I have emerged from the shadowy depths of baby hibernation a butterfly transformed by your kind comments. Thank you for reading all about my room tour last week, and double triple googleplex thank you for letting me know you’d like to see more of them. I’m working up a tour of the nursery for next week, so please do tune in for that there goodness.

Today is not so much goodness. Both kids have/had crazy high fevers and I’ve gotten 4-5 hours of broken sleep every night for a week. Right about now I’d like to punch winter in the face. Since winter is an intangible being with no face to punch, let’s talk kitchens for a minute or two.

You knew it would come to this, right?

So, Ben and I tried to strip a door in the hopes we might turn our dated glossy honey oak cabinets into something with this vibe:

And the door laughed in our faces. I’m guessing the finish applied to our cabinets is some kind of super space age polymerized diamond hard coating designed to resist grease and terrorists, because it is NOT COMING OFF. At least not like it does on tv, when you apply the stripping compound and 72 layers of paint slough off in one fell swoop, revealing clean and sparkly wooden goodness beneath.

First we tried denatured alcohol, then we tried lacquer thinner. Then we glopped on the citristrip and left it on for 30 minutes. Then we glopped on more citristrip and left it on overnight. Then in desperation we tried acetone. Basically, we dumped every chemical we could find on that door and only a fraction of the finish was removed.

And so, paint it is.

I’m pretty sad and keep mooning over this kind of stuff:

But maybe for the next house.

I did consider trying to copy this look by refacing our cabinets, but I think it’s just not financially feasible. We may as well gut the kitchen and rebuild at that point.

Sadly, we are not rich. We’re real people on a stupid real budget that makes me real mad. But at least we have a house and food and cars, so it’s time to get over it and move on. Maybe to this?

But with light uppers, yes?

I’m still pricing out replacing our doors with paint grade shaker style doors. What we spend on new doors miiiigggght save us a few bucks in paint labor. Maybe. I’m not sure if it’s going to be worth it or not.

While my kitchen plans continue to incubate, go check out the power of paint over at Styled Thing:

Not too shabby, Miss Julie.

See you dudes next week for the next tour.

[pinterest]

Hi friends, thanks for all the fab tv suggestions to get me through the plague that has decimated our house… Luther? Yes. Sherlock? Up next. Also, have you watched the first episode of The Americans yet? It’s all perestroika and high waist jeans with an awesome 80s soundtrack. Can’t miss.

So notice my title suggests that the kitchen PLANS have progressed… alas, the actual kitchen is as barfy as ever. We’ve yet to take a sledgehammer to anything, but we’re getting closer. I’ve all but convinced Ben to knock the soffit completely out and see what happens, largely thanks to your comments. It helps to show that I’m not completely nuts when I embark on these grand projects. Also, I have started speaking about the soffit demo as if it were fait accompli, e.g., “after we knock the soffit out…” I think the power of suggestion is working.

So the next step is to figure out what to do with the cabinets once the ceiling is (hopefully) raised. The lovely Naomi at Design Manifest sent over this picture a few weeks ago:

Raise existing cabinets and add shelf below to fill in the space. Brazilliant. But then, Miss Naomi is a professional kitchen designer so she is smart like that.

You know who else is smart like that? Lisa, who commented on my white kitchen post. Behold her horrifying before picture:

And her glorious after:

Let’s discuss how much shuffling those uppers around opened up this kitchen. A whole big lot, that’s how much.

Here’s another reader redo from Justine, who transformed the most hideous ranch oak cabinets into this oasis of soffitless delight, replete with new Ikea cabinet fronts. Oh how I wish! One thing I’m eyeing is the space over the pantry where the soffit used to be. I had planned on building the cases up to the ceiling and ordering new doors, but maybe I don’t have to?

Let’s review the situation:

Oy. My eyes!

Ok, now for the plans:

1. Remove soffit and drywall in beam. Maybe add simple molding.

2. Raise upper cabinets and add shelves below. New glass doors for the uppers. Like this:

What the hell, just give me the entire kitchen.

