Drawers are dreamy

Deep base cabinets are great for lots of storage - but they don't do much for accessible storage.  We have always kept our big pots and pans in the same lower cabinet - it was really deep and had an upper shelf of about 1/3 depth.  But...unless you wanted the top pot or pan or cookie sheet in the stack...a nightmare.  Brent made this great solution!

They are full-extension drawers.  He built a box that fits perfectly inside the cabinet, and the hardware attaches to the box.  So, the whole thing is removable, should anyone want to.  We have doors for that cabinet at the moment...but we'll see how that works. We might end up making drawer fronts instead so you're not opening two doors just to pull out a drawer.  As someone who did a lot of cooking today - this is a serious game-changer, and I totally admit that Brent was right - this was a worthwhile project, even if this doesn't end up being our forever house.

Open Shelves

Today was a busy one for the kitchen - Brent went into the shop to finish the drawers, then fitted them in and is now finishing them in the basement, and we got our open shelves up for display!  Here are some pics:

 

 I love that they give us the ability to break up the long wall of white windows, cabinets, and tile, especially since we have almost no wall-space to use to decorate in the space.


The one negative is that they block the one LED light from reaching the counter...we'll see how they feel over the next few days.  I can say that from the dining room - they look awesome!

Also, I really love those mini green goblets I scored at TJ Maxx!  They've been hiding in a cabinet for months - I missed them!

I'm sure I'll try about 900 different objects on those shelves :)  I might also add a mix of things we actually use all the time - like our small white Ikea bowls.

Final Steps to be Finished

Well, hello again.  It has been a while!  Yes, the kitchen has been lower on the totem pole these days with work back in full swing and vacations to take, but we are in the final push to complete the last steps!

Currently the doors and drawer fronts that Brent made are at the shop to be sprayed.  He has also built the final 4 drawers and installed 2 of them.

After that, some caulking fixes, paint touch-ups, hanging our open shelving, installing the soft-close hardware on the cabinets we had ordered, and we should be able to call our kitchen done!

The mudroom is functional, but Brent still wants to build a custom organization solution and we do still have the glass door we may or may not install.  We could also install trim above the cabinets...but we'll see :)

I cannot wait to take the official AFTER pictures.  Living in our new kitchen has made a huge difference for our house.  It is much more functional and just fun to be in.  We refinanced in December, and I'm sure that almost-finished new kitchen had a lot to do with our assessed value going up!  It feels really great to be almost done with such a monumental project that we did almost all of "our"selves (OK Brentselves).  What to do this summer?? Perhaps convert an upstairs closet to a powder room? Muah ha ha ha.