Ode to the Kitchen

I think the kitchen is one of the most important spaces in the house. Think about entertaining and where the people flock... The food, the kitchen. Our kitchen (along with everything else related to this project) has been a labor of love. Lots o' labor. But now we have LOTS o' love. Below is a picture after the wiring and plumbing and insulation - right before drywall (oh, and there was plenty of labor before this pic). We had drywall up shortly thereafter and paint. Then cabinets! See that little faux door looking thing right behind Randy? That's for our fridge. Instead of buying a counter depth fridge (which has far less room and can run up to $1k or more than a regular one), we built a false wall for the fridge to sit back into - the fridge will appear to be counter depth, but will have plenty of room for party trays!

All of the cabinets needed assembly - but Ikea does have their stuff together - it took awhile, but all in all, we have some good cabinets. Thanks to Adam, my dad and mom for getting these suckers together.
Adam and Randy and my mom have worked hours to get to this point below. Hanging cabinets! What daunting task! Especially when your floors, walls and ceiling are NOT level. We had to make sure we had some cool lighting in and around the cabinets. The fridge fit into its cubby nicely....well, maybe we had to rip one side of the corner bead out to fit it in, but no one will see it!
Can you believe it's the same darn place??!! Check out the cabinets behind Adam's head - frosted glass with lights! Doesn't it make you happy? It makes us super happy.

I'm pretty much obsessed with our appliances too. GE french door, bottom freezer fridge (with a special space for a pizza box - Adam request). GE microwave and dual fuel range (gas on top, electric inside). Bosch dishwasher to top it off. I love the black dishwasher - mom has one and it doesn't show as many dirty fingerprints! We went with the stainless and black motif. I also want to point out the pendants! They look orange in the pictures, but they're actually red. They make me think of apples :o) The island is not fully operational, but it will be soon. Who is excited to come sit at our island, watch me cook and have a beverage??? I am excited for you to visit!