Drum roll please...The New Kitchen!

For all you avid Emi and Kyle Heart Food bloggers out there (and there are SO many of you out there!) who have been on the edge of your seats waiting for updated posts, I apologize! We have been complete slackers. I have a semi-decent excuse: we got our kitchen remodeled! It is hard to believe that we lived with the old kitchen for so long...but as they say, ignorance is bliss, and I don't think we fully knew what we were missing out on: clean, new countertops, a functional refrigerator and (gasp!) a dishwasher that cleans our dishes.

Here she is, our tired old lady of a kitchen:

You couldn't tell how large the kitchen and dining area is with the old set up. All you were drawn to were the dirt encrusted white linoleum floors.

The above counter and double ovens blocked the kitchen area off from the dining area which made a spacious room seem cramped and turned the kitchen into a galley kitchen.

We salvaged some of the old cabinets which are solid wood and in decent shape. My wonderful father in law helped us install them in our laundry room.

So after three short weeks, we found ourselves moving back into our brand new kitchen! There is a Zappos commercial that features a woman calling the Zappos call center. She tells the operator that she ordered a dress the night before and it arrived the next day. The operator asks what is wrong and she says, "I'm not emotionally ready for the dress." I felt this way about our kitchen. After several years of dreaming, fantasizing and longing...to have it there in living color was overwhelming. But, you get over it, move in and LOVE it!

Before we get to the photos of the new space, I have to give my Oscar speech and thank my amazing contractor, Bob McEwen and McEwen's Cabinet Refacing. I cannot say enough wonderful things about this man and his work. The attention to detail, his workers' timeliness, his follow up and flexibility were impeccable. I highly recommend him for any of your future bath or kitchen remodels. And when I say he took 3 weeks...I actually mean he took 2 1/2 weeks; I actually slowed us down because the dishwasher I ordered took longer to ship to our house than it took for them to demo our kitchen, build and install the cabinets and put in new flooring, lighting, plumbing, gas, and granite countertops! Phew. I get tired just saying all that.

Here she is--the beautiful new kitchen:

This used to be a desk area. Who needs to study? Bring on the booze! So we turned it into a bar area.

The previous owners left us their kitchen table, which was solid wood. I sanded it down and painted it black and now it feels like a brand new table! We are in the process of mounting a TV on the back wall and putting a lounge/chaise by the window.

Check out that counter space! We used to have pullout cutting boards in our cabinets that we could use for extra space--no need now!

The finished product!

To finish my Oscar speech, I need to also thank our amazing parents who helped in many ways: housing us for 3 weeks while the project was going on, painting when it was completed, installing our old cabinets, and many many more things. We will pay you back over the years in meals and parties at our place!

Happy Eating,
Emi