Our colonial home we bought last summer was a complete fixer upper in so many ways, but we were delighted the kitchen had at least one upgrade that made it further along in the update process than a 1970s kitchen.
While there is so much about our kitchen I want to renovate (floors!, counters!, backsplash!), we do feel like we can preserve the existing cabinets. Extra tall, built-in overhead cabinetry that climbs all the way up to the ceiling is the dream, but I feel like I can create the same vertical, built-in effect with a little creativity on the existing soffits.
As a side note, our house has so many soffits. Were these “in” for a time? What is the deal! Most of them we will rip out, but in the interest of keeping these cabinets and having the all-the-way-up-to-the-ceiling look, my idea to make the soffits work was installing some character-filled sconces directly into them.
We used nine sconces for our approximately 13x13 foot kitchen. Even with so many kitchen changes still on my to-do list, having these makes our kitchen feel instantly full of personality. I can hardly wait to further frame them out with some crown molding.
I am a home decor and food blogger on my personal blog, so with a kitchen post I thought I’d have to share a recipe too! You may have caught sight of those Raspberry & Pistachio Pancakes with Chocolate Drizzle sitting on the counter.
Raspberry & Pistachio Pancakes
with Chocolate Drizzle
Serves 3 to 4
- 1 and 1/2 cups flour
- 3 tablespoons cocoa
- 3 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 and 1/2 cups milk
- 1 egg
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 pint raspberries
- 1/4 cup pistachios, chopped
- 3/4 cup milk chocolate chips, melted
- Additional butter
In a large bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Whisk in milk, egg, melted butter, and vanilla. Grease a large skillet with additional butter. Over medium heat, pour 1/4 cup of batter into skillet. Once bubbles form, flip until cooked throughout, about 1 minute. Serve pancakes topped with raspberries, chopped pistachios and chocolate drizzle.
