Kitchen So Far

So we've decided to start with the kitchen. Here is how the kitchen looked when we first viewed it during the house hunting phase.

Not really our taste. We replaced all the old handles and hinges (still working on the hinges) with a more modern stainless look. Also, we're pretty sure harvest gold went out of style years ago. And despite what the previous owner thought, 30 year old appliances may work but they are UGLY not to mention inefficient. So the appliances were the first thing to go. Pam-O helped convince us that we should go with the stainless steel appliances. We thought they might look too modern for our cottagey house, but we looked through some magazine photos and saw that one could combine the stainless steel appliances with a more traditional look.

Which forced us into our first major renovation, the countertop. Didn't want to install the cooktop twice, cause the old countertops definitely had to be removed at some point. So we priced things out and finally decided to spend the extra money and get something we liked -- granite. Dark blue pearl was our favourite, and on sale too! We got it from Cataraqui Granite Co. in Kingston, who also threw in the kitchen sink for free. We had to pick up a new faucet as well, which we got from everybody's favourite place, Home Depot. So here is how it looks today...


It's hard to see in the pictures, but the walls are covered in a 'lovely' wallpaper which is the next thing to go. Other things we want to do soon are a tile backsplash, lighting and window treatments. We'd welcome any thoughts on those, maybe send us some links to stuff you think would look good! We're still not 100% sold on the honey oak colour of the cabinets, but we're keeping that for now anyways (we still have to stain the new island post to match). Susan thinks that the pine wainscoting may need to be turfed. If so, we can probably recycle it in another room or the bunkie. We would also like to re-hang our pot rack which we had on London Road, but we're not exactly sure where it should go.