The kitchen... oh, the wonderful kitchen...

The story of the kitchen:

The house I bought was used as a business. The owner, at one time, had lived in the house and had a beauty salon in the front. She tried to sell the house but didn't have any luck. It was on the market for 3 years. She moved and decided to turn the whole bottom of the house into a business. She makes hand-woven baskets and decided to have a store to sell her baskets. She sold items to make gift baskets; baby items, tea, coffee, jams, and lots of other goodies. Since the house was a business, she took the kitchen out and made a basket weaving area.



Photo of kitchen before we bought the house

When we looked at the house there was a utility sink, a few cupboards, and an island in the kitchen/dining room area. In order for us to purchase the house as a residence, the house had to have a kitchen.

Lucky for us, the owner's partner was a contractor. We negotiated the kitchen into the offer on the house. They moved the island back to create more dining room, put in a stove hook-up, and hung upper cabinets. They also put in a double sink. They did not want to put much money into the kitchen, so the bare minimum was done to pass the inspection and appraisal.

There are a few problems: The kitchen does not have the best layout. The sink is basically just whatever they could come up with on short notice. There is no dishwasher, and there is one florescent light in the ceiling. We also had a problem because I didn't have a stove or a refrigerator when we moved in. I now have a new refrigerator, but I have a very old apartment sized stove that is too small for the kitchen.

I have been slowly making the kitchen more my style... I have hung my vintage kitchen items and painted. I used 2 shades of green, and I am accenting it with yellow and lemons. I have a pot-rack hung over the island to save space, and my walls are now wall to wall vintage displays.



As you can see in the above photo, the cabinets did not have a knobs on them. I HATE (and I must emphasize that) cabinets without knobs. I have been trying to decide what type of hardware to put on the cupboards. I wanted something that was fun and funky. I also wanted them to fit with my vintage design. While searching on Etsy (http://www.etsy.com/) one day, I came across a seller who sold vintage faucet handles. She had a few green ones in different shades and shades. I contacted her to see if she could locate some more green ones for me. Over the last couple of months we came up with enough green handles to put on all the cabinets in the kitchen. A big thank you to "scrapyardgirl" for all her help, she was wonderful to work with!

I had to get the template for cabinet hardware in Syracuse, I couldn't find it in town. I knew they had such a thing from watching the DIY shows on TV. I recommend this tool if you are installing hardware! It makes it really easy....

The ALIGNright by Liberty

I figured out what hardware was needed and then was off to Ace. The people that work there are great.... and they are getting used to helping me with my crazy ideas. It was really simple and I had all the tools in my handy-dandy tool cabinet.

Tools.

Drilling after I marked for the knob.

Bolt, handle, spacer, washer, door, washer, lock nut.

I think they look great! Unique and fun.....

Lower doors.

Upper Doors.

Now all I have to do is find something equally cool to use for the drawers! I am open to any suggestions!