My Kitchen: The bones are good, but I've got plans...

The kitchen usually makes or breaks it for me when I see a house.  I've learned my lessons the hard way through various homes we've owned and rented about what I do and don't like in a kitchen.

I bet you are asking yourself, now that I am a month or so into our new house, how I feel about my kitchen. I'm so glad you asked :).

So far, the things I love about my kitchen are mostly things you can't get easily unless they are there already--plentiful natural light and a lovely view.  See?

However, I am not in love with my kitchen yet.  I don't have enough workspace. I have dark-stained cabinets with no pulls, pebbly-looking solid-surface countertops, white appliances and vinyl tile flooring.  I would not have picked anything that is in this kitchen, but all of it is in good shape.  The big questions are, do I just live with it (realizing that in the grand scheme of things that there are much more important things than my kitchen)?  Or, do I make small cosmetic changes?  Or, do I make more significant cosmetic changes over time?  Or, do I break the bank and gut the kitchen and start over (which my thrifty soul and finite wallet cannot seem to justify)?

Just so you have a baseline, here is a kitchen I absolutely love from House Beautiful:

I love the mix of old and new, of rustic and warm wood with more refined materials and the utilitarian loveliness of it all.

What I have is not exactly that.

While I can't make my kitchen into this one, I think I need to do some things to make it mine--or at least make some plans that I can slowly implement over time.  Even making a list of what I'd like to do (even if I don't finish everything) makes me feel better, somehow.

Stage 1:

• Acquire additional storage and workspace with a ready-made cabinet/island (or convert a dining room buffet) along our window wall pictured below.

                               

     Maybe something like this one from kitchensource.com?  It would make a great baking center.

• Install pewter knobs and bin pulls on the cupboards (like the ones below from Overstock)

• Start replacing outdated appliances one at a time, starting with the stove--get something that looks more heart of the home-y

• Do some strategic accessorizing--hang up vintage aprons, put away anything that is detracting from what I love, introduce some warmth through pine pieces and warm-colored wicker 

Stage 2:

• Paint and glaze the cabinets to look something like this: (although almost everyone I've mentioned this to in our neck of the woods has recoiled in horror)

• replace the flooring with stone tiles

So we'll see.  Again, sometimes just writing what I wish I could do helps me feel emotionally better about it for a few years.  In the meantime, I have summer school to run, drainage work to organize and some more boxes to unpack.  But it feels good to have a plan.

I'm belatedly linking up to Sarah's Kitchen Party at Modern Country Style.  Her blog is so fun--I thoroughly recommend it!