Life on a Gravel Road: Kitchen Re-do In Progress

I finally did it. I tackled my kitchen. While re-doing the kitchen has been something I've wanted to do since we moved in, it was always such a daunting task that I've just kept pushing it and pushing it. At the beginning of the year, I made a list of goals for our house that I hoped to accomplish before the end of the year and the kitchen was on it. With Khloe's birthday party being only a month away, I decided it was a good deadline to set for myself to have it done before the party.

The re-do is in no way finished. Really all I've done so far is paint the trim and the cabinets. But wow, does it make a difference.

Here are the way befores.

Then we replaced the lighting and painted the trim.

Then it was time for the cabinets. I used Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations kit in Pure White. Last year I used this kit to paint my bathroom cabinet here. I followed the same process this time except for a few changes. This time I used a roller. The kit advises to only use a brush, but the last time I had a horrible time trying to get rid of the brushstrokes. So, I opted for a 4" foam roller for ultra-smooth surfaces. I still used a brush for the grooves in the cabinet doors, but used the roller for everything else. Another change from last time- I didn't use the decorative glaze this time. I used it in the bathroom and it feels a bit dirty-looking to me. I'll probably end up re-doing it at some point. Also, since this was a kitchen, I felt like the cabinets were extra grimy from grease. So, before I even began the steps outlined in the kit, I scrubbed everything down with soap and water. Seems to have worked great. Keep in mind, same as last time, it took me 4 coats of the base coat. The box says it will only take 2. Here are some of the in-progress pics.

Oh.... it was a mess. It messed with my OCD so much that I ended up finishing it in 3 days so I could put everything back together.

Without further adieu.... here she is all cleaned up.