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September 1, 2008

the “reveal”

the kitchen before photo

For all of you that know me…it’s obvious why I wouldn’t like this kitchen right? I am a high contrast- B&W with bold colors type of person. I am not a warm tone….autumn colored person. I consider a panda my “power” animal for obvious reasons- because not only are they cute, but they go with EVERYTHING!

(excuse the mess above…hubby took the picture…right before he took off all the cabinets….he doesn’t have an eye for these things)

and now we have the AFTER!!!!!!

shazam!!  new kitchen

overview!!!

where the magic happens

new high chair!

shiny island

chalkboard

mirrored cabinet (used to be glass)

new knobs

detail of light over island

chandelier over kitchen table

  • Melisser

    OMG, gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous! I adore it!

  • reya

    One word…Stunning!

  • Amanda

    You know what I thought was the cutest thing about the whole kitchen (aside from the fact that the kitchen is so pretty it makes me want to buy my own house…)? The little baby chair in the corner.

  • susan

    wowee !! LOVE the wallpaper, it really makes the whole thing … I think.

  • angela

    Hi, I can’t remember now where I found your blog from – but it was someone else’s blog…anwyasy I love your recipes and pictures and wish I could cook half as well. Question about your gorgeous new kitchen …..did you use the same cabinets? Did you just sand and paint them and then do new counter tops? We have old 1960’s cabinets in great condition and I was thinking about doing this. Did you have to hire professionals or were you able to do it all yourselves? If you dont mind sharing, what all did you find you could re-use and what’d you have to buy new? It looks WONDERFUL!!!!

  • Leah

    WOW! Eventhough I do consider myself an ‘autumn colored person’, I like the “after” kitchen much better. It is so clean and light. I love that chalkboard wall, too. EXCELLENT!

  • Val

    WOW WOW WOW….. Um, when am I coming over for coffee? LOL

  • flo

    !!!!!!!!!!!!

    Amazing. I can’t imagine the cooking bliss that would happen in that kitchen.

  • wootowl

    good work bean and your mister too! love that my lil touch is still there. the high chair is perfect!

  • Jen

    ooooooooooooooooh

    aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

    It’s so beautiful–I love the tile!

  • jenifer

    yowza – even kitty matches 🙂 looks awesome and so great to have it all done before bebe comes!

  • Jessica

    So awesomely fantastic!

  • Patricia Scarpin

    I love this kitchen!! Can I live in it, Tracy? 😉

  • tanja

    my favourite : the wallpaper – you were very bold and it paid off !

  • Samantha

    Love love love it! Adore the ice cube looking light fixtures! Swell job…

  • jen

    I love it! Especially the blue accent.

  • Zeynep

    Even the cat matches! Gorgeous!

  • Courtney

    Simply beautiful. The “after” is so elegant and modern- who wouldn’t be inspired to cook in such a stunning kitchen? Kudos.

  • Jessica

    ok, this is my dream kitchen. i aspire to be like you.

  • Allyson

    This is stunning! The black and white is so bold and clean. Must be so much fun to be in there cooking. Can you tell us who made the fantastic birdcage wallpaper?? Love that!

  • Heather M

    Please come and redecorate my entire house! Your kitchen redo is AMAZING! Your lighting is FANTASTIC! Love love love the whole thing! (Sorry for all of the shouting, but wowee!)

  • Tracy

    THANK YOU SOO MUCH FOR ALL OF YOUR COMMENTS!!!! I AM SO GLAD YOU LOVE IT AS MUCH AS I DO!

    xoxoxo

    Tracy

  • puglyfeet

    Wow. What a difference. Beautiful!

  • Jacquie

    Lovely, sparkly, bright and all new & fresh! Complete with black cat too! How great is that?!

  • Tracy

    Angela: Same old cabinets but after a month+ of refinishing them. Word of advice…pay a professional, its not worth doing it yourself, you will not do as good a job, it will take 10x longer then you think. I never came so close to crying . Steps are: take everything apart, scrub with 1000grade steal wool and TPS degreaser, LIGHTLY sand by HAND using something like 200grit paper. Do nto use a machine and DO not try to remove the original finish, you simply want to lightly scuff for adhesion (unless of course your cabinets are in bad shape) My mistake was using a machine sander and sanding too hard, created 10x more work for myself and affected the overall results.

    Another piece of advice, use Fine Paints of Europe brand and NOTHING ELSE. apply even coat of Fine Paints of Europe Primer, DO NOT LEAVE ANY SLIGHTLY BARE SPOTS, They will always show. For better leveling characteristics and workability, consider an additive, not sue what the best one is but ask about Floetrol or something. Work quickly, do not go over your previous stokes. Sand, then apply your base coat of paint, sanding after base coat may be optional, then apply final coat.
    Before starting any project, call the extremely helpful people at Fine Paints of Europe for advise, they have a company policy that NOBODY answers the phone unless they have at least 10yrs of professional painting experience.

    Again, hire a professional, I tried to save money and it was a huge mistake. Luckily I knew I was overhead my head and had hit a wall, rather then rush to get the job done, I called a pro and had them do the final coat.

  • Kim

    New reader, love the kitchen! Do you mind if I ask how much it cost to have the pros paint your cabinets?

    • Tracy

      Kim- thank you! we had pros come in and do the final coat. My husband prepped everything for them and did the first few coats. They charged us something like $35/hour per guy. There were two people and it didn’t take them that long since they were *pros* I don’t remember the final cost, but I hope that helps!

  • Anna

    Your kitchen is so beautiful. Do you mind if I ask you what kind of microwave you have? It is gorgeous. Great site.

  • Mary Lou

    Like all of the above, I love your kitchen reno. We are shopping for our reno and the one thing I’m sure of is that I want a black and white checkerboard floor. Can you tell me a bit about your flooring? What sort of tile is it?

    Thanks!

  • Sandra

    what a beautiful kitchen!!

    by the way, this is my first post. i came by your blog through a friend who posted a link to one of your recipes. i’ve since gone through just about your entire sight looking at recipes. you have such a diverse range of recipes, and you present your food wonderfully…not to mention you photograph them wonderfully.

    you’ve been bookmarked, so i’ll be back. LOL

  • Around the House: Kitchen {BEFORE} - Shutterbean

    […] Truth be told, my mom and I have pretty different styles. I love contrast…. which should come as no surprise and she’s more of an Autumn-tone person.  Since we moved in,  I’ve been dreaming of painting our current cabinets DARK and now it’s finally happening. I have a thing for black & white kitchens. You can see my last kitchen at our old house here. […]

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