My new kitchen..under construction

When you buy your first home, you look at all of the great upgrades and things that the home comes with. The tiled bathrooms, hard wood floors, French doors to the patio. Well, not that we had those things right when we moved in our first house, but for some reason, I over looked many things that I thought would not bother me but I was okay with the floor plan. Let's just say that we quickly outgrew our first home. We did not know that in a short period we would have 2 beautiful children or that I would be staying at home with them. That you did need a linen closet, and front door closet, larger kids rooms, and the most important thing, a big kitchen!

My next life lesson is that even though you don't WANT to spend half your day in the kitchen, you will. Between making breakfast, eating, then cleaning dishes. And repeating it again for lunch and dinner. Don't forget the morning snack and afternoon snack. And the cookies for the preschool party, and the appetizer that goes to your friend's house for the gathering. (Don't fool yourself. You still have to cook, just not the whole meal which is great!) You will spend a good part of your day in the kitchen. It has become the center of our home. And I might regret putting this out for all to see (because Chad will have proof but...), I do enjoy cooking. Not every meal, every day. Everyone needs a break. But I do enjoy it. I think that it is an extension of my love for the one's that I truly care about. And there is something to be said for taking items that by themselves are terrible and making something wonderful.

Now... my new kitchen had great bones. I has much more counter and cabinet space than I have ever had. It has the built in oven and microwave. A nice size pantry. More than one entrance. It is not too far from my car for unloading groceries. And a nice size dining nook. But it does have some flaws. The dishwasher was AWFUL!!! I am convinced that it was the loudest on the market and it did not clean well or dry. That was the first thing we replaced. I think Chad was tired of me complaining about it. Let's face it, I wasn't "complaining". That is putting it nicely. The vent a hood over the cook top has no purpose. It does not recirculate nor does it vent out. It is simply a light source. The tile back splash was builder standard off white 4x4 tile. Just not the prettiest thing considering they installed granite on the counter tops. And my entire house is the build beige color. But these are all things that can be fixed and in the process.

So I have painted the kitchen and will extend it to the living room. Chad (my house boy and Handy Man(ny)) has ripped down the tile and is in the process of replacing it with new tumbled stone. He is also fixing my vent a hood. So I will finally have my great kitchen!!! I will post before and after pictures in a week or so when everything is completed. But I am such a happy girl. My "work" environment has improved greatly!