Uppers & Bottoms & Counters -- Oh My!

Susan is hosting her weekly Metamorphosis Monday blog party over at her blog: Between Naps on the Porch . Check out the changes that have been going on around here, then head over her way and look at all the other amazing transformations!
I know all of you have been waiting to see some pics of our kitchen remodel. Try to hold down the excitement. We debated redoing the kitchen....over and over and over. We are really hoping to sell the house this summer and have been a bit addicted to HGTV lately (okay I have, but Jason watches it too!). After hearing "kitchens sell a house" about a bazillion times, and looking at our crooked cabinets every single day as we walk in the front door, we decided to take the plunge and go for it!

We're still in the middle of things, but I'll update you so far. We've been doing the vast majority of the work ourselves. So for time and budgetary reasons, things have been done piece by piece. Which has actually been a good way to do things, I can't imagine living without a kitchen for weeks on end!

Without further ado, some befores:
Nice empty space in the cabinets. And where's the stove you say? Waaaaaaaaaaaaaay over on the other side of the room:
No, it's not my photography skills, the cabinets really are that crooked. And what about the fridge? Surely we have a fridge? Ah yes, it's tucked around the corner:
Work triangle? Ha! We don't need no stinkin' work triangle! Moving walls and plumbing and gas lines was not an option. We needed to figure out a better flow and a better way to define the kitchen from the living room, while keeping the same general setup. The front door opens right into the "great room" which is currently defined by this lovely sight:

Sweet lino in the kitchen, nasty carpet in the living room! First order of business was putting up a half wall. I was a little unsure about this, afraid it would make a not-too-big space seem even smaller.However, once it was up, the kitchen area felt twice as big!
Now we have room for a little rolling island/cart up against the wall (which I don't have a pic of). Since there is hardly any counter space next to the stove, this is perfect for rolling over there to do veggie prep. Jason and Roger did an awesome job!
Plus, when we have people over, they'll be able to sit in the living room without feeling like they're in the sink.

Next step? New cabinets! I absolutely, completely, without reservation HEART our new cabs! They are the already assembled, straight off the shelf line from the Despot. Verrrry convenient:

And they look great! It's so nice to put dishes on the shelves without being afraid they'll bow and crack. Old crooked shelves and sticky hood:
New straight cabinets with new microwave/hood combo. Love the space-saving!
We ripped off the old white laminate and forest green tiles (matched the carpet) and put down the lower cabs. We also hung a new upper cabinet on the left side of the window, to help define the kitchen space. Between that and a corner base cabinet, we gained a lot more space. Plywood is all ready for new counters!

And so I bring you, our granite counters. They are so beautiful, I love them, so glad we picked this color. This is where we wisely let the professionas take over. After all the work we have done to the house, it was quite an indulgence to watch somebody else! Besides, granite cutting is really better left to those who know what they're doing:
They did a fantastic job! Check it out:

Now the half wall is a sweet little spot for sitting and having breakfast in the morning (and checking my blogroll on my laptop!). It'll be a perfect bar for parties too. We got a new stainless dishwasher and sink and now the stove looks really crappy so that's next on our list. Yea.

We're thrilled with how everything's turned out so far. There's a lot of work still to be done, but seeing this progress is super encouraging. It feels like a different house already! I'll try and be better about posting.....so they aren't as long as this one!

Head on over to Susan's to check out more cool metamorphoses.

And make sure to check back here. Next up........we're tackling this: