it just feels so homey to me.  I love that it is little and that you can't crowd a whole lot of people in it.  I love the presence of the kids in the kitchen, from their lunch boxes laying around to their artwork on the fridge even the pet fish courtesy of the fair we went to this past weekend.  It really is one of my favorite rooms in the house.

LINKING UP!!!