IHeart Kitchen Reno: The Little Things

Happy Monday!  Did you have a nice weekend?  We were busy little bees again, juggling sporting events, a birthday party and a little bit of kitchen work.  I love productive weekends as much as the next person, but I am already counting the days to next weekend...

Today we are stopping in with our weekly kitchen update.  It will most likely be our last kitchen update for a few weeks, as we have done as much as we can until we receive our center island.  Once that is in place, we can install our flooring, trim, backsplash and all of the really important finishing touches that will warm everything up!  Although I feel like this process is moving slower than molasses, we really couldn't be more thrilled with where things are at and knowing that the end is near!

Last week we shared our experience installing IKEA kitchen cabinets.  We have been living with them for over a week now, and although we are not using and abusing them the way we will once everything is loaded up and being used full time, we can honestly say that so far we are smitten.  I have cleaned the faces a few times due to construction dust and some cooking grime and everything wipes up so nicely.  The soft close function continues to fascinate us all, and we appreciate that we can easily tweak the cabinet hinges to ensure everything lines up and straightens out as things continue to settle in (as you can see above, we still have a few pieces to adjust).

The biggest change we made this past week, was install the remaining cabinets on the far wall (where the beautiful aqua hutch use to live).

Although I have a serious crush on that hutch (and may have a back-up plan for it down the road), the wall of cabinets allowed us to really maximize our storage.  The cabinets are only 12" deep, while the hutch was much bulkier and wasn't able to secure tightly to the wall, so we also gain floor area.  Plus, look at all of that storage; drawers and cabinets galore! 

Right now it is looking a smidge top heavy, but I have plans to make this little space a bit more custom.  We took a quick trip back to IKEA this weekend to grab another rail to allow us to float the lower cabinets (they were installed in the same fashion as the uppers).  Once the floors are installed, I plan to add decorative legs to the base cabinets to give them more of a furniture feeling (they will only be decorative, not intended to support the cabinets).  The legs paired with a piece of counter cut to match the adjoining kitchen should really beef them up a bit.

The lower cabinets will be fantastic for storing vases, entertaining decor, party supplies and outdoor dining items, while the uppers will display barware and serving dishes.  Another tip when it comes to these glass faced IKEA cabinets, is to order extra glass shelves.  Each cabinet comes with two, however, visually you can streamline the display by placing a glass shelf behind each panel of the door.  We are still waiting on the extra shelves to arrive.

A wonderful reader let me know that IKEA now has plugs for all of those cabinet holes!  Our IKEA has been sold out, but you can bet I am going to scoop boatloads!  Thumb up IKEA!

On each end of the kitchen/living area, we finally installed a small strip of decorative trim to really complete the look of the planked ceiling.  We went with 12' strips of primed cove moulding, which I painted to match the ceiling color (Benjamin Moore's Simply White).

They were installed with the brad nailer, and they really do finish things off nicely.

Another tip I received from a reader a few years ago, was to upgrade the outlet and light switch plates.  Ours were previously an almond color, so we have been waiting for kitchen update day to swap everything out.  She recommend these from Amazon, and I have had them saved to my wish list ever since.  I finally pulled the trigger, and I really love the decorative detailing they offer.

They are white, however, not a brilliant white.  They look great with the ceiling and IKEA cabinets, and even the switch looks OK, but the electrical outlet whites did not match and it totally bugs me.  I plan on taking a cover to the home improvement store to try and find a closer match.  My fingers are crossed tight that I find something because I really do heart the decorative plates.

Here is the view looking at the new wall of cabinets paired with the tall, beautifully planked and beamed ceiling.  I just sit and gaze at these ceilings for minutes at a time.  They really are awe inducing.  

 
A few other finishing touches we added to the cabinets include more side panels and decorative moulding below the upper cabinets.

IKEA cabinets are simple white boxes which are then covered with panels to match the door styles.  You can see above the panels are designed to go below the box of the cabinet, and decorative moulding finishes things off.  These little details really did make a difference in the feeling of the cabinets as a whole.  We are still waiting for one more cabinet to piece in next to the upper corner cabinet, and once that is installed, we can finish the panels and moulding below, and also add our own decorative moulding to all of the cabinet tops.

In other kitchen news, I popped open a bottle of wine last night.  I just had to celebrate the resolution of the dishwasher let down.

Wait, what dishwasher?  The one you would never know what there because it now has a decorative, integrated cabinet face!  Woot!

I shared a little about the dilemma last week, however, long story short is that IKEA no longer had their integrated model the day we finally put in our kitchen order.  I kept the decorative panel piece just in case we were able to find another model that would work, but after a lot of searching, nothing fit our budget.  So we purchased a standard dishwasher instead.  During a recent trip to IKEA, I spotted integrated dishwashers with their new kitchen line.  And they worked with the old line also!  One dishwasher returned, one dishwasher purchased and I am glowing about this magical update!

Our pendants arrived in the mail last week.  I purchased a vintage chandelier on Craigslist for over the dining table (which my in-laws will be driving home from their place in Florida in a few weeks), so I had been searching for pendants that would sort of just fade away and let the chandelier become the star of the show.  The chandelier has small bits of gold accents, which meant I also had to work with that during my search.  I ultimately selected and ordered these from Wayfair, I appreciated the simple glass shade, the price and the combo of nickel and brass accents. 

We used this advice from Houzz to determine the appropriate hanging height, as these will live above our center island.  Overall, I really love them, but the wonky wire is really distracting my eyes.  I have read that the weight of the light will eventually straighten the wires, so I am giving them some time.  Otherwise, I may add rods to dress them up a bit.

And that is where we are another week later.  A few little details add up to a much more finished space.  I am ready to start moving back in, but may be getting ahead of myself a bit.  For now, I will just have to sit back, admire all of our hard work and play the hurry-up-and-wait game for the remaining pieces of the kitchen puzzle to arrive.  Then we can get back at it!

You can follow all of the kitchen progress here.

P.S.  Thank you SO much for nominating iHeart Organizing for the Better Homes & Gardens DIY Blogger Award!  You can cast your vote here throughout the next six weeks.  Bryan and I are continuously grateful for all of your support!  Smooches!