What?  No, we haven’t added another peninsula.  We’ve painted the cabinets above the peninsula.  And the rest of the upper cabinets.  Which sounds like a lot but isn’t because we have only two others.  The last cabinet update we shared centered around the drawer fronts, but you also caught a glimpse of the upper cabinets, complete with a decorative face framing.

Before going to Minnesota, I procrastinated packing to give the cabinets a coat of paint.

Because our upper cabinets shouldn’t be as affected by dirty, slimy, jam-handed kids as the lowers, we decided to save $20 by using Behr Two in One paint in a satin finish.  To match the trim in the adjoining rooms, we used the same color, Behr’s Vermont Cream.  Following the same process as I did for the drawer fronts, I painted the outsides of the cabinets.  Three coats later, gently sanding with 220 grit paper between coats, we’re done.   Oh, don’t mind the tape along the bottoms of the cabinets either.  Ben was working on sealing the counter tops again and I wanted to protect my hard work.

Actually, we’re not because we still have trim to add.  See the tops?  Yeah, we’ll finish that off with the same crown moulding we’ve used throughout the house.  Rather than cut the tiles for the back splash around the crown, we’ll attach the crown after the tile is done for a seamless look.

The same goes for the vertical piece along the back of the cabinets.

I debated waiting to paint everything at the same time, but decided against it because I want to get shelves up and use those babies!

To find the shelving height, I started placing our dishes in the cabinet.  A piece of tape marks where I want a shelf placed.

After deciding on the height of each shelf, Ben drilled four holes, one in each corner, for the pins to rest in.  We used something like the silver L style:

The height of each shelf is adjustable two inches in either direction, too, so we I can move the dishes around for the best look and fit.

The lower the shelves, the more often the dishes get used.  So our everyday glasses, mugs, and plates are the lowest for shorties like myself.  I want to add a third shelf in each cabinet for lesser used, but pretty dishes.  Ben wants to space the shelves out more evenly, but have only two.  Seeing as we had two shelves in our old cabinets which were a foot shorter, I think we need to utilize the height we added by removing the soffit.

Those are the only shelves we’ve installed so far.  We’ll be sure to share more info on the process and pictures when we get the other shelves in place.

• Buy all appliances: sink, stove, vent hood, dishwasher
• Tear out the upper cabinets and soffit {more on that here}
• Add support on load bearing wall before tearing out
• Knock down the wall between the living room and kitchen {more on that here}
• Install the vent hood {more on that here}
• Remove the lower cabinets, counter tops, and sink
• Rip out the tile floor and sub floor {more on that here}
• Install the new hardwood floors {more on that here}
• Build toe kick bases, wire everything for lights, replace the cabinets and sink {more on that here}
• Get the new stove in place and hooked up {more on that here}
• Add the cabinet above the fridge and frame it out {more on thathere}
• Install the new dishwasher {more on that here}
• Build the five remaining drawers we’ve waited on (we needed to see how things were in place before we could build one drawer in the dining room, the trash can pull out, and the under the sink drawer)  {more on that here}
• Fill, sand, prime and paint said drawers
• Install every drawer, 16 total 
• Decide on sconces and buy them {more on that here}
• Buy the wood for the counters 
• Haul the wood slabs to a cabinet shop to have them sand both sides smooth {more on that here}
• Cut the wood to fit and install the counters {more on that here}
• Add decorative face trim to all cabinets for a smooth, pretty, even front {more on that here}
• Fill, sand, prime, and paint all cabinet faces {more on that here}
• Install the toe kicks and rope lighting
• Hang the upper cabinets
• Build the drawer fronts
• Buy bar stools {more on the debate here}
• Fill, sand, prime, and paint the drawer fronts 
• Install the drawer fronts and hardware pulls {more on that here}
• Add crown molding to the top of the cabinets
• Cut shelves for the cabinets
• Build the cabinet doors, including two glass front doors
• More filling, sanding, priming, and painting of the cabinet doors
• Sand the ceiling and walls smooth
• Prime and paint the kitchen and living room.  Probably the dining room too.
• Add lights: sconces, light over the sink, and recessed light halos
• Trim out the posts and door frames
• Decide whether we want to add decorative trim to the vent hood or paint it to match the wall color
• Install the pretty new marble tile backsplash
• Put everything back in place and enjoy

Next on our to do list: cut shelves, build cabinet doors, and install trim so we can get started on our back splash.

What’s on your to do list?  Something resolution related?  I know I’m going to get some cleaning and orgainzing done.