Our New Remodeled Kitchen

Finally! I can’t tell you how excited I am to share this space, it’s been literally months in the making. Our kitchen remodel is now 100% done. I have a post for you today filled with photos and a recap, then I’ll follow up with more of the remodeling/building details for those of you who may be considering a project like this in the future. I have a lot to say about it all!

For now, I’ll just start with some photos. I took SO many.

My goal in remodeling was to have a classic, traditional kitchen. I wanted to use materials and fixtures that looked like they could be new, or could have been installed in the home decades ago. We don’t plan to remodel again, and our home is quite traditional in style overall, so I tried to stay away from trends and instead, focus on timeless, classic choices like marble, brass and white cabinets. I know that white is not everyone’s preference but they have stayed in style for years so I felt comfortable with them instead of something more trendy.

For a fun comparison, here is a look back at the kitchen before. This is a photo from move-in day just before the truck arrived.

Here is the same view now.

Here is the sink wall then, the scallop overhang was not really my style 😂.

Here it is now.

The biggest differences are that it feels so much lighter now, and the space feels so much larger. I honestly can’t get over how much bigger, what felt like a small kitchen before, became.

There is so much to say about the entire project, and I plan to do a follow up post talking about the construction process; about what went wrong and what I would do differently. I learned so much going through this large of a remodel, and I admit it wasn’t easy but it was worth it in the end. I am so glad we jumped in and pushed forward last Fall so that now we just get to live here and enjoy it.

My goal was to make the space very functional for our family. For cooking, for entertaining, and to have it feel organized by adding storage. There were some changes we made that helped make the room feel much larger. The first one was that we moved the refrigerator from its original location near the doorway and recessed it back into our laundry room (which I’ll show you in another post, it’s behind the double doors next to the refrigerator) this gave us more counter space. We lost a utility closet in the process, but I had them open what I (correctly) guessed was an unused space under the stairs and that gave us even more storage. I’ll show off that room soon.

We’d hoped to have the soffit removed over the window, but there was piping and wiring in it so that had to stay. Once the lighting was redone and the kitchen painted white, now I feel like it fades away. The sun sets outside this window in the winter, watching the sky change each evening makes dinner prep even more enjoyable.

We took out the wall oven and the cooktop off the island and instead now have a single large IlVE range. I debated, but went with the 42″ double ovens with the grill insert, I gained an extra oven and it was 100% the right decision. I’ll have to do a follow-up post all about this range, I have a lot to say about it. I think it’s SO pretty, it cooks well but the ILVE customer service is less than desirable.

Things went sideways (as they eventually do at some point in a remodel) when they installed the range, as the original design had the cabinet tower too close to the range burners to pass code, so they had to add a cabinet next to and above the range for a buffer space. I’ll share more about all that, but in the end I wound up with even more storage and that is excellent. I am not sure how the contractor made two more cabinets magically appear within a few days to right the wrong, but I am happy with the solution.

They replaced all the lighting, built a much larger island and floated an LVP floor over the dated tile. The floor was a last minute solution, I was just so ready to have the project done I didn’t want to add the tile demo on top of everything else. While the LVP doesn’t have the charm that hardwood would have had (what we’d planned), I absolutely love how functional and durable the floor is, especially in a well-used kitchen.

One of the most challenging decisions I made was in selecting the countertops. I definitely put the time in searching for the right material. I went to several large distributor showrooms in the Washington DC area (with a good designer friend) to find just the right material for the counters. My goal was to find something that looked like marble but wasn’t marble, and I think that is just what we got with the Valentino Quartzite. However, this is a very popular product and I was only able to get one slab of it in time, which really limited some of the design decisions. I’ll share more in the next post about that.

I did not use a kitchen designer for this project, which I am in hindsight not sure was the best approach. I have over the years remodeled, built homes, worked for a builder and done so many home projects plus our contractor was very experienced with a great team so I felt comfortable pushing forward on this my own. It was a great learning experience, and I am grateful that I had several friends (Christy included) that helped me narrow down my selections; decision fatigue in a project like this is very real.

One of the biggest decisions that definitely pushed me a bit out of my comfort zone was to run the marble subway tile all the way up the wall over the window, and forego upper cabinets in that area, with cabinet space being a premium this seemed a bit daring. I waffled on having this much tile at the last minute, but I am so glad I went ahead with it, I think it makes a statement. It also gives the window an open feel and is nice with the sink in front of it. The large Sinkology sink is a dream, more on it soon too.

As far as finishes, I selected all unlacquered brass for the cabinet hardware and the faucet. I think it’s timeless and adds some warmth in the white space. The fun rug is from here, the cushioning makes doing dishes much more pleasant.

If you have questions feel free to leave a comment and I’ll address them in my next post which will have more specifics about what products we used, why I picked them and some lessons I learned. Overall, I absolutely love the kitchen and am happiest when I am in it, cooking for my family or friends. So much of living here is a dream, this just adds to it!

READ THE PART TWO POST ON OUR KITCHEN WITH MORE DETAILS HERE

40” ILVE Dual Fuel Range

Kitchen Table + Chairs (Vintage, Info Here)

Pendant Lights over Island

Barstools

Sinkology Sink

Brass Faucet

Brass Knobs and Pulls

Countertops: Valentino Quartzite (East West, Chantilly VA).

Subway Tile: Carrara Marble from The Tile Bar

Blue and White Comfort Mat by Sink

Marble Shelf (World Market, Rails from ETSY).

Door Knobs

Note: There are 8 weeks left in the Winter Meal Plan series, the price has been reduced to reflect that remaining time if you still want to sign up. You can learn more here.

XO,

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