The Kitchen Update

We're halfway there, woahhh, livin' on a prayer

“Drumroll, please.” I think I’ll save that subtitle until we finish the remaining small details and it is 100% complete. We’ve made enough progress for a SOLID update on the kitchen renovation, so that is what I’m sharing today.

Here is where it started: 81 sq ft of kitchen that was very tight and very sticky. It had three layers of peel and stick tile for the floor, grimy cabinets, mice issues, and fake brick. It needed a total overhaul!

This picture was taken during the showing, before we made an offer on the house.

This picture was taken when we started the demo part of the project. The “X” marks the wall we removed to double the size of the kitchen. There was a giant mud/laundry room on the other side of this wall.

There are so many steps and details to talk through with you, but I am going to write a list of everything completed instead, otherwise this might turn into a book. The list, below, is bulleted out by steps we’ve accomplished, details, and pictures of that piece of the process. We have had so much help from our family to complete these steps and we are so thankful to them. At one point, Brandon’s parents were here for 5-weeks to help get the cabinets hung, which requires so much prework, mentioned below.

Also, a quick reminder of the inspiration of this kitchen - we wanted something timeless. There are absolutely paint colors and styles that come and go, but I think a variety of materials keeps it timeless and looking high-quality. I want something that feels like an elegant French country kitchen, if that makes sense. Definitely bright, but creamy and some darker accents. See the inspiration board that guided us below. Did we stick to this to a tee? Nope, but I really like this little groove we have going and sometimes you need to see the materials, colors, and samples in person to find what you really like. And that is the other key, it needs to be what you like! Not what others may like, as they aren’t living here 24/7.

• Designed the floorplan

  • This took a lot of thought and deliberation. I also work with quite a few chefs or people with kitchen experience and I asked them for feedback on our drawings because I wanted the space to flow appropriately. We followed the “kitchen triangle” rules and thought about how we would organize so we ordered the appropriate cabinetry.

• Demolition: Removed everything down to the studs and subfloors.

  • We rented two large dumpsters to haul everything off and this was one of the easiest steps of the process. Just a pry bar and a hammer for most of it. Oh, and the tractor to load up the dumpster.

• Expand the kitchen: Removed a wall and added a 16’ structural beam

  • We hired a structural engineer to help us with this one, and Brandon’s brother visited for muscle-power. This was a must-do in order to get the kitchen we desired. By opening up the floor plan, we gained 123 sq ft of kitchen space!

  • This beam is now actually going to be exposed in the ceiling, which was not in the original plan, but it adds a ton of character to the space. We will case it in a walnut finish.

This wall was removed, a temporary support wall was put up while the 16' beam was installed.

• Continued the oak hardwood floors from the dining space into the kitchen for a cohesive look.

  • This was a tedious project I’ve mentioned before, but we wanted to save some cost by keeping and refinishing the original hardwood white oak floors throughout the house. This meant we needed to fill in areas with new white oak hardwood floors and piece things together to look seamless.

  • We really loved the natural look of the white oak and decided we would finish them with no stain and a low-sheen finish. This kept things a little brighter and subtle.

• Reran the electrical so that the lighting and switches would be where we wanted

  • Brandon did a ton of research on this. He already knew how to pull electrical and wire, but the “science” of lighting, especially in a kitchen, was planned thoroughly! This way, we had the functionality of lighting, but also the ambience.

• Refinished all walls and ceiling with drywall, mud, paint, and repeated until we got the smoothness we were looking for on the ceiling

  • I’m not sure if there are many projects that give you such a satisfying feeling of accomplishment as creating a smooth ceiling. I had a lot of doubt about this one because we’ve never made a ceiling before, but we had the help of Brandon’s parents to guide us through the steps and YouTube, of course. We thought we may have to texture the ceiling given we weren’t pros, but wow it came out so smooth and even that we got to keep it untextured!

• Flipped a coat closet into a coffee bar!

  • We are very into coffee so this is a need for our household. Flipping the coat closet created a four foot coffee bar that is just off the kitchen into the dining space. Pictures of this space to be shared in a future post!

• Ordered and installed new cabinets

  • We found a company in Denver that sells RTA cabinets. They really are good quality and paying the extra $20 per cabinet for them to be assembled saved us so much time & headache. This step went rather quickly once we had the walls completed.

• Picked new appliances

  • This was a fun step! Fun to pick, not fun for the wallet. Anyways, the biggest hang up here was if we wanted to have a gas range or go induction. We could have ran a gas line from our propane tank, but ultimately decided we would go the induction route and splurge on a 36” range to feel like a premium kitchen. We also got a new fridge, sink, and faucet.

• Ordered countertops

  • We found a local stone place and went there to view slabs in their stone program. This was another expensive, but rather seamless process. Once we chose our stone, the taj mahal quartzite, the company came out to template for the install. Two weeks later, they fabricated and installed our new countertops! Honestly, the countertops make it feel so luxe. This is actually a pretty trendy stone right now, but it has just the right about of creaminess and subtleness to be timeless, in my opinion. Also, quartzite is a natural stone so, again, materials matter. Most of the quartzite we viewed just looked very elegant. It is a durable stone, but will need to be resealed. Fun fact: most of the quartzite, including this one, comes from Brazil.

The quartzite we chose. I love the beige and creaminess, but there are also a few spots of rust color running through it! In one of our old houses, I painted an entire wall burnt copper and loved it.

We still have quite a few steps for this kitchen to be complete. Next we are going to finish up installing the can lights in the ceiling as Brandon mapped out. Then, we will backsplash the kitchen. I currently have five sample tiles we are evaluating from Tile Bar.

Oh! Hardware. We have this picked out and just need a few hours to create a jig and install all of the pulls. We went with a bronze handle. I really like the detail on these pulls because we’ve also Facebook Marketplace-upgraded our dining table and it is now a tobacco smoke colored wood table with chunky turned legs. I’ll need to re-upholster the seats in the future, but for now the material is in good condition and durable. I just love how sometimes little details like this compliment each other.

There are so many small details to close out the kitchen project, but we will get there. Then, we have a garage door to move to create a little mudroom off the kitchen and a main-floor half bath to put back together. Renovation isn’t over, but wow this was a big accomplishment and milestone in it. I can’t believe I cooked out of a kitchenette (my friend said “kitchenette” was generous, by the way) for so long. Maybe three months? I learned to grill for the majority of our meals. In fact, I even made cupcakes on the grill for my husbands birthday! I think my favorite thing to grill was the on-sale bone-in pork chops from the grocery store up the street. I forgot how good a pork chop can be.

Please enjoy where our kitchen stands today! Trust me, I still sometimes just sit here staring at it, too… the before comparison to now is still mind-boggling.

Before:

After:

KB