A Dishwasher + Counter Space = A Happy Sewbot

I think I mentioned before that our house did not come with a dishwasher.  The kitchen also had very limited usable counter space.  Well, Jason and I developed a plan to remedy these problems and we've finished up the project (minus a couple of knobs and one custom door) and are ready to share. 

A little project background:
Our kitchen plan started out as an "L" shape.  A previous owner had moved the range to the other side of the kitchen, leaving an awkward void under the upper cabinets.  Back in 1956, this kitchen would have been an eat-in, but somebody who lived in this house before us kind of killed that by putting in an opening and counter between the kitchen and dining room.  We always eat in the dining room and weren't planning on turning this kitchen back into an eat-in space, so we concerned ourselves with making a better functioning place to work. 

The photograph below is our solution.  The cabinets coming from the left are the original 1956 cabinets.  We turned the existing "L" shaped floor plan into a "U" shape by adding the cabinetry that you see coming into the space in the photo. 


We hired an electrician to run a new circuit for the dishwasher.  Jason and our friend Andy changed a bit of the plumbing under the sink to hook in the dishwasher.  We purchased a pre-made cabinet and painted it to match the existing cabinets.  On the back side, we are adding a door to the void just past the dishwasher where we keep the cat stuff and bird seed.  We laminated the countertop ourselves (phew!!!!) and were able to find a laminate that was close (but not exact) to the original countertop. 
We learned a lot from this project and are really pleased with it.  We've at least doubled the usuable counterspace in this kitchen, installed a dishwasher, and have given ourselves a great place for a trash can.  It was fun to do this project together and make something that we'll use every day. 

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