Kitchen Renovation

As many of you know, I recently moved to a condo. And if you’ve been following me for over a year then you might be thinking, you moved again? Yes, I did. I bought and moved in to a townhouse with my brother in June 2018 and then this past summer he bought my share of the townhouse and I bought a condo. I moved back in with my parents while renovations were going on at my condo and just recently moved in.

My condo actually was in pretty good shape (aside from a hot water heater leak which I discovered the evening before closing – just in time!) and needing to replace the dishwasher (I ended up replacing all the kitchen appliances except the microwave). However, I decided to do a lot of renovating. Basically, nothing needed to get done (aside from the 2 things I just mentioned), but I wanted to do a lot. You’ve gotten a glimpse at my living room already when I shared my new marble coffee table and Christmas decor, but I’ll do a proper post just on that room when my bookcase comes in and I’ve finished getting it situated.

Today, I’m going to talk about the kitchen. I have a series of before, during, and after renovation shots and I have a bunch of links for you guys. I was able to find almost everything that is pictured below with a few exceptions. Everything will be linked in a collage at the end of this post. So let’s get to it!

When I bought the condo, it had cherry cabinets, formica countertops, a shallow stainless steel sink, and tile flooring. I kept the cabinets and the floors. I had the countertops replaced with quartz, added a backsplash, and replaced the sink with a deeper stink with nicer faucet/fixtures. After looking at rows and rows of granite and quartz, I decided on a white quartz called “Blanca Statuarietto”.

I also added a backsplash and after looking at a bunch at Home Depot and buying and returning sheets to bring home and look at in the kitchen, I decided on a glass subway tile called “Tiffany May”.

At this point, my new appliances were in, new sink, counter, and backsplash. My kitchen has an entryway from the dining room and a picture window. When I bought it, the doorway was just a doorway and the window was just a rectangular opening with white painted wood on the bottom as a sort of shelf. We (my parents, our contractor neighbor who worked on this project of mine) decided to add trim to the entryway and the window and to also replace the wood with the same quartz as my countertops.

Oh yeah, and also during this whole thing I was having the condo painted and I had the kitchen painted the same cream color as the other main walls.

Okay, next, the kitchen has recess lighting which is nice, but doesn’t give me much light at the counter when I’m cooking. My last place had under cabinet lighting wired in, but I didn’t want to have to get an electrician to do that so I found these under cabinet battery operated lights from Home Depot and they have been perfect!

You just push the bottom on the strip to turn the light on/off and they come in different lengths. It makes a huge difference and I love the way it shines a lot on my backsplash too.

The kitchen looks like it has a lot of cabinets, but there really isn’t that much space. I have enough room for all my dishes, glasses, mugs, but the bottom cabinets are not big at all so there’s very limited space for pots, pans, serving bowls, platters, etc. And there are only 3 drawers and they are shallow and narrow. Not very practical! After much searching for a kitchen cart, like the one I had at my townhouse, but would fit in this kitchen, I got a white marble topped island from Bob’s Furniture. It goes well with my white countertops and it matches my coffee table and end tables in the living room. On this island, I have my toaster oven (sitting on a piece of quartz from my countertops). I have a dishtowel on the bar and inside the drawers I have all my silverware, some more dishtowels, and oven mitts. In the cabinets and shelves I have some baking dishes, place mats, and I’m going to see if my slow cooker and new griddler (got it last night at White Elephant) will fit.

I also have my step ladder tucked to the side because those cabinets are tall! And since I took these photos I have added a little recycling bin to the side with the dishtowel.

Also on the countertops I have: a hot water pot, rice cooker, can opener, small dish rack, sponge holder, knife block set (linked to a similar one by the same brand because I couldn’t find exact), spice rack (got this for Christmas and also couldn’t find the exact, but linked to almost exact one), Unicorn spoon rest (because it’s adorable), glass flour and sugar jars, olive oil & vegetable oil glass jars, marble trivet, and terra cotta utensil holder.

I’m really happy with the way my kitchen turned out! While the kitchen wasn’t bad before, I think it looks way better now!

As mentioned earlier, I’ve linked to as much as I could, but couldn’t link to my countertop or kitchen island and did not link to my new appliances. However, feel free to ask me any questions about any of the items/products etc. here.

I have rearranged a few things on the counter since I took these photos a few days ago and I also added a little compost bin next to the sink for easy disposal when I’m doing food prep/chopping vegetables etc.

I hope you like my new-ish kitchen as much as I do! It’s all done now except I have a little piece of art that I want to hang over the kitchen island/cart. I’ve already bought it, I just need to hang it.

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