Gutting the Kitchen

We're a long way from done with our kitchen renovation, but it's a definite improvement!
Especially considering that this is what we started with:

It's called "Scandinavian Style." I call it "Blech!"

Sorry the picture is so tiny. See the area to the right of the brick? That's gone. In it's place is our refrigerator, which had previously been taking up way too much room on a different wall.
We painted the area behind the fridge with our new paint color, but obviously, we still need to do the rest of the kitchen. This week's mammoth project will be refacing the cabinets and installing new countertops. We're on a tight schedule, too...this Saturday is our Baby's 1st Birthday/Father's Day BBQ Joint Celebration, so the kitchen HAS to be done! At some point, we'll rip up the linoleum and put in ceramic, too.

Here's where the fridge was:

Like the mess?! The fridge was really in the way of the entry door.

And is now:

The brick pillar is original to the house. Cool, huh?

We also got a killer deal on a black gas range from Sears. I love this range! The white stove that came with the house was cranky like no other and had several different hot spots. We called it Vesuvius. Thanks to Craigslist, though, Vesuvius has gone to a new home.

We haven't decided if we'll stain the wood ourselves as we reface the cabinets or if we'll use Rustoleum's Cabinet Transformations kit, but I'll keep you posted as to our progress. If anyone's used the Cabinet Transformations, please let us know how it worked- did you love it or hate it?

Added bonus: rearranging and gutting the kitchen left room for my laptop to have a permanent home:

My husband made the desk for me when we moved in. I couldn't find any small-scale desks I liked, so "I'll just make you one, and it'll be cheaper," he announced. This conveniently provided him the excuse reason he'd been looking for to purchase a table saw. But, I love it- it's lightweight enough that I can move it myself, too. And here's my reading light:

He was a Ross find. Yes, I have a thing for dogs. :) Will keep the kitchen renovation updates coming this next week!