3. Decide what to do with the floor to ceiling cabinets… build cases up and add new doors? Or maybe something like this?

But I think this is way more than the 12″ soffit removal will give me. This part is confusing … not sure what to do yet.

4. Paint.

And this is where things get really nutty. I’m pretty set on white/cream uppers, but the lowers… well. First of all, I believe the floor to ceiling cabinets should be the same colors as the lowers, right?

Except what about the free standing pantry/fridge cabinet? White, or lower color?

As for the paint scheme, I know I could pull off something like this — even with my bung counters:

This is kinda what our floors look like now.

And this is the color our floors will be someday.

Here’s the two tone white/gray look again…

And yet again… The Inspired Room did a real super good reno that pretty much matches exactly what I had originally planned.

Now, I know this is going to make me sound like an asshole, but the fact that this look has been done (and done beautifully), makes me not want to do it anymore.

Don’t get me wrong, this is still my awesome backup plan.

But now I am hatching a new crazy plan…

Namely, I am considering replacing the wood lowers with… wood lowers. Wait — not even replacing, because we’re keeping the old cabinets. The old SOLID WOOD cabinets.

But what if we stripped them, and stained them darker to tame the grain, and then we waxed or oil finished so they wouldn’t be 80s lacquer perestroika shiny, and then we added some awesome brass hardware?

What if?

I know you probably think I’m crazy, and maybe I am. But just wait until I unleash a torrent of super dope wood kitchens on you. A tiny taste:

Now, how hard will this be to execute???

Remember that I’m sick. Please be gentle.

Thanks for all your comments, advice, and encouragement on yesterday’s pink dinette post. It feels good to have one tiny thing accomplished, but I’m also totally overwhelmed when I consider the millions of things I’ve yet to tackle. For that reason, I’m putting off my shabby kitchen post until next week. I just don’t think I can handle picking out cabinet paint colors when I have two rooms to paint this weekend, wallpaper to order, furniture to consider, piles of unfinished laundry, and a sugar laden school function to attend this afternoon.

Oh, and we did buy a new car yesterday — which was a wholly exhausting experience. I would consider painting it with gold chevron pinstripes and adding teal all weather mats, but the decorating budget is circling the drain after that purchase.

Forget all that. Let’s look at some amazing, totally unattainable  kitchens that I want to lick.

Need I remind you of the unattainable part?

Next week we will discuss what can be done in the next six weeks with my shabby brown kitchen before I’m too fat and pregnant to move, and must depend on crappy reality tv for survival.

I’m just too tired and poor to even ponder that bizness right now.

Sorry to be Debbie Downer.

Happy Friday!!! Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!

[images via pinterest]

Hey dudes, how was your weekend? Ben and I busted our collective ass painting and cleaning and moving and it still looks an 82 year old grandma with 23 cats and alzheimers lives here. It’s kind of disheartening, but you have to break some eggs to make an omelette, right? We did at least completely paint ONE room (Ike’s future room) and it’s… dark. Like, really dark. Outer space dark matter dark. I think it’s going to be ok once we put his furniture and some light window treatments in there, but right now I’m kind of crossing my fingers and hoping he doesn’t grow up to be a depressed adolescent who only listens to The Cure and dyes his hair purple.

Oh wait — that was me.

Anyway, I don’t have a lot of time today because Karly’s hubs Matt is coming over to rip out the godforsaken built in desk that’s encroaching on my soon-to-be beautiful dinette. Anyone need a 24×40 slab of green and rust granite? Didn’t think so.

And then I have to decide between this color:

And this color:

To paint the dinette. I’m not conflicted, or anything. These aren’t 100% diametrically opposed AT ALL.

Meanwhile, I am dreaming of ripping out the entire kitchen. How did I ever think I could live — even temporarily — with honey oak cabinets? The wood grain alone is making me hallucinate. I think it’s trying to kill me. (you can see what it looks like in the mls pictures HERE)

Here’s what I would like to place in its stead:

Any of these will do just fine, thanks.

Ok, must organize/clean/moon over paint swatches.

Any votes for one or the other color I posted?

[Pinterest kitchens]

I can’t believe how behind I am on blogging. Sorry to all of you whom I owe comments and emails and proof that I am alive and breathing — last week just whipped my ass. I’m back in full 75% force and I’m here to tell you that designing a kitchen on a tight timeline is stressful business. But after endless Ikea trips plus a drive to the cheapest granite showroom ever in San Antonio, I think the inlaws have a fancy plan in the works and it’s going to be awesome. The material palette is pretty basic: white cabinets, black granite counters and white subway tile. Clean and classic, but homegirl is going to need accessories. Let’s discuss.

The kitchen is fairly small, so a monochromatic palette filled with interesting objects would be lovely.

As much as I’m dying to spread some wallpaper all up in that joint, I don’t think there’s really enough wall space. Otherwise, this would be my secret plan…

Simple, colorful art and accessories are a possibility. Owls need not apply, however.

I know this is kind of cheating since the kitchen isn’t really all white, but I love the natural drama that the plants and buddha bring to this (admittedly spectacular) space.

Of course Naomi over at Design Manifest is an expert at this sort of thing, being a kitchen designer as she is. I love her suggestion of using a colorful rug to bring in the bling.

Although a part of me is still holding out for this poppy setup…

Currently this is my favorite idea for jazzing up their particular kitchen. Interesting shades and a few small vases and bowls totally transform everything.

That’s it for today. I’m still kind of sleepwalking, but tomorrow I will be 100% awesome.

85% Guaranteed.

[Laura TJ, M Design LA, Elle Decor, Living Etc, Design Manifest, M Design, Maison 21]

I have been working so hard at avoiding Christmas shopping that I deep cleaned my range top rather than making a list and checking it twice. Sure, my family will cry cartoon sized tears of sadness when they realize Santa must have found them to be naughty rather than nice, but at least our kitchen is clean. And to further squander my precious (nearly non existent) free time, I took pictures of our new Ikea shelves and artwork.

You may recall that we completely remodeled our kitchen over a year ago, but if you’d like to check out the whole story, click here. We finished the bare minimum literally a week before Ike was born, so we didn’t have time to accessorize or even install the shelves I had planned for. It looked pretty barren over by the sink:

My spice rack wasn’t even full. But at least the paper towel holder was a klassy touch.

Too bad our kitchen has the worst. lighting. ever. Hunny Bunny caught me with my tripod in the kitchen making 10 second exposures and asked me why I was shooting in complete darkness. Maybe someday if I have an even BIGGER issue to avoid, I will actually whip out my light kit and make real pictures. Anyway, you get the idea. Shelves: check. Thrifted tchotchkes that will likely be rearranged on a daily basis according to the whims and vagaries of my highly mutable temperament: check. No more paper towel holder: check.

I was feeling the primary colors when I picked up that nifty cubist painting (must be a long lost Picasso, right?) at Round Top for $30. I snagged the vintage lithograph of the Roman forum at le thrift store for $2.99. Look, I filled my spice rack. Also, it is 1:02 pm.

I’m still on the fence about the brass light. Ok, I’m not even on the fence. I picked up a huge vintage round glass fixture with a black chain that will be perfectish kitchen over the sink, but I’ve been too lazy to install it… so far. Christmas isn’t here yet, right? I’m liking the shelves, though. We used Ikea’s Ekby series, and the finish matches our cabinets perfectly.

That’s really all I have for you today, but I’m trying to squeeze in more time to photograph mini house updates. I created a new category on the right column called Erin’s House, where you can track the evolution of our humble abode over the last two and a half years (good gravy, I’ve been blogging forever!). I made a category for Karly, too, but she’ll have to file all her own projects when she returns after the new year…

I can’t put off this Christmas shopping forever, you know.

