Mid Century Modern Kitchen

When we bought this beautiful but dated Mid Century Modern home I was the most excited to tackle the kitchen. We aren’t done with it yet, but we are at a stopping point or cross roads since we can’t decide what our next move will be. We would like to put in new floors, counter top and back splash. However we aren’t sure if we want to change the shape and layout of the current kitchen (which we love) or simply refresh the current surfaces.

The major changes that we made:

• Stripped the wallpaper boarder from top of cabinets. (really who wallpapers cabinets?)
• Painted all the cabinet doors.
• Removed the spaceship light and installed canned lighting.
• Installed new appliances.
• Added new light fixtures over the sink and at the desk.
• Painted the walls with Gray Opal from Valspar
• Painted the chairs

To paint the cabinets we used a paint sprayer. We wanted a nice finish on the doors and we wanted to make sure it would hold up to a lot of use. Painting was actually really easy and it took about 3 days for us to get our kitchen back.

The pros of using a sprayer:

• The finish is super smooth,
• Thin coats stick better,
• No brush strokes in the paint,
• Super fast.

The cons of using the sprayer: 
The one we used required a 5 gallon bucket and we used 1 and half buckets (so about 7 gallons) this is way more than was needed but when you spray there tends to be a lot of over spray and that is paint wasted, also about a gallon of paint gets sucked up in the hose alone.

So overall it costs more to spray but, it is faster and has a way better outcome.

We also sprayed the bar stools which is WAY easier than painting by hand.

We put in a new light over the sink. The light fixture is from West Elm. We also put in a new faucet.

Before there was the wallpaper border around the top of the cabinet and then crown molding above that. We sprayed the wallpaper with vinegar and water and it came off pretty easily. Then we painted over where the wallpaper was and painted the crown molding white. It instantly made the kitchen feel taller.

The walls of the kitchen got the same light icy blue color as the living room and dining room which is Valspar’s Grey Opal.

We also put in a new light fixture at the desk, and we got a new fridge. The biggest problem we found with updating a mid century home is that most of the spaces for the appliances are really small, as appliances have gotten bigger. We got the largest fridge we could fit into the space.

We also updated the oven as well. Previously there was a double oven in this space. We were (again) working with a limited opening and could only go up to a 30″ wide oven. Also the height restriction made it so we couldn’t quite fit a new double oven into the space. We did find this microwave and oven combo. Our microwave used to sit on the counter and I was very happy to have the counter space back. It’s a convection microwave on top and oven on the bottom. I love the unit and even though I miss the double oven on Thanksgiving that’s only one day a year that I really needed the extra oven space.

We also put in a new hood and dishwasher. We got all of our appliances at Sears during a holiday sale and they had great customer service and were great to work with to make sure the new appliances would work well.

As a result of all the hard work I just love stepping into a bright and white kitchen and that it finally matches the dining room. Ah heaven.