The Interminable Kitchen Facelift

There are a lot of houses with terrible kitchens. This is what I learned when Soren and I began house hunting last year. Some of them are just dated, but many more are dirty, dark and cramped. One house we perused online boasted a kitchen that was 8 ft x 6 ft. I’m not kidding. So when we first looked at our house a year ago, the kitchen was one of the selling points. Sure the cabinets were sort of crappy, and some of the doors had pulls shaped like forks and spoons (dear god, why!), but the room was spacious and bright. “It’s a good place to start,” I thought.

Back then I had big dreams. “Oh, I’ll just gut this kitchen,” I said to myself (and drunkenly to the neighbors at our housewarming party).  HGTV makes it look so easy. You just rip out the cabinets, pull up the tile, and start over! Voila! Brand new kitchen. I dreamt of marble countertops and brass faucets. Of white enamel cast iron sinks. Of huge islands with bar stools.

Once we moved in, I realized several things. 1. Kitchens are flipping expensive, even if you do use Ikea cabinets. 2. We are not as handy as I thought we were. 3. House projects take five times longer than anticipated. So, with my renovation dreams in shambles, I settled for a kitchen facelift.