Our Kitchen Needed a Face-lift: Part 1

Last Friday, we started our latest home improvement project. It always seems that we do these things at the beginning of the year, but it is tax return time and right after Christmas, so we have a little extra money. I know, we should probably be funding our IRA's and we will one year, but trust me our kitchen needed some help.

For Christmas, this year, my parents gave us a certificate to go and buy and over the range microwave/hood. We really wanted one because we do not have a lot of counter space at all, so it would be a huge space saver for us. Well, we didn't do a lot of research before putting it on our list if we could actually have one based on our particular space and cabinet configuration. Turns out we couldn't get one. We didn't have the right supports and those are very heavy. So instead, they put the money on a AMEX gift card so we could decide what we wanted instead.

Brent really wanted new counter tops and I did too. Last year, we did some research on granite and solid surface and decided to wait that it wasn't in our budget at the time. Thankfully, we did but a few months later our AC went out. Yikes. Anyway, those types of counter tops were still out of reach and we really just wanted something better then what we had, so we decided to go with laminate. These days, there are so many to choose from and they are much nicer then those from the 70's like ours. I just had to see past ours. It was horrible.

A couple weeks ago, I went looking at home depot. I found the perfect one for us. I loved it! I took Brent back that night and he loved it too! And guess what?? We could get all our counters for cheaper than the microwave!!! Are you kidding?? I was so excited. At Home Depot and Lowe's they have a section in the back where you can buy pre-made laminate counters in various sizes and install them yourself. I knew we could do it. We remodeled our bathroom. We could glue down a new counter top. Hooray!

Onto the Project:
This was planned to be a two weekend project and so far we are on track with that as long as I am able to find the tile I want and buy it by this Friday (yes, in 2 days). So this will be a two part post.

Weekend #1: Install new counter tops, sink and faucet

Weekend #2: Install back-splash, touch up paint where demo scratched the walls, and put new molding on old bar area, now just a half wall

Here are some pictures from last weekend:

The Bar/Dining Area (Before)


The Bar/Dining Area (After)


The Kitchen (Before)


The Kitchen (After)


Close-up of the Counters


Close-up of the Sink


Cole Helping Clean-up