Renovation Nation

The kitchen is making progress.  Our new microwave has been in for a week or so now and it's just so much prettier than our old white one.  I don't dislike white appliances, but these were older and they made our cabinets look dated and orange.

And I just plain like stainless steel appliances.

The dishwasher was delivered yesterday.  Trey and I spent the better part of the evening getting it installed.  We loaded it up with all the dirty dishes without rinsing them, just to test it out.  I don't think I have ever been more impressed with an appliance.  Sparkling, shiny pots and pans without scrubbing!  And I had some caked on chicken spaghetti in one pan.  Too bad Electrolux doesn't know me... I'd give them a raving review.

(Yes, I'm aware I need to clean the fingerprints off the sides, thank you for noticing)

The countertops are finished too!  I stained the wood border on the edges to match the existing cabinets.  I'd say I did a good job.  (Pat on the back).  Just one more coat of Polyurethane to protect it and I'll be able to pull off that green frogger tape.  Incidentally, in the picture the counter looks green.  It is not green in real life.  It's black with flecks of brown and tan.  It looks good.  You'll just have to trust me.  Oh, and you might not be able to tell from the picture, but Trey installed under cabinet lighting under all the cabinets.  LOVE IT!

And the new wall is up.  In front of the sink and to the left will be a raised bar.  Hopefully we'll get that completed soon so we can paint the kitchen.  I'm ready to have my frig back in the kitchen.  It's currently sitting in the living room so it won't be in the way.  I think it will look so great once it's done!

(Before new wall)

(After new wall)

See how the wall helps to close off the kitchen a bit?  You may be asking why we did this.  Well I'll tell you.  I wanted to have a raised bar in the kitchen to hide the kitchen sink from being seen when you walk in the front door.  It just bothers me, I can't explain it.  But I thought with the existing look the bar would wrap around too far and look weird.  So we opted to put up the wall and start the bar in in front of the sink.  The floor plan is still VERY open.  This just helps keep the kitchen from spilling into the dining room.

In that big vacant space above the dishwasher we'll add another double cabinet.  Since I know what stain colors to combine to match our existing cabinets, I'm hoping it won't be too hard to make it look like the new cabinet has been there all along.  We'll see if we can buy a stock cabinet that matches ours or Trey can build one.

It will look totally different when it's all finished!  I can't wait!!!