Good morning all and I apologize for my absence Tuesday.  Internet failure combined with ability to stay awake failure has lead me down a shameful blogless path.  But you all understand, right?  Well-zo, here I am and I’m all well rested to show you some surprisingly un-karly-esque interiors.  Let’s just call it a continuation of Erin’s theme from yesterday.  Like she said, life can’t be all coke tables and mylar wallpaper, right?  Ok, maybe it can, but just not today.  Or yesterday.  But most certainly tomorrow and all those other days after.

Perhaps it’s my constant craving for sleep that has me loving these monochromatic interiors shot by photographer Ditte Isager, but most likely it’s that sexy chandelier / rustic hardwood / window-filled loft combo.  win / win / win / win.

when God builds me a kitchen, this will be one of the photos I show him

For more of Ditte’s work: Home of Ochre

Kitchen window porn courtesy of Light Locations

I wish I had a cyber tour bus to drive in front of my kitchen, just so I could drive it off, thereby making the big reveal dramatic! and exciting! I would jump up and down — propelled by the overwhelming spirit of joy and gratitude — screaming and crying about how amazing it is, and about how getting a new kitchen has changed the very core of my being. But that would be untrue, because (let’s face it) macaroni cooked over a bunsen burner in a dorm room is the same as macaroni cooked on a brand new stove in my pretty new kitchen.

But that don’t make it any less pretty.

Remember when I first enlisted your help with my junky kitchen a looooooooong ass time ago?

Yes, the red is very charming (unless you have to live with it), but everything else in the kitchen deserved to be burned in a pressure treated blaze of glory. Trust me, it was a LOT WORSE than it looks in my awesome picture. Well, a mere six months and 10k later — with only one week to spare before the baby is due — it looks like this:

I know, I know! You miss the tile and the bank of head bonking cabinets, the chipped almond formica and the spectacularly filthy appliances, but at least the rugs are cute, right? In all seriousness, this was crazy hard to shoot because the light was not cooperating and the paint wants to read as brown instead of gray, but hopefully you get the idea.

We still have a lot of trim issues to deal with and loads of accessorizing to do, but it’s 95% done! Hooray! And despite what must be universal hatred of barstools, I love that we have some extra seating near the kitchen instead of wasted space on the living room side, like we had in our old kitchen. Plus, you have to admit that my vintage Thonet stools are pretty fly.

Hallelujah, you can even see into the living room without busting your head open on a fortress of low hanging cabinets! Downside: I have the sudden urge to replace those hideous ceiling fans, STAT! Any recommendations?

So, what did we do in here, anyway? I detailed the floor renovations a while ago, but you can read about them here. We yanked out all the old oak cabinets and mounted them in the garage (whee! extra storage), then replaced them with Ikea Abstrakt gloss white cabinets, and Ikea Applad black cabinets mounted to form a pantry wall.

So much better than the floating fridge situation we had before! Oh, and surprise! I am the kind of person who sticks stuff all over the refrigerator. Hunny Bunny hates it, but how else will I know where to find my Babies R Us coupons? What do you think of my crazy Moroccan brass tray up there? I know it’s kind of passe to stack stuff on top of your cabinets, but because our room is vaulted, it felt really naked without something…

The peninsula was ripped out and HB built a new, taller wall for the bar to anchor the cabinets onto. He and Matty bear also tore out the old post and replaced it with a smaller, dry walled post. The counters are Ikea Numerar in oak, and the backsplash is soapstone, which Matt installed. Karly bought the vintage Danish pendant lights on Ebay and decided they didn’t work for her. Bonus! They are perfect in my house. I got a new stove on sale at Lowes, the Datid hood for half price at Ikea, and I am unnaturally obsessed with our new Ikea spice rack. Now I just need three more spices to fill it…

On the sink wall, Matt installed a soapstone tile countertop in a very labor (and dust) intensive process so that the countertop looks like a slab. No grout, and half the price! He did a super excellent job, and if you live in Austin I highly recommend you contact him for all your handyman/renovation needs.

