The kitchen work in progress

Now we're tackling the kitchen. I'm not sure you can fully appreciate the "before" from just this picture. The countertops were laminate that had been painted and then sponge painted over that. Unfortunately, the top coat of paint flakes off so besides being ugly, it's not really food-friendly. You can see the painted countertops have also faded. The extension cord was my only electrical outlet here because the two on this side of the kitchen were located behind the stove and behind the fridge. I do love my double oven I bought as a scratch and dent shortly after moving in. I also bought Chris's fridge when he moved to Japan so I now have an in-door ice/water dispenser. So, it's a bit a mix but it fits my budget and works well.
Steve started by adding an electrical outlet on each side of the stove.
We've started the new tile - cut to size but not yet glued down.
Steve added four new outlets so now my kitchen will be up to code on that and no more extension cord for the countertop appliances. Below, you can see the cord for the telephone that had to be plugged in through the hole in the bottom of the upper cabinet (that was the only electrical outlet on that counter. We're doing new laminated countertops. While I'd love to be able to afford something really great; this is kind of a facelift on a budget, but I'm really excited about how it's coming together.
I'll update as we continue - it takes a while but we're enjoying working on the project together after work hours.