Kitchen Face Lift Part 1

My husband told me I should title this post "Kitchen Botox" because he said what we're doing isn't enough to be considered a face lift. You can be the judge.

Here is our kitchen now:

One of my main gripes is the tile:

The main problem is the grout. Not only is it white and therefore extremely dirty, it is also chipping off in some areas. Also, there once was a sealant of some sort on the tile that has been partially buffed off (we got our floors professionally cleaned when we first moved in - we blame them), so dirt collects in the areas without sealant and it always looks gross, no matter how hard we try to scrub it clean.

We have already bought some sealant to try and have picked a new grout color (the color of light dirt - might not look fancy, but it won't look dirty), so the next step is to use a dremel tool to remove the old grout and re-grout with a darker color. Then, we'll wait a couple of days and seal everything all at once - tile and grout.

Another issue I have with our kitchen is that there is no proper silverware drawer. We need the silverware near the dishwasher and the only drawers that are sort of close are tiny little square ones. Right now, we have our silverware in a lower cupboard. 

I told you I wanted to get this island from Crate and Barrel and I still love it (especially because it's black), but I found this one today at Target for half the price:

Downside of the cheaper Target island? It's white and will get really dirty and it doesn't look as substantial and sturdy as the Crate and Barrel one. BUT it is half the price... decisions, decisions...

We also want to paint the kitchen. The yellow was my favorite when we first moved it in, but now that our living room is so fancy, I think we need to update the color of the kitchen. I want to paint three of the walls a light grey like this:

Benjamin Moore Smoke Embers

Then, I want to paint the fourth wall - the one with the little bar against it and the trash cans - with black chalkboard paint and hang a bunch of frames in a big collage. Some frames will have pictures in them and some won't, kind of like this:

Image from Isabella and Max Rooms

Here's a kitchen with an island and one chalkboard wall, though it is much bigger and fancier than ours:

Image found via Decor Pad

I thought I wanted to paint our old white refrigerator with chalkboard paint as well, like this:

Image from here

But I went on craigslist today on a whim and found the best deal ever on a new stainless steel fridge. 

Can you believe this baby only cost $375??? With free delivery and a 90 day guarantee?? I thought it was too good to be true until it showed up in my kitchen. And it isn't broken or anything. There is one teeny tiny dent on bottom of the front of the freezer drawer, but it can barely be seen, so we don't care. 

Yes, our fridge is in front of a window. Yes, we're putting the new fridge there. Honestly, there is no other place to put it. We are planning on closing off that window one day, but that's not part of the face lift. That will require a contractor and a bigger budget.

The last thing we want is a subway tile backsplash. We priced out the tiles at home depot and after measure the area to be tiled, we'll only need $32 worth of tile. Add on another $20 for grout and thinset and we're golden. My father in law already has all the other supplies we'll need as he built his own house from the ground up. I want the grout to be dark and the tile white like this:

Image from here

And that completes the face lift! Of course, I'll keep you updates on things as they unfold. I'm hoping we can finish before I go back to work in August.

What do you think? Any advice? What's the one room in your house that your dying to give a face lift?