Friday's 5: Kitchen Remodel

Part four of an occasional series about what I'm enjoying in my "new" house one year after we started our big renovation project.

We saved the kitchen for last during the renovation, knowing that it would be the most disruptive part of a very messy process. You may recall my tips for eating when you don't have a kitchen -- and I've already shown you some of the before-and-after shots of the kitchen.

The change was dramatic and wonderful. But the more we live in our kitchen, the more I discover that it's the little things that make me love it the most. Here are five of my favorite details:

1. Drawers: In a space that used to have four small drawers and a jumble of cabinets, we now have three big-ass drawers. The top one has silverware and cooking utensils, while the middle has foil, bags and other related items. But the bottom drawer is the genius one -- contains both tupperware and my kids' plastic plates and cups so that they can serve themselves. Plus, all of our drawers (and cabinet doors) have this awesome soft-close feature, so you can just give it a push and it closes gently the rest of the way. (The only danger with that feature is that now I go around accidentally slamming the cabinets in the bathrooms and other places, but it's a price I'm willing to pay.)

2. Window wall: The kitchen window, which looks out over the backyard, is a stroke of genius recommended by our architect. It's a casement window, so it opens out on a crank instead of raising up on a sash. This is perfect over the sink for two reasons: it's super easy to open (no leaning over the sink to push a stuck sash) and there's no bar right at eye-level (where the two sashes meet) to block my view. I also love the open shelves beside the window (there are some on the other side, too) -- less bulky than cabinets and  a pretty way to display fun things. Plus it keeps the wine glasses at the ready.

3. Sliding shelves: I used to store my crockpot on the dining room table, the electric frying pan on top of the fridge and other big pots/pans so far back in a corner cabinet that I practically had to crawl inside to get them out. Now I just open the cabinet doors, slide out the shelves and select whatever I need. And we can actually eat dinner at the dining room table now.

4. Smoothie station: Because we make smoothies every morning, we keep the blender on the counter along with an excess of bananas (I usually buy 12 at a time). So we carved out this little counter area between the fridge and the pantry cabinets to have a space for making smoothies. We also store the toaster and the electric can opener in the cabinet below, so everything is close to an outlet.

5. Spice rack: When we took out the top half of the wall between the kitchen and dining room, I lost the over-the-stove cabinet where I used to keep spices, oils, etc. So when we redesigned the kitchen, there was just enough room to tuck this handy spice/oil sliding cabinet beside the stove. It keeps everything right where I need it and doesn't require having a spice rack on the counter.

What little details do you love best about your kitchen? Or what spaces would you most like to change?

Check out the rest of this series...
- Part 1: Powder Room
- Part 2: Dining Room
- Part 3: Family Room