Dogs Don't Eat Pizza

I think it’s only appropriate, after the holiday of cooking and eating, to celebrate my kitchen on day 28 of Thirty Days of Gratitude.

My daughter thought it should say “Peace, Love, and Pancakes,” but I thought “Good Eats” covered pancakes and more. First, let me show you what our kitchen looked like when we first moved in:

Very greige.

I’ve taken down that corner cabinet (see the photo, above), and added open shelving.

I like open shelving better. It makes the space seem brighter and larger, and I get to display some of my favorite things.

Eventually I’m going to replace the white shelves with reclaimed wood shelves.

The hooks above the coffee maker are spoons (found at a thrift store) screwed to a piece of reclaimed wood I found at a salvage yard.

I’ve always wanted a coffee station in my kitchen.

When we moved in, the backsplash was just flat wall paint. I painted it with chalkboard paint to give it some color and personality.

On the other side of the kitchen, I continued the chalkboard paint backsplash behind the stove.

My daughter leaves me notes on the corner of the backsplash by the door. It makes me smile every time I pass through the kitchen.

Our microwave used to sit in that alcove where the cookbooks are, but now the microwave is in our pantry.

As explained in this post about the finished kitchen renovation, I really don’t like microwave shelves like this. I’m just too short for them. Instead, I used my jigsaw and cut the ledge back almost flush with the cabinet, added trim, and moved my cookbooks and recipe box here.

There were doors on the cabinets above the refrigerator. One problem: the doors didn’t open, because they would hit the top of the refrigerator! Oops. I took the doors off and made that space useful – baking sheets, pans, and platters reside here now.

I used a vintage Coke crate for our spice rack. I explain how to make a vintage Coke crate spice rack in this post.

As for other cooking tools, they live next to the stove.

My favorite salt and pepper shakers sit on the window sill.

They keep watch over my $12 cast iron sink! I got this beautiful sink at the Atlanta Habitat for Humanity ReStore. It just needed a good scrubbing with some Ajax – now it’s back to its original, shiny self.

The kitchen is still a work in progress.  The paint on the cabinets is chipping off and thus the cabinets will need to be repainted or replaced soon. We’re pondering our options on that. Also, the trim is the same color as the cabinets, but I prefer crisp white trim instead. But, for now, it works.

Can’t stand the wait? See how I renovated the kitchen on a budget, three days before my mom arrived for Christmas!