Before and After kitchen Renovations

What's a baking blogger to do with a kitchen that looks like this? Michelle, the woman behind Hummingbird High, wrote to us about the recently completed gut remodel of her kitchen. After dealing with an outdated space — one that didn't actually have a proper place for her refrigerator — she finally has a kitchen perfectly tailored to her baking habits.

We're officially ready to call Michelle's kitchen swoon-worthy. From the farmhouse sink and the gray and white cabinets, to the beautiful marble countertops, this remodel has so many of the things we love in a contemporary kitchen.

Michelle replaced everything, from top to bottom, and she shares a breakdown of where she purchased it all on her site. In addition to consolidating her range and refrigerator onto one wall, Michelle also created a baking station for herself.

The station houses all of Michelle's baking ingredients, and has a dedicated space for her mint-green KitchenAid mixer. There's also a smaller counter where she can roll out pie crusts, sugar cookie doughs, and more. Such an important space for a prolific baker!

Possibly our favorite aspect of the remodel is what Michelle did with this part of her kitchen — the breakfast nook was pretty dark and separate, thanks to the archway that blocked off the space. Take a look at the nook now.

We would be happy to have breakfast in this kitchen every single morning. In addition to removing the archway, Michelle also expanded one of the windows to let in more light, and instead of cramming the space with a kitchen cart and breakfast table, she had benches built in. She writes on her blog that she decided to go with the benches because they were more cost effective than getting a full dining set for the space. (And they have some added storage.)

When you get a close-up look at the breakfast-nook benches, you'll see that Michelle has wasted no space in her kitchen. Both seats have built-in storage that can be accessed by the doors on the ends. Plus, she's used the end of the bench as extra cookbook storage. Perfect for doing some recipe planning at the kitchen table on a weekend morning! Check out more photos of Michelle's kitchen on her blog, Hummingbird High.