Before and After – Kitchen Renovation

You know that saying, the kitchen is the heart of the home?  Isn’t that so true though?! Everyone naturally wants to gather in the kitchen no matter what the occasion. I rarely get anyone to sit in our adjacent family room.  So, I’d agree there is certainly something special about a kitchen and its ability to gather loved ones in one place.  Ask me which room I was most eager to design and I would tell you it was the kitchen.  Everyone wants a nice kitchen whether you cook or don’t cook, it’s one of the rooms in a home that you put the most thought into. The kitchen will give you the biggest return as far as resale.  It is also one of the most expensive rooms of the house to renovate so you do want to give it a good amount of thought when planning your kitchen renovation.

     

Lets Start From the Beginning

So for my kitchen renovation, I would still call it a work in progress.  But really it’s only missing some finishing touches. We started renovating our kitchen along with the rest of the home in June 2019.  A bit of the backstory on our home, it was bank-owned and was not lived in for at LEAST a year.  The house and surrounding property had not been maintained for quite a long time.  Everything outside was overgrown, everything inside was moldy and falling apart.  The house was in such bad shape that we were the first people to put an offer. The house literally scared other buyers away.  When my husband and I first toured the house, we DID see that we would be taking on a major fixer upper, but we also had vision for this house of what it could become.  I honestly saw the house for what it was, a center hall colonial (one of my favorite floor plans) with just enough space for my family of four. At just under 2,400 sq. ft. I knew the house would be perfect for us after a complete renovation, and I was so right!  The kitchen was never a huge kitchen and we had to work with the layout that was there.  Like everything else we started with a budget, a wants vs needs list, and thought of anywhere we can save money on the renovation.  I knew for sure I wanted good quality cabinets, quartz countertops for low maintenance, and I really really REALLY wanted to squeeze in a second oven if I could (I love to bake bread)!

     

Gutting the Kitchen and Putting It Back Together

Once the old kitchen was gutted and we were done putting down the engineered wood floors (which I laid down myself 😉) it was time to put together our new kitchen!  My dear husband who is extremely handy was able to install the kitchen cabinets himself.  We purchased our cabinets from Millhurst Mills. We love them! I went with the white shaker design for a classic white kitchen look. I have loved all white kitchens since FOREVER so this was a no brainer decision for me.  The countertop decision was a bit more difficult because there are SO MANY options out there.  I knew I wanted quartz. I always loved the look of natural Carrara marble, but to be honest I couldn’t commit to it for our kitchen due to its high-maintenance reputation. I was just too worried about staining. I went in search for a quartz that still had the natural organic feel that I wanted, and I steered away from anything that was trying too hard to look like real Carrara. In the end I fell in love with Carrara Caldia from the MSI Quartz Collection.  Yes, I know what you’re thinking, it has “Carrara” in the name!  But it doesn’t look like Carrara at all. To me the colors in Carrara Caldia are much earthier and creamy colored. I love the calmness of the stone with the soft golden veining, it really makes this quartz a beautiful neutral option that will never look outdated.  And I cannot forget to mention the durableness of this stone is amazing! I have literally put everything on it and not a single mark or stain!

   

Kitchen Details

Moving onto some of the other details of the kitchen. I opted for a farmhouse sink by Kohler and I remember holding my breath when placing the order for it. Ha! Let me tell you, I was SO nervous about a farmhouse sink.  I did so much research, read so many mixed reviews and I feared that the sink would be super hard to keep clean. Gladly, I was very wrong, and my sink is actually very low maintenance and easy to keep tidy and stain free.

I love the look of matte black fixtures and it’s the finish that I chose for all the lighting and doorknobs throughout the entire house.  But when it came to the kitchen hardware, I wanted to try something a little different and went with champagne bronze for the kitchen faucet, pulls and knobs. It’s a beautiful accent in our kitchen that receives many compliments from family and friends!

   

Final Phase

Lastly, we needed appliances. This is an area that took a lot of time and research. I wanted high end appliances but didn’t want to pay high-end prices. The appliances I originally wanted were completely out of my price range (yikes!). After some research and visiting local dealers, I decided on the Bertazzoni line of kitchen appliances. They had that beautiful high-end look that I was going for but at a mid-range price.  We were able to find a great appliance package that included everything we needed (Fridge, Range, Range Hood, Dishwasher, Wall Oven and Microwave).

   

Finishing Touches

Since our renovation two year ago, we’ve added some new things such as crown molding around the room, shiplap ceiling and better pantry organization. We have plans to put in some really nice wood shelving in the open space in the corner and stain the wood to match the vent hood. That final touch is really going to make the whole kitchen come together. In the meantime, I’ve been having a blast switching out different décor pieces and always having my farm fresh eggs on display 😊