We bought a Kohler cast iron sink that has a very low divider, so it’s kind of the best of the single/double sink worlds. Love it! The faucet is also Kohler, and the dishwasher was on sale at Lowes. I had the vintage light fixture already and it’s ok (I like the brass), but I think I could do better. Someday. Maybe. Oh, and the reversible cotton rugs are from Ikea, of course.

The window wall feels a little unfinished, so we’re planning on putting up a couple of shelves where I can display cute dishes and whatchamadoodles. What do you think: glossy white? black? or butcherblock? Who knows when we’ll get to it, since we’ve only got a week until the baby is due and still need to clean renovation dust out from under the furniture, but we can dream, right?

So, that’s it for my kitchen tour. We hatched a half baked plot in November of last year, started gutting in January, and “finished” just days ago. I think our original idea was to slap some paint on our ugly cabinets and call it a day, but I’m glad we took the advice that many of you gave us — which was to rip it out and go for it. Including the appliances (except for the fridge), the floors, counters, sink, hardware, cabinets, lights, paint, and Matt’s labor, we came in at around 10k, which was pretty close to my original estimate. It took the short side of forever to complete, but because Hunny did most of the work himself and Matt helped out a lot, we were able to spend most of our budget on materials instead of labor.

So far, we’re super happy with it, but I’ll be sure to let you know if any of the walls fall down…

Thanks, guys. Thanks a lot. Because of you, we’re planning to rip out our kitchen and replace it with this:

Sigh. Not really. I love this kitchen, but we’d pretty much have to raze the entire house and rebuild to get it, and Momma don’t have that kind of cash (who does, these days?). But in all seriousness, because of your helpful comments on our first kitchen post, we expanded our $1000 kitchen “refurbishing” budget into… well, a hell of a lot more. I’ll let you know the total damage when we do, and don’t worry — I plan to keep you updated every step of the way. Let’s get started!

Here’s a refresher picture for those of you who are scratching your heads in earnestness, trying desperately to remember what our hideous kitchen looks like:

Mmmm, the beautiful tile, the gorgeous plywood grain, the overhanging cabinets that bash your head in when you attempt to look into the living room, the hulking pantry, the cracked and stained formica… Yes, it was hard to decide what you hated most, so we’re ripping it all out. All of it. Oh, and trust me, the cabinets are WAY UGLIER in real life. Paint ain’t gonna hide the janky drawers, the gaps in between the ill-fitted doors that may or may not open all the way, or the weird filler pieces sprinkled here and there like plywood twinkies.

First thing was first: get rid of those overhanging cabinets that blocked the view to the living room (for more detailed pics, refer to the original post here).

Hunny Bunny to the rescue: the Berlin Wall is coming down, bitches! Ich bin ein Berliner, schweinehunds!

In case you were wondering, I was an integral part of the demo process:

Almost done…

Awww… isn’t he precious? So, let me tell you — tearing watching Ben tear that wall up was the most liberating thing, ever. The ugly pine post is still unfinished, but I love the new sense of openness already, and I don’t miss the cabinet space in the least.

Yep, that’s the (not actually that cluttered in real life) living room. Notice the post sans ugly cabinets on the left. Now if I could just get that back wall settled… oh well. One thing at a time.

Ok, back to the kitchen. So here are some Google Sketchups that the Hunny da Vinci’d up for me:

Yes, we will be repainting. The window and stove walls will be the same pale gray as the living room, and the back wall will be black or some kind of a dark charcoalish color. Also, the post will be stripped of its hideous pine shell and dry walled to a (hopefully) smaller size. We will probably paint it white.

Unfortunately, as you can see above, Hunny Bunny went rogue a la Sarah Palin and added some wrap around beam that overhangs the bar area, and me no likey, especially because it makes the window area look cluttered:

Ugh. I really need three shelves for my dishes, and HB just can’t understand why that extra shelf up top that is totally unreachable to 5′ tall moi creates an ugly number. Can you help me out? So, here’s the rest of our kitchen plan:

1) Rip out the fugly tile and run the same hardwood from the adjacent dining room into the kitchen. This is going to be a big nasty job full of sanding (our wood is unfinished and must be stained to match the old wood), but it’s already scheduled for the end of the month, and the estimate is not too bad. Never fear, I shall blog the process and let you know how it goes and what it costs.

