[Mandy]

Our kitchen is 99% done. The electrician is supposed to be by tomorrow to finish off two lights and one outlet, but other than that, we should consider ourselves DONE! Whew!

We fancy ourselves DIY'ers, but with two very young kids at home, we decided to pass off most of the reno work to the IKEA contractor. Here is the progress photos of our remodel!

These 'before' pictures were taken when we just started removing the door to start some of the removal. The countertops are full of all the contents, so please disregard the mess! We started to remove everything in the peninsula and then I remembered to grab the camera and start the photos.

We had a kitchen, with one small light and dark cabinets. There was a peninsula in the middle which divided it from the breakfast nook. The main reason for the reno was to make the breakfast nook area bigger as we could no longer fit around the table with our growing family. We had two single sinks on opposite sides of the room, which had it perks, but was really not needed. And the fridge did not really fit in the little tight corner that it was in.

(why is it that toddler fridge art looks so cute in real life, but terribly messy in photos! )

[Mandy]

We removed the upper and lower cabinet in the peninsula to solve our issue short term. The hole in the floor was covered with plywood and a little area rug. This removal alone added so much light to the kitchen, which really doesn't have a window of its own.

[Mandy]

A little scope creep.....new patio door. I have been asking hubby for one for years and he finally relented. I really did not like the fabric vertical blinds that covered our old door, so after much thought we decided to order the new door with blinds built in between the panes of glass. One less thing to clean! And it also means the kids can't play with them.

[Mandy]

At this point, we had no design in mind, and no particular cabinets in mind. We lived this way for a few months before we got busy shopping. I looked at Thomasville, Kitchen Maid, and a custom cabinet shop, and was shocked at some of the prices they were giving me. We really debated 'do we want an IKEA kitchen?' but many visits to this site convinced us that the cabinets are really quite attractive. So, the planning began. I posted our plans in this forum when we ordered.

The local IKEA contractor come to the house and we talked about doing not only a cabinet installation but a complete renovation including reworking some plumbing, flooring, backsplash, all new electrical, and a lot of drywall. Once that was all negotiated, we placed our order.

We decided to do a lot of the tear out ourselves, and by the time the contractors started, we were down to two empty sink cabinets.

[Mandy]

Random shots throughout the destruction!

[Mandy]

Getting closer!

[Mandy]

And, seven weeks later!

Details:
-Microwave cabinet was custom built beneath a standard 24" upper cabinet. The bottom shelf is a dishwasher panel, with an extra cover panel used to form the open shelving beside it.
-Medicine cabinet customized by altering the depth to 5"
-All upper cabinets run to ceiling.

Shopping list:
Cabinets: IKEA Adel Medium Brown
Countertop: Hanstone Quartz - Maple Canyon colour
Handles: Lee Valley
Tilt Out Tray: Lee Valley
Stove: Kenmore
Taps: Price Pfister
Range Hood: IKEA
Backsplash: Olympia Tile - Botticino 2x4 (tumbled brick)
Floor: Olympia Tile - Pompei White

[Mandy]

Now. Time to enjoy!

(edited to add: more zoomed in pictures on following pages)

Thanks for looking!

[demicent]

Beautiful!

All it needs is a little more frig art. You can never have too much of that. Frig art is Love. I have about ten boxes of it upstairs in my closet. I miss those days.

[Mandy]

LOL!! I took all the 'official' after pictures and my hubby looked at them and told me I need to take all the junk off the fridge and retake the pictures. This is what the fridge actually looks like!