Sweet Home Renovation Part 6: Trending Kitchen Design
As you know, Cyn, Adam, and I recently finished our home renovation, and we're excited to share more design elements specifically from our kitchen renovation part of the project. We will also share where we sourced our materials.
We completely transformed our kitchen into my favorite spot in our home. Like most families, we spend the majority of our time in and around the kitchen. It's a place we like to catch up, eat, and most importantly connect.
When planning for our home renovation, we started with our kitchen design. The design of our kitchen helped inspire the look that we carried through our entire home renovation. While designing the kitchen, we picked up a great tip -- design from the floor up. Meaning, choose your floor coverings (hardwood, tile, etc.) first, then your cabinets, then your countertop and finally your backsplash. It's similar to styling your outfit, you start with your shoes or heels and work your way up to your earrings.
Before
After
Construction-
Our dream kitchen design was to increase the "working" space to include more cabinets, countertops, room to maneuver, an island and opening the whole kitchen to the living room for a more open floor plan. But due to weight-bearing walls, we had to become strategic with how to open up our space.
With Adam's vision and the guidance of our architect and engineer, we removed half of one wall and created a "pony wall" or half wall. Then we built the new island made of cabinets next to the pony wall and ran the countertop through the "pony wall," so it literally passed through the wall.
By creating the "pony wall," we were able to leave the two weight-bearing posts while enabling us to create a much larger and open space to work that connected the kitchen with the dining and living room area. We created what is commonly referred to as an "open concept," so when you walk into the condo, it gives the feeling of a much larger space.
Floors-
The first material we sourced was our beautiful 7-inch hardwood floors. We were clear we wanted a flooring that brightened up our space and that we could use throughout our entire home.
Cabinet Design-
From there, we chose our kitchen cabinets. This was a bit overwhelming because there are SO many options to choose from. An easy place to start is to ask yourself, do you want a traditional or a modern look? If you want a traditional look, then you may wish to have shaker style cabinets. If you like contemporary, then you may select a flat panel.
From there, you have more options concerning finish and color. If you want to continue the traditional look, then you would likely select a natural wood, whereas if you a modern "clean" look, you may choose a laminate covered cabinet.
Cabinet Construction-
Once you've narrowed down the style and color, then you need to determine the quality of the construction of the cabinet, as there are many types of cabinet construction to choose from. Your kitchen cabinet budget will determine how expensive or cost savings you want to go. A cost savings material is medium density fiberboards, commonly referred to as MDF. A more expensive option is plywood construction, or on the high end, you could choose real wood like oak, maple, or walnut.
Ultimately, we wanted a modern looking kitchen that didn't break the bank. We chose a plywood constructed cabinet with flat panels and two tones (natural wood lower cabinets and white upper cabinets) to achieve a clean contemporary look by Belmont Cabinets from Gilman's Kitchens and Baths. We emphasize getting clear on your budget first as this will help guide your decisions. Second, we recommend you create a Pinterest Board to select your dream kitchen design elements and limit the universe of options to choose from.
Countertops-
Next, we selected our countertops from Carmel Stone Imports. We chose a Caesarstone with a light grey vein.
Backsplash-
We then sourced white geometric rhombus shaped tile from @homedepot, with a light grey grout. To add a more luxurious look, we wrapped the window and wall with the rhombus tile. If you choose to add this more intricate design, we recommend hiring a highly skilled tile contractor.
Appliances -
We chose a mid-range appliance package from @Kitchenaide and to help conserve counter space we installed a microwave drawer into the island.
Accents-
We wanted to add a bit of edge to our kitchen design, so we used black accents throughout our kitchen. We chose black hex knobs and pulls by CB2, our black kitchen faucet is by Brizo, and black pendant lights are from Restoration Hardware. We added the geometric shade from Lowes Home Improvement to the RH pendant lights to complement the geometric backsplash tile and to create a statement piece for our kitchen design.
We're thrilled with the way our bright, modern kitchen design turned out. We'd love to see your home renovation designs as well. Post photos with #sweetcollectionxo.
And don't forget to checkout our YouTube Channel on our home renovation.
XO,
Britt (+Adam)
Sweet Collection XO By Brittany + Cynthia Daniel
