Coffee is the most important thing, right? Where does coffee come from? The kitchen. Coffee emerges every day, like clockwork from the kitchen! Therefore it only made sense to renovate our kitchen first. It also didn't hurt that it was empty and we were living with my mother in law.... totally separate post about how much I LOVE HER.
Here's what we started with:
And here she is all gutted and with the new floors - that post coming later. See the red and blue pipe? We ended up having to replace every.square.inch. of plumbing in the house because of the previous owners lovely decision to abandon the house and leave the water on. Good times.
So, we have a blank slate. The ceilings are low - 6 feet 8 inches. And you can see in the picture above that we added recessed lights to the space. My initial intention was to have a U shaped kitchen with a giant island in the middle. I love to have space to spread my crap out - where my kids can do homework while I cook (or order takeout... that's more likely) and where we can eat dinner. We are not formal people, so it's more common for us to hunker down around the island and eat a meal vs at the dining room table.
Before I go further, I should probably clarify that this entire kitchen was designed in about 2 days. We relocated and had limited time to work on it and move in, so it was FAST. I knew that in order to save myself and my sanity, I wanted to keep things simple and clean. White would be my first choice because of the low ceilings, and I knew that I wanted to add at least 1 window to bring more light into this space. And off for inspiration I went.....
This is my dream kitchen. Love the glass inlays, love the island, the chandelier, the floors and the oodles of details that make this swoon worthy. Unfortunately, my ceilings are super low, so this kind of drama is not possible in my space. BUT, the white on white on white is gorgeous.
Next up, we have this one - I love the lanterns. I love the black and white and the glass cabinetry. I adore the stools at the island and the ceiling!! jealous!
Now we're getting more into something doable for my space. In love with the two tone colors, the wood floor and the island seating. The pendants are awesome - adding just a glint of sparkle. Beautiful.
THIS is my style. The lighting, the colors, the chairs, the floor... adore it all.
Inspiration is run amuck, right? So many choices.. how do you decide? Well I knew that I wanted a white kitchen. I also knew that I wanted a big island with seating but also storage. The plumbing was already there for a small prep sink in the island so I decided to keep that (though in hind sight I wish I had nixed it). And I knew that I wanted a classic look with a few modern touches. My husband was set on granite - which I love too, but didn't want a granite that you can find at the box stores. So that's where I started. I went to a granite yard and picked my granite. The whole kitchen came together from this sample.
It had hints of pink, gray, black and cream. I found it at a granite yard a few hours away and snagged it for a fantastic price!
It was coming together...
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