The great Kitchen Redo ....

So when we moved in our kitchen basically looked like this, wood cabinets and laminate counter-tops ... nothing horrible and perfectly serviceable just somewhat dark and dated:

 

In these pictures I had painted the counter-tops to look like granite and in prep for painting the kitchen white (click on the word painted to link to that post), also I removed the upper cabinet doors pretty quickly to give the look of open shelving ....



and here's my kitchen today:

                     
            yes it's brighter and more homey to me! Our daughter's boyfriend said it really made it look like our kitchen had a facelift! I agree .... we painted all the wood white (which was a pain but worth it, no I did NOT sand them all sorry we used primer and paint), added beadboard look wallpaper andd new hardware in stainless and I painted the walls Macadamia by Martha Stewart. Plus redid my painted counter-tops  with Rust-o-leum's cabinet transformation kit in Black granite .... the laundry area got a lift too with Hawthorne Yellow Paint (Benjamin Moore), white shelves, a couple framed quotes and matching bins! ....I have also gotten lots of comments/compliments on the basement door -- I had seen pantry door ideas on Pinterest using an old door to contrast but didn't want anything with glass or a screen even though I love those since we do live in KS and have used the basement for tornado shelter ... basically I just painted it white then black and sanded to my hearts content and voila it looks like a whole new door! :)

What do you think? :)   (btw it I didn't keep exact track but I would say this was only around $500.00 total or LESS by the time you add paint, beadboard wallpaper, new hardware and the shelves -- not including the new fridge when ours died)