May Kitchen Update

We were on a roll, and then, spring happened.  Easter, good weather, a busy social calendar have all culminated in a halt to our progress.  I'm frustrated, because it has now been a year since we officially began this project, but I am still holding out hope that we can finish this project by the end of the summer. (Maybe a Labor Day celebration?)

What I have managed to do, is put hardware on the cabinets currently installed.

We selected handles that were similar in style to the hardware on the drawers of the island.  I like their modern simplicity.

I also marked where the open shelves will go:

(It's really difficult to tell from this photo, but the lines of my pencil are there!)

And I bought the materials to make said shelves.  I am still working up the courage to use the table saw to make my cuts.  Really, I need to just grow a pair and do it.

Meanwhile, we assembled and set out to install the pantry cabinet, and this is where we came to a halt, for the most part.  Originally, it was to go on the other side of the stove, but the thing is...it's just TOO BIG.  It's garish, and dominant; it fits, but just doesn't look right.  It doesn't work.

We tried putting it into another corner of the kitchen, and again, same problem:

It's an awesome cabinet, but just too huge!  It sticks out like a sore thumb.  I think it would work fine in another, much bigger kitchen.  But not ours.

So we have decided instead to invest in a lower cabinet next to the stove, and install more countertop.  This will be so much better; we'll still get storage, plus the extra bonus of more surface to work on.  We are also going to get an upper cabinet, and we might even just go ahead and install all upper cabinets for that side of the kitchen, and just have open shelving to the left of the sink. 

That's where we have been, stagnant, for several weeks now.  This coming week, however, I am determined to make more progress!!