2) Rip the cabinet sea out and replace it with Ikea Abstrakt White lower cabinets that look like this:

Oooh, shiny! I know there are some Ikea haters out there that will tell me I’m crazy for trading in my wonky plywood cabinets for particle board, but I did my research and I’m not concerned. Consumer Reports gives them a pretty stellar rating (not even considering the cost!), and I love that they come with swank Blum and Ferrari hardware. I have NO hardware except for pulls and outside mounted hinges on my current cabinets, and there’s currently so much wasted storage it’s pathetic. Also, there’s a rumor circulating that Ikea’s more contemporary cabinets are manufactured by super duper expensive maker Snaidero:

Like I said, it’s just a rumor, but they sure look similar to me…

3) Karly’s hubby Matt will help us build in another level to the peninsula so that we can have space to eat on the living room side. We’re planning to use butcher block for the countertops on the peninsula since there aren’t too many moisture issues in that area. Plus butcher block is cheap and pretty.

4) Soapstone for the counters on the sink side. Not sure if we’re going to use tiles or slabs yet, but here’s a picture of what a soapstone slab on a white cabinet with wood floors looks like:

Obviously our cabinets will be sleeker, but I think the soapstone is clean and minimal with a natural “grain” to it, and I like that it’s matte and non porous. If we decide to do tiles instead, there’s an awesome DIY post that will hopefully guide us through the process. The results look pretty amazing.

5) Replace the sink. Um, not sure what’s happening here. We were looking at this farmhouse sink, seen in Jillian Frances’ beautiful kitchen remodel:

Hers looks really pretty with dark wood cabinets, but I’m not sure it’s the right style for the cabinets we’ve chosen. Also, will it chip and stain? Should we just go stainless instead???????? Help!

6) Deal with the wall of pain.

This was our plan, but I had an epiphany that we need a built-in pantry wall of cabinets between the two doorways that the fridge will fit snugly inside. I’m just not sure if I should use the same white cabinets on this wall… will it be too stark against the black? My other choices are wood slab Nexus doors from Ikea that range from light brown, medium brown to brown black.

If I weren’t putting in wood floors, I would probably choose the lightest wood color, but I think it’s way too close to my floor color. What do you think about the darkest wood color? Would it be strange with a black wall behind it, and gray/black soapstone counters? Should I just go with a monolithic white wall of cabinets, instead? Double help! It’s super important since we stare at this wall all the time while sitting in the living room, now that our upper cabinets are gone.

Designer friends and readers with fabulous taste who first pushed me to accept that I need to tear my kitchen up and paint it black, you know who you are. As you can see I’m about to spend a crapload of money and I want to get this right. Help a girl out with the details, will you? You’ll have my undying love, unless this kitchen renovation kills me first.

I’m totally jazzed, brimming with a new found sense of hope and purpose, so I’ve been cleaning and rearranging furniture like a crazy lady and — oh, talented readers — I find that I need your help once again. Yes, you did such an AMAZING job commenting on my dining room woes that I thought I’d enlist your help with an even more dangerous mission, one fraught with peril and certain death at every twist and turn. Ok, just kidding about the death thing. But seriously, I have been putting off redoing the kitchen for nearly a year and a half because I want to make sure I get it right. Do you think you can help me? Great! Let’s get to work!

Here’s a panorama of the dining/kitchen area. If you click on the link, you can look at it in a more useful size:

Hopefully it’s pretty apparent how this wonky house is put together, but basically, the two red window walls face each other. There are lots of beams everwhere, and 500,000 cabinets. Yes, that many.

Note the gigantic pantry with hideous dental molding. And there are even more drawers behind the refrigerator… So, anyway, the problem is that there might be too many cabinets. At eye level. Which would be swell if they were on a wall, but they’re not. They’re floating over the bar like a levitating forest.

