Kitchen: Mid-renovation

If you recall, this is what the kitchen looked like when we moved in:

Note the geese on the wallpaper in the background.

Over Spring Break, I painted the cabinets:


After failing at removing the wallpaper ourselves, we had a company come in and strip, repair, texture, and paint the walls. We also hung new blinds, and we bought a cool bar-height table and four tall chairs for the breakfast nook. It's been perfectly fine and functional.

But this week, along with having the den re-done, we're having the kitchen updated! The impetus behind this was the need for more pantry space and the desire for a gas range and oven. For the last 8 months, this is all the pantry space we've had:

Next to the (very shallow) pantry is an unreliable wall oven. The cooktop lives on the peninsula that separates the kitchen from the breakfast nook (as can be seen in the first and second pictures).

I've had a vision of replacing the cooktop with a gas range/oven, and using the wall space that would be created by removing the wall oven for an expanded pantry.

So on Monday, this happened:


And by this evening, here's what we had:


The builder is going to build in shelves and (at some point) hang doors. It can't really be seen in this picture, but he also ran wiring for an overhead light in the pantry!

And since we're going to all this trouble, this is also happening:


No more cooktop! We've ordered a gas range/oven from Sears, and it'll be installed tomorrow. We also had him tear down the hanging cabinet from above the cooktop. Having that monstrosity out of the way has really made the room feel much bigger and lighter. (We'll have an island-style range hood installed over the stove next week.)

Note, also, that the old white peeling countertop is gone! And what do we now have in its place?

Ubatuba granite and a beautiful, deep new sink!

Tomorrow the builder is installing a travertine tile backsplash. It is going to look so beautiful when it's all done! Oh, and since the blue walls look terrible, I need to pick out a new paint color for the kitchen. Any suggestions?

I'll post more pictures as things progress!