in white cabinets

Sunday, January 10, 2016

OUR KITCHEN RENOVATION

I've been waiting forever to share the final pictures from our kitchen renovation with all of you. It's been complete for awhile and we are so happy with how it turned out. Doing a renovation during a record breaking winter was a bit rough. Being stuck inside with kids and no kitchen takes on a whole different meaning of survival. But we made it and it was so worth it! I'm so lucky to have a great friend like Jess at Jessica Delaney Photography who photographed our kitchen and to have it featured in the Boston Globe yesterday. Thank you Marni for writing up a great article and making me laugh through my month of kids sickness. Marni also has a great style blog you should check out Style Carrot.

Here's a little recap of our renovation. We began last year in what was to be a little "face lift" to get us to the big renovation. When we realized that the big renovation was more like adding an additional house onto our current house, we decided to make the "face lift" a little more permanent. We knew going into this that it wouldn't be our forever kitchen but that we would be living with it for awhile. Making it something that we loved and was functional for our family was our top priority. Our house is a center entrance colonial and I wanted to keep some traditional with modern touches. We like having a formal dining room, so the option to take down the wall between the dining room and kitchen was out and we were left to work with the footprint we had, which was a wide galley kitchen. Not wide enough to add an island but wide enough to incorporate a seating area. The kitchen is the heart of the home no matter how big or small, so I wanted a place to gather. I still laugh when I think back, trying to block people out of my outdated kitchen but everyone still managed to sneak in there.

My husband, a type A planner and myself, an ADHD creative thinker got to work. There are times our personalities really fit well together and this happen to be one of them. Except he thinks out loud (he's italian, he can't help it) and I think in my head. I don't know how many times I've said I wish my brain had a print option. We must have gone through 10 different layouts before deciding on the one. There were certain items in the kitchen I didn't want to cut costs on and others I was ok with choosing the budget friendly option. After seeing CliqStudio cabinets in a neighbors home and comparing costs and quality, these were the cabinets we chose. Custom cabinets without the custom price tag. I can't say enough positive things about working with them. Our designer, Amy was very patient with me as I emailed her weekly, changing something within the layout. We chose the white Dayton style cabinets and painted the pantry cabinets on our own. They do have different cabinet color options available.

I went back and forth on the countertop options and maybe lost some sleep over it. I'm a messy cook and my husband is very (how do I want to say this...) anal. He notices EVERYTHING! But in the end my heart was set on marble and I knew I'd always be thinking about it if I didn't choose it. I'm so glad I decided to go for it because it's stunning and I've found great tricks for keeping it looking great.

One thing I did know for certain was that I was going to use this Hicks pendant above the seating area, the Schoolhouse Electric brass sconces above each window, the champagne brass Delta faucet and the Cole & Son's Hexagon wallpaper.

For the flooring I had always loved the look of dark hardwood floors with white cabinetry but when the demo was done the original wood flooring was damaged beyond repair. I had to rethink my options and think practical (which is not my thing) and go for durability especially since it leads in from our mudroom and back door where many dirty little wet feet come into the house. The slate tile we chose is now probably one of my favorite things in our kitchen.

For the backsplash tile I knew I wanted a simple white subway tile with a platinum grout. My heart was also set on the charcoal Heritage Bertazzoni range and hood, but with it being double the cost we decided to go with the stainless and use the heritage hood to tie in the black in the kitchen. Nervous about how this combo would look together (of course it was the last thing to arrive and be installed) we're really happy with how it all came together. We both love to cook so we couldn't wait to have a nice range to do so.

As for the other appliances, we had purchased a Bosch dishwasher when we moved in knowing that we would be renovating down the line. This is hands down the best dishwasher I have ever owned. The matching counter depth side by side fridge and the microwave/oven combo unit for the wall are also Bosch. We used our toaster oven A LOT but wanted to keep the countertop free of clutter. I'm so glad my husband convinced me to pull the trigger. Space saver and an extra oven!

For the seating area we wanted to create a family friendly space that could also serve as a work station/island. A custom bench was made with a faux leather cushion. Perfect for messy kids. After searching and searching for the perfect table and not finding exactly what I envisioned, my husband made a temporary table with the remaining butcher block and it's worked quite nicely. The same butcher block was also used for the floating shelves. I had eyed these Serena & Lily stools up for a long time and was like a giddy school girl the day they arrived. Bonus: they're really comfy!

Next to the seating area is what we call our cubbies. This was not in the original design but when a kitchen is demo'd you learn that not everything can be the way you envisioned. Previously a broom closet that we hoped to keep but move the door to the other side of the wall. Unfortunately, it couldn't be done and it was space I didn't want to waste. I wanted cabinets with doors and my husband wanted a wine fridge. I'm sort of glad he won this one because with our fridge being counter depth it's nice to be able to store wine, beer and kids drinks somewhere else. Win win!