The Kitchen is Complete!

Hello everyone!  I am so sorry to disappear on you for five months!  But I am finally back with some photos to wrap up our kitchen renovation.  Work has been slow with three small kids and the "usual" hectic life, but we are mostly done. Yay!

Today is a rather overcast day, so the lighting was tricky, but I didn't want to wait another day when I actually had time today!  So here you go:

You might remember that we had a two phase project going on here.  The sink side was done first, and then we waited awhile to save up for the pantry side, as well as the kitchen island.  Here's a slightly different angle.

The floor to ceiling pantry has been SO great!  Having a two year old in the house was not conducive to the metal gorilla racks we had here temporarily.  They served a purpose, but I am glad to have them gone!  Now all our business is tucked away out of sight.  :)

Again, so sorry about the lighting!  But here you can see my little open shelving area.  I wanted some shelving, but not too much since I knew how badly we needed pantry space on that wall.  I love having my cookbooks within reach again, and the little marble counter, though only 48 inches x 18 inches, is a workhorse!

We usually have kids' school papers and mail piles on this counter, but when we entertain (or when I take pictures for my blog!), we clear it off and use it as a bar/drinks station.  I like how it isn't in the main cooking zone, so people can help themselves without worrying they're in the way.

We also added this little baking table down at the other end of the kitchen.  Because the overall kitchen space was so long (we knocked down the wall between old kitchen and dining room), I didn't want one gigantic island because that would have been so L-O-N-G.  Like landing strip long.  So instead we have two smaller ones.  The main island where I do most of the cooking is topped with butcher block, but this little one is marble because I wanted to have somewhere to roll out cookies with the kids.  Cute little bar stools fit under there perfectly!

Another thing I wanted to add in some way was some natural brick.  We hunted all over the kitchen and could only come up with this one little spot where it made sense.  I thought it would soften the look of the metal back splash.

We have had a lot of people ask us if we just exposed the original brick to the home (I WISH!) so I take that as a compliment.  The brick is actually reclaimed thin brick veneer from a company in Connecticut (here's the link if you're interested!).  It was really reasonably priced for such a small square footage; in fact, the cost of shipping was more than the cost of the bricks themselves!  But I love how it turned out.  And the company was great to work with.

One little part of Phase I that I don't think (?) I showed you is what we refer to as the "Big Boy."  I don't know, the name just stuck when my husband was labeling things.  It's down at the far end of the kitchen and it is kind of a combination hutch + appliance garage.

Check out how much storage I get out of this!  I just love it.  My favorite part is that I have outlets for all my most-used appliances now, so no more lugging and reconfiguring every time I want to toast some bread or use my electric mixer.  The permanent coffee station helps too. :)

So there you have it!  We are mostly done.  I say mostly because we're still on the hunt for the perfect butcher block for the top of the main kitchen island.  The island is just big enough that nothing "standard" will work; you can see in the photo below, it needs to be a few inches wider to overhang the base cabinets.

Plus, I have my heart set on finding some old, beat up but solid piece of countertop from some country store somewhere.  (I know.)  So that means it has to be right place + right time + right price = meant to be in Carrie's kitchen.  :)

We also have some trim work and caulking to complete.  We finally caved and hired someone to install the crown molding around the cabinets (see photo below) but now it's just all those little un-glamorous things left that we actually have to do.  Maybe on a rainy day!

And another reason for the delay in our productivity has been this little guy.  Meet Hamish!  (pronounced Hame-ish, Scottish name in honor of my roots!)  He's 12 weeks old and is a Newfoundland + Poodle mix.  Gonna be a big boy!  But we love him and he's been a lot of fun for the kids, and for us too!

So there you have it!  The never-ending kitchen remodel is slowly coming to a close.  Thank you so much for going on the ride with me!  :)