Kitchen Cabinets; Finally!

Kitchen cabinets are pretty necessary. And when you’ve gone without them for 6 months, you really appreciate it when you are finally able to install them into what will be your brand new kitchen (some day)!

In a previous post, I shared our experience with picking out the cabinets. You can click here to read that post. We had decided to go with IKEA cabinets given their cost and the flexibility to create a configuration that would work with our specific kitchen space.

Mixing It Up

We also decided to go with two different types of cabinets. Remember that we do not have any upper cabinets because of the configuration of our kitchen and the height that we would have needed to mount them. Ditching the uppers was not a design trend decision but rather a matter of practicality for us.

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Having two different cabinets was a design decision and okay, a somewhat trendy one too. Given the size of our island, I really wanted to have it look like a different structure. I wanted it to look like a “collected” piece that had been added rather than a designed piece for the original kitchen.

The island, we decided, would have black cabinets with a natural wood counter top. This would allow us to save money because Warren could make the counter top. The remaining counter tops would ultimately be poured concrete (again a money saver) and the cabinets would be white and a different style from the island cabinets.

Black Cabinets = Fingerprints…All The Time!

Oh, but maybe just one word of advice: the black cabinets on our island do show fingerprints and I am constantly wiping them off (like multiple times daily because that’s how I roll). But I love the contrast of the black and wood on our island so I don’t regret the choice. But it’s something to consider if anyone likes black cabinets and would be bothered by the constant fingerprints to the point of regret.

I Can Live With Plywood!

There would, however, be a period of time that both counter tops would be plywood! Oh and some plywood covered in plastic so that we could actually use them while waiting for the finished surfaces. And I would highly recommend this to anyone in the process of a DIY kitchen renovation if there is a down-time between cabinet and counter top installations! You can clean plastic; plywood not so much!

Then Life Happens

On a sad note, it was during this time when we lost my mom. It was June of 2016 and while life was inundated by the renovation, my mom’s unexpected death immediately pulled us back into what really matters in life. When you are in the middle of something like a full house renovation, it’s easy to allow the project to consume your life. But when real life, the stuff that matters, comes crashing in on you, it quickly puts everything into proper perspective. I wrote a post about my mom, her passing, and our relationship; feel free to read it here.

Next up on the renovation of Annabelle’s Place (aka our Young Victorian), we’ll get into more details on building the kitchen island! Thanks for reading!

Blessings,
{Shelley}

P.S. We have not been compensated in any way by IKEA nor do we have any affiliation to IKEA. Just singing their praises on our own accord because we love our kitchen cabinets!