The Raw House Project : { The Kitchen Today }

You'll all be happy to hear I'm feeling a little less crazy today! I was in a cleaning mood this morning too so I figured I would take some pictures of the kitchen while it was at it's best. Let me tell you a little secret, it NEVER looks this clean and clutter free. This was a clean and "staged" photo session, we actually live here with chaos and kids so don't think for two second that I have it all together because that "clean" look lasted about 5 minutes! So now on to the photos...

I think you had a quick glance at the new microwave and the shelf above it in the last kitchen post. I wanted a shelf and Mark gave me a shelf, it is perfect! I still haven't really decided what I want to put up there yet but for now it is home to two of my flee market finds (a cake stand and white wire bowl) and a cute cookie jar I picked up on clearance at Target.

The shelf is pretty basic and I painted it the same color as the cabinets including the wall in the back to give it that complete "built in" look. Here's a couple quick phone shots while he was building it.

Below is a comparison of with and with out the microwave and extra shelf. It really makes that side of the upper cabinets look more complete. Plus the hardware really helps to make it all look a little more finished.

We still have a few things we want to do with the upper cabinets. Remember that little 5 inch spot on the end? We're not sure what we want to do there yet. I think it's too small for one of those spice rack things and it's too small for a stock cabinet so if we wanted a tiny little cabinet it will have to be custom built. The other option is to just put a panel there and block it off completely to give it a more finished look. We also want to add crown molding up on the top.

I am LOVING cooking and baking with a center island. That says something because if you know me and if you don't know me, now you know, I really really don't like cooking. Like at all. I love to bake, I could bake all day long, and do sometimes, but cooking meals and stuff like that, not so much my thing. But cooking and baking is SO nice in THIS kitchen. It is really functionable with the island and the layout and I am extremely happy with everything that we decided to do in here.

Here's the side of the island. I don't think I ever showed you the detail work Mark did. It really makes the cabinets look more custom. I absolutely love it!

Mark thought to put an outlet on the end too and it sits right at the top so it's hardly noticeable but highly useful. I've used that thing a lot already!

The ends of the cabinets against the walls have the same detail too.

The outlet was a little too close to go right down with the trim so Mark cut around it. Handy guy he is!

I don't think I showed you the table and chairs yet either. We used to have a counter height table and chairs set (which is for sale by the way if you are looking for a table). We loved our old table and having 8 chairs was awesome but we just didn't have room in this house for it so we went to Ikea and got a long and skinny table to go in here.

It extends even further out so when we have lots of people over we can still accommodate 8 people around the table. Right now we have it pushed up to the window. This allows us to have the most room during every day use because this room is really small. Here is what it looks like with it pulled out and you can see how little space there is between the island and the chairs.

See what I mean. It's a little tight. It works but for now we like it to be pushed against the windows. The future plan is to build a bench along the window side that accommodates the table being pushed in and out from the wall. Lots of kid butts can sit on a bench which will be nice when the kids have friends over but when it's just us we will still be able to push the table back toward the windows to have maximum walking space in the kitchen.

Did you notice we have the old fridge out on the deck still. I don't know why but we seem to move appliances out to the deck and that's where they stay until we finally get ~~time~~ sick enough of seeing them to move them. Clearly we have our priorities in order!

Back to the table and chairs...

We purchased the two end chairs at Ikea and the four clear chairs are called ghost chairs. These are great for small rooms so the room doesn't feel too "full" with chairs in it. These ghost chairs are great to have with kids because they are so easy to wipe down. I really like them a lot. Mark is indifferent. I got them for a really great deal too because these are factory defect chairs, meaning they have tiny flaws (that I cant even really see) so I could snag them at a fraction of the cost!

The end chairs are SO comfortable. If you are looking for a relatively in-expensive nicer chair Ikea is the place to look. I am thinking of stenciling a pair of slip covers to have for a pop of color. Did I mention these are fully removable slip covers that can be machine washed?! Yep, that's why I was ok with getting white!

Did you notice the big dining room light in one of the photos above? If you follow me on Instagram, you already saw this. Isnt is cool?! That was another Ikea purchase. It was around $20 too so even more exciting when you know the price tag.

Here's a shot of the other side of the room. The pantry cabinets are back on and the trim has been put up around the cabinets and the doorway.

We want to get a cabinet for above the refrigerator and then Mark will construct something around the fridge to make it look built in. For now it sits there and the top of it gets to showcase my mixer and other things that I don't have homes for yet.

When I look around this room I am still amazed at where it is now compared to what it looked like before. Amazing really doesn't cut it when describing the transformation that this room has undergone. My hubby is the BEST and has worked so hard to make this room into the vision that I drew for him on a piece of paper almost eight months ago.

Here is a quick comparison of what it looked like before and then now.