kitchen reveal

OK, I can finally show you the second phase of the home remodel – the kitchen. You have never seen anyone as excited as me when the final piece of the puzzle was put in place for this kitchen remodel. I showed you the master closet previously in this blog post. But to be without a kitchen and breakfast nook for eight weeks? And eat every meal out? I think I gained ten pounds during the process. I quickly took these pictures with my camera to show you the update. There will be more professional photos later.

There was nothing wrong with our kitchen other than it needed a little love and updated appliances. We still had the original appliances and clearly furr down and wallpaper were in style in the 90’s. The design challenge here was that Pete really wanted a gas cooktop and we do not have room for an overhead vent. Our builder Richard Williams did a lot of measuring to confirm that the cooktop could stay in the same spot but we would install a downdraft. It’s cool to see it pop up when you turn it on; it is very modern and looks like something out of a Star Trek movie. Pete was in charge of selecting all the appliances and he worked with Joel at Pirch to order everything. Imagine how excited he was when he figured out that we could install a wine refrigerator and not lose any space. I worked with our designer Lisa Henderson (Lisa Henderson Interiors) to update the design elements. My main goal was to make sure that the transition out of this room to the next was seamless and didn’t date the rest of the house.

I was really tired of the wallpaper which had been changed once before. We went with neutral paints and gave the floor some punch by refinishing my original hardwood floors and staining them darker. At the same time, the kitchen table was taken a few shades darker as well. This offsets the bright, Carrera white marble countertops. We tore out the bar and leveled it to countertop height which really opened up the two rooms to become one.  All of the fixtures and hardware are in a polished nickel finish. Lisa  found the lantern at an antique show. It replaced the ceiling fan that I never turned on. As with my closet remodel, I took every single thing out of my cabinets and pantry. A lot got thrown out because no one needs four bottles of Karo syrup stocked up from years ago. And when it was time to move everything back in, I carefully placed items by using shelf paper and organizers from The Container Store.

Although the biggest transformation will be seen in our bathroom remodel (on the blog next week), not having a kitchen for two months almost did me in. For some reason I craved avocado toast and I couldn’t make it. Eating out every meal sounds luxurious until you have to do it. Trust me, I am eating at home as much as I can now.

I am listing all of our design choices below but I want to take this opportunity to thank every sub-contractor that set foot in my house and worked on our project. Richard employs the most trust-worthy, wonderful guys and it was a joy to work with them. Each one of them were friendly, kind and mindful that we were still living in our home and had a new puppy. In fact, Max and Sparky made a lot of new friends over these past two months. A huge thank you to Richard, Sean (cabinets), Carlos (countertops), Jason (tile), Bugsy (electric), Jason (plumbing), Mike (carpenter), Mark (painters), Joel and John (floors) and their teams.

Kitchen remodel: Builder – Richard Williams and Assoc. / Decorator – Lisa Henderson Interiors / Paint- Farrow & Ball Pointing #2003 on walls in an eggshell finish. Texture flat & smooth. The woodwork was a custom match to my existing woodwork to keep the look/feel continuous throughout the house / Hardware: Emtek pulls and knobs in polished nickel / All appliances are from Pirch (separate post about the brands we chose coming later) / Floors: Custom mix in a matte finish / Countertop: Carrera white marble / Backsplash: White subway tile laid brick style

Thank you for letting me share this with you. I feel like you have lived through it with me.   xoxo- Tanya

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