As I look through the before pictures of our kitchen I cannot help but chuckle to myself. I remember a girlfriend of mine coming over because she was dying to see it, she walked in and saw the kitchen, looked around and all she could say is “uh-huh” over and over again. I tried to explain to her what it was going to look like but she still could not get over the electric blue kitchen cabinets, yes I said electric blue- here’s the picture to prove it.

If anyone has ever seen the Carolina Panthers football teams colors they may feel like that this is their biggest fans kitchen and no they weren’t Panthers fans. Under the paper on the floors is black linoleum- yes black linoleum. When we re-designed this kitchen I was struggling with losing the double ovens but since we were not adding any square footage I decided I had to give up something to get more storage and the layout that would suite us best. And let’s be honest, when is Ryan going to need a double oven? (I know some of you chuckled at that- my husband is a little Martha Stewart)

What also needed to go was this very un-useful pass through. I wanted an open floor plan for entertaining purposes and just to make the home flow better. I really did not hesitate to take this down, besides I hit my head on it several times- I was thrilled to see it go!

Finally this wall I called space wasted. The fridge stands out way too far and there’s no use for that corner except to play hide and seek. I also wish we had a better picture of this door because it was so bazaar with a window and screen it – we still can’t figure out what the point was to have it.

So remember how I said I loved Sarah Richardson because she shops at Lowe’s. Well I too used my friendly neighborhood Lowe’s to purchase some of the items in my kitchen. And finally the wait is over and now our house feels like home!

I wanted white and super bright and I think I accomplished it! The cabinets were custom made by a local gentleman here in Charleston, the backsplash is from Lowe’s along with the door/cabinet hardware and the reed glass door. The appliances are standard GE and the chandelier was purchased from an antique shop, the supersized single bowl sink made by Kraus was an internet purchase, the countertops are Silestone in Snow White and the butcher block was custom made by a fabricator who lives in my neighborhood. We saved a lot on this kitchen because I was obsessed with shopping around for the best price and used several of the 10% off coupons I had from Lowe’s. I have a 3 quote rule…well with our home I went with a 6 quote rule and got 6 quotes on everything. It is amazing the price difference you can get between vendors and it is amazing that sometimes custom is less expensive than some of your big home improvement stores. So when you do your next renovation project get multiple quotes and see their finished product before making your final decision.

Of course I need to thank my husband’s construction company Sceltas for being so great and completing a great project and also for Brennan Wesley for the great photo’s!