So here we start with our basic and tired old kitchen, this is the original pictures we took back when we first started living here together.

The wall of kitchen cupboards were the first to go… And we found new Cabinet pulls (Shown in the following pictures) on sale so they were also a quick fix (more about those later)…

The appliances were out of date and the main reason we started the project. But the rest of the kitchen needed a face-lift as well. I’ll point out where we re-used and re-purposed as we go.

BEFORE AND AFTER

So the first job that was done was to remove the wall of cabinets that separated the kitchen and the breakfast nook, we filled the opening with some left over melamine shelving that we cut to size and drilled holes and installed some puck lights we found on clearance at Kent.

The cabinets above the stove also had to come out to make way for the new extractor fan. A reciprocating saw was used to slice these custom built and very sturdy oak cabinets and took some coercing to remove them. Which also left the sides where the cabinets were removed open, so we had picked up some thin plywood which we ran right up to the top to close them in.

The back splash is made of re-purposed pallets. Three to four different pallets were selected for range in color and width of slats were kept in mind. more detail and larger picture below.

BEFORE AND AFTER

As usual Sammy finds her way into a picture!

Seeing how there was nothing wrong with the counter top we kept it, only the edges were showing signs of wear, so they were sanded, stained and Varathaned.

The cabinet pulls I mentioned earlier ended up being a swap out, the oil rubbed bronze we had bought a year or so ago, were traded for Satin cabinet pulls. (Thanks Mom!) it was a win – win trade as the trade was a better match for both homes.

BEFORE AND AFTER

Some more cabinet surgery needed to be performed to make room for the side by sides.

We also lost some counter space, and the upper middle cabinets were trimmed up and shortened. We’re pretty sure everything that was removed from the kitchen will be re-purposed in another project, you never know where those cupboard doors will show up in the future! The shelving on the left hand side was a set of two shelving units that we chopped up and combined to increase the height. They were the perfect width. I’ve had those shelves for years, who would have ever thought they would end up as part of a reno!

CLOSE UP

Here you can see a bit more of the texture of the pallet wood. I think its a interesting
contrast between the Pallet wood pitted with saw lines, and the stainless steel, and muted grey for balance between the two.

Some sanding was done to remove rough areas, but no stain was applied and a non yellowing outdoor Varathane was used in several coats and gives the wood a smooth semigloss, waxy looking finish.

Although, the paint job hasn’t been 100% completed yet, I still need to do some testing as I still want to do a finish over the paint to give it some more texture in the recessed areas.

A coat of white paint and a new blind to update the window and a new tap to complete the transformation. The back splash continued throughout.

Phase one of the kitchen is complete, Phase two won’t be for a couple more years when we open up a wall and push back to expand the kitchen, but for now this will do….and we are very happy with our new Past to Polished* kitchen.

Update *2019

After we needed more counter space we decided we would have to expand into the closet, so we had to rip that out along with the door frame and wall

Out it comes:

We just had to check what we had for left over doors from the previous mini renovation. And build some new cabinets. The goal here is not spend any money on this project.

Then putting it together and finalizing the work. Needed to shift to some cabinet doors over and make some drawer fronts.

That was a quick closet flip, and now enjoying our coffee station.

That’s how Jason spent his vacation.