The Kitchen: After is ALL You're Gonna Get

The slideshow above is the best I can do. I took the pictures on Monday before the room could get too dirty again. hahahahahaha

The kitchen got cleaned....enough. The stove got delivered and I've been baking up a storm to make up for lost time. I still have a lot to do, like clean inside the cupboards and get the organizing done. M was nice enough to get me a new vent cover.

I've never liked my kitchen! White just isn't my color....

The white floor is the worst!! I've never been able to keep it clean with the dogs and the kids. Not only is it white, but it's textured so dirt gets imbedded in it only to come out with serious scrubbing. You can see that it's already dirty from the dogs tracking in mud from the backyard the same night I mopped. I feel like I need to have a Swifter velcroed to my hand. The floor got rips in the vinyl over the years in the main traffic area. It desperately needs to be replaced.

The walls in the kitchen have the same textured treatment as the rest of the walls in my house. What were they thinking?! Dust actually catches in areas of the wall. I enjoy my view from the kitchen to the dining and living room area. The stove is right under the opening. However, I don't have any type of exhaust system or fan above my stove.

Michael put the door between the back door area and the kitchen years ago upon my request. He never finished it. It will probably have to be replaced since it's so scratched. You don't want to see the other side--it's the side that faces that room where we used to keep the dogs while we were out before we had crates. They've scratched right through the hollow door to the kitchen side.

We're not sure what we really want to do in the kitchen to spiff things up. I'm more concerned about the rest of the house and if we have to keep replacing appliances, we won't be doing any major work in there any time soon. The stove this week, the fridge six months or so ago, and the dishwasher a couple of years ago. I know we will paint. M even said it's a shame we can't paint right away before things get dirty. I'd also like to take the tile up to the area above the open area by the stove. I think it would be easier to clean than the paint. We need to caulk between the tile and the counter in the worst way. The floor is the floor.... It's M's focus, but it's not mine except to say that he could pitch in and pick up a mop once and awhile. Oh, and he could clean up that junky counter! His other focus is doing something with the cupboards like painting or refacing them. Sure! Some of the drawers are falling apart so we definitely need to do something with THEM.

I'm happy that we cleaned in there. Anything else will be just gravy. Everyone helped so I'm hoping that we'll all be invested in keeping it clean.