Atlanta Home Improvement Announces Winner of Kitchen Makeover Contest

Atlanta Home Improvement is excited to announce that Janet Riley’s “Make-Do” Kitchen has won our kitchen makeover contest! Janet will receive $10,000-worth of cabinet fronts and countertops courtesy of Kitchen Fronts of Georgia and Premier Surfaces, and the kitchen makeover will be featured in Atlanta Home Improvement’s December 2011 issue.

We just spoke to Janet, who says she is “thrilled” to be the winner of the kitchen makeover and “so blessed” by everyone who voted for her on our website. Janet, whose contest entry we dubbed the “Make-Do” Kitchen, was one of four finalists selected by Atlanta Home Improvement, Kitchen Fronts of Georgia and Premier Surfaces. Then, in late June, we posted the top four contest entries on our blog and handed the final decision to our readers, who cast their votes by leaving comments. The response was astounding, with 345 total votes cast as of July 22, when we closed the contest.

In the end, voters were most moved by Janet’s contest entry, which included photos of her deteriorating cabinet fronts and old laminate countertops plus a heart-felt essay about why the plans for her dream kitchen have been sidetracked:

“… Following our marriage in 1999, I moved into my new husband’s house. Not thrilled with parts of the kitchen, I accepted the laminate counters and press-board cabinet doors since it was to be our home for only a short time. Ed would retire from the Army in a couple years, by which time we would have nearly completed our personally designed new home. We planned to build OUR dream house together, which included MY dream kitchen. The dream was never realized, however, because my husband passed away a little more than 2 years later. My sweet husband didn’t make it to retirement. Not only was our dream home not to become reality, ALL our dreams together ended abruptly with his rather sudden passing. Today, 9 years later, I still live in that “temporary” house… I have come to love it, and I’m very happy to call home this house I did not choose…. but I long to fix the scarred countertop and those pitiful coming-apart cabinet doors! Great countertops and real wood cabinet fronts will make it my BEAUTIFUL dream kitchen, and I know my soldier angel will smile, smile.”

Now we move into the next phase of this exciting giveaway! In the coming weeks, representatives from Kitchen Fronts of Georgia and Premier Surfaces will contact Janet to begin the kitchen makeover, turning her “Make-Do” Kitchen into a “Must-Have” Kitchen. Congratulations, Janet, and thanks to everyone who participated in the contest! Follow the Atlanta Home Improvement blog, Facebook and Twitter, where we will be posting updates from Janet throughout each stage of the kitchen project.