Monday, February 15, 2010

my place + yours ... kitchen love

I'm joining in the my place and yours fun this week, because the theme is kitchen love and I'm all about the kitchen love!

But first, let's start with a bit of background. When we bought this house a couple of years ago, the kitchen was the second worst room in the house (the bathroom was the worst - I still have nightmares!). The kitchen we inherited was a reno jobbie from the 80's with secondhand cabinets and bright blue accessories. The worst part was that there was 12cm difference between the height of the floor from one side of the room to the other, so everything rolled off the benches ... not nice! So last April, we did this ...


 ... it felt good - it all went - the kitchen, the dodgy plumbing, the appliances and the floor. And we replaced it with this ...

  
  

These are my two favourite spaces in the kitchen. The first is the open shelves that house all my odds and ends and a small selection of the cookbooks that I own ...

 

But this little corner of the kitchen is my standout favourite. I am lucky enough to have a fire engine red Kitchenaid mixer - my favourite appliance by far! The wooden bread board on the wall is french and antique. I bought it when we bought the house and it was my little incentive to make a kitchen that I would be proud to hang it in. The cannisters were Mr Yardage's grandmothers - we salvaged them from the old family farmhouse in NSW last year - they are very special and got their own little glass shelf to live on.

 

So that's my kitchen love, and one of the main reasons I like to make tea towels and other kitcheny stuff! To check out other great kitchen love or to play along too, visit Vic at Punky & Me (our lovely host) here

P.S. Our table was custom made from local recycled timbers by a guy in Richmond, and the chairs were a super splurge from Thonet - I love these too!

25 comments:

MiM said...

great post! how satisfying to now have a kitchen you love :)

Christina Lowry said...

I love your kitchen! How I would like to take a sledgehammer to my kitchen, but I am told it is best not to do that until you have the funds to buy a replacement one. Looks like I am going to have to wait. When it finally does happen I am definitely going for a white kitchen, and maybe some open shelves like that.... :)

Unknown said...

i love the table!!

Jackie said...

It all looks so clean and fresh. Love your Table and the Breadboard

Cath @ chunkychooky said...

We have a really similar table- with the dark inlays - I love yours too... but i really really really love those chairs!!

Jo said...

That's a great kitchen. I love it! I love that your table is right in the thick of things too.

Cathie said...

fabulous kitchen love Nic! nice theme, thanks :)
we have the ikea pendant lights too, LOVE them, and of course love your red little baby ♥
we did the same and built our kitchen from scratch, so much fun when it was all finally finished.
thanks for the peek, love it.

Thea said...

Great kitchen. It must have felt great to be able to redo it from scratch. I was admiring the table too and love that it is reclaimed wood.

Amanda said...

gorgeous kitchen! is that wall feature glass? it looks great. thanks for the awesome theme :)

mel @ loved handmade said...

Your kitchen has great space, love those little jugs way up on your shelf there...

lisa stubbs said...

Your Kitchen looks great, love your table!

Jenny Butler said...

Such a great transformation!! Must have felt great once it was all finished & functional. Love the Thonet chairs too.

Tweed Thoughts said...

*Sigh* - it's lovely :) And so is your kitcheny stuff too!

quilary said...

It's a great feeling when you get the kitchen that's just right for you - and so much more fun to cook in! I love your shelving with the pottery up there too.

posie blogs Jennie McClelland said...

Oh nice kitchen!! We are lucky to have a large kitchen island, it's all about bench space for me!! You've done a great job, looks functional & family focused. You have my mixer, they are the best aren't they?? I dream of a black & white kitchen with our red KitchenAid appliances as accents, imagine that?? After how many years in Army housing, oh to build our own kitchen . . . love Posie

Bec @ honi design said...

wow, I have kitchen envy! We chose to go to Europe this year, so I'm stuck with my "pine wood" look veneer benchtops, brown tiling, no pantry and a 30+ year old oven. :( Yours is gorgeous - i LOVE your mixer!

teddybearswednesday said...

I love your little corner too, I can see why it's your fave. Love that mixer! And the cannisters and the bread board, actually the whole way you've done it. thanks for a great theme.x

june at noon said...

What a great kitchen, and I love the finishes and the table!

Amanda said...

Your kitchen is gorgeous - I love it!! We too did a major rehaul of our old ugly kitchen. Yours colours are similar to ours but your kitchen has way more character and looks so much homelier... something I am hoping to achieve in the near future. I love your cannisters :) and oh to have a Kitchen Aid like that.... Lovely blog. Will be visiting again for sure x

Tania said...

I'm having serious kitchen angst. Ours is the WORST room in the house by the longest shot. I'll be keeping a beady eye open for a beautiful French bread board to help the reno along!

Gina said...

Oh, you French Provincial temptress you. That's pretty much the look I love in a kitchen. White, wood, open shelves, great table, that red kitchen aid!! Wonderful. I totally explains your lovely design work and food fixation.

Mummy Balancing Act said...

Love the kitchen. The white cabinets and dark bench tops is exactly what we have been looking at for ours. Yes we are doing a house reno and extension in the next year with twon young kids. Would love to catch up and here about yours.

Unknown said...

Wow, fantastic. I've always wanted a kitchen where I can have a good old fashioned farmhouse table in the middle.. still wishing and dreaming from my little victorian terrace with minute kitchen! That was definitely a job well done... good stuff!

dillpickle said...

It sounds like your place was a bit like the place we rented in Brunswick for a few years! Similarly, a completely hopeless kitchen, but the bathroom...! If you looked down behind the cladding that was coming away from the bath, you could see the ground under the house. The bath had been installed directly onto the support beams and the floorboards added later! At least the house had character...?!

Remodelaholic said...

This kitchen is SO wonderful! I found it via Apartment Therapy!

I would love to invite you come and write a special guest post about this project on my blog Remodelaholic. If you are interested, please let me know via email and I will get you all the details!

Thanks,
Cassity