Kitchen Cabinet Project

We had an opportunity to have the Home Depot kitchen contractors come in and rework our kitchen cabinets. Phillip and I were not planning on having the kitchen worked on in a while, expecting it to cost a ton of money. We assumed that we would need to replace these ugly, pathetic cabinets. The contractor came over and gave us great news though. He told us that, with the exception of the doors, the cabinets were in great shape because they were solid wood. He informed us that we could keep all of the bases and replace the doors for much less than what Phillip and I were expecting to pay. I wanted white cabinets to lighten the kitchen (a coat of paint on the walls will help that too. Ugh! The Miami Vice green on the walls is horrible!).



Our ugly cabinets before:














I had them bring the cabinets all the way to the ceiling to match an old built-in that is in the kitchen as well. Doing that really accentuated the height in the kitchen. The workman informed me that he had never made doors for cabinets that tall that weren't for a pantry (some of our doors were over 4 feet tall!). In the pictures below, you can see how they added the additional framing around our existing cabinet bases.

They faced all of the cabinets with a white veneer that is easy to clean. The work man then had to cut out all of cabinets shelves in the veneer.

I must say, just changing the cabinets made a huge impact on the kitchen! They are so easy to clean too. I love it! Next, Phillip and I need to decide (agree) on the counter top. We ran into a bit of a speed bump on that one. I wanted Carrara Marble (which he says will stain too easily...maybe we wouldn't have too worry about it if he wasn't so messy when he mixed his Kool-Aid.) and he wants Granite (which I don't like the color selections that I have seen so far). I think I might have to give in on this battle.

Obviously, I am not planning on keeping the horrible color palette the woman picked before we moved in (what was she thinking?). However, I am considering going for an unconventional color in the kitchen...a super light, barely able to tell, lavender. Originally I was thinking light grey, but then I worried that it would make the kitchen darker. It all ready doesn't have good natural light, so I thought lavender might help brighten it up. Besides, I have a red chandelier that I want to hang in the kitchen. I think lavender would compliment it nicely. We will see.

Cabinets completed:

Before I can paint, we have a lot of prep work we need to do on the walls. The previous owner did a really shotty job at drywall and such. It all needs to be fixed. We also have to replace all of the baseboards and the back doors. It will take some time. We probably won't get to the project again until winter, when we are locked up in the house again for another 8 months! I will keep you posted.