I had always meant to post the kitchen in our rental house to critique, but it never stays neat long enough for photos.

Then i realized I had a photo from before we moved in.

So, here it is, below. And my observations.

Interestingly, no backsplash at all, just paint. And the cabinets don't go all the way to the ceiling. Still, I like the look, and I think it is all about the paint (chocolate) and white trim, and the good amount of windows. (In the second photo, to the right, you can see a doorway to the dining room, also light filled). In the foreground in the second photo, is the breakfast room. I wasnt crazy about high seating but i love the table. Chairs are pottery barn slipcovered white cotton duck -- they wore great and clean well.

Appliances: M/w, then double ovens. I would not have stacked three but they work fine. Angled in a corner looks better than Id have thought, but on one side it hits the drawer when you open it!

Fridge - KA side by side that the landlord/investor clearly used to replace a built in, since we have big gaps all around. Detest this baby. Fridge side is too small to fit anything. And if you eat pizza, youd better do so in full-pie increments. No box goin' in there.

Cooktop - viking electric radiant. Hate this. Very poor heat control, and forever to boil a cup of tea. Only positive is that flat surface is de facto counter space when you have it off.

Sink, - dual stainless. The big side is too small ...the small side I cannot decide what to use it for?

Counters- black granite. Looks nice, a bit of a pain to keep spotless.

KA d/w - Compared to my Akso, noisy, takes forever, and spots. May also be due to well water?

Floors - very dark stain. Cool look, wears terribly. We've been here 7 months and you can pretty much trace our path. It may be that they just threw dark stain on the wrong kind of wood. But also, keeping these clean is terrible. They need almost daily mopping to stay pristine. Far worse than the midtone floors in my other kitchen.

Layout and amount of storage - layout works pretty well, for a one cook kitchen. I like smaller kitchens because you can reach everything. Counter behind range feels very open due to windows. Large built in pantry to the right holds a lot. Cupboard space is sufficient for our situation, but would not hold my appliances or any special occasion stuff. I don't like the look of islands with seating, but you cannot beat it for feeding three kids a casual meal.

There you go, fwiw!

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}