I love it!

Great choices, and it looks like it belongs there, too. I like how you maintained character of the original while making it actually functional (and attractive).

Really cool. Will be looking for the details. And a floorplan if you happen to have a layout on the computer already...

Great work! My favorite part is your creative pantry. ENJOY!

Excellent choices! Love the beadboard backsplash. What a cheery room you have created. The dishwasher is new isn't it? Bet your enjoying that! :)

Since you say Ikea, I assume you did all the gut and install yourself? Always impressed by all the handy DIY people on here.

What are Cushy Cupboards?
Looks like a great design!

wow! triumphant remodel... once again ikea wins. I am simply blown away how versatile ikea design really is. your kitchen looks totally custom designed and custom built. Very creative use of space, design, colors and finishes.

I love it all. Hope it was a DIY because then you will get 20 points out of 10 :)

congratulations... now when is the GW party?

Fori - thanks, here's a pic of the plan that i have, i didn't find this TOO useful, though! It sort of gives you an idea of our odd space -

remodelfla - I love the new pantry too, our contractor suggested it - he has done a lot with 50's ranches like mine with our odd spaces. The bottom drawer has the dog food and a bin with all her bags, leashes, treats. I LOVE the dog station we built for her!

biochem and pharoah... we only get 10 points. Maybe 11. We assembled the cabinets and did the demo and all the patching, painting, etc. We also laid the slate. The our GC installed the hardwood, installed the cabs, ran the venting to the exterior for the microhood, did all the finish and trim work, the beadboard, the tile behind the stove and he grouted the slate we installed.

Sandiei...ooooo... cushy cupboards - it's shelf liner stuff, but it's not sticky/rubbery like the kind you buy at BBB or Target. AND you can put it in the dishwasher - it has just the right amount of traction that things don't slide around in the drawers (we have our glasses in one of our drawer and it works perfectly), but you can also slide dishes over it easily (no wrinkling of liner or sticking of dishes). It's perfect. The stuff at Target doesn't compare... I wasn't a believer, but gave it a try and there is NO way I'd use anything else. I'll put a link below - I had to order online, they don't have any retail locations in MN...

Here is a link that might be useful: Cushy Cupboards

Ree

I just LOVE what you have done in your space - did you do the design, love all the attention to your detail! Little things knooks, the way you pulled the sink upper cab slightly away from the casing - NICE
you must love having countertop on either side of the range - what a luxury!
- Do you have bamboo flooring in one part and slate in another?
Is that the basement door by the pantry - great idea getting rid of pantry door - no more bangy/clangy doors

Your color & little decorative detail are real icing here

made me smile, and scroll a lot so it must make you smile everytime you enter - or do you ever leave ;)

That was an odd space! It really turned out well.

So nice and bright, and pretty now, too! The pantry is a masterpiece. Wish I had good places for pet dishes. Love the wood counter and how you've created a kitchen after having just bits and pieces (and dark) before.

jejvtr - I am loving the countertops on either side of the range, and the counter between the sink and stove - before we had a floating stove and it was so awkward to cook!

We do have slate and wood (but not bamboo) floors - they are angelim hardwood with a mahogany stain - they are handscraped/distressed (hopefully the future dog damage will 'blend in'!). Our basement door and our back door get a lot of traffic back and forth, and we thought the slate would be more durable in that area. Also, with the dog bowls in that area... well, we have a basset hound. She is NOT a dainty eater or drinker (think swamp monster), so we didn't really want her bowls on wood. We have the same slate in our front entry/hallway, which adjoins the kitchen on the other side.

...and I'm NOT leaving the kitchen a lot. I even work from home, so this was also an 'office' redo - I usually work at the kitchen table!

Also, I did the design - it was hours and hours of obsessively tweaking and reading here and on ikeafans. And bothering the Ikea people who roll their eyes when they see me coming. But we got exactly what we wanted, so it was worth it!

Rhome - the bits and pieces-ness of our old kitchen made me crazy. Going from the weird floating stove to a slide in makes me so happy. We bought the house last year, and the previous owner was a single guy and had an irish pub theme going on in the kitchen, thus the dark green cave paint that we had!

I really really like it. Very cute and sort of cottagey. Love the pantry. Show the inside! I like the pet feed area you 'built in'.

BRAVO

What great new life you have breathed into that kitchen! I'm sure you must be enjoying it! Congratulations!

I love it! Pretty please, could you post a shot of your pantry open? That is too cool!

IKEA rocks!

Wow - you've done a BEAUTIFUL makeover! I love the cabinet sizes that you chose for your layout, it truly looks custom built!
Congrats!!!

Dawn

Sooo pretty. Love the beadboard and the spice color on the walls--looks like it really ties your dining table wood color in and the whole area looks so fresh and pulled-together. You would never even notice (now) that you had an odd space to work with. Beautiful!

Love the kitchen-great job going bright & airy.

I am laughing so hard at "swamp monster"....I love my goofy yellow lab, but my day is made when we run into the elderly basset hound twins in our neighborhood. They are the best!

Beautiful job! Made me smile to look at your first before and after picture. You must be so pleased.
Your paint colour really makes the cabinets pop.

