Casa Kittling's Kitchen Evolution

I've told you in my Weekly Link Round-Ups that Denis and I called our go-to remodeler to have work done on the kitchen. It is the last of the rooms I expect to undergo a change, and there's two reasons for that: (1) We've had a bellyful of the disruption and inconvenience, and (2) we haven't won any lotteries lately.

What's slightly amusing about this last room to undergo the knife is that it's the room I've wanted to change the longest. Why did it take so long for us to give the green light on the transformation? It's all my fault. Having had to correct several of the previous owner's "improvements" over the years, I had the irrational fear that the hollow "cubby hole wall" hid some sort of money pit monster. I could see that Denis and Claude the remodeler were getting tired of me dragging my feet, so I insisted that a hole be cut into that bothersome wall to check for monsters. 

There weren't any.

For some reason that we couldn't see, the previous owners had blocked off two and a half feet of valuable kitchen real estate in a kitchen that was small to begin with. Once I saw there were no monsters hiding in the dark, all systems were go. I'll start the photos with two from The Olden Days to give you an idea of how this room has changed over the years.

 

Although this photo is about 20 years old, changes had already been made to the kitchen and family room. Chiefly the flooring in both rooms (the original was beige carpet in both) and a new stove and microwave.

Family room back in the day.

The first two photos were "before" photos... before my best friend Helen and I turned ourselves loose. I got out a hammer and chisel and sander and got rid of all the fake bricks on the backsplash and over the cubby holes, and then we cleaned and painted. And painted. And painted.

Bye, bye bricks. Hello, new countertops.

Painted over the paneling. Both rooms were lighter and brighter.

The exploratory hole.

All the cubby hole wall was hiding was 2.5 feet of empty space back to the original wall. It also hid a second door that the previous owners had nailed shut. Their kitchen remodel called for nailing two doors shut and paneling over a window.

The light blue-gray half circle is where the stove used to be. That light blue-gray is called "Salt Water"-- fitting for a house where a submariner lives.

When they removed the old paneling, they uncovered the original mural wallpaper that was in the family room when I moved in. I'd forgotten all about it.

Why would they block off 2.5 feet of valuable floor space to cover up superficial fire damage? These people were nuts!

Drywall goes up.

Then the texture.

Then the flooring. (Vinyl plank. Waterproof. Scratchproof. Good for 40 years.)

Cabinets and a countertop go in.

Love it, love it, love it! And the white baseboards add a nice finishing touch. This flooring is much better for mobility devices.

Quite a difference from the very first photo, eh? The room looks so much bigger.

For some strange reason, we don't miss those cubby holes at all!

Already got the Thanksgiving turkeys up!

Originally, the huge lucite turntable was on top of the refrigerator, and that's where I kept the crockpot, can opener, and toaster. When I moved the coffee and tea station from one side of the kitchen to this new countertop, I had the bright idea to use the turntable to house all the "stuff"-- from cups to teabags to creamer to sweetener to coffee pods. Denis and I tried it out almost immediately, so we know that it works very well.

I hope you enjoyed the little tour. Denis and I are certainly enjoying the new space! The past year has been messy, a pain in the neck, and expensive, but with both of us having health issues, we were so very fortunate to be able to make the necessary changes to keep this house a functioning, comfortable home.