It makes sense that our kitchen remodel should be our first blog post because it was the first part of our home renovation that we tackled back in late 2020. We absolutely love how it turned out-- the absolute heart of our home!
Our original kitchen layout honestly was not the worst at all. The previous home owners had remodeled it maybe 8-10 years back, but it was very dark for our taste so we wanted to brighten it up! The original island wrapped around in a "U" shape with 4 swivel barstools- which we did love for entertaining purposes but it took up a lot of room so we decided to change the layout slightly.
You will also notice that we closed off the pocket door that led out to the porch in our kitchen-- and actually put our new fridge in front of that space. Doing this allowed us to extend our kitchen wider - to make it look double the size. We also cut an entrance into the dining room wall that now extends out into the porch to open the room up. Open concept is key !!! We also had a skylight in the ceiling above the island which we closed up as well just because it didn't really fit the space well.
Originally, we were going to keep the cabinets and try to paint them white to salvage them. But we decided that we did not want to risk painting cherry wood cabinets white- and we thought it was just easier to start fresh.
We then went to a local kitchen renovation business in our town and started the process of our remodel! Decisions were easy at first- because we knew the vibe that we wanted and what we were looking for. We knew that we wanted white shaker cabinets- bright, clean and classy and white will never go out of style. The hardware we chose for all cabinets and drawers was a shiny chrome bar handle, with different size variations depending on the size of the drawer.
PANTRY: Our original pantry in our kitchen was in front of a chimney in the wall that unfortunately we could not remove. Therefore, it was extremely shallow and would not work for what we needed. So we decided to create our pantry with the widest doors possible and roll out drawers in our new kitchen- for best use of our space.
GLASS CABINETS: We also decided to add two glass cabinets as the main focal point in our kitchen to house and display all of our pretty glassware. We got this idea from my parents kitchen remodel- they have a simliar layout and I just loved how their glass cabinets looked. Honestly- if I could do it all over again, I would add more glass cabinets! That's how much I love them!
THE ISLAND: Another thing we knew that we wanted was a large island to sit at least 3-4 people. Our island we decided to go with a contrasting grey color as a pop of color in the white kitchen. We love the color grey that we picked out! Our island has a rollout drawer for our trash barrel and recycle so that they hidden away- sight unseen. We also wanted the entire middle of the island to be wide drawers so we could fit all of our charcuterie boards and serverware in one place. Lastly, we have a cabinet to the right which houses all of our Tupperware.
SIDE CABINET SPACE: In addition to the wide pantry cabinets, our kitchen designer decided to give us a set of side double cabinets which we thought was super unique. I love how our kitchen layout does not waste any space- and we have plenty of storage to store our kitchen things.
DRYBAR: We also decided to add a drybar to our kitchen and dining space- which was actually Sarki's idea. We've been asked- what is the difference between a drybar and a wetbar? And the answer to that is the sink makes it "wet". We didn't opt for a sink in our bar space so we call ours the drybar. We absolutely love this area- and we are so glad that we added this!
For the drybar, we chose a contrasting backsplash to set the space apart from the kitchen a little bit. It isn't directly IN the kitchen, but it is close by so some differentiation was needed to set the scene. We chose this gorgeous grey mosaic tile from tilebar- and it is stunning! We also decided to add some glass cabinets to this space to keep that pretty glass feel going throughout our space.
We added some drawers and cabinets for bar storage, and a spot right in the middle for our beverage center. Our beverage center houses all of our canned spirits for ourselves and our guests, and also all of our water, vitamin waters, sodas etc. We totally recommend adding a space like this in your kitchen if you have the space!
LIGHTING: For lighting, we added recess throughout and also two large chrome pendants with seeded glass above our island. We also decided to add under cabinet lighting to all the cabinets and also added under island lighting too- which is super fun! We added interior cabinet lights to our glass cabinets as well, which looks super pretty at night.
BACKSPLASH: Our backsplash was a tricky choice for us to make. We knew we did not want white backsplash because we weren't going for the full white kitchen look. We wanted to incorporate blue but decided that was super permanent and wanted to pop blue details in and out instead. We found this glossy, textured grey subway tile that went very well with our countertops. We paired that with a silver grey grout and think it came out beautiful!
COUNTERTOPS: We both agree that our counter tops are probably one of the top 5 favorite choices made in our house thus far. We decided to go with "Summerhill" by Cambria- a grey and white quartz that has black veining and chunks of glitter. When we went to the granite store to choose our backsplash, we walked by a sample of this one and knew that had to be it. We have a total of two slabs in our kitchen including the drybar for our countertops. We chose each of our slabs at the warehouse facility- that was fun!!
OUR BARSTOOLS: Our barstools were a fun Marshalls find! We absolutely love the coastal rope vibes that they are giving us. These stools from the designer brand are well over $1,000 EACH!!! We paid about $700 for all 4 of ours combined. A total Marshalls find!!!! We love the rope texture, wooden legs and they are comfortable too!
OUR APPLIANCES: We decided to go with the classic, stainless steel appliances for our kitchen. We went with the fridgidaire professional suite - which we have really enjoyed using so far. The one con to our kitchen layout is that we had to go with a counter depth fridge- which is much smaller than a regular sized fridge. But it has been working out OK- and we plan on getting a supplemental fridge and freezer for our garage soon for extra storage.
THE SINK: The farmers sink by kohler is absolutely beautiful. We also knew from the very start of our design phase that we wanted to add a farmers sink here. I feel like the sink does not just belong in farmhouse kitchens, but honestly can go in any kitchen. It throws off coastal vibes to me and I love how it looks in our kitchen.
We absolutely love our kitchen remodel and are so happy that we decided to go ahead and gut the entire thing and start fresh. They say that the kitchen is the most important part of your home-- it is truly the hub, the be all place. In our home, the kitchen is the first room you see when you walk in so it was important for us to create not only a functional space, but a beautiful one. I think we captured just that in our coastal kitchen design.