My dream kitchen

This blog chronicles my entire kitchen renovation from start to finish. Greentea Design has provided me with their solid wood kitchen cabinets, and I'm taking care of the rest.

If you'd like to be brought up to date, check out the archive in the sidebar for previous posts. I posted recently some before and after photos, and for this final post I'd like to share some photos I took for Greentea, the interview they have added to their website about my renovation, and a video tour of the kitchen.

My kitchen is complete, and I am ecstatic at the result. I can finally say that I have my dream kitchen. It is beyond my expectations, and every time I walk through my front door and see it, I can't help but smile. I am never going to want to sell this house. I can't imagine leaving this kitchen behind. I'd like to take this opportunity to again thank the folks at Greentea Design. They made this dream come true for me, and I am so grateful (and shocked) that they agreed to this partnership. It was alot of fun and hard work (on both our parts) and they were so patient and helpful throughout the whole process. I hope I can get in a trip to Toronto sometime soon so I can finally meet them and see their showroom. So thank you Greentea Design - you guys ROCK and I'm so proud to have a Greentea kitchen.

To start this post off, I wanted to invite you to check out the interview Greentea did with me that is now published on their website. They've divided it into 3 parts - Planning, Demolition and Installation, and the Finished Kitchen. What an honour to have my renovation featured on their main page. Here are some photos they've included in the interview.




I took some photos not too long ago for Greentea that really showcase the cabinetry so I thought I'd share some of them. (For the purpose of getting decent shots of the cabinets, the dining table and chairs were pushed into the living room).








And last but not least, a video tour of my kitchen. I really do not like seeing myself on camera (I can't even bare to watch the whole clip), but I agreed to do this for Greentea. Pay no attention to the cats meowing and interrupting me, then jumping up onto the counter, and subsequently leaving a trail of footprints along the range. (GRRRRR)

Thanks to all those who have followed along in this process. It's been quite an adventure, and I'm glad I had this opportunity to share it. I hope my mistakes and advice help those also venturing into the treacherous but exciting land of kitchen renovations.

A party in my drawers

This blog chronicles my entire kitchen renovation from start to finish. Greentea Design has provided me with their solid wood kitchen cabinets, and I'm taking care of the rest.

If you'd like to be brought up to date, check out the archive in the sidebar for previous posts. I posted recently about the hatch door created for access to the basement, and now, how I've organized and made use of all the wonderful cabinetry.

Yes folks, there is a party happening in my drawers. My kitchen cabinet drawers that is. All TWENTY FIVE of them (27 but 2 under the sink are just drawer faces). I cannot begin to explain how exciting it was to organize this kitchen, especially those drawers. I have never had a kitchen that had adequate drawer space. This kitchen has so many that despite all the drawer-type kitchen stuff I have, I still have 2 that are essentially unused (I had to find things to put in them because the thought of empty drawers unnerved me). It's allowed me to be more organized than I have ever been in any of my former kitchens, and I enjoy cooking so much more than I ever have. I've even been taking photos of the meals I've prepared. This weekend I am having my family over for dinner for the first time since the reno has been completed. I am so stoked to show it off. And I know they're all dying to see it in person finally.

I thought for one of my last kitchen posts I would show you how much space these incredible Greentea cabinets have and the party that is going on in my drawers. Because let me tell you, having a drawer dedicated to spices is a party in itself!! Sorry if this is a little long-winded, but I felt compelled to document all of it (in the hopes of calming my level of excitement perhaps?)

Let's start with the pantry. I adore this unit so much. When I sell the house, I have to take the pantry with me. It's a stunning piece of furniture, I've got to say. And I must mention that since all the cabinets have sliding doors (except the uppers), they are SO easy to remove which allows you a clear view of everything inside. Great for cleaning/organizing binges.


Here is the top section of the pantry, which houses essentially ALL of my dishes (alot of which need replacing) and glassware.


This is a door to the left of the top section of the pantry. It is PERFECT for housing baking sheets and anything else flat, especially useful for me because my range (where I would typically put those items) does not have a drawer for storage. It also has a little secret drawer inside, which I figured I'd stash money in for pizza nights (Jo is laughing right now because she knows how much pizza I consume).


Below is the first row of drawers in the pantry. It houses knives, small kitchen gadgets, a drawer dedicated to the cats' food bowls and cans of wet food, chopsticks, and my growing collection of wooden spoons.


The second row of drawers is for more knives, scissors, more gadgets, and spatulas.


The bottom section of the pantry houses alot of items I didn't know where else to put - mostly things I don't use on a regular basis. It also holds my napkins and placemats, colanders and tupperware.


The last row of drawers in the pantry is where I keep the tupperware lids (LOVE that they have their own space). The other 2 drawers are the ones I didn't know what to do with, so one has extra baking ingredients I didn't use at Christmas and one has all the manuals for the appliances.


The upper cabinets are home to all of my food. I didn't want to bend and dig in the back of a cabinet so this seemed like the perfect solution. I bought a couple of shelf racks to allow easy stacking (the shelves inside aren't adjustable so this worked perfectly to help keep them in order).


The drawers in the cabinet below the uppers have one dedicated to spoons (when I make tea/coffee), one for my set of extra utensils I bring to work, one for spoon rests, one for extra spices and misc., and one for hot plates and cutting boards.


The space below is where I keep mixing and serving bowls, casserole dishes and my dutch oven.


I requested that when the sink be installed in it's cabinet, that it be placed to the left, using up 2 drawers so that I could have 1 usable drawer. That drawer is where I keep my utensils.


