Creating a Charming New Cottage: The Kitchen

The holiday hoopla is about to begin (if it hasn't already) and I thought I'd sneak in one more post about creating our Charming New Cottage.  If you missed the first post here are the important points I made:

• There will be LOTS of posts about making this little house our new home.  Please keep in mind, the updates will not be fast and furious since we're retired aaaaaand....I believe bad knees were already mentioned.  Wink-wink!

• It was a rental property.  In other words, we are (and will be) dealing with lots of 'landlord specials'...affectionately nick-named by our daughter.

• We have down-sized and I don't mean it's a 3 bed, 2 bath, 1800 square foot house.  No, this is just a little over 900 sq. ft.....Did I mention 'dowwwwn-sizing'?

• I want to create a home that is cozy, relaxed, and welcoming while incorporating practical elements. The focus is on comfort, not grandeur.

• I've always promised to "Keep it Real" and share the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Trust me, there will be plenty of all 3!

Or, you can go back and read it.  It's not terribly long!

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So, the kitchen.  The first thing we did was replace the appliances because the ones that were there were, well, ICK!  The microwave didn't even have a handle!  

The one appliance we did not replace was the dishwasher.  If you look at the picture, it was placed quite a distance from the sink.  

Clearly an afterthought.  

It was quite small.  Apartment size?  

Also there was no other place to put one.  Notice the lazy susan cabinet in the corner? 

So we took it out and replaced it with a 3-drawer cabinet.  

What?  No Dishwasher?

That's right!  It's just the two of us and I really don't mind hand-washing dishes. When we did have a dishwasher, I didn't need to run it every day, which created another problem: 

There was always a pot or pan I needed the next day and I had to hand-wash it anyway.  Call me crazy, but this works for me!

I love having the drawer space, although this modification did leave us with one tiny little issue.  A standard base cabinet was a bit small for the space. Have no fear, there IS a solution!  

That's a post for another day and let me tell you, I love it!  

Any guesses as to what I did????  Keep checking in for that update!

Oh, since we're talking about cabinets, let me show you the inside of the sink cabinet.

Yuk!  It was dirty and the surface was peeling.  Clearly a rental property issue. Never fear, I had the perfect solution. 

 

After a good cleaning, I grabbed some inexpensive peel & stick vinyl tiles and got to work.

It started looking better immediately; although the back wall was also damaged about 2 inches from the floor of the cabinet.  

Scoring the tiles hid that bit of ugly.

The beauty of having vinyl tiles under your sink is the easy clean-up.  If something spills, you just wipe it up.  No more dirty, peeling, damaged cabinet floor!

The whole process took less than 20 minutes.  The toughest part was getting up off the floor once I was done!  Can you relate?

Digging in lower cabinets is not my favorite thing to do, so I added this under sink organizer.  

I have to say, it was money well-spent. It assembles in minutes, allows you to adjust the height, and gives you 3 ways to mount it under your sink.  I chose the suction cups.  They work great on that new vinyl tile!

There also was no under-cabinet lightning so I ordered these motion sensor cabinet lights.  

They have 5 levels of brightness, 3 color temperatures, and 4 modes for darkness/daytime.  

They're also magnetic, making it easy to take them down for charging. Now I can see my measuring spoon rack!

We also put one in the bathroom under the cabinet there. A real bonus if you have to get up in the middle of the night.

The last little update I made in the kitchen is a little more storage space in the pantry with these cabinet door organizers.  Remember, this is a small house and storage space is important.  

They are metal and there is no drilling needed to install them.  They've been up for a few months now and I've had no issues with them.

Whew!  Six updates so far and there are definitely more things on the 'To-Do' list for the kitchen.  

• Did you notice the black blinds on the window?  They are old, dirty, and don't work properly.  A solution is 'in the works' for that right now.

• Caulk is needed between the countertops and the backsplash.  At some point they will be replaced.  For now, they stay since there are many other things on the 'To-Do' list that are more pressing!

• I also need a light over the sink - a problem to solve another day.  I want something unique so I've got my thinking cap on.  If you have any ideas, please feel free to share!

• The biggest change will be painting the cabinets.  That will also be a bit down the road, but I'm considering colors.  Blue is definitely my color, but this kitchen tends to be a bit dark. Yellow is a strong contender right now.  What color would you paint the cabinets?

So, there you have it.  The kitchen in this little cottage has received a few little updates with more to come. The list seems to magically grow everyday!

 

I can't believe it's November already and it will soon be time to share my Christmas craft ideas.  I hope you'll stop back for all the crafting fun and more of the 'Charming New Cottage' series!

In case you missed them:

Charming New Cottage:  The Bathroom

Creating a Charming New Cottage