This is the view to the living room if I duck my head down six inches, and I’m only five foot one. Poor Karly and Hunny Bunny practically have to get onto their knees if they want to see into the living room.

Here I am with my chin on the counter, calling over the Great Divide. I feel like I’m at a peep show.

So, I don’t really like all those cabinets getting up in my face, calling me short and telling me what a messy cook I am. Oh, and wait until you see what they look like on the other side.

That’s as good as they’re ever going to look. I got sick of looking at the acres of wood grain, so I hung some Ikea fabric over the built in shelves (read: crap repository) and lined the glass shelves with the same fabric. Half that junk is getting sold in our upcoming garage sale extravaganza, and I am truly loathe to buy stuff just to fill a dead space. Speaking of dead spaces, how about the end of the bar? This is the first time that side of the formica sea has seen the light of day in quite a while. Usually it’s just a landing pad for junk mail and keys. Also, what good is a GINORMOUS bar if you can’t sit at it? If you tried to sit here and eat, your nose would touch glass. So, if I rip the cabinets out, we can take the undermounted shelves out (which go back a ways) and carve out space for an eat in bar. Easy huh?

No. There’s another problem. The Beam:

The one that goes all the way down to the bar (carefully crapoflaged by wine bottles) is load bearing, so it has to stay. Yep. The janky one at the end of the bar that goes to the ceiling is just to keep the cabinets from collapsing under their own fat ass wood weight. I’ve really got to stop feeding them so much! Anyway, if I rip the cabinets out, will The Beam look weird, just floating there?

And what do I do about the wall space?

This is the window wall with potentially salvageable cabinets. The ugly corner could be fixed by using some surplus doors… but do I really want to do that?

Because I can’t save the cabinets over the stove (and Santa better be bringing me a new stove because this one is a health hazard). They don’t end at the wall, so there’s really no graceful way to keep any cabinets but the pair that flank either side of the window.

I was thinking I’d rip out all the uppers anyway, and do some kind of shelving. My plan was to keep the lower cabinets oak, re-oil them and get some new hardware, buy matching oak shelving for the wall space, and maybe throw in a few stainless rails here and there for spices and whatnot. But I have to have something to mount my hood underneath (no, I cannot afford a freestanding hood).

Down to the brass tacks: My budget is $1000. I know many of you will think it can’t be done, but it has to be. I’m keeping the formica for now. (Even though I want soapstone, I have 75 square feet of countertops, so it’s gonna be formica for a while.) I’m not buying new cabinets, but I could paint them if everyone thinks they’re truly hideous. I’m getting a new range and dishwasher in stainless, and they won’t be included in the budget. But I need a new faucet, shelves, hood and labor, which will be provided by Hunny Bunny and Karly’s hubby (for a fee).

So, what do you think? Should I rip everything out? Should I paint, or leave the cabinets natural? What kind of hardware would you recommend? What kind of shelving and where should it go? Am I crazy for even thinking about this because it’s going to destroy the resale value?

Here are some kitchen images for inspiration (and also just for pornographic purposes):

Fellow Austinite Alyson Fox’s newly renovated kitchen featured at Design Sponge is a definite source of inspiration. She even has some similar Beam issues:

Habitually Chic did a post on open shelving and featured these kitchens:

Here’s a lovely open bar and no upper cabinets seen at If The Lampshade Fits (in another drool worthy kitchen post!)

Some lovely and simple pictures via Domino:

I found this one at Door Sixteen, in a great post on unfussy kitchens (and you can also see Anna’s own kitchen renovation over there):

So that’s it for the roundup. I hope each any every one of you is formulating a master plan to save my kitchen from its hulking wooditude!

Whew! I’m tired from all this what iffing. But tune in next week for an interview with my Benjamin Moore paint buddy, Sanders, and all his colorful wisdom. Won’t it be nice to have someone give information — instead of me taking it  — for a change?

But I really appreciate all your commenting love, so thanks in advance!