Kitchen Re-do: Phase 1a

First, let's take you on a quick tour back through time - to the "before" of our kitchen.

You'll notice the lovely orangey, sickly cast to the room courtesy of the endless surfaces painted yellowish. And then those lovely maple cabinets. I know, I know. You might be thinking, "Well, those aren't bad at all! Wherefore doth she complaineth?" Then let's put it another way: If you were remodeling your kitchen this week, are THOSE the cupboards you would have installed? No. You wouldn't. Because you have taste. And so do I.

We've decided to call the work we did this weekend "Phase 1a." The purpose of Phase 1a was to get our kitchen to the point where I didn't hate looking at it. And, with a lot of elbow-grease and sore muscles and a very little bit of money, we accomplished that this weekend!

I knew I had to paint the window frames. First of all, the paint was cracking and peeling...
Second of all, they were a "white" that looks white until you put a clean white up next to it and then it is so very not white! So, I spent a few hours with a can of stripper and a scraper.

Fun to watch the stripper do its work! Hmmm That doesn't sound right...

Maybe I should have left them this way - very shabby chic!

We also decided to get rid of these upper cupboards. They interrupt the light between all those awesome south, west and east-facing windows. Plus, everything we kept in those cupboards is beautiful, so why not display them?

Please excuse the blotch of paint, I was testing out a color.

Next, we painted out all the yellow - making the ceiling bright white and (with apologies to my Gramma who believes blue does NOT belong in the kitchen. ever.) the walls a soft blue. We put up some shelves to replace the cabinets and this is how it turned out! Drumroll, please
  
I love the kitchen SO much more now! The white ceiling puts the light back in the room, and the whole feel is more clean and fresh. The only downside now is the idea that it could easily slip into a "country" look, and that is very much not my taste. I'm hoping the lack of rooster cookie jars and the like will keep that from happening, but I will also keep my eyes out for elements to bring in that will push it more toward "cottage" or "beach house" and away from country.

Phase 1b will entail painting the lower cabinet fronts. White? Blue? Gray? Any opinions out there? I know there are. ;) And does anyone want to guess how much this remodel cost us besides an entire two days?