The best thing I ever did to save money, get more of exactly what I wanted, and avoid some expensive mistakes was join this group. I spent hours and hours over the course of several months before I even made one purchase.

I not only saved a lot of money on my purchases but I also avoided buying some things I thought I wanted. I also ended up with some very useful things I never even knew existed before (such as the NeverMT and steam ovens). I am very grateful for all the people here on this group.

abfab

Things have been slow over all since my dh had his heart-attack but the past few weeks have seen some progress so I shot some photos tonight. WARNING.. these photos have in no way been stylized.. and yes my kitchen is that messy right now :) thus is the nature of working on and using a kitchen all at the same time. Some things are just not pretty!

So here we go.... this is a view looking into the kitchen from the center staircase and keeping room. The floors are hardwood and will be painted just like in a traditional Summer Kitchen. The large open area in front of the baking island ( where the bench is) is where the kitchen table will go when I find something that works. the red work cart does not belong there. The fan is new and matched two others in the room. The old pot rack is going to go but only when I can find somehting to replace it with that has lighting. You can see the awful old wallpaper on huge sofit.. the sofit must stay but the wallpaper will come down this week.

Moving right along as you walk into the kitchen and turn right you will see the very skinny kitchen staircase that goes to my sewing room and my husbands meditation loft. The blue cabinet is our family hub and holds chargers, kitchen sound system, phone books and the like. The stairs are going to be painted and the walls of the stair well are going to be papered in a most wonderful vintage waverly paper that I am going to use for the whole kitchen. Next to the hub you can see the old cooking chimney.. cool hu?

Ok.. so if instead of going right you go left when you come into the kitchen you will run into my funky red jelly cupboard. It holds my pantry items, canned goods and dry snacks for the kids. The wall behind it will be papered. the dog is China, my Great Dane.

So.. now you are facing left and into the butlers pantry and snack area. The French door with the awful glare leads out to our second story deck. You can see yet another ceiling fan and your first look at the lowest part of the vaulted bead board ceiling that was painted blue just this week. You can also see the new track spots that shine down on the work surface of the prep island. To the left in the photos are the 2 mini fridges. More about those in the next photo.

This is a shot of the the BP wall. The two mini fridges are just off the floor at lowes but meet the needs to hold the kids breakfast and cold snack foods. Two bottom cabinets on either side hold cereal and other drinks that are stored till they go into the fridges. The broodie box wll be mounted to the wall after it is wallpapered. It will hold the cereal bowls and such. This area will also serve as buffet space when we have parties. The two tall cabinets are from England. The closer one serves as a broom closet and the further one holds homeschooling supplies.

The next shot is from in the main prep space, to get oriented you can see the back french door and the broodie box. The half blue painted this is my main prep space. It has a sink in it to the far left and a raised hutched back. The pressed tin has been cut but it just leaning up there till I can get it sealed and put up. The middle space underneath with hold every day platters, casserole dishes and such. The far bottom will be covred but hinge up for long term storagen for chafing dishes and such.

The next shot is head in to the main space.. you can see the range and the new vent overhead. The pipe will be covered when I get an idea of what I want to do. The windows will open in on side hinges and I am still undecided on what to do for a back splash. To the far right you can see the main storage in the kitchen. It is made from multiple military issue oak file boxes. It's huge and it's heavy but it holds a ton. Above that are the damily dishes on the open shelves with stationary windows above.

So there you go.. the first half. Hopefull I will post up the second half of the kitchen in the next day or so!

Enjoy and feel free to ask questions. As you see and I do too!... we have a long way to go ub from the empty box and doing it all with cash we have gotten pretty far in the past year.

Maddie

If you've hung curtains in your finished kitchen/BR, please post pictures of them. We'd love to see your ideas. Thanks.

After the fake opulance of the 90s, the geese of the 80s, and the hideous (fill in the blank) of the 70s, I too am ready to return to the simple, functional, and beautiful southern kitchen where practicality reigns supreme, right after a good sense of humor. The brooders are fantastic, the use of colored cabinets heartwarming.

Our kitchen has: Coffee, toaster and microwave counter beside the fridge, which will have TV over it. Pantry storage wall with broom closet. Prep island with prep sink. L-shaped main counter holding sink/DW, cooktop/oven, and secondary prep area (small appliances used here). Phone and cookbook (laptop dump site?) shelves finishing off lower cabinets of main counter. Banquette seating with table. Thanks.

Your thoughts???

http://www.aquasanausa.com

Here is a link that might be useful: Google: GE merlin

http://www.plumbingsupply.com/filters.html

Scroll down toward the bottom and you'll see undersink water filter systems listed in a box. I bought my own faucet separately.