Monday, September 8, 2008

Around My Island

.
It's kitchen time today at Project Show Me. You guys already see a picture of my kitchen each time you visit (in my header for those of you reading this on a reader - go ahead, click through, it's a nice picture) so I decided that for today's project shoot I'd zoom both in and out.
.
First, the overview. This one is fairly similar to the header photo (which is quite fuzzy now that I look at it), but taken this morning on my DSLR (a Nikon D40 if you're curious) instead of last year on my old point and shoot.
.
.
In it you see where this and this happen(ed), complete with living proof of the former, as well as a great closeup of this (I love this one).
.
And from another angle
.
.
Here's a closeup of the cruets, of spilled olive oil fame - I managed to replace the broken one and now we have a matched set again!
.
.

And a peak at part of my cookbook collection (yes, this is only part of it. What can I say, I love cookbooks.)

.

And just so I can remind myself how far I've come (both in terms of my kitchen and my photography), here are a couple of pictures of what it used to look like. It was even worse when we first bought the flat - there were two steering wheel shaped (I kid you not) fluorescent light fixtures on the ceiling which through off a huge amount of blindingly white light which reflected oh so beautifully off those pearly white cabinets (a huge honking wall of them) to make you feel like you were sitting inside a flashbulb! (You guys are old enough to remember flashbulbs, right?) Seriously, it was blinding, and the overall look was not helped at all by the horrible black plastic knobs that we lived with for years before a realtor friend walked in one day and said "you know, it wouldn't be quite as awful with chrome fixtures." She was right too, we were kicking ourselves for not doing it ten years earlier. Still, it was a very happy day the day the contractors took a sledgehammer to the thing and paved the way for what you saw above.
.

Those black and white tiles even manage to make my red Kitchen Aid look ugly. Then there was the microwave cabinet that was too small for our own fairly small microwave, the stove that had to swim in the too-wide refrigerator spot because our fridge wouldn't fit in the stupidly small hole, leaving the fridge standing alone on the opposite side of the room, the missing bit of counter at the far end where the previous owner had installed her washing machine, which had to be filled in with something that didn't quite match... It was hideous. Big I'll grant you, but my god was it ugly. Here, see for yourselves:

.

.


.
Now quick, go back up to the top of the page before your eyes start to bleed!
.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG! I can see why you showcase your island, et al. What a transformation! Looks like you've gone through one too...from being messy to being very neat :-)

Robin said...

Nope, the neat part's more of an illusion ;-).

Nancy said...

What a difference. Beautiful!
I love all those cookbooks.

Dianne - Bunny Trails said...

Wow! What a huge change. Your kitchen is just lovely. Very peaceful and welcoming. The bread looks delish! I recently purged many of my cookbooks. Love 'em, but I only use a small amount, so they moved on the "Stuff Diet." LOL :D

Phyllis Sommer said...

it looks so nice and bright.
love it.

Shannon said...

Your new kitchen is gorgeous and so bright and sunny! I am a total light person so I would just love to work in that space. What a great transformation.

Carletta said...

Right away I thought the title was so appropriate for you and your blog. Great choice.
A wonderful transformation indeed -much more elegant. You did a great job.

Janet said...

Oh, Robin, I'm drooling! What a gorgeous kitchen and cookbook collection! Even your original kitchen doesn't look that bad to me, but that's because of what my kitchen looks like LOL!

Jill said...

That is a gorgeous kitchen. Look at all your natural light!

And what a difference a remodel makes. I noticed your Joy of Cooking cookbook... it's one of my favorites. And digging the red Kitchen Aid... also an item here as well!

Claremont First Ward said...

Wow. What a transformation!

Raven said...

Awesome transformation. What a great kitchen... love that you have so much light too. Your kitchen would hold mine twice at least, I think. Think what a horrible mess I could create in twice the space. Yikes.

Unknown said...

that looks great! such a nice, bright feeling to the room.

Dr.John said...

You win the neatest kitchen award. Well your one of the few that dared to show the kitchen. Most of us just put up a little part.

Robert said...

LOVE the new version. Do you do consulting on new kitchens? Ours is not horrible but we would love to modernize with all the new fancy appliances.

Rebecca (Ramblings by Reba) said...

That's a beautiful kitchen!

Jenny said...

I LOVE before and after shots. Your kitchen is Beautiful! I love the cruets and your cookbook collection. I've been looking for something to put above my cupboards, a cookbook collection is a GREAT idea!

brittaffeldt said...

Great shots! And I especially love the cookbooks! That fits into the category of "homey touches" that I mentioned in my post.
Can't wait for more!

Karen Coutu said...

Wow! What a huge cookbook collection you have!! You have a beautiful kitchen.

Karen of the MomDot Street Team
www.MomDot.com

Anndi said...

I understand the cookbook collection... I love them too.

Your kitchen is amazing! LOVE the red Cuisinart!

Gattina said...

I missed your kitchen yesterday, it looks very nice !

Kaylia Metcalfe said...

Great photos!

I love your cookbook shelf... i have a pile... somewhere,,,,,

anymommy said...

mmmm, yummy, so light and airy and comfortable. What a great space.

Unknown said...

Your kitchen really is beautiful. I love the minimalistic look. I am envious. :)

Anonymous said...

Eeks! Definite improvement!

Ah . . . if only my kitchen were so nice . . . and CLEAN!

Anonymous said...

Now, who wouldn't love a neat kitchen!!

Carin said...

I can understand why you love your island now. What a transformation! It has simply become wonderful!