Garage

 In my true fashion, I forgot to take before pictures again.  I especially wish I had taken pictures when the garage was completely packed full of kitchen appliances, cabinets, and other remodel supplies. But here is what I do have pictures of.  Basically, I had been using metal shelving, random twin bed drawer bases, and random cabinets for a makeshift storage and workshop area in our garage.  When we decided to replace the kitchen cabinets rather than retrofit them for our kitchen remodel, I only justified it by reusing the kitchen cabinets for the garage.  There is still work to be done in the garage.  I need to make real benchtops and I need to paint some things and do something for the flooring, but, for now, I am thrilled to be able to park in my garage again!

This was my initial workbench (along the wall opposite the garage door)

At that time, I had a set of metal shelves on the wall with the door into the house.

I later created a work bench out of various random cabinets I acquired along the window wall of the garage, and I set up storage along the old work bench wall (opposite the garage door) with three sets of metal shelving units.

Unfortunately, I never got pictures of how my garage has been organized using the metal shelving and such for the last decade or so, nor of how jamb packed it was immediately before remodeling.

I drew up plans for how to use all the kitchen cabinets to maximize storage and function for the garage.

Still have more to do but this is how it is coming along.

This will be my painting and finishing corner.

This is the lathe stand I built for my sons who are into wood turning.

Along the wall opposite the garage door, I replaced the metal shelving with the pantry cabinets to maximize storage while protecting the stored contents from sawdust and other work debris.

This is my new work bench area, with the car care area down at the right end near the garage door.

Kitchen

 The kitchen is coming along. We still need to finish painting and add the center island, the glass cabinet doors, the gallery shelf and rail, the ladder rail, and the baseboards. But my vision is starting to come to life. Here's how it looks today: 

It's definitely a huge improvement over what we started with (see below) even though it isn't finished, and we are finding it far more enjoyable to cook in here than we ever did before. 

When we moved into the house over a decade ago, I immediately started plans for the kitchen. I planned initially to retrofit the existing cabinets to get the aesthetic I wanted but eventually decided to get custom cabinets and repurpose the kitchen cabinets for use in the garage as my workshop (stay tuned for a post on the garage).

Kitchen "before" pictures. The peninsula and dropped ceiling always bothered us. It never functioned how we needed it to. 

Preliminary drawings for planning out retrofit of existing cabinets. Would have saved money but also wouldn't have been quite what we wanted in terms of aesthetic or function. 

Hand drawings for custom cabinetry.

CAD drawings for the custom cabinetry. The custom cabinet shop dropped the job when they realized how custom the cabinets were, so our contractor took on a new team member: finish carpenter, Kelsom. He is doing a beautiful job building the cabinets so far. 

Cabinets and countertops are going in slowly but surely. Everyone tried to dissuade me from going with soapstone and marble but I love them and I am glad I didn't have the soapstone sealed. They look gorgeous and clean up very easily with the homemade dawn powerwash spray cleaner I use on them. 

The double workstation sink with double faucets had people questing my sanity but it works well for our large family. We frequently use both sinks and faucets. They are only temporarily installed right now and still need their escutcheon plates.

Got the pendant lights installed

Got the bracket details with open shelves for our water cups temporarily installed. They are getting painted and will be reinstalled once the drywall is finished. 

I couldn't find the perfect light fixtures for purchase, so I designed and made these and we all love them. 

Cabinet doors are starting to be installed. 

"Hutch" cabinets and sink cabinet (a total work horse with pebble ice maker, water chiller, hand sprayer, and lots of storage) are nearly done and the dishwasher panel is installed, making it look like another cabinet. 

Dishwasher panel finally done with hinges and all. Can you spot it? It looks so good and totally disappears. 

I asked the carpenter to install a pull out locking shelf for the kids to stand on while doing dishes. It functions perfectly and has been a hit with the little kids who can now reach the faucets. 

Island is stained. Yay! I also added this pretty brass outlet, which was very tricky because of the oven being so close behind it and it not fitting in a "thin box" electrical box. 

Got this pretty rattan dining light and these cool produce baskets. I love them so much. 

The new solid brass hand sprayer tucks away in the top tilt out.

Lots of other cool storage organization: paper towel and grocery sack, silverware, baking pans, sheet pans, cooking utensils and hot pads and Tupperware (adjustable dividers), paper/ plastic ware (removable holder), wraps and baggies, trash pull outs and garbage sack storage, etc. I had to get creative to engineer a pull for the microwave that could fold flat behind the cabinet door that hides it. I still need to take pictures of the other storage in the sink cabinet. I also need to get pictures of the drawers built into the toe kicks, especially those in the pantry that hold my rotating canned goods. 

Got the ductwork and electrical above the pantry cabinets all hidden finally! Yay! 

Got the refrigerator wrapped! It looks so pretty!

I'm so glad I did the cane panels. I love them.  

I also added a pretty custom brass pull to the oven door which elevates the whole oven style. 

Still need to also build the center butcherblock island. Also need to finish and paint the newly patched flooring, the backsplash, the detail trim, and gallery shelf going in over the window. I bought some gorgeous brass gallery rail for that shelf from the same etsy seller who made the brass utensil rail that I put over the range. I also bought parts to create a brass ladder rail on the crown detail over the pantry where we are hiding the ductwork chaise. I'm also waiting on a local craftsman to make the leaded seeded glass panels for the dishware cabinets on either side of the sink. Once the flooring is refinished, we can install all the baseboards. 

It's all coming together nicely. I cannot wait until this kitchen is done!