As I sit here today to write this, it has been almost a year since we ripped out our entire kitchen by hand, and renovated (nearly) the entire thing. A saga, with a great ending!
If you missed “Part One”, and want to know how we ended up here, check out this post to get caught up on all the drama that was the start of this kitchen renovation!
So let’s talk design and inspiration!
We had so many ideas for this project. Rightfully so, because we had full control over every element we wanted from floor to ceiling. To recap, we knew we’d need new floors, new cabinetry, new countertops, new backsplash. So why not take the opportunity to design it a little more to our style? And eliminate some of the problematic kitchen design issues it had.
Now, before I get into it- I have to mention that we are not experts or professionals. We considered a designer, contractor, or any sort of help designing this- but our major concern was budget and timing. We absolutely could not be without a kitchen for however long supply chain delays would set us back for. If we had planned to do this renovation, instead of realizing it had to happen, I likely would have taken some of the extra help from a design team to do a larger renovation. But that’s not how things work sometimes!
My husband and I collected our strong opinions about kitchen design and fired up the pinterest board. We considered the primary efficiencies of working in a small kitchen, and put together some sort of wishlist of what we wanted this thing to look like.
YES! Black cabinets!
Bold, elevated, and stylish. A color pallet that would incorporate natural tones, and let the textures and organic nature lend to the style of the space. I will say, it was hard to learn and balance bold with toned down elements. But once we found that balance, we scored.
Part of our bolder design came from revolting what the original kitchen was giving us: gray and dreary and cheapo. And clearly DIY (oh the irony!) So, why not do the complete opposite? And balance with some more-simple elements.
Another huge issue I had with our old kitchen was the gray cabinetry paired with the gray-speckled laminate countertop. It was near impossible to determine if it was truly clean or not. I am by no means a clean freak (do not look in my bedroom closet at the mess)… but when it comes to preparing food for family and friends- I do not want to be contaminating my food. Though it is nice to disguise messes at times, I don’t agree with that time and place to be in my kitchen.
I chose a butcher block counter for its style, but also for its ability to reveal when it needed a wipe-down. Similarly, the black cabinets have a similar function. I know this is something that might not sound very appealing to many homeowners or home cooks, but the upkeep of wiping these things down after cooking or once a week is not hugely burdensome. And also, the confidence KNOWING your kitchen is clean? I think a win for all.
And then the storage issues…
Two things the original kitchen did poorly: storage in the wrong places and not enough storage.
At some point, a previous owner added a storage cabinet right next to the stove. Great to have floor-to-ceiling cabinets to keep all your pots, pans, and baking sheets. Plus drawers for all your utensil storage! But bad when you noticed that too-large of a pan had burnt the backsplash and the wood underneath it. Putting an obstruction directly alongside a cooktop is a huge no-no.
The kitchen lacked storage in the right places, too. We haven’t even discussed the fridge-area of the kitchen, since it is separate from where the damage was. But there was no pantry, just an upper and lower pair of cabinets. Great for a coffee bar and housing appliances, but awful to use to try to house your half-eaten bags of chips and cereal boxes.
An area we certainly needed help, how were we going to fix these issues and fit them into our space? This is where we somewhat unexpectedly found some incredible help from our local Home Depot. We sat with the kitchen design folks in the store for hours reviewing ideas, possibilities, and available products that would fit into our space. What made this extremely helpful for us, was that we picked a line of cabinetry we wanted, and they were able to share what sizes of cabinets, what features, and recommended which ones we should incorporate into our space.
This is where we picked out a floor-to-ceiling pantry with pull out drawers, to replace the makeshift pantry shelf we had. We picked out an in-cabinet trash can. Every drawer and door is soft-close. Lazy Susans in both the upper and lower corner cabinets. Pull out drawers in the larger lower cabinet. To wrap it up with a bow on top- the customer service was excellent when I notified them a cabinet door had been damaged in transport, and they sent a new one within three days.
So, for a little sneak peak of where we ended up…
I hope you’re enjoying this series as I share more about our experience renovating our entire kitchen- ourselves! I am excited to share this, as it was a major labor of love. It turned out to be so good. You won’t be able to wait to see the reveal- and what it took to get there!