Soul Kitchen

I have grumbled some about my postage stamp-sized kitchen on this blog thus far, but I like it a lot more than I did when we moved in. When we were renting the house from Seth’s parents, the walls were bright red, the cabinets were the worst light-wood laminate I can imagine, and the cabinet hardware was plain boring.

When we bought the house, I already knew what changes I wanted to make to that room to make it bearable for me to look at, and with my dad’s expert painting help, I got right to work. First, we painted the existing cabinets Simply White by Benjamin Moore using their Benjamin Moore Advance, which cures to a harder finish for use on furniture and cabinets (totally worth the investment). Then we painted the walls Chopped Dill by Benjamin Moore, which I have been wanting to do for about the last three years. Last, we changed out the boring hardware on the cabinets for something a little more interesting in a shiny chrome finish.

Isn’t it amazing how much a few coats of paint and some hardware can do for a room? The kitchen now flows so much better with the rest of the house and is much lighter and happy looking. Plus the green accents in the backsplash tie in much better now. And the best part is it only cost us about $200 between the paint and the cabinet hardware.

I’ve got a few ideas for what’s next on the docket in the kitchen. Our sink is made of something awful. I think it may be Corian or something similar. It stains with impressive ease, has chunks missing in the bottom, and I hate that it’s separated in the middle. I’d love to switch it out for something more durable and less easily stained. And while we’re at it, I’d like to try my hand at faux concrete countertops to replace our scratched and stained laminate. If we have leftover tile from our upstairs bathroom reno, I’d also like to get rid of that outdated backsplash in favor of some clean white penny tile. Way down the line, I’d also like to replace our stove with a new gas model (since the oven doesn’t heat correctly anymore and I prefer to cook with gas) and our dishwasher with something newer. If that even happens, I think I’d opt for white models which are usually cheaper than stainless and will tie in with the kitchen cabinets. That way the eye isn’t distracted by color transitions in that tiny space.

If you could remodel your kitchen, what would you change? Share with us in the comments section!