Mel’s Kitchen Cafe: Redesigned!
It’s here! You guys, it’s here! My new look, er, I mean, my website’s new look has officially launched and as you are reading this, I’m doing heel kicks and high fives in my 1-inch square kitchen. Seriously. I’m just so giddy about it. I’m pretty sure I have a dorky perma-grin plastered on my face and it may be here all week.
This whole makeover has been a long time in coming. For the last five years, I’ve designed and managed the look of my blog by my very untrained self, which meant thousands of google searches to get it how I wanted and a lot of trial and error (so sorry about all those times I broke my website while you were trying to search for your favorite cookie recipe). But I knew that finally it was time to hand over the design reigns to people far more knowledgeable and trained than I. Enter, Melissa and Erin of Wooden Spoons Kitchen.
Simply put, not only are these ladies uber-talented (bloggers/designers/website technicians) but they happen to be two of the nicest people I’ve ever met {as in, virtually met, of course} and have responded to my freak outs and questions with true grace and patience. Their efforts have surpassed my expectations by miles and I am so, so happy with how it all turned out.
Please make note that my pretty lil’ website is going to look smokin’ hot in Chrome or Firefox browsers. Any wonky behavior noticed in Internet Explorer can be avoided by using one of the aforementioned browsers.
Feel free to take a look around the place.
Here are a few highlights in addition to it’s beauty:
-All the recipes are still here in the beautiful new recipe index (I appreciate your longsuffering patience as I’m still going through many of my old archived posts to update images which will allow the Recipe Index to function perfectly!).
-Several pages (like About, Tutorials, Best Recipe, etc.) have undergone some face lifts.
-The recipe format is printable, saveable to Ziplist and as cute as can be.
-On each post, the images have a sweet little Pin It button so if you hover over them, you’ll see the adorableness therein.
-The sidebar to the right still houses social media links, popular posts and a few other goodies.
-Did you check out the footer? Love.
-And get a load of the awesome search bar in the header. I’m pretty sure my life is complete with that one. In fact, the search bar is probably the best tool on this site to find a recipe you are looking for so don’t be afraid to use it and use it often.
I really hope you love the new look as much as I do. Thank you, Melissa and Erin!
It is a good day. The end.
P.S. Stay tuned this week for the most outrageous dessert I’ve ever made and a giveaway to celebrate all this makeover craziness!
I thought your blog looked fantastic before, and I’m totally impressed you did it all yourself. I bet its nice to hand it off and let someone else handle all the bugs! It looks great, and of course, the food is amazing! Congrats!
Wow…it looks awesome! I love the color choices! I do have to say, though, that I’m impressed that your previous look was all diy…I don’t mean to take away from how awesome it is now, just to say that I didn’t know you did it yourself before 🙂
Thanks, everyone! Just a few updates: Brianna, the fix for the iPad will be rolled out later tonight, most likely, thanks for the heads up! Judy, the sandwiches/wraps are back in the Recipe Index? {Thanks Erin and Melissa for fixing those things so quickly!}
Love the new look! Congrats!
So beautiful and exciting! I’m happy for you, Mel!!
Looks fabulous! Love the header:)
I haven’t explored much yet but so far the mobile site looks amazing! Huge improvement, thank you! And I am totally stoked about the search feature.
I love the new site, but I liked your old one too. You are super talented!
I usually hate change of any kind, but I love the clean look of your new website design. I’ve followed you from the beginning so I have fond memories of your early blog posts and the old website. You have been a blessing to many of us throughout the years.
Congrats, looks great!
Beautiful! So fresh and clean. I think my favorite part though, is your cute, friendly picture! Great job and congratulation, Mel! 😉
Love the new look! I especially like the colors and the layout. Fav thing : “Tried and true recipes baby”. Congrats!
I love love love it! 🙂
It’s beautiful, Mel! There are always always always kinks that can’t be foreseen when a new site is launched, so I will be very, very VERY patient while they all get worked out. And I, for one, think that your ads are really unobtrusive (and of course not just deserved but essential as a blog is so much work). That must be why some didn’t realize that you’ve had them for so much time!
Well done, beautiful, airy space. Cheers!
xoxo Nicole
You go girl! So happy for you Mel! A great new look, I´m not surprised at all
Welcome back Mel, everything looks great! 🙂
It looks so wonderful! Love it 🙂
Someone else commented about this on your Facebook page, but it appears that sandwiches and wraps are missing. The link at the top doesn’t take you anywhere and then I scrolled down through the categories and it’s not there either.
