Demo Day is FINALLY here!!
Hubby and I have been talking about renovating our kitchen since we moved into our tiny Boston condo two years ago. We’ve gone through tons of ideas, 3 kitchen designers, and interviewed multiple contractors.
Finally, we can actually talk about real work getting done on our kitchen. We came up with a design that wouldn’t break the bank too bad and ordered the cabinets and counter tops two weeks ago.
Today our contractor came to start the job. We knew they’d be able to make great progress on the demolition today since it’s such a small space (~150 sq-ft), but we had no idea they’d get as far as they did.
Just a bit of background about our kitchen. It’s small and a very unique space. The kitchen is actually two rooms, a dining room and a kitchen in one. Kind of “L” shaped. The building is very old, so the pipes are old. As is the electrical system. We have a fuse box above the door in the kitchen. The kicker is that only one of the 5 corners is 90 degrees…
This is my main working space. About 30 inches of countertop next to the stove. Before we emptied the kitchen out, my KitchenAid mixer was on the right near the window. And yes, we decided to stop cleaning the stove a few months ago since we knew we were getting rid of it soon.
This is the other set of cabinets. Looking into the kitchen from the back hallway.
A shot showing some of the obstacles – a radiator under the windows, and a fridge in front of the window. I guess you make do when you have such a small place.
Here’s another angle looking from the hallway door. The room to the back is the dining room portion of the kitchen. You can’t really tell from the picture, but the floor back by that picture from slopes down a couple inches. It’s definitely not level.
Another view from the hallway. We got a little ambitious last year and decided to start ripping up the floor in the dining room. It was enlightening to learn how many layers of floor there were!
As many obstacles as there are in our kitchen, the charming thing is the original subway tiling around the entire room. We knew we wanted to keep that in tact.
Here’s a sketch of the kitchen floorplan to give you an idea about how it looks. We currently have very little counter-space and cabinet space. There is basically 30 inches of working counter-space next to the stove. The space above the dishwasher was used primarily for drying clean dishes.
In preparation for this renovation, I’ve been making freezer meals. We have a small freezer in our living room packed to the gills and a microwave in the bedroom. We’re hoping to not have to eat out every meal during this process, and I think all this hard work will pay off. I made some turkey chili, crockpot pulled pork, turkey burgers, and some butternut squash lasagna.
Stay tuned later for some pictures of what the kitchen looked like when we got home.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Love those cabinet shelves! They look like a great space saver. I’ll have to look into those.
You have so many great solutions!! I’m RUNNING to Bed Bath and Beyond for the plastic bag holder–ours are just free under the sink!!
Anne – it really is great and not to $$ either!
I’m pretty sure you’ve talked about them before but can you please tell us where you got those neat spice bottles for your sugars? I LOVE them!!!
Shadow – They are part of Pottery Barn’s Daily System. The post coming tomorrow will actually go through how we made the shelf and include a link to the spice jars themselves.
the spice jars are so cool!! Can’t wait to see more about them 🙂 I love how vibrant all the colors are!
Great organizing! I’m always trying to figure out how I’m going to fit all my stuff in my kitchen. Thanks for the tips! BTW love those spice jars…so cute!
I’ll add my admiration of the spice jars as well – what a great way to keep them dry and organized while adding color to your kitchen!
Thanks for the info about the spice jars! They’re actually $10 off right now too, so you get 15 jars for $19!!!
…I might have bought two sets… 🙂
Can’t wait to see how you guys set up your shelf.
Great ideas! I also love the plastic bag holder among other items. Looking forward to the post on the spice containers.
Hopefully Hubby doesn’t hear the price went down so much. He about had a heart attack when I told him I was spending $120 on spice jars!
How is the towel made so it can hung by a loop?
I love love loooove what you’ve done with your kitchen. It’s so functional and looks fantastic. I’m definitely stealing some of your ideas and incorporating them into my kitchen. Thanks!
jenshowme – this is the paper towel holder. It’s a bar that gets attached on one side and has an arm sticking out that the paper towel goes onto.
Use tiered cosmetic cases!
They’re absolutely great. You can compartmentalize your things easily everything stays together. =)
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