In yesterday’s blog post I shared with you my favorite unique wall decor idea and announced that today I would introduce you to my Ugly Kitchen! This introduction is long overdue. I seriously thought by now she would get the face lift that she deserves! But, life throws its curveballs and sometimes expectations are not met. It has been four years since we moved into our dream home (circa 1980) and our ugly kitchen renovation is still on the back burner.
Albert and I decided to take our limited funds when we moved in towards adding an additional 1100 square feet of living space to our existing home. This space is contemporary, inspiring, and functional. I can’t wait to share more of this space with you. My home office, adjoining bathroom (where many of my beauty blog photos are captured) and glass wall staircase makes me soul happy! Our girls have moved into the new wing and love the space. We are so blessed!
However, because the addition construction took longer than expected and more money that we had anticipated ( of course) our ugly kitchen, well, remains ugly! But, no more hiding her. Today, I am going to show you her in all of its glory and you will see why I affectionately call it my Ugly Kitchen!
Cooking, baking, entertaining, and food in general are a huge part of my life, culture, and family traditions. I keep thinking as soon as I get my dream kitchen I will start sharing this part of me with you. Well, it seems silly to wait on something like this and we are all friends! It has seriously been an insecurity of me for the longest time. But, I am going to embrace it. This is real life. My kitchen is not picture perfect but serves it purpose even though it is literally falling apart! My dear friends, I would like you to meet my Ugly Kitchen!
P.S. Before, I forget please stop by tomorrow where I share my first food recipe in my Ugly Kitchen! I don’t want you to miss it and I would love your support! I am so excited!
I do love a kitchen island! It definitely balances the space and functionally of an effective kitchen design. However, I miss our gas stove from our previous home in Dana Point and one of the burners is dead! In, my new kitchen design I would love to have 6 burners because I love having several entrees cooking at the same time.
The oven exhaust in the middle of the burners is a poor design feature. Food gets stuck or falls through the vents all of the time. Because the knob is so hard to activate, we don’t often use it.
This is a quick peek into our dining room which adjoins our kitchen area. When we moved in, it served as my office, then a dining room. When we decided to sell our old dining room set, it has become a miscellaneous space and a magnet for random pieces and junk. The two laundry baskets there hold items that I need to photograph and sell on Poshmark! Anyone want to help? In this dining room is a beautiful crystal chandelier that has made three moves! It is a definitely a keeper!
I love all of the beautiful windows in my kitchen. The view into our backyard is perfect and unobstructed. The kitchen faucet we have replaced two times. The dishwasher has been broken forever! Unfortunately, there is a lot of hand washing to do. The trash-compacter may it RIP! We have never used it and takes up precious storage space.
The hideous tiles will never grown on me as well as the brown grout!
We hired a contractor to reroute our pipes for our new tankless water heater. My husband specifically asked to not drill through our newly discovered beam….well, he did! Let’s just say Albert was not happy!! And, it still remains a sad reminder!
Sharing this photo with is a big deal!!! I am feeling so vulnerable right now…like I am letting you see my intimate underwear drawer! This is our pantry in all its glory! I am terrible at organizing and everything gets lost in here! Not to mention, every time I do try to create order in this abyss – it gets ruined by the many little hands in my family! LOL! But, it does offer a lot of space to house our goods.
This is our first time having a fridge that has an outside water and ice dispenser. I wasn’t sure I would love it but we use it on the hour! The only thing I would change is that I wish the water and ice dispenser had a removable tray on the bottom to catch water dripples. This spot can get wets wet and makes our floors slippery. We have a towel on hand to catch the spills.
Our wooden cabinets are so worn! Each cabinet is stuffed to the gills with decor and party platters I love to use when I host parties and dinners with family and friends. Don’t you just love more of the brown color in the base molding!
I love my knife rack! I grew up using butcher knives as a girl cooking along side my mother and grandmother, so knives don’t scare me! The bigger the better! Some of the original kitchen knobs were replaced because they kept pinching our fingers. I got a few random whimsical knobs from TJ Maxx to replace them and to add some cuteness to this unattractive space; but, I don’t think it is working!
It is nice to have a double oven! The top oven also was a microwave until we killed it. Though, they are old and super unappealing, they do work like a charm and bake the most delicious food!
Leaning against our bar that we don’t use! We don’t drink, so it is a big waste of space! It will be so nice to remove this huge monstrosity! I was thinking of putting a built desk here where we can charge our phones and have a laptop for looking up recipes. What do you think?
One thing I am grateful for is the size of our kitchen! When we get it redesigned, it is going to be fabulous! I see two large islands for cooking, homework, and crafts! We love spending time in the kitchen! Chloe (11) sure loves cooking with me and sometimes Emi (14) will join us! LOL! Elijah (7) loves to skip in and grab a snack to eat and Albert loves peeking into to see what is on the menu for the evening! I love my family! 
This IKEA chair has made many moves and it always the preferred seating choice for Elijah and his little friends!
My family loves to hang out here while I cook and it is nice to have the kitchen open to the family room.
This beautiful cabinet is a Craiglist find! Love it! We got rid of TV over a year ago and watch a lot of videos during our free time over the weekend.
So, there you have it! I have given you a full tour of my Ugly Kitchen! What do you think? Ha ha! There is a lot of BROWN isn’t there? If anything, I am happy to have this post to remind me that a home is built around the memories we make in them not how posh it is (though I wouldn’t mind that!). Our family has had so many special memories in our Ugly Kitchen…and many more to create!
If you have any design ideas, do share them with me! I cant wait to hear because our future kitchen redesign will be major! Don’t forget to visit me tomorrow for my first recipe in my Ugly Kitchen featuring an easy Easter Appetizer using Pearls® Specialties!
As always, thank you so much for stopping by! See you tomorrow!
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