Say goodbye to take out! Though, we've gotten to know the restaurants of San Rafael rather quickly, we are more happy to have a yummy home cooked meal in our own kitchen! The kitchen is in. officially.We bought our cabinetry from IKEA, because we like their clean European design, and frankly, because IKEA was all we could afford. The IKEA kitchen customer service was very helpful. The order and installation happened without a hitch! We opted to assemble and install the cabinetry ourselves, which was a scary prospect considering the entire kitchen came in about 100 flat pack boxes. We saved a couple thousand dollars by assembling and installing the cabinets ourselves and it was worth it. We haven't felt that way about some things we've worked on in the house! :)
All our base cabinets have the 'Nexus' birch door faces. We put a pantry in the stupid little alcove that had the refrigerator in it when we bought the house. It ended up being a perfect place for a good sized pantry. We haven't filled it up yet! One Costco run ought to do it!
We only have two upper cabinets above the range. They are the 'Rubrik' opaque white glass.
All our appliances are white. The range we have came with the place, though it didn't come white. It only became white after my in-laws spent an entire day scrubbing it clean. Now it's the coolest range, an O'Keefe and Merrit. The broiler is the best part; it's called the "Grillevator"! My dad even managed to repair both the ancient light on top and the light in the oven. I have grand plans to make Molasses cookies this Sunday just in time for the season. Yum!
We bought the 'Nutid' fridge from IKEA. (and why does fridge have a d in it, but refrigerator doesn't? so wierd...) The fridge is a really pretty glossy white with stainless steel handles. AND an ice maker/filtered water!!! We've made it in the world!
Our sink is an apron front sink, again from IKEA. I LOVE one bowl sinks. I can't wait to wash the baby in it because it's huge!
The best appliance is the dishwasher. I've started to put everything in there, even my frying pan the other night. I'm not really sure if that's good to do, but I just can't bring myself to wash anything any more! The dishwasher blends right into the cabinetry because it has a cabinetry face to match. So cool.
We bought the 'Tyda' handles, though I'm not sure if I love them.
Finishing touches: My dad got us huge sheets of stainless steel that he put behind the range as the backsplash. It looks amazing! So shiny! Very diner-ish, but in a good way. I had him get a utility bar that spans across the steel backsplash and holds stuff like tongs and spatulas and a little bowl to hold a plant and a cool shelf to hold our coffee supplies. It adds the finishing touch to that sside of the kitchen.
On the sink side of the kitchen, we used my parent's left over tiles. Can't beat free supplies! We mounted stainless steel shelves above that. I can't decide what to place on the shelves. I think I need some colorful bowls to spice it up a bit. I'm thinking robin's egg blue and green like our doors and maybe some red accents.
So, that's our kitchen. Everyone is welcome over for dinner anytime. We haven't used it too much yet, so come over and help us break it in!
