My White Kitchen Journey!

When we first moved into our home it was definitely not the white kitchen I always dreamed of. It had dark wood cabinets, red brick linoleum flooring, a half pony wall separating the kitchen and family room and soffits everywhere. I was ready to get to work. I wanted to tear down the pony wall, paint the cabinets, lay new flooring etc., etc. After my husband talked me down, we compromised by painting the walls and changing the flooring. After seeing how adding paint and flooring brightened up the space, I was ready to tackle the cabinets. My husband on the other hand was not. He was hesitant to paint the natural wood. I don’t know what it is about men and wood. It took a lot of cajoling and endless pictures of white kitchens, but he finally came over to my side. Full disclosure, I really did not know how to paint cabinets. Lucky for me, Rustoleum had a cabinet refinishing kit with step by step directions. Whew! The whole process took six months to complete. It was so worth it. I finally had my white kitchen and could not have been happier. Eventually, we added a counter top and removed the pony wall, but the soffits were there to stay.

Flash forward ten years: Our kitchen held up wonderfully and the plan was to update with new cabinets and countertops in two years.

New plan: We were planning on having my mother-in-law, Audrey, move in with us and we needed to add an addition onto our house for her space. Since we were adding an addition and having major work done already, we moved up our time table for white kitchen number two!

My first white kitchen! I can not say enough about the Rustoleum Cabinet Refinishing Kit. It was labor intensive, but the results lasted ten years.

Taking down the pony wall between the kitchen and family room changed the way we used the space.

White kitchen number two!

In order for my mother-in-law to have access to the main part of the house from her addition, they needed to bump out from the original kitchen area. This gave us room for an open concept dining room off the kitchen. (Yes, I pinch myself every morning when I walk into this new kitchen)!

No more soffits! Thank you Chris Henessey, architect extraordinaire!

The blue on the pantry door carries the color from the dining room into the kitchen.

I love having a place to display some of my favorite items!

We chose a classic marble subway tile for the backsplash.

Having the kitchen area open up to the family room and dining room area is a dream come true. We love to have friends and family over and we managed with the old set up, but having room for everyone is amazing! We have already begun to enjoy this space now that we can have people over again!