Hallooooo, kitchen remodel post!
After months of dreaming and pinning ideas // months of pretending to be an adult picking out things like countertops and faucets // months of cooking everything in a toaster and eating at a folding table in the basement while the kitchen becomes beautified — the time has come!
Let the Final Reveal Begin.
PINCH ME.
Even before I started this little ol’ blog, the kitchen has always been my happy zone.
And that includes my kitchens that have been a little less than happy in terms of looks.
Let’s have a visit from the Ghosts of Kitchens Past, shall we? starting in my college house kitchen, home to a handful of delicious and even more frightening college student food creations:
Graduating to this, our first married house kitchen, where Pinch of Yum was born:
And on to this kitchen, which was begging us to knock some walls down for a fresh, clean remodel:
To now THIS kitchen – the bright, clean kitchen I’ve been pining for ever since the dawn of Pinterest:
ahhh.
White. Grey. White. Grey. More White. More Grey. HAPPY AND LIGHT!
New or old, clean or dirty, orange or red or white, as long as we’ve been married, the kitchen has always been “my space” because let’s face it: Bjork’s food specialties start and end with scrambled eggs + Tabasco sauce. Bless.
No, this part of the house is my confident + happy zone. In my more melodramatic moments, I’d say the kitchen is at the heart of virtually everything I do, my place where I go to work, relax, and, for lack of a less-1800s-sounding-word, commune with our people. In the few short months that we have been in this space, my soul has been fed by hosting girlfriends for a dinner party, friends for last-minute brunches, and our annual Christmas party. And that’s what this is mostly about for me, because the superdelicious foods (this this this this and this) are really just a back door path to experiencing life together with new neighbors, old friends, and our families.
Okay, and I guess it’s also a little bit about having white cabinets with glass. (!!!!) But mostly friends and family and stuff.
Speaking of families, look who came to visit this week! That’s right, it’s the little girl from last Christmas all pretty and grown up. Errybody say Hiiii Sophie!
Except don’t, because she’ll flip out into a major barkfest like she was doing the entire time I was trying to take these pictures. We wuv you, SophieGirl.
Alright! I’m way too wordy already. Two things happening here today:
- a top ten kitchen favorites list presented in an all-time dorky video;
- a more normal photographic kitchen tour throughout the rest of the post.
Watch Our Full Kitchen Reveal (6 MINS):
You guys – thank you for being Reader Friends who look through epic-long posts like this one. And with that, we’re off!
The Official Tour
Okay, when you come in through the front door and walk through our old house arched doorway (♡) you will see this. This is how most people experience the kitchen when they come to our house.
Have you noticed the floors already? Because, well, uhmmmmm, they don’t match.
That’s okay – we sort of did that on purpose. Or more like we got to a point where we had to decide if we were going to re-finish the floors in our entire house just to get them to match with the new ones in the kitchen, and it was just time to start saying no to a few things before we found ourselves living in a tent while the whole house went under reno. So for now, mismatchy!
Also for now: this retro hand-me-down table. This is the table where I first fell in love with food as a wee little girl – that’s right – this is my mom and dad’s first family table. It’s sort of not at all our style, and yet between the mushy, sentimental person (hi) and the frugal, practical person in our family, we’re sort of not ready to part with it.
I sort of went crazy with the jars in this kitchen, and in hindsight, I’m so glad that I did. Said no one ever EXCEPT ME. I’m jar-obsessed.
We use them for everything and they double as useful storage containers and cute, clean decoration.
Meet the sink! It’s a large rectangle with tight 90-degree corners (why does that make my eyes so happy?) and a simple, clean-looking faucet that pulls out, has a hidden sprayer button, and snaps back into place magnetically. HOW MUCH DO I LOVE THAT.
The fridge!
Now you see it…
And now you don’t!
Bjork’s one request in all this was paneled appliances. Like, puhleeeease can we get paneled appliances? I found at least 900 refrigerators that were NOT paneled, but he stood his ground. I’m so glad – we love this sneaky hidden fridge.
Now it won’t be awkward at all if I show you what’s in our cabinets.
If I were looking at someone else’s kitchen, I’d want to know where they keep everything because I’m awkward like that. So now I’m going to show you, and you’re going to be like, oh, she’s not that organized after all.
Here goes.
Cabinet #1: cooking stuff and mini-microwave and a row of random dishes that didn’t fit in the glass cabinets.
Cabinet #2: baking stuff, conveniently located right above the stand mixer.
Cabinet #3: the mismatched dishes that need to be hidden.
Secret Side Cabinet: spices!
Lower Cabinet #1: food storage and appliances.
Lower Cabinet #2: knives, cookware, cookie sheets, and cutting boards. I LOVE that tall skinny side storage box.
Drawers: tools galore.
Tall Almost-a-Pantry Cabinets: appliances, a few boxes of cereal, and individual wood storage boxes for our keys and mittens and such.
Garbage Drawer: the garbage. HIDDEN, and perfectly positioned for food scraps next to the prep area. It’s the little things.
Dishwasher! Oh my goodness, a dishwasher. Dreams really do come true.
Now you see it…
And now you don’t. Magic!
Thank you so so much for your interest in our new kitchen and for being so engaged along the way. There were so many decisions that we made that were based on real-life-friends and blog-friends suggestions – thank you times a million for being a part of this with us!
Which reminds me – do you think we should put a rug near the sink? I have literally tried 90% of the rugs from Target (as in bought them, lugged them home, lugged them back to the store, and returned them all) but haven’t been able to find anything I like. Suggestions welcome!
Here’s to lots more ridiculously good food in this new cooking space! mwah.
Stuff We Used In Our Kitchen:
Bar Stools – no longer available
With the exception of the backsplash tiles, all the products linked are the exact ones (brand, size, etc) used in our kitchen. Some of these are affiliate links because we really love these parts of our kitchen and absolutely recommend them to anyone doing a kitchen remodel!