A Kitschy Kitchen

I can't believe in a few months we will finally have water pressure in our kitchen. It seems silly to live with it for so long but every plumber has told us they would have to break open the walls to fix the issue, so we figured we may as well wait until we can put in a new tile back splash and new cabinets when the old tile gets demolished for the repairs. You know the saying...

Not that I'm into killing birds but I really want to kill the fugly tile backsplash we have now. So now comes my annual conundrum, to spend or not to spend? I first set the budget at $6000, for plumbing, a new DIY backsplash, painting the existing cabinets, adding some new knobs and drawer pulls and refinishing the wood floor, no frills. Then we decided Ikea installing new cabinets was our best option and all their silly extra costs began to add up, a new dishwasher, sink, faucet and BAM! Just like that the budget ballooned to $10000. Today I fell in love with the idea of having an island

Do you see that trough sink? So pretty!!

Can you blame me? We are installing butcher block countertops, so there's no way I wouldn't ruin it with scratches or staining it when I spill cranberry juice on them the first day we install them. If we had an island, we could use it for our food prep and save the countertops from my clumsiness. It's ridiculous how many kitchens I am seeing with the simple white cabinets, white subway tile back splash and wood countertops on Pinterest.

I love the color of this countertop, you can tell this is a European kitchen. They always has the tiniest sinks.

These are the actual Ikea Akurum cabinets in a "real kitchen" I love that they made custom toe kicks that gives them a vintage feel. *by real I mean not fancied up for a magazine shoot.

I would love open shelves like these but we need the enclosed cabinets, our shit isn't this nice. One day I'll have nice shit!

This one is pretty close to our existing layout

I wish my cabinets were high enough to fit my Kitchenaid mixer under them. That would be the perfect place to store it in the corner.

This is the look I want, clean white, vintage inspired but modern functionality. Geez, why do I sound like a HGTV host?


I was never a fan of granite countertops, stainless steel appliances or dark wood cabinets. Feels dated and old folksy to me. I have no idea what color to paint the walls in our kitchen. We have so much crown molding trim that is painted white, it would seem too stark to paint white walls. I'm having similar feelings as Nicole from Making it Lovely about all white kitchen walls.

I definitely want to stain the floors darker

Not that the yellow walls are helping brighten my kitchen currently

See, my mixer is a tad too tall to fit underneath the cabinets

Now I'm like, where's the color? Where's the fun, bright cheery kitchen, you know? I suppose staying neutral is best since we are focused on selling our house. There's so much to plan, decide and pay for *feeling overwhelmed* We had to return my lovely Hjuvik faucet since it doesn't have a regular spout attachment and it's too high for the wall. Bummer! In the end, as long as I have strong water pressure and a dishwasher, I'm happy!

PS: Wasn't Aimee's guest post rad?!! I love that lady so much!! XOXO!!