Love it Mel! Congrats!
LOVE the new look!! (and so happy it’s back up!! *wee* panic attack on Saturday when I couldn’t access it… EVEN THOUGH you gave advance warning… lol)
On Friday I almost had a panic attack when I realized your site was down all weekend. So excited for you and your new design. My family loves that this mamma is trying new recipes. In the past I have tried famous cooks recipes and we have not liked them. So for awhile I stopped trying new recipes until I found your site! Thanks for all your hard work.
It looks great Mel!
Love the new site! The colors…everything, but I wanted you to know that right now as I am looking at it on an ipad, the links to the pages at the top may need adjusted. The link for your about page actually only spells “bout” not about. It looks like the “a” is hiding under your kitchen cafe banner.
LOVE your new design, Melanie! Congrats. It looks clean and neat!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the new look! They did an amazing job!
It looks fantastic! I’m excited for you, Mel. You are so talented, so inspiring. I just love you and your blog and am happy that you are happy with all the changes! I loved it before, and am sure it will be fabulous and am eager to explore the makeover! Thank you so, so much for all that you share.
I love the new site! I just wanted to say that I have been a faithful follower since the beginning! Even when you and the sisters were doing a blog! Your recipes are the best. Congrats!
Love the new look Mel!!! I wanna update mine now, just by seeing yours. My husband will probably kill me, hehe. Can’t wait to look around and see all the cool new things. PS Can not wait to see what dessert you made! I am excited and will be waiting for your email!! 🙂 Congrats Mel!
Mel, it looks so good!! I’m in the process and cannot wait – especially after seeing yours!!
Looks fabulous! I love the new look. I love your writing style. I love your recipes. You are just a wonderful girl. Thank you!
The new website looks great! What I can see of it anyway…I don’t know what the issue is, and it’s probably just my computer, but for some reason your site has shown up for the last several months with print so tiny that I can barely read it, and even the new look hasn’t changed that. Anyone else have this problem or is it just me? I don’t seem to have the same problem with any other blogs.
It looks GREAT!!! The search is wonderful and love the added pics!! So glad to you have you back! (yes, I realize it was only two days but you were missed!) 🙂
Congrats on the new website Mel. It looks really lovely. Of course….the food that you stand behind and write about is what makes your blog the best in the whole wide world! But its nice to have a face lift! 🙂 Congratulations again!
Hi Summer – I completely understand where you are coming from but believe it or not, I’ve had ads on my site for four years now! In fact, all the ads on the site you see now are almost exactly where they were on the old design…so that’s one component that didn’t get changed much.
Love the new look of your site! I totally understand why, but I’m sorta bummed you have advertisements on your blog now. You were one of the last blogs I follow who hadn’t accepted advertisements yet and I guess I got spoiled with the clean look of your old format. But seriously, with all the time and effort you put into this you deserve to get as much monetary value out of it as you can 🙂
Amazing new website, Mel! Congrats! I sure love your site. You do such an amazing job at suggesting new things that my family loves. Thanks for being a family-friendly, yummy, fun place to go. Great job!
I’m going to miss scrolling through your recipes in simple list form, sans photos. I felt like I was getting to know each and every one, and the names alone were so enticing. Your previous site will always be treasured.
I love the new look! Of all the food blogs I read, your search bar is my very, very favorite. It is the most user-friendly and helpful. I’m so glad that didn’t change! But I do love the addition of the pics. I LOVE your blog!
Looks so great! Your site is my very most favorite! It is my go to site for wonderful recipes! Thanks for your inspiration!
Love it Mel! Nice work
Everything looks wonderful. You are very blessed to have great help! Can’t wait to get cooking!
Love it, Mel! Congratulations on a gorgeous new site, but know that I’m just here for the food (and your wit and charm), pretty site or not-so-pretty site. 😉
Karen (and others) – yes, yes, I know that many of you are missing the photos on the print page. I’m looking into it, promise! But it might take a while so promise me patience and know that I’m working to add that functionality back in.
Love it! No really!! I love it!
I love your website! The new look is great. Looking forward to exploring in the days to come.
Love it!!
I missed that the pictures wouldn’t print on the recipe, is this option back?
Love the site, it really is beautiful. 🙂
Looking good!
I like seeing the picture of what each recipe looks like in the index when you click on the “More” button.
Mel!!! Your site looks FANTASTIC! I love the redesign. The index absolutely rocks!
Beautiful!!! We love your recipes.
Love, love it!