Makeover Monday: the kitchen

Our kitchen is my FAVORITE part of our house. Yes, even though I don't like to cook..I still like to have a pretty cooking space. Our house was built in the 1930's as were most of the houses in our area, which equals small cut up rooms that make no sense. It's amazing how open floor plans are somewhat of a modern thing. We live in a brick bungalow, a very typical style house for our area. We live downtown...so as many times as something has broken, (*ahem* it started raining on me the other night, in our LIVING room...yes, we need a new roof, blah....anyone want to donate a few G's)... I wouldn't trade living in an old house downtown for the world right now. Maybe one day when kids are part of the mix we will move to the "burbs," but for now we love being in the heart of the action. And we love our old house, leaky roof and all.

We didn't waste any time tearing stuff down after the papers were signed. The kitchen was so small and cut up, it was crazy. I still don't understand where all the space came from once we finished.

This was essentially the kitchen before...

There were two tiny rooms, a kitchen and a "butlers pantry" type area. There was also a brick fireplace and a huge hall closet in the mix...they both took up lots of space. The fireplace was between the butlers pantry and this wall on the right in this picture (below). We didn't even have a clue it was there....
The other side of the kitchen, looking into the dark, dingy laundry room.
Another view, that window is now gone.
And here's the butlers pantry...and yes, there was "fork and spoon" hardware on those cabinets, what the hell!?!
Dining room looking in, first butlers pantry...then kitchen.
.......and bam. Talk about a HUGE difference. As you can see, we knocked down LOTS of walls. We took out the huge hall closet, I was a little nervous about that at first because the closet space is tiny in this house but my dad doubled the size of the pantry instead. The walls between the kitchen and butlers pantry were removed, as were the walls between the butlers pantry and dining room. And a wall between kitchen and hall way...and some french doors leading to dining room. Woah, that's a lot, right!?! Notice above the sink, that's where the old window used to be that looked into the laundry room.
Opposite view, looking out into dining room.
New, HUGE pantry. This thing is my saving grace...as the only other closets are bedroom ones. And those, are TINY.
It's pretty wonderful having a father that can do all this...we would have never been able to afford everything without him providing free labor. Mikey worked his butt off on the house as well...he was "the demolisher" and then my dad would build everything back. My brother even got in on the action when it was time for the brick fireplace to come down. Talking about a mess! And, you see that wonderful crown molding...my SIL's father is a master craftsman and does BEAUTIFUL cabinetry, molding, etc. Talking about an upgrade:)



I still want to do a back splash and add a few other accessories, but otherwise I love everything about this space. I love the open feeling to it...we entertain a lot and this is no doubt where everyone always gathers. The kitchen truly is the heart of the home!