Kitchen Remodel: Post #1

When we moved into our home, our kitchen looked like this:

Pretty drab, huh? Our refrigerator advertised itself as "frost free" so you knew just how new and energy efficient that beast was.   Almost immediately after moving in we added new hardware, a new fridge, repurposed the awkward pole in the middle of the kitchen into a chalkboard, and improved our light fixture situation. To date, this is what we're working with:

On first glance, it doesn't look terrible.  Upon further inspection (and trust me, I've been inspecting and scrutinizing for a while now) the competing shades of white make the space look dirty and the cabinets torn out to fit the new fridge left a serious eye sore that must be addressed.  Worse are the cheap cabinets cut on the previous owner's table saw.  Add to that combo a nice dose of worn out paint and you've got quite a mess on your hands:

So with a little cash, even less know-how and a whole lot of hope we've laid out our plans for a modern update of a 1920's kitchen. Sure, we'll be burning up the cell towers between D.C. and Atlanta (thanks for your advice, Dad!) and while our hopes of a $1,500 makeover probably won't come true we are going to give it the college try. Next post: Our plans, budget and time line.