Our Big 2022 Project: A Kitchen Refresh
Update! The kitchen is DONE! Come on over to see the big reveal!
Ever since we moved into our home 2.5 years ago, the kitchen has been on my “change it one day” list. It’s a perfectly good kitchen…for somebody else. 😉 I’ve struggled with this one because when we bought our house, the kitchen was brand new. It was a flip, and let’s just say the style they chose wasn’t exactly what we would have done, but we had a newborn at the time, had just walked away from another house we really thought was “it,” and we needed a place to live. ASAP. So, we prioritized location and functionality over style, and we jumped at the change to buy this home!
I figured redoing this kitchen wasn’t in the cards for us for a good while, so I learned to live with it. I even wrote a blog post on how to work with dated granite, and funny enough, it has become one of my most popular blog posts. Clearly I’m not the only one dealing with this! You can get a peek of what it looks like now in the photo at the top of the post.
When my husband and I were doing our 2022 planning, we decided that this would be the year we tackle a kitchen refresh (hooray!). We really want to love and enjoy our home to its full potential, so here we go!
The positive parts about this kitchen are that the cabinets are good quality and the kitchen functions well overall.
The negative parts are that the kitchen feels like it’s straight out of the late ‘90s/early 2000s and there was a little bit of shoddy construction with the installation. The stylistic parts that bug