Kitchen Update

A few people emailed me after the dining room update and asked when I would post more photos of the house. Every room is still a work in progress, but I decided to just go ahead and post them one room at a time and update the photos as we make changes. So without further ado, welcome to our kitchen! :)

The kitchen was renovated right before we bought the house, which we were thankful for despite the fact that the countertops and cabinets aren't exactly what we would've chosen if we'd been renovating ourselves. I should stress that they aren't bad at all; I actually think the warm wood cabinets complement the cool granite countertops nicely. It's just not exactly our taste, but like I said, not bad at all. We definitely looked at some what-were-they-thinking kitchens when we were house hunting. The pendant light over the island was really terrible though, and we changed that first thing. (You can see what it looked like here if you're curious.)

The one thing I didn't love (besides the light fixture) was the light green painted walls. The color has grown on me over the last (almost) two years since we bought the house, but we're still planning on repainting at some point in the future. I did go ahead and paint the back wall with chalkboard paint as that was a no-brainer and didn't require moving any appliances. I love the way it looks. There's actually only a bit of green now peeking out over the sink, the stove, and over the closets on one wall, which you can see in the top photo.

The two retro stoneware containers are from Sagaform. I bought them from a small boutique, but you can find them lots of places online. The Russian doll is actually a set of 6 measuring cups that fit together like traditional nesting dolls. I found both those and the blue enamel storage bin at The Container Store.

Here's the whole gang. :)

We've been using the Radish hand soap from Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day, and it smells so good. (Is anyone else a fan of those soaps? What's your favorite scent?) That bird tray in the corner is from IKEA, if anyone's curious.

I don't know how many years we've had that Cuisinart coffeemaker, but it's been a really long time. It still works great and makes good coffee. The paper towel holder is by simplehuman, and it works pretty well too. The sink caddy is from Joseph Joseph, and it's, by far, the best one I have ever owned. I went through so many sink caddies that rusted or fell apart over time before finding this one. It's made of plastic, so it won't rust, but it somehow manages to not look cheap and plasticky. Also, the whole thing comes apart and is dishwasher safe, though I just wash ours out in the sink. It's lasted a couple years with no problems.

The cute little print hanging above the sink is a silkscreen by Robert Darr Wert that we found at a flea market a couple of years ago. I'd seen his stuff at vintage shops mostly, and it was always a bit too pricey, so we were super happy to find this one for $15. Wert was a print maker and textile designer known for his mid-century modernist folk art style. I love folk art, and I love mid-century furniture and accessories, and Wert's art is like the best of both worlds.

If you're wondering what the other side of the room looks like...most of the wall is taken up by a closet that houses the washer and dryer. The striped rug is from Crate and Barrel; we bought it just after we moved in, and it's held up really well considering it's in the kitchen. I've spot-cleaned a few coffee drips here and there, and I vacuum it regularly, of course, but for the most part, it still looks great with minimal effort. The trash can is from simplehuman. I can't find the exact one we have--we did buy it three or four years ago, so it might be discontinued--but here's a similar one. I know not everyone really cares what kind of trash can they have, but I have to say, this one is pretty fantastic.

I'm a sucker for cute straws (haha), and there was no way I could pass up these sweet gingham straws from Kikkerland. I bought mine at a local shop, but you can find them at Paper Source too. I've heard people complain in the past that paper straws get soggy, but these are coated in beeswax so that's really not a problem. I guess they could still get soggy if you left your drink for a really long time, but it's never happened to me in the time it takes to drink a smoothie, and I drink smoothies fairly slowly to avoid the dreaded "ice cream headache." Also, they get bonus points for being biodegradable and compostable. (The solid color straws in the back are from IKEA.)

This little napkin holder is also from IKEA. I bought it last spring, I think, and it was the first napkin holder I've owned in my life. I never saw the need for one before as I guess I never used napkins all that much. But this little cloud is the cutest and was probably the best $1.99 I've ever spent at IKEA. And of course, I had to fill it with cute napkins, right? These are from Target, but only available in store.

I bought this kitchen towel from Kitch Studios on Etsy, and I love it. A lot of the printed tea towels I come across seem like they would be impractical to actually use and are more suited for display, but this one is 100% soft cotton, and it's absorbent and washes/dries well too.

So that's our kitchen! I hope you enjoyed this tour. :)

I'll update again if we should change anything. I do have ideas for the chalkboard wall. We will also probably tile the backsplash at some point and relocate the Wert print to another wall. And we are going to paint too...not sure what color, but definitely something brighter than the pale green that's there now.

How much else we do really depends on how long we stay in this house. Like I mentioned earlier, it was renovated right before we moved in, and even if we had the money to redo the whole kitchen right now, we wouldn't. There's so much waste in the construction industry already; we don't really want to contribute to that. If we end up staying in this house a good long while, we might think about it in the future.

I'm not going to add a source list because I think I already linked to everything above, but if I missed anything, just let me know in the comments. xo, Mary