Kitchen Befores

So I thought I'd put up some befores of our kitchen since I might have some in progress shots, or new paint on the walls, before school starts (yeah, right).  This house was a foreclosure and they (the bank?) came in and updated carpet and paint everywhere, and in the kitchen, appliances (except fridge, we added that), flooring (beige vinyl with a "tile" look) and counter tops (a pinky-beige laminate).  I am so glad they did since the prior kitchen was a sponge-painted, wall papered (in a bad way), country-blue mess but of course none of it is what we would choose if we were choosing.  However, since things like the floor and counter tops are new in here they hardly deserve replacing before a few years of good hearty use (and of course a fund raiser or two:)  In the meantime, I'm thinking a good dose of fresh greeny-yellow color above that chair rail will help me tell the walls, counter tops and floor apart...they're starting to all bleed together.  The only thing not bland in here is the cooking.  Hardy, har, har.

Here's one side of the kitchen.  The door with the dangling treble clef is the laundry area and the counter to the right of the fridge is 3 of the 5.5 total feet of usable counter space.  Not kidding.  Right beside that is where we tuck away Molly's learning tower when not in use.  Perfect spot for it!

And there, beside the sink and above the dishwasher, is the other 2.5 feet I've got to work with.  Of course there's the diamond between the sink and the range but it just gets deep and awkward there.  The lack of counter space was actually one of the biggest drawbacks of this house when we looked at it in the beginning BUT though the kitchen lacks in function there is some square footage to work with so later on down the line we could rectify all the things we're not so keen of.  Until then, there's room for a small center island once I find one I like.  The window above the sink (which we also put in.  The sink, not the window.) looks out onto the small deck which is accessed through the playroom.  We'd like to put in another door onto the deck from the kitchen in the beige expanse behind the dishwasher...makes more sense for grilling, entertaining, etc.  The door you see peeking in the far right of the photo is the half bath.

Here we've come almost full circle to the other side of the kitchen.  The white door on the left is the staircase leading downstairs and the doorway on the right leads into the dining room.  The louvered door is pantry space.  My thoughts?  Demo everything to the right of the oven (the "desk in kitchen" thing is so 1992 and completely useless to us except as a reusable bag storage cubby) and replace it with a nice big opening between kitchen and dining room and adding either a substantial island or peninsula to recoup the storage loss and gain counter space.  Move pantry storage to the laundry room (after getting stackable W/D)?  Cha-ching. So this isn't on our short list.  All in the dreaming stage.

Said laundry room:

It frustrates me that big honkin' hoses don't allow appliances to sit flush against the wall.  Ugh.

You can take it all in at once in this angle.

Here's the other side:

And our eat-in area.  The bay window overlooks the backyard and M's highchair tucks perfectly behind the dishwasher:

We love, love eating meals here together and the light it gets is amazing!  So here's to a kitchen preview.  I hope to be back soon with a more colorful look!