Black not White

The kitchen is the heart of the home, right?  When we bought our house, the heart of it was in serious trouble.  And it's been a nearly two year process to get it where we wanted it.  So, since we can call it 95% done I'm calling it.  I'm ready to show it off.  We've come a long way since the orange-red walls and the pink Formica.

Our kitchen on the day of home inspection.

Dining Room.  Complete with HUD stickers on the windows.  Keepin' it classy.

And then we worked our little tails off.  We cleaned all the cabinets and repainted them black.  We also relocated the door knobs because they were in weirdo places.  We installed new Formica counter tops, I originally wanted acrylic but that was a little out of my price range.  We bought a new black acrylic sink.  We installed new back splash, it's those big back splash "tiles" from Lowe's, they're made out of plastic.  Oh, and we painted the walls and all the trim.  And I painted the 70s-tastic fluorescent light fixture silver and painted the ceiling fan to match.

 Progress!  This is what we worked with for about a year and a half.

 Not too shabby, right.  

But look at those terrible floors.  They just make everything sad.

Fast forward to last week when we installed our new laminate floors.  And I painted the dining table, proving that our dining room does still exist and hasn't fallen off the side of the house. 

I still love going in and just staring.  It's a thing of beauty.  We still need to do quarter round around the edges of the flooring.  And I need to paint the window trim.  For the most part the curtains cover it up, and I just pretend it looks okay.  It doesn't but I just keep telling myself that it's fine.  Someday.  But it feels great to have it so very nearly done.

I've had kind of an ongoing mental battle over my cabinet color.  I keep second guessing the decision of painting the cabinets black.  I see all these gorgeous kitchens with gleaming white cabinets.  And I worry that I made the wrong choice.  But when I walk into my kitchen, I love the black.  I love that it's a little different.  And it's so warm and cozy.  It's the kind of kitchen I just want to hang out in.  The other night I grabbed a floor pillow and plopped down with the iPad to look at recipes while my husband was cooking dinner.  It was perfect.

What about you guys?  What color is your kitchen?  Is it a color you chose or one that came with the house?  Are you happy with the color?  Or are you like me and constantly second guess your decision?  In the end, I love our kitchen.