The Open Kitchen Reveal in Our Waco Fixer Upper Home

I believe the kitchen is the heart of the home. This is why I am so excited to share our open kitchen in our Waco Fixer Upper Home.

I am so proud of the open kitchen in our Waco Fixer upper home. It’s light, airy and an open kitchen and I am so happy with the end result. Just so you can appreciate how far this kitchen has come, here is what it looked like when we bought the home.

Not a lot needs to be said about this “before” photo. The kitchen used to be located in the back of the house but we extended the home an additional ten feet out the back. The entire left side of the house is where you will find the “common areas” (living room, dining room, and kitchen) and the new open kitchen is still located in the rear of the home.

Let’s look at some of the progress photos.

This photo shows what the room looked like before we added the addition to the back of the kitchen.

I can’t even begin to tell you how happy I was to find that gorgeous wood ceiling hiding under the drywall. And paper.

You can see in the photo here where we added on to the back of the kitchen.

As soon as the windows were installed I knew we were going to have an amazing kitchen.

Insulation and electrical were added as you can see in the photo below. You can see the vintage wood I found that matched the existing ceiling. I was so happy when we found it.

Our cabinets look simply amazing. Wow.

I found the island at the Round Top Antique show. It cost $250 and it was an old store counter. I didn’t paint it as that is the original color. Eventually, I removed the wood top (seen below) and added a butcher block top.

The Open Kitchen Concept

I went with a white kitchen because I love white kitchens. And I think they are timeless. I decided to go with an “open kitchen” concept and installed open shelves up top with lower cabinets.

I  have always wanted open shelving in a kitchen and this was my chance! Here you can see the butcher block island top which is from a local hardware store.

How to Outfit Your Open Kitchen

Long before our kitchen was complete, I put together a plan to outfit our kitchen. I designed it just as if the kitchen was my own, even though it is rented as an Airbnb. I created a cleaning area, baking prep area, coffee area, and serving area (the island). Furnishing a brand new kitchen is a huge task and yet I selected everything online that we needed in our kitchen for dining, cooking, and entertaining.

I can’t even believe how well stocked our kitchen is and I am thrilled I had the chance as soon as the house was done to entertain some friends! I hosted some of my closest blogging friends and I was thrilled to be able to cook for them. My guests included Sarah at Dreaming of Homemaking, Carissa at Bless this Nest, Amy with Cuter Tudor, Leanna with Life By Leanna, Karianne with Thistlewood Farms, Amy with Living Locorto, and Megan with TxSizedHome.

Starting with the Kitchen Basics

My shopping started off by searching all of the kitchen items online. The first item I chose was my everyday dishes. I chose the Bee & Willow™ Home Milbrook 16-Piece Dinnerware Set in White and also added some serving pieces such as the Bee & Willow™ Home Milbrook Serving Bowl in White. I love how these are stored in the lower drawers in the kitchen. They are so much easier to access!

I also selected the J.A. Henckels International Madison Square Stainless Steel 65-Piece Flatware Set because I love this stainless flatware!

One of the most important items in my kitchen is my knives. As a serious cook, I am really picky about my “tools” and I love my Farberware Stamped 15-Piece High-Carbon Stainless Steel Knife Block Set, Steak Knives.

Baking Must Haves

The first items I cooked in our kitchen were blueberry muffins. I mixed the batter in the glass bowls from my 10-Piece Tempered Glass Nesting Mixing and Prep Bowl Set and baked the muffins in the muffin pan from the Chicago Metallic Commercial II Non-Stick 6-Piece Bakeware Set, Silver.  My baking staples such as sugar and flour were placed in Kilner® Square Clip Top Canning Jars and I used the Baker’s Dozen 13-Piece Measuring Cups and Spoons Set. I also used various sizes of Pyrex® Measuring Cups.

The muffins look great on my DOWAN Large Serving Platter -14.5 Inches Serving Plates, White Rectangle Platters. Don’t laugh but I chose seven serving pieces for our kitchen. When you entertain, serving pieces are a must!

My Favorite Meal to Make That Looks Way Harder Than it Is

I cooked the first dinner in my kitchen that evening and chose to make fresh pasta! I used my new KitchenAid® Artisan® 5 qt. Stand Mixer in White and the 3-Piece Pasta Roller Attachment Set for the KitchenAid. If you don’t own these you should put them on your holiday list. Making fresh pasta is such a treat and once you make it you will never go back to the boxed kind! (And yes, I am pretty sure I have the only Airbnb with a KitchenAid and the attachments needed to make fresh pasta!)

The wine glasses are Wine Glasses (Set of 12) and I got the stemless wine glasses too. Their quality and prices are amazing.

Must Have Small Appliances

In addition to the KitchenAid mixer, I selected what I consider to be the “must-have” small appliances to our kitchen. This includes a KitchenAid® 5-Speed Classic Blender with Intelli-Speed™ Motor Control, a Cuisinart® 2-Slice Metal Toaster in Stainless Steel, and a Black & Decker™ 1.1 cu. ft. Microwaver Oven. 

I placed the microwave in my vintage pantry and I love it there! (We can pretend I measured it beforehand. This was complete luck!)

I made breakfast the next morning! It was quite a feast and here is my friend Leanna enjoying the buffet!

I was so excited to use my new Farberware® Millennium Nonstick Coated Stainless Steel 10-Piece Cookware Set. These pans are the best and much nicer than what we have at home!

The Coffee Station

I think the most important area in our kitchen in the morning is the coffee station! 

I love my new Keurig® K-Duo Plus™ Coffee Maker with Single Serve K-Cup Pod & Carafe Brewer. It makes a full pot of coffee and/or individual K-cups and we have this same one at home. The mugs are part of my Bee & Willow™ Home Milbrook 16-Piece Dinnerware Set in White. And the Keurig® Variety Pack Keurig® K-Cup® Pods (60-Count) were loved by everyone!

I hung the coffee cups on a vintage crib mattress spring. I love this!

One of the favorite items I ordered is the OXO 15-Piece Stainless Steel Kitchen Utensil Set. Remember I started with an empty kitchen. And this set had absolutely everything I needed to prep and cook.

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I hope you will add some of these wonderful kitchen items to your kitchen. I love my dream open kitchen in Waco and I am most excited that I get to share it with others!  You can find information about our Airbnb/VRBO rental here.

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