New Year. New Kitchen.

Happy Chinese (Lunar) New Year! Today begins the Year of the Rabbit, which happens to be my animal birth year. So woo-hoo to the rabbits!

The new year is always a sign of fresh beginnings, so with that I thought it'd be a good time to finally do the "reveal" of my recent kitchen renovation. As some of you have read, my tiny kitchen in my studio apartment finally went through a renovation that lasted eight full (working) days.

And now that it's finally done (with a few touch-up paint work and organizing to do over the next few days), I can't tell you how much I love it. Every night before I go to bed I just stand in the kitchen and give out a sigh. Even though the layout is exactly the same as my old kitchen, just having everything shiny and new just makes me feel like I'm in some fancy model home. But enough chatter. Here's the transformation as demonstrated by these before-after shots.

Cabinets were replaced and granite counter tops are now my counter of choice. I love the granite, even though it's cold to the touch. It just seems so luxurious.

New artwork fills out the only wall in my kitchen, along with a practical utensil bar I got at Ikea.

A major change is the flooring. I've raved about this porcelain faux-wood tiles that replaced the dingy linoleum tiles.

All new appliances, including a larger stove top and oven. Above the range is a microwave hood, and the backsplash is a fancy combination of colored glass and natural stone (it was my splurge item).

With the microwave now above the range, I have more room on my counter top. Also, with a stainless steel refrigerator, I can't have magnets on my frig. So I made this framed metal sheet that I now use to display my magnets. It's not as large a space as the refrigerator door, so this is now more my "magnet hall of fame" displaying my ultimate favorite magnets from my collection.

I continued the renovation into the hallway. Not a lot of major changes, just continued the wood tiles into the hallway and replaced the lighting with something more cleaner and contemporary.

So quite a transformation huh? Here are some other changes that I found really helpful, especially in a small kitchen.

On the bottom cabinets I had roll-out shelves installed so I can reach things in the back. Perfect!

I love my new sink and faucet. The sink is deeper than the old one, and I had a garbage disposal finally installed after my old one konked out two years ago. (You can also notice that I continued the backsplash behind the sink for some continuity from the other side.)

Over the bar top, there was nothing but open space, which is nice to let in more light since there's no window in the kitchen. But I felt the space was empty, so I had this shelf installed because I thought hanging cabinets would make the tiny space feel like a cave. So this option gave me a display shelf but still kept the open feel. (And I stained it myself. I still have to do the varnish though.)




Some of you kept asking what I was going to make in my new kitchen, and initially I wanted to make salmon because when I was eating out, I felt I was eating too much meat. So I wanted a fish dish to balance out my week of eating out. But then I thought paella is more festive, so that's what I ended up making. I kept cleaning my stove top for almost 30 minutes after I finished cooking just to get it clean and new looking again!

So that's the tour of my new kitchen, finished just in time to celebrate the new year. I wish you all have a prosperous and happy new year with an abundance of good food!