Hell's Kitchen ( transformed )

Good morning everyone !

I've had quite a few emails asking when I was going to show the kitchen finished and I realized last week that I've only shown bits and pieces of the kitchen so far - so thought I'd try to show it to you in it's entirety - which is a difficult thing to do because it's a small kitchen ! ( you don't want to know some of the positions I had to get in to get these photos )
Most of them you will have seen before because - well - they're better photos than I was able to take today lol

So here we go - I'm just about as ready as I'm every going to be !

We started off with this
A kitchen that we had to completely gut down to the studs 2 days after moving in ( I'll do you a favor and not repeat what was behind those walls )

Not only did the walls and ceilings have to come down - they also had to be thoroughly disinfected with tons of bleach.................that being done was the biggest relief of all.

The kitchen today looks like this

Because it's a small kitchen I decided to have a niche built for the fridge - every square inch counts as those of you that have small kitchens know :)  Having it flush against the kitchen wall is a huge space saver.
The back door leads out to what I'll very loosely call the " mudroom " so I was able to take the space from there - and while they were doing it I decided to build a little niche for the microwave as well - to save counter space.

Here's the view from that black door and my favorite part of the kitchen.- you can see that I used industrial type of shelving flanking either side of the stove - I picked these up at IKEA for 15.00 each - they're discontinued.

And the stove backsplash is simply a mirror I had on hand

In order to keep the sink centered to the window - I had wine cabinets ( or water ? ) installed on either side of it - this kept the configuration I needed

same thing for the cooking section - except there I went for a place to store cookbooks ( which still aren't unpacked completely 6 months later ) excuse the mess of it - eventually it'll only house books - they're next to the stove for easy access :)

Although I really wanted a marble countertop - things happened and the budget had to be tweaked a little to allow for the wiring to be completely updated included a new panel box - oh and an implant for my tooth
So we went with marble tiles 12 X 12 for the time being - hopefully this will be changed out next summer for the " real " thing - but I'm pretty happy with is as a " make do " alternative for the time being
This came to 300.00 - the marble slab would have come to 3000.00 - it's light and clean looking - and I love
that it's reflective.
That back splash you see are marble " thresholds " that are placed at bathroom doors - and work perfectly.

I also created a kitchen window sill shelf using one of them

Although this was a frugal makeover - I DID splurge on my French Country window - it opens inwards and I'm still in love with it

I'm also still in love with the little window that I chose to keep - I painted it black - the glass is original with waves and dimples and a little latch -

I chose open plate racks on either side of the window instead of cupboards

and placed a hutch on the opposite wall for dishes and such - it's a small kitchen and I wanted it to look a little more " open " ( additional dishes are kept in the dining room hutch ) but this is perfect for the everyday ones we use.

I wallpapered the back for a little more impact ( you thought I'd say " pop of color " didn't you? LOL )

I originally wanted a tin ceiling - alas - once again the budget was attacked by something else -
Because I wanted the very high ceilings ( which had previously been lowered by panels ) to have some interest  I opted for panels from Reno Depot ( which is just like Home Depot here in Canada - I go to both regularly )
These are not the ones I bought but just wanted you to see what they look like prior to installing - they're mdf - and cost roughly 150.00 to do in total - aproimately 25.00 a panel - again a nice alternative ( to something I really wanted )

There are 4 squares per panel

and it was finished off with crown molding

The lights over the farmhouse table were purchase from Amazon - for 24.99 each - I have no idea why but they're now 65.00 each - I have filament lights in them and they look really pretty at night

ok - skip the above photo - that was a total fail LMHO - I can't get the filament !!!

As you can see in little snippets above I went with black or black and white artwork on the fridge wall
It's the only wall where I could place artwork - and I wanted it to have an impact.

Which ties in with the original door that I painted black
You can also see that I have a " thing " for niches - I had one built for the microwave as well to clear
up counter space...............

Outside the kitchen is a room we'll be turning into a walk in pantry - this is also the outside access to the pool area.  I'll continue the black and white tile into there as well.

I painted a little frame that reads " MANGE "  with chalkboard paint I had on hand - so I could change out the message from time to time  UPDATE:  Mange means Eat in French - not mange as in what dogs get like some of you questioned - OMG - I'm laughing my head off here - I might change it up to Fleas or Heartworm ..................

and of course you've seen my vintage storage door ! ( which is tucked in a corner )

And I think that's about it.......................it's.not my dream kitchen - but still - it's fresh enough to remember the way it looked when we first came to view it - and so I'm still a little thrilled when I come down the stairs each morning - and the light is just starting to creep in

Is it time for the before's yet?

Much love, ( please forgive any mistakes - I'm falling asleep and way too tired to proof read lol )
Oh and the floor - I forgot to mention the floor - these are stick on tiles that we paid around 120.00 for.
You can read my thoughts on them HERE

I'll be partying here!
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