Enjoy

What a great space! Are those beech, birch, or oak butcher block? How did you finish them? I know its been said before but counters on either side of the slide in must make you sigh every time you prep. Enjoy this new functional kitchen.

The paint color was surprising to me - it's BM Buttered Yam - I thought it might be too dark (and I was REALLY wanting to brighten up the kitchen after the green paint!) but it is actually quite bright!

They are beech with 3 coats of original waterlox (applied with rag) and 3 coats of satin (1 coat applied with rag, 2 with brush). That waterlox REEKS, but it's awesome! It really deepened the color.

Beautiful- you did a great job!

Thanx reedrune. I'm getting beech too and seeing yours makes me happy! I've heard that about waterlox and hope to do them in the garage. I'm using the beech in my utility/mudroom too.
Didn't notice the handles the first time through the pics...love 'em.

Owls - The waterlox smells bad - like varnish, but our problem was that we treated the countertops in our basement - too cold in MN to do anywhere else. And the first day we did that we ALSO washed clothes (in the basement). The dryer sucked the smell out of the air and into the clothes. I can't tell you how awful it was. Everything had to be rewashed, but not while we were treating the counters, and that takes a while because of dry time between coats.

If you use the satin finish on top, it's a lot thicker, and really hard to rub on with a rag. I had to apply with a brush - i did brush strokes the short way and then once the whole side was covered, i did long brushed strokes the long way to even everything out. The original/regular is thinner and can be rubbed in. And it's NOT as shiny as it looks in the pics!

The handles.... they were one of our splurge items - they are restoration hardware and were pretty pricy - we just fell in love with them!

wow - that's sure taking dark and dreary to bright and spicey! lol! makes you wonder what people were thinking yrs and yrs ago when they built a space like that...(but they thought that was a great room back then I'm sure!)

love all the display areas you put in, the PANTRY/dog bar!! looove that! (open, open, open!) I'm working to find a logical spot for a doggie bar somewhere in my future kitchen.

love the wall color!

what's on the wall next to fridge between upper and lower cabs? my eyeballs can't make that out...

that's gotta just be a dream to cook in now.

We waited 10 years to find the right cabinets at the right price. Most "custom cabinets" cost more than they are really worth. Most are 1/2inch particle sides with shoddy drawer slides unless you "upgrade". I worked at our local home improvement kitchen design center and even with my discount the cost for our 11 by 15 foot kitchen was going to be over $8,000 without adding new appliances. I found IKEA and fell in love.

The size options are bit limited but there so many ways to accommodate. The sides are better grade 3/4inch particle using lower fume glues, fully extending drawers made of metal with drawer dampers, and standardized peg holes inside every cabinet to accommodate your customizing needs.

Where we had a 5 to 6 inch gap between cabinets, we put in a wine cubby. Good for dishcloths too.

I wanted the microwave down below the countertop so we just bought a 30 inch wide cabinet frame (no doors) and ordered extra parts to customize it. We bought an extra shelf for the microwave. We also brought an extra 15 inch door (turned sideways) and some heavy drawer slides to make a drawer underneath the shelf. We had to drill a few holes (with a template provided for the other drawers) to make the drawer but it was so easy.

IKEA didnt offer a trash can drawer with a wood cabinet door front so we made that too. We made the two doors of a 24 inch lower cabinet into one by attaching them together with flat metal on the back side. We drilled the holes at the bottom of the doors for the drawer slides (the same template as before). Reinforced (just to be safe) using bent flat metal from the back of the drawer to the back of the doors. With handles like all the other doors, no one even knows itÂs a trash can drawer. Best yet, I can release the drawer slides and remove the whole drawer a couple times a month to get what has possibly fallen behind everything.

We needed to fill an upper space 42 inches wide. They donÂt make anything like that so I put two 21 inch cabinets next to each other and made the door open opposite of each other.

The cabinet above the sink I call the garage door cabinet because it opens horizontally. It is 39 inches wide and stays open on its own once the hinges are adjusted properly. Great for the mugs and glass stemware.

Lastly, we installed a breakfast bar but needed to fill in the last 24 inches at the wall end on the outside. Because the bar has the overhang to sit under, we could not use the drawer at the top of the cabinet. It didnÂt pull out far enough with the overhang. So we flipped it and moved the drawer to the bottom of the cabinet and the doors to the top. The drawer is the "junk" drawer and the doors open up 153 degrees to an interior heavy duty drawer (up to 110 pounds) with the appliances I do not use everyday. You must use the larger opening hinges to get the doors open wide enough to pull the drawer out from inside. Also, the cabinet needs to be away from the end wall by a few inches to accommodate the extra wide opening doors.

All in all, even with my husbandÂs doubts, everything went up quite fast. We spent $4,000 with shippng. All the uppers done in 30 minutes thanks to the rail system they mount on and the lowers in another day, leveled using the adjustable legs. The finishing work (crown and bottom moulding as well as removable kickboard) was more precise (45 and 22 1/2degree angles) but looks fabulous.

I would recommend these cabinets to anyone who knows how to use a screwdriver, hammer, and drill. Good Luck!