You said you wanted before pictures that would scare you. This kitchen was definitely scary. It took me over a year doing the cabinets and built-in with maple and bird’s eye maple centre panels. I tried to incorporate as many unique features in the kitchen as possible. The range hood is actually a curved cupboard door that lifts up for more storage space. One drawer was built on an angle so that when it fully extends it misses hitting the stove. The wine rack is made of ABS pipe (a hint I saw in Fine Homebuilding). The cupboard door to the right of the dishwasher is false, hiding a mini fridge. The one thing I’m most proud of is the fact that I installed about 30 ft of granite counters for under $500. This black granite came from a used hotel liquidator. They were actually seven granite top desks. I ripped off about an inch for the proper width and glued the extra piece with the profile under to make it appear thicker. I used the apron front sink because I was too nervous to try to cut curves in the granite to fit a sink.
