Kitchen Remodel: Before and Soffit Removal

We're finally almost finished with our kitchen remodel, and I finally got a card reader to download photos from my camera, so here we go! A few before shots:

As you can see, our kitchen felt small and out-dated. And we didn't care for the style of it, nor did it match the rest of our house. So, to get started we had the cabinets, countertops and appliances removed:

Next, since it served no functional purpose, we decided to have the soffit removed to create a more open feel, and give us another 10 inches of vertical space in the upper cabinets.

After the soffit came out, all of the wiring had to be moved up above the beams, and the drywall repaired:

We were then left with one night to quickly get the room painted before the cabinets were to be installed the next morning! (A huge thanks to my bestie Linda for helping me tackle this job while Phil was in class. Press on soldier! :) You can see my test swatches in the photo above. We ended up going with the middle swatch, Behr Ultra Premium Plus Flat/Matte in Roman Plaster.

Sorry for the dark photo. It was early in the morning and I only had a quick moment to snap a picture before the installers got started. Up next, the cabinets and countertops!