Maximizing Your Kitchen Space: A Picture Tour of My Kitchen
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It’s been one of those weeks, with too much to do and not enough time, and since we have so many new subscribers since this post was originally posted, I decided to go ahead and repost it today!
We’ve really just scratched the surface of our Maximizing Your Kitchen Space series, but today I wanted to invite you into my kitchen.
Our Kitchen
I really love my kitchen. It is probably my favorite room in our home because it’s simple, pretty and very functional. As is typical for most of our house, my number one priority was having a functional kitchen. Sean took my ideas and designed our custom kitchen with his modern style, and I love it!
My Favorite Feature
This is my favorite feature of our kitchen. Before we even began building, I knew that I wanted an island (or in this case, a “peninsula”, as Sean calls it!) with the sink and cooktop separated by counter space. I am able to prepare and cook without feeling isolated from the family, and I can quickly put things in the sink or on the stove without having to walk across the room.
Upper Cabinets with Frosted Glass Doors
I also love these upper cabinets (with our lime green dishes from Target!) and their frosted glass doors. The frosted glass means I have to keep them neat and decluttered, and I think it also adds some added style to the kitchen.
Pull Out Drawers
We actually only have two lower cabinets in our kitchen – one in the corner and one under the sink. The rest is made up of these large drawers, and I love them for storing my pots, pans, baking supplies, snacks and more.
Garage Cabinets
How cool is this cabinet?! We don’t have a garage for our cars, so we refer to these two cabinets as “the garages”. We keep office supplies, books and recipes in one and small appliances in the second for convenience. This one actually has an outlet in it as well, to make those appliances even easier to use!
Extra-Deep Double Sink with Square Corners
And finally, I love this extra-deep stainless steel double sink, which Sean found on eBay. It has square corners for even more space, and it’s great not only for doing dishes, but also for bathing babies and toddlers!
We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to build a custom kitchen (for much less than you would expect thanks to Ikea’s incredible style and amazing prices!) with all of these great features I love.
But I want to hear from you now – what is your favorite feature in your kitchen?
Definitely my pantry. When our architect designed our house, he had cabinets in my only corner. I had him take those out and make a corner pantry instead. I love it! It has good lighting, outlets for things like my can opener (mounted under one pantry shelf) and the dust buster) and there’s great floor space for larger items and the brooms.
By the way, your kitchen is gorgeous! It makes me wonder why I like it so much, besides the lime green dishes… It’s because of the lack of clutter! Very pretty!
Karen’s last blog post…A little patience please…
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jenna Reply:
December 2nd, 2009 at 3:44 pm
I absolutely LOVE your kitchen!!! I wish I had that layout and space
I too have an Ikea kitchen… and I gotta say I LOVE it!!! We actually live in an apartment in Manhattan…. so space is limited. I decided on all white appliances — since we have no window in the kitchen 
and I was afraid the stainless steel would darken the area. Also, I changed things up from the old kitchen (which was a DISASTER)to all “apartment size” appliances — except for the refrigerator.
I had NO cabinets at all — just some funky plywood shelves… so now we have actual cabinets, a microwave over the stove WITH a VENT!!! And a stacked washer dryer as well!! I love the kitchen… now I just learn how to cook
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Oh what a gorgeous kitchen! I can only dream of one like that unfortunately.
As for the favourite part of my kitchen, well, I don’t really have one at the moment. It’s cluttered, there isn’t enough room for me to swing a cat, our kitchen table is always cluttered with things that don’t have a place at all! I am trying to get there but our whole house is like that and I can only do a little at a time, so it’s a work in progress.
We’re hoping to sell and move soon (as soon as someone wants to buy our current place!) so I’ve been doing a lot more decluttering as I refuse to take all our dont-needs to a new house!
Aw FLYLady says, it didn’t get this way in a day, it’ll take more than a day to sort it out!
Marylin’s last blog post…Hair grows… hair grows… hair grows…
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Wow, I am envious of your kitchen! Our kitchen is a really weird shape, almost like a triangle. I’d love to redo it one day.
Whitney’s last blog post…The Curve Ball
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hi Mandi! Thanks for your pics of your well-organized kitchen. I like your wood countertops. Would you mind sharing where you purchased them and how you maintain them? We are contemplating wood for our island.
My favorite features in our kitchen is the morning sunshine that streams in through all of the windows and the large amount of counter space, which gives me lots of room (and sunshine) to do some sprouting, etc.
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wow i love your kitchen!! everything about it appeals to me.
my favourite thing in our current kitchen is the pantry – a deep corner with many shelves of different heights. i have it zone organized and can find anything in a moment!
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I really love your garage cabinets. We live in an apartment so we don’t get the chance to do any alterations. One nice thing about it is the built in pantry is just huge, and great for stockpiling food.
Erica’s last blog post…Upcycled Circuit Board Dangle Earrings
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I have really been enjoying your kitchen series this week. Those frosted doors and appliance garages are awesome! In our kitchen, we installed under cabinet lighting and it is great. I can actually see when I am making kids lunches or preparing dinner
Marci’s last blog post…Organizing kids rooms
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hahaha… my favorite feature in my kitchen are the doors that allow me to get out of it!
I hate every single thing about my kitchen and can’t wait to get out of this house 
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I love your kitchen! It is seriously beautiful! I love the lime green walls in my kitchen, and my large island, but I hate the tile counters and the oak, country looking cabinets (we are so not country). Some day, I’m going to remodel it. Someday….
Casey’s last blog post…The Reveal!
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Your kitchen is my dream kitchen. Seriously. I would love to have drawers, rather than cabinets, like you and my MIL. They just seem to work better.
I absolutely could NOT live without my double-ovens. I am fortunate to live in a “free” home, as my husband is the youth pastor at our church, and our church is gracious enough to allow us to live in the parsonage.
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Superb kitchen. I’d love to drop by and cook up a storm in there! You both did a great job at designing it.
My kitchen has a few nice features, but is by no means my dream kitchen. It’s our first house, so we are making do, but it’s still very functional with the help of a large pot rack, magnetic knife holders on the wall and a double sink–essential.
I get gorgeous sun in it all day long, love that.
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i love the garages!! the smartest thing we did with our kitchen was to skip the little kitchen desk and have the builder add a second pantry!
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I was wondering how you had NOTHING on your countertops!!! The garages!!
I’d have to say my favorite thing is my stove/oven. When we redid our kitchen I splurged and got a nice one since I love to cook & esp bake. I also replaced lower cabinets w/drawers and LOVE.LOVE.LOVE them too.
I do wish I had a pantry though. I feel my cabinets are so unorganized since we have to put all the food in there. One lazy susan helps some but it would be nicer w/a pantry.
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I love it! Redoing my kitchen has been on *the list* since we bought our house 9.5 years ago. It’s in great need of updating, with formerly white formica counters, 70’s laminate flooring that I started to peel up myself, possibly the original stove, but I do love a few things abt it. I love it’s location and that it’s open (with the potential to be even more so) to our family room. I like the high cabinets and molding detail. And the fact that there’s a window above my sink makes me happy. There’s a picture of it on this blog: http://mostlymod.blogspot.com/2009/04/fridays-home-tour-pserin.html The picture makes it look way better and had me smiling at my kitchen for the first time in a long time. Made me feel content to live with it a bit longer… Whenever we do update, it will be done without borrowing money, so that little home tour was a blessing.
Thanks for pointing me here! I am really enjoying your blog!
PS~Erin’s last blog post…Sure! I’ll Play Along
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Love your sink – that’s a style I’ve not seen before and am intrigued by it. While we built our home and have the “penisula”, we are considering a remodel of our kitchen to a traditional farmstyle that would remove the penisula (our boys are nearly grown and our needs have changed) – so I’m always looking for sink ideas!! Very cool use of “garage” doors. I have the deep drawers in my kitchen and LOVE THEM!! They are great! thank you for sharing your kitchen!
Harriette
Harriette´s last blog ..Thank You!
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Love your kitchen!!!! Awesome!!! The favorite thing in my kitchen (since you asked!) is the red walls!
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Julie Reply:
December 3rd, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Red walls! That sounds very cool! I would love to see a photo.
Julie´s last blog ..Christmas traditions – decorating
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i love your kitchen. so simple and organized! i dont have a favorite part my kitchen is in serious need of updating. ok maybe one thing i like is how big it is. so when i get around to redoing it i will have lots of space to work with.
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We remodeled our kitchen about 10 years ago, when our kids were young. Like Mandi, all of my below the counter cabinets are drawers and putting those in was one of the smartest things I ever did.
The all-time favorite drawer in my kitchen is the snack drawer. I didn’t want to be a constant food monitor when my kids were little so I put a wide variety of healthy food in it and my kids and their friends could always help themselves. Now my kids are grown and when they or their friends come over the first thing they do is open the snack drawer.
Nancy Giehl´s last blog ..Christmas Decor: Give Away What You Don’t Use Now!
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I love your kitchen!
My kitchen still has the original cabinets from when the house was built in 1955. They are all metal. Also, our fridge and stove are free standing instead of having counter space anywhere near them.
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Wow, what a great kitchen! I’m jealous. We live in a small older-style house. The kitchen we have was probably updated 15 years ago (before we moved in). We just wouldn’t have the space for a useful re-model but I’m gleaning some ideas from you for the dream kitchen in my new dream home! (maybe one day…)
Julie´s last blog ..Christmas traditions – decorating
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My kitchen isn’t the greatest (the cabinets and counters are 30 years old) but not horrible. I guess the favorite thing about it is the older pine table in the centre which we use as an island – it gets tons of use! Underneath it are four large containers housing various grains (rices/flours). We also get alot of natural light which I like.
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