Below is where I used to keep my garbage can on the left, my coffee maker, soaps and garbage bags to the right, but the left side is now half empty because I found myself the coolest garbage can that is in the corner of the kitchen, not taking up valuable cabinet space.



The drawers to the right of the stove are home to my spices, tea towels and cloths, and boxes of foil, plastic wrap and baggies. The spice drawer gets me going every time I open it up. I drove all over the city trying to find a slanted drawer insert for the spices, and when I found it, I then looked all over for decent spice jars. It's now organized, and I am in heaven.


Below these drawers is where I keep small appliances - kettle, rice cooker, toaster, blender, jars of baking ingredients I displayed in my former kitchen, and all my pots and pans.



DINNER ANYONE?? :-)

More kitchen progress

This blog chronicles my entire kitchen renovation from start to finish. Greentea Design has provided me with their solid wood kitchen cabinets, and I'm taking care of the rest.

If you'd like to be brought up to date, check out the archive in the sidebar for previous posts. I posted recently about the arrival of the cabinets, and now for the arrival of the appliances and some other odds and ends that have been completed.

Since my last post things have been moving along in my kitchen. The end is near and I could not be happier with the way the space has turned out, and I am dying to cook my first meal in probably 6 weeks. This post is going to be a bit random, of different projects that have progressed, and next time I'll show you details of the lighting.

Let me start with the arrival of the appliances. I was so stoked to see them in the kitchen. To finally have a fridge that has a freezer in it...to be able to have ice in my drinks without having to go down to the chest freezer in the basement and bash a bag of ice on the ground. It was a scary sight to see them being moved into the house though, let me tell you. The movers removed all the packaging and then carried them into the house, through my narrow front door in the pouring rain up my rickety steps. I held my breath. The stove, I was told, weighs about 500 lbs. Amazingly, it survived the trip into the house. It was left in the middle of the floor while it awaited the gas guy's visit for the hook up.



The uppers were installed, in about 15 minutes, while I was upstairs locked in my bedroom with the cats. LOVE EM.


Here is a photo of the kitchen with the uppers in place and, well, at least the fridge in place.


Unfortunately, when there's plumbing involved, there's some cutting of cabinets involved. Made me almost want to cry to be honest. The cuts turned out to be not too bad in the end.




Here is a photo of the corner where the plumber made use of the empty space.


The window was finally installed above where the sink will be. I LOVE it - the view isn't the greatest, but I'll have to do something to the side of my shed to make it a bit more appealing. The best part is the contractor said he could install it so there is a nice 8" or so ledge where I could put a plant or the cats could perch. He did such a great job on the framing. It's already cat tested and approved.



The hatch has been made and installed over the basement stairs. I haven't had a chance to paint it out yet, and we're having a hard time finding a shock or something that will make it stay open (and avoid loss of fingers or tails), but it's looking really good. Imagine it gray.


One last minor item - I found the coolest vent covers at Home Depot that work perfectly so I don't have to attempt to paint any the floor colour.

Arrival of cabinets

This blog chronicles my entire kitchen renovation from start to finish. Greentea Design has provided me with their solid wood kitchen cabinets, and I'm taking care of the rest.

If you'd like to be brought up to date, check out the archive in the sidebar for previous posts. I posted recently about the flooring, and now.....the cabinets have arrived!!!

I was sooooooooo excited for the day the cabinets were to arrive. Since Greentea Design is based in Toronto, I had only seen the cabinets on their website, and got a tiny sample (about 3 inches) sent to me in the mail to help with my countertop selection. Friday was the day....and it turned out to be bright and early. There was a bit of chaos early that morning as I scrambled to get some extra hands out to my house ASAP to help me unload the truck, but was quickly forgotten once I got a glimpse of the cabinets. The unloading only took about 20 minutes (once they got a system going it was easy peasy). I wasn't able to take photos of them being unloaded because it was raining that day. The first photo I managed to take was of all the cabinets stacked in the living room.


The cabinets were left there for the majority of the day because I wanted to get the walls and ceiling painted before getting the cabinets in place (turns out the walls weren't ready and needed more sanding - but we found this out after 3 coats of paint and after the electrician got the potlights working). For several hours the cats had a ball climbing all over them.


WOW - they were packed so carefully. I worked for moving companies for a few summers during my university years and I have never seen anything packed like that. For each cabinet there was styrofoam on the corners, then a box that wrapped all the way around, then moving blankets wrapped and taped (with perfect corners, like how us women wrap presents), and then shrink-wrapped. It was like Christmas morning unwrapping each piece. And not a scratch or mark on any piece. What a relief!


All of the cabinets were ready to go once unwrapped - the base cabinets had their sliding doors wrapped in foam and were placed inside along with the shelves, and the uppers had their shelves wrapped and placed inside also. So all we had to do carry them into the kitchen, place them against the wall and VOILA! Instant kitchen! It was literally that easy. Well, the uppers needed installing of course but because Greentea's cabinets are freestanding, there is really no installation required. My boyfriend and I had no problems moving each piece into place. While the cabinets are not made from extremely dense wood, they were not as heavy as we expected them to be. On that note, they are VERY sturdy and their sturdiness made them very easy to handle.

Here are the first pieces we unwrapped, the pantry. Sorry the lighting is poor but it was into the evening before we were able to get to this stage.


Then we unwrapped the base cabinets and put them in their new homes. (I would typically ensure the drawers were closed before snapping photos but Phoebe had climbed into a drawer and I gave up trying to get her out).





There are the uppers - I considered glass doors but I'm REALLY happy I went with this style to match the lowers. And I can put anything in them and not worry about it having to look nice.


And this is the beginnings of my new kitchen. *huge smile*



There has been some progress since that last photo - but I'll save that for next time.