My New Kitchen

So while looking at the Before-and-After pictures of this, it doesn't really look like a whole lot of change in the photo, but I can assure you my feelings toward cooking and being in the kitchen in general have improved dramatically since our little additions. The huge rubbermaid containers belong to our landlady and so unfortunately have to sit around inside.

We added a big stainless steel counter top, a shelf, some hanging racks, the random stand-alone florescent light we found in the house now has a very helpful place to be, and we put a shelf under the counter top...

Before: Aluminum foil taped behind the oven, ZERO counter work space.

After: Moved the oven to another wall, put up a "back splash" and now have somewhere to prepare meals!

Before: Basket with brooms, rubbermaid containers, and a plastic rack to hold the electric appliances.

After: Look at all that space to work on! Kitchen gear stored neatly below with room for electric appliances on countertop. The action packer below holds other kitchen stuff (like Christmas items and a cake stand) that I'm not taking out til we move into our "permanent" house. Though it does serve as a perfect step for the boys to stand on to help me cook!

 Over by the washing machine we added a shelf and some holders on the wall to put the broom and mop type tools up and out of the way (they were in a huge basket in the corner of the kitchen before). Under the sink I also made some curtains to change the black/white/red motif of the original ones to a more white/blue/gray to match the blue tile and white walls of the kitchen.  We also painted the walls white. None of these pics show how dingy they were, or mismatched. Since it was for a temporary house, we just did the cheapest...which is white! It looks a lot cleaner though!

Before: Clutter. On top of bathroom wall, on top of fridge and everywhere else it felt like! We couldn't open the backdoor without having to move the laundry basket and trashcan.

All things off the bathroom wall, brooms secured to the wall, and the door can be opened now with ease to let a breeze in!

After: New curtains under sink, all clutter off the little dish cabinet, and trashcan out of the way of the door!

 Just a couple months left in this kitchen, but a counter top to work on sure makes the heat, the early pregnancy symptoms, and the stress of language learning a little more bearable!