My Kitchen Makeover.

I wasn't going to share this, but it occurred to me that many people are in a similar living situation to myself, namely, you live in an apartment and can't do much about how it looks.  I've lived in my place for over three years, and as much as I like it, the kitchen is absolute crap.

I know, everybody in the world hates their kitchen.  Who is designing all these bad kitchens?  Who in the world thinks that four square feet of countertop is enough?  Get it together, architects.  Or interior designers.  No, I'm going with the architects on this one.  THE WORLD NEEDS MORE OPEN FLOOR PLANS.

But now I hate my kitchen slightly less, because I got a Kitchen Micro-Makeover!

I'm too lazy to look through past posts to see if I mentioned that my mom and her boyfriend (who is, as of last weekend, her husband) visited in November.  Well if I didn't, they did, and they gave me something SPECTACULAR.  They had it all planned out ahead of time.  They came, got tanked on franzia, took me out for thai food, took me out for indian food, slapped this thing up, then left.  It was the best parental visit anyone has ever had, ever.

 I don't have a 'before' shot, and yes, the makeover was limited to just the stove.  Let me walk you through it... (Just imagine the 'before' for a sec--the 'before' was a bare wall, a stove with 4 exposed burners, and a trash can.)

The 'after' shows a cute backsplash, racks for used-often pans and utensils, a shelf for spices and another shelf over two burners that houses my induction cooktop, a marble cutting board/trivet, and a cup for spoons.

The backsplash is just contact paper.  I wasn't sure when my mom was drunkenly slapping it up if it was necessary, but I now know it's fucking magic.  Grease wipes right off, and even if there's crap stuck to it, the pattern camouflages it.  If it ever gets so gross that I don't feel like magic-eraser-ing it, then I can peel it off and put up a new one.  One roll of contact paper did the job, and the one we used was leftover from lining my drawers and cabinets, so now everything matches!  If you've never bought contact paper, it's magic and cheap, and even if you spring for the cool deco rolls, you'll never be out more than $10.

The shelf is just a cheap floating shelf, not more than 18" long.  It's perfect for the spices I reach for most, which include trinidad garlic lemon marinade/seasoning, chipotle chili powder, garam masala, garlic, thai spice, curry powder, rosemary, basil, salt and pepper.  This one is from target, $10.

The rods and hooks are from Ikea, and according to my mother, the whole operation (two rods, three sets of hooks) came in under $40.  I'm not sure how that's possible, even at Ikea, but I'm using it to house my induction cookware.  The bar on the side keeps my tongs and spatula collection at the ready, and a spare hook holds a rag.

The red shelf is just a piece of plywood, sanded and spray painted.  It's not just resting on the stove: underneath the board on the left hand side there's a support screwed into the wall, and the shelf is screwed into the support.  The vent on my stove is in the center back, so a notch is cut out of the shelf to make sure there's no blockage.  The burners underneath are still fully functional, so I removed the stove knobs to avoid any accidents.  Cost on this was nada.  Greg had the spare wood, I had the spray paint.

On top of the shelf: my induction cooktop.  I've been cooking on this for a little over a year, and I love it.  It's amazing.  If you have an electric stove, get one of these.  It's faster, and you have exact temperature control.  If you have a gas stove, get one of these.  It's faster, and you have exact temperature control.  Do you want to know how long it takes me to boil a pot of water with this?  It'll only make you sick.  You really want to know?  For a big-ass pot of water?  THREE FUCKING MINUTES.  If that's not enough to make you buy one of these immediately, let me tell you something else.  Because it cooks with electromagnetic energy, it's only the cookware in contact with the cooktop that gets hot.  If you touch your hand to the ceramic cookplate, it feels cool.  And after I flash-boil that pot of water?  The metal handles are still cool to the touch--no potholder needed.  It's kitchen voodoo.  And because it heats only what it's in contact with, very little heat is wasted.  That means it doesn't heat up my kitchen with wasted, inefficient energy, and bonus, only costs about 12 cents per hour to run.  /end sell.

Here's a link to my model on Amazon.
So that's it, my Kitchen Micro-Makeover.  All in all, less than $50 to turn my stove into something that made sense.  (Less than $50 because I already had the contact paper, paint, induction burner and Greg had the wood pieces.  Pay attention.)
I am not going to say that my kitchen is awesome, but part of it is.  And damn if I can't cook an egg in a hurry.