Kitchen Before and After

Aaron and I bought our house through probate, which means we purchased our house for $70,000 cheaper than market value at the time. (Thank goodness, considering the substantial market crash since then! We'd have an even larger upside down mortgage!). But with buying a house through probate, it means we moved in "as is." 

By moving into our house "as is," in our case that meant it was in no means livable. It was complete and utter trash! So, the first few months, our main goal was to just make our house livable, but over the years, we've transformed each room into something we're proud of. It took a lot of patience (because house projects always require a ton of patience) and time (we've lived here for 3-1/2 years), but we're very proud at what we've accomplished.

This post is going to be dedicated to our kitchen transformation. Oh my gosh! When we moved in, all of the appliances were BROWN, the cabinets and walls had a thick coat of grime from the previous residents (they smoked to their death, literally), and being near the curtains seriously hurt my lungs from inhaling all the dust and smoke. It was an awful mess to move into, especially with a little 6-month old. Poor Ella.

Okay, brace yourself...here are the before pictures!

My mom looks concerned in this picture. I wonder why? :)

Notice the brown stove top, the brown oven and the brown cooking fan. We immediately had to replace the brown stove because it didn't work. For awhile there, we had to cook everything in a toaster oven, which wasn't too fun, but only temporary. We didn't replace the stove top until last year, and we just replaced the cooking fan. Little by little things got done. :)

 

As a housewarming gift, my parents bought us a new dishwasher because this lovely brown one didn't work. Surprising, I know! :)

As a part of the sale, the seller agreed to let us keep the fridge. It was in good working order and served its purpose, but when we had our floor replaced about 1-1/2 years ago, there was a huge burn mark underneath. Also, the fridge would randomly leak for no apparent reason. Every now and again there'd be puddles around it! We tried to have it repaired, but because it was an older model, it wasn't worth the money to fix it. So, we ended up having to buy a new one.

Obviously, you remember the "after" pictures of our kitchen. Click HERE if you want to read the post, but I'm going to re-post the pictures here, too, mainly because I'm SO PROUD of the outcome. Hard work does pay off, and we are living proof of it.

Other than redoing the cabinets, we painted over the puke green paint on the walls a bright peach color. Aren't they peachy? :) And, as I said above, we replaced the stove top, the cooking fan and the oven. Everything is white and CLEAN!

We kept the same countertops because, surprisingly, they were in great condition. They are real tile and only the grout needs to be deep cleaned, which we still haven't gotten around to. Overall, we thought the costs would outweigh the benefits on that project.

We got rid of those horrid 60's curtains and just put in regular aluminum blinds. We kept the same sink, but replaced the faucet.

I was somewhat concerned about having white cabinets with white appliances, but I think it turned out good.

And, perhaps the best thing we did was replace that awful flooring. We didn't get around to doing that until last March, so for a couple years, we lived with that brown nastiness. It seemed no matter how hard we tried to clean it, it would still be dirty! And if you know Aaron, that is just not acceptable cleaning protocol. We also put this flooring in our laundry room and both bathrooms. We love it! :)

So, lets recap (for shock appeal)...

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I've posted previous room transformations. If you'd like to see pictures of Ella's Bathroom Makeover or the Master Bedroom Makeover, just click on those links.