Our Dream Island... in the Kitchen

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As I was glancing through my home page on Pinterest, something caught the Mr.'s eyes.  "Wait, scroll back?...  ooh, that's what I'm talking about!"   

We have been to interior design trade shows, home shows, and we were always in awe of the beautiful kitchen islands that were on display.  They would be trimmed with moldings like a piece of furniture, with carved edges or sides.  We are fortunate to have a generous-sized island in our kitchen, and so the Mr. has an ingenious idea - to makeover the kitchen island.   

I've pinned numerous pins of DIY kitchen island makeover, however, I was iffy to give the Mr. any idea to DIY it.  Afterall, if the project fails, it will be an eyesore to live with, and expensive to redo.  I know the Mr. can build things, but this would be by far the most challenging project he would have taken on in our house.  I wasn't too confident about it, but he was overly eager and prepared himself by watching hours of youtube videos on related how-to's.  Then one day, he announced, "I think I can do it, will you let me?"  After a long sigh and thinking twice, I agreed to his endeavor!   

Like a man on a mission, he again showed me his building plan, the dimensions and mock-up pictures.   After lots of elbow grease, our kitchen island was transformed from drab to fab! 

Maybe in time, I would also post a tutorial on the island transformation.  I wouldn't want to waste the in-process pictures I took of the hubby's hard work. 

For now, another completion to our list of kitchen to-do's/ wishlist: 

• change cabinet hardware - DONE!

• make pantry more functional - DONE!

• island makeover - DONE!

• counter stools for island 

• close up empty space between ceiling and top of cabinets 

• backsplash

Would you be brave enough to tackle a home improvement project that may ruin the look or functionality of the original piece?  How much convincing would you need? 

Happy Wife's Pull-out Pantry Shelves

"Can you help me?  I can't reach...  argh!"  Calling for help to my taller hubby is a common thing in the kitchen.  Maybe I'm just not tall enough, my hands are not long enough, and/ or poor shelves organization, but we just had to devise a better way of organizing the pantry!  Our pantry is as deep as the kitchen counter, and sometimes it's a challenge to reach for stuff at the back of the higher shelves.  I tried to put the small things in front and the bigger items at the back.  That means my favourite family-sized TV chips would always be shoved to the back, though it wasn't doing much to deter me from not having them!  We were always trying to rearrange the items in the pantry for easy access, but the depth of the pantry is a constant challenge.  After pinning numerous pictures and tutorials, and bombarding the Mr.'s mailbox with them, he went to Home Depot in search for some hardware to make the pull-out shelves.   

He got the fully extendible drawers sliders that were just smaller than the depth of our pantry. Instead of removing the existing shelves, he just made the trays out of MDFs and installed the drawer sliders on the shelves so that the trays glide out...  the easy way out =)

Yes this is still a mess, and I know the pantries on Pinterest are so beautifully organized, with printed labels and other bells and whistles.  But this is real life for us.  Until I have time for those (most likely never), we're very happy with how well our pantry functions now.  Afterall, there are only 3 of us in the house, and only 2 are literate, for now anyway.

We didn't put any sliders on the top shelf, since I won't be able to see what's up there with sliders anyway.  The best way for us is to just leave it, and use that shelf for our medications.   One basket for the babe, the other for adults.  Another smaller tray for knick knacks - a pen, notepad, scissors, room spray, essential oil. 

I organized the shelves with smaller and most accessed items on the top, and larger and rarely used on the bottom.  For now, this system seems to work well.   We don't really stock up on any particular items, so only a few containers for the shelves are needed. 

Many thanks to my honey, for finishing another project that makes our home a much better place.   It's a small project, but it means a great deal to me.  To the Mr.:  Happy Wife, Happy Life =) 

What challenges does your pantry pose?  What prompts you to rearrange the items in your pantry?  Do you ever think to yourself "why did I put this there?"