kitchen overhaul: more cook-friendly

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WARNING: HUGE post ahead. And it's way overdue... cuz I found this draft sitting sad & alone & waiting to be published. So sorry to have forgotten about you, little post!

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BEFORE:

Some things to note: 

1. stick tiles
2. that dishwasher is broken/wouldn't close
3. there's an oven & stove AND a separate cook-top
4. that cook-top is not hooked up
5. nasty, broken vent from the 60s over the oven
6. off-centered lights
7. no fridge! (it was in the dining room/eat-in area by the sliding glass door)

DURING:

Since the fridge was broken, I had to buy a new one of those (OMG, I love my fridge!) almost immediately.  Also, removed a section of the counter & lower cabinets so the fridge could move to inside the kitchen.  You can also see where I removed the stick-tiles to place in the new fridge...

And here it is with all stick tiles removed!  This is actually a white, ceramic tile... you'll have to take my word on that, as this is looking kinda tan in the picture?  Odd. (i.e. crappy camera/editing software)

ewwww

In moving the fridge, however, I covered over this light.  And yes, isn't that a lovely amount of dirt?

As you can see, this meant to turn on the kitchen and dining room lights, you had to squeeze your hand between the fridge and the wall.  How awesome is that??

So, we reversed the electrical box so that it is now accessible from the other side of that wall (which is in the stairwell.)

ignore that other hole...

Onto the cooktop-for-show:

I am all about a gas stove, and this one was pretty & gas & retailed for $500-$800. Buuuuuuttttttt, we couldn't justify running a gas line, where no gas had been before, solely to have a gas stove. Besides, we cook a lot, but we don't cook 8-burners-worth (yet.) So we decided to Craigslist the stove-top & replace the hole with leftover counter-top.*

*The leftover counter-top was from the section I removed to fit the fridge into the kitchen, as previously mentioned. It had been living with it's cabinet-partner in the utility room as a pseudo-work bench/storage.

counter-top out! maybe we should have left it like this for easier access to the lids??

previous owners were GROSS

marking line to cut

We used a ruler and a clamp (and the tape) to mark the line and then create a straight edge to cut against. You could free-hand it, if you are a ballsier man than I.

erm, this would be the cutting

Like this! Only, with the drawers put back in... 

Fits well. Gives us TONS more usable counter space. And stops all guests from asking what one actually does with two stoves. The seams were all caulked (with clear caulk) to make the lips less noticeable and less crumb-catcher-y.

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CONFESSION: This was done maybe a year ago?? More? I dunno. But this is just a patch. A band-aid. For while we can put up with counters like this, there is NO WAY a buyer will stand for this monstrosity! Therefore, these counter-tops will soon meet their doom...

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