Operation: Update Kitchen 2011

I've been thinking about launching Operation: Update Kitchen for a while, but a pesky little pipe burst incident last week ruined my kitchen floor, and so Op: UK 2011 (oooooh, heeeey...that's so British. Maybe Daniel Craig will come help me on this project. Or the hot English guy who works at Barnes and Noble...but I digress) has been moved from a "someday-soon" project to a "right-now" project. Actually, this is probably good timing because the cold is keeping us home and indoors more than usual, and a big project might be just the thing to keep me busy. (oh, who am I kidding? I need another project like I need another three-year-old, but whatever. It's time to get this done.)

My kitchen is a teeeeeeny-tiny galley style kitchen, and you'd thing this would make it easier, but in fact it makes it more difficult because everything has to be efficient and practical and space saving. It's the first thing you see when you walk into my condo, so I want it to be friendly and fun, yet easy to keep neat and clean. I already have nice stainless appliances, so the necessary updates are mainly cosmetic, which require either paying someone to do the work for me, or doing it myself. Since a trip to Hawaii is calling my name for April and Riley and I are spending time back east in June, I'm opting for DIY.
To make this more fun for myself and to keep me motivated, I'm issuing myself a little challenge. And I'm posting it here to keep myself accountable.

The Op: UK 2011 challenge is as follows:

• As much as is possible, the current kitchen materials will be re-used or repurposed (I'm keeping it green, folks.)
  
• I will do as much of the work as is possible, but will gladly accept friends and family's help. I'll probably hire out having the floor tiled, because I just don't even want to deal with that.
• I'm allotting myself the total $$ of the insurance payout for the floor (minus the plumbing fees) plus $500 to do this project. The insurance was more than fair, but it's still a lot of work to do on a limited budget, so I'll have to be careful.
  
• I still have to maintain a functioning kitchen, so it's going to be important to have a strategy for what is done, when.
  
• This project has to be done by April 1, 2011. Because April is about when biking season ramps back up and, let's face it, I'm not gonna be working on my kitchen when I could be on my bike.

Sounds like fun, right?

So what do I need to do?

• Cut out this corner, so my kitchen opens up to my living room. This is something I've wanted to do for a while, and I think it will make a big difference in the room.
  

• refinish the cabinets. I've already started stripping and sanding.

• Paint the walls (depending on what color the cabinets end up, the walls will either be white or blue).

• install new countertops (probably IKEA butcher block).
  
• install open shelving over the refrigerator.
  
• new lighting.
• new tile floors.
• new kitchen faucet. Because I hate the one I have right now.
  

I think it's doable. And I think it will be great to have it done and out of the way. My plan is to update here every week or so, provided some progress was made. Can't wait to get it underway.