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Thursday, 19 January 2012

What is a girl to do?

Progress is coming along in our new shack but now it's entering that critical decision making time. I need to decide what the hell to do with my kitchen which is basically the size of a closet. I'm used to working with small spaces(insert funny remark here) as our last kitchen was tiny too(the joke continues).  Anyway, here's a pic of the old kitchen.....




Not bad for a Cheap Chick Kitchen? 


Okay, so here's the deal with the old kitchen. We had a budget of -200 bucks and wanted to pull something together. We spent 8 dreadful hours in the kitchen section of Ikea to come up with the design plans. Honestly, on the cabinets, counter and sink we spent about $ 3,000. I would love to have a white granite countertop in this space but it wasn't in the budget so we went with the butcher block. If you can't make up your mind on a counter or you're cheap...it's a great option.



Under cabinet lighting....not expensive and worth it!

I may be cheap but I'm no dummy and even though I didn't blow the bank on the last kitchen, I did learn some important lessons along the way;

  1. Spend money on a good kitchen sink. Think about it, we use it every friggin day. It takes a lot of abuse from you, your kids etc. So, invest in a good quality sink that will keep up with you and your hard living life.
  2. Invest in a practical kitchen faucet. I love the look of some of the European designs but if someone comes over, I don't want them spending 10 minutes trying to turn on my bloody faucet. Find a practical style you love and make sure it's durable. (The one in this pic...pure crap) I was too cheap!
  3. Silent drawers and cabinets. If you've ever lived in a rental and heard the people upstairs...you know why this is important. Plus, kids love banging stuff...give them a pot not your cabinets to play with.
  4. Good Lighting. I look like crap in the morning so if Brad Pitt is going to show up I should at least look good while I prepare him some Folgers. Put lights everywhere....under cabinets, in cabinets, on the ceiling..everywhere. Do it in the early stages though or it will cost more to bring in Mr. Electrician.
  5. Floors. Okay, I'll blame my husband for this one. After spending every weekend searching for kitchen floors, he decided to be ultra-cheap and purchased the crappiest tiles every produced. 6 months later, they were cracked and pissing me off. We replaced them with engineered hardwood a little later. We learned our lesson. You'll be using your kitchen (or at least walking in it) everyday so invest in something you'll love even 5 years from now and something you can do anything (anything!) on,
Enough of my rants....I have work to do...here's what the house looks like now...HELP! 




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