The Friday Five: Five Things I Want to Improve in the Kitchen

I can’t believe it’s already Friday. In fact, I could have sworn today was Wednesday. Anyhoo, it’s time for today’s Friday Five: five things I want to improve in the kitchen. As you know, I’m in the middle of painting the kitchen. As part of that process, I’ve taken everything off the walls and counter. It’s a clean slate. And it’s made me realize how big and bright the kitchen really is.

This clean slate made me think about how the kitchen functions and looks. I came up with these five things to improve, now that I’ve got this blank slate:

1. The gray trim has to go.

Obvs. You already knew this from THIS post and THIS post. So far, I’ve primed the trim on the window and doorway to the dining room, and it already looks so much better! I love it. I firmly believe that the trim should be the same throughout the house – all natural or all white, but all the same. The kitchen and laundry room were the only rooms in our house without white trim, so the gray’s gotta go.

2. Lower the shelves.

Yes, the open shelving is coming back (I love it!). But I hung the shelves too high the first time – mainly because I was going off of where the cabinets were originally, even though they were hung too high. (Smacks head.)

The standard distance between a counter and an upper cabinet is 18 inches. Mine were more like 20 inches. So, down they go. Woo hoo! That makes stuff even more accessible, which makes my vertically-challenged self very happy.

3. Paint over the chalkboard paint backsplash.

I finally decided that I think the chalkboard paint backsplash has to go. I liked it, but it’s dark. It was remarkably easy to clean, but not the easiest to write on (because of the angle of the wall and the countertop being there). I have plenty of chalkboards elsewhere.

I found some tile at the ReStore that I might use for a backsplash eventually, but, for now, I think I’m just going to paint it the same as the walls.

4. Function over form.

I’m making sure that everything is in the best place for the function of the kitchen. For example, even though I liked the dishes here, in the breakfast room:

I’m going to move them back into the kitchen, on shelves above the dishwasher. It’s easier to unload the dishwasher that way, and I’ll get a cute stepladder for the kids so that they can reach them.

5. Not be bothered by the cabinets.

The cabinets eventually need to go. They aren’t in good shape (there are doors that don’t close or don’t close together correctly), the paint job isn’t good, the color isn’t my thing, etc.), but they have to stay for now. And I have to be fine with that, because replacing them isn’t in the budget. I’m not going to paint them, because that’s like putting lipstick on the proverbial pig, so I’m just going to accept that they are what they are and live with them. At the end of the day, they’re fine, they hold our stuff, and that’s that.

So, that’s what’s doing in the kitchen. I hope you all have a beautiful Friday and wonderful weekend!! As always, I’m so grateful you stopped by!