FINALLY! I have had the chance to clean the kitchen and snap a couple of pictures before the next mess was made. I had about 2 minutes. No lie. So here it is. I love it. The layout is the exact same. We re-installed our old countertops and used the old appliances so it's not really new looking. BUT there are some different cabinets and we have the nice big extra pantry cabinet (see next photo) so it really holds a lot of stuff now. Horray! I won't say it was worth ALL the stress and time and inconvenience, but it is definitely worth most of it! The good Meile boys were in there late on December 23 because they said they'd have me in by Christmas. What great guys! Thanks! 
This pantry is as deep as the fridge and holds a TON of stuff. We used to have just a counter all along that wall, but it was just a mess zone. There's shelves inside and I just keep stocking it and pushing things back. I thought it had no back on it and was nothing but magic. Unfortunately, I bumped up against the back of the cabinet when I was trying to find a place to store my red vines and chocolate-covered pretzels. Curses! No worries. I found another hidey-hole in the super deep cabinets above the fridge!
Isn't it so pretty?! We love the new slate tiles and they aren't as cold as I thought they'd be. I'm glad we went with laminate in the rest of the house again, however. We installed a natural cherry wood laminate to sorta tie into the cabinets. It's purty. Someday we'll do a great glass tile backsplash in oranges, yellows and reds, but do you know how much GLASS TILES cost?! Sheesh! I totally went into the wrong line of work. Glass tiles is where the money is.... We want to replace the old track lighting as well, but again time and money stand in our way. Plus, the fact we want to be DONE with home improvement for a while. Uh-huh. Especially since 10 out the 12 months in 2009 involved havoc caused by home improvement. Our next project is tentatively scheduled for 2017. We'll post pictures.
Isn't it so pretty?! We love the new slate tiles and they aren't as cold as I thought they'd be. I'm glad we went with laminate in the rest of the house again, however. We installed a natural cherry wood laminate to sorta tie into the cabinets. It's purty. Someday we'll do a great glass tile backsplash in oranges, yellows and reds, but do you know how much GLASS TILES cost?! Sheesh! I totally went into the wrong line of work. Glass tiles is where the money is.... We want to replace the old track lighting as well, but again time and money stand in our way. Plus, the fact we want to be DONE with home improvement for a while. Uh-huh. Especially since 10 out the 12 months in 2009 involved havoc caused by home improvement. Our next project is tentatively scheduled for 2017. We'll post pictures.
