My kitchen is in bad shape. The home was built in 1967, and when I moved in, my kitchen contained some of the most dated looking appliances I had ever seen. I mean, even my grandmother wouldn't have them in her house. The oven I am sure is the original from when the home was built, and the microwave was this large noisy monster that heated parts of your food to scorching temperatures and left other parts ice cold. (That's my mother's purse on the counter, by the way).

Within a couple weeks of moving in, I replaced the stove and microwave with something much more recent. However, I am left with the problem of old cabinets and hardware, an old linoleum floor, a 1970's marble-effect counter top, and a big hole in the wall where the oven was. Needless to say, my kitchen needs remodeling.

I called over the ever-so-savvy Patti Culton who sold me the home to get her opinions on what I could do to make things look better for someone on a missionary budget. All this stuff is so new to me, and I've never even thought about cabinet hardware or recessed lighting in my life!

Since coming to Kansas City and meeting Dwayne and Jennifer Roberts, I've been introduced to the cool world of IKEA, a super-cheap and modern home furnishings store. Unfortunately, IKEA has not yet come to Kansas City, and the closest one is in Minneapolis.

But fortunately, we are going to Minneapolis for the regional onething conference there at the end of this month. And we are already planning a team outing to IKEA! SWEET!

Except I still have no idea how I want my kitchen to look. Right now I am thinking I paint my cabinets (but I have no idea what color), get new hardware for them, and put in some recessed lighting. That won't so much break my budget and hopefully will make my kitchen look more 2007 than 1977 :)

So if you are more savvy in this area than I am or have remodeled a kitchen yourself and want to give me some tips, leave me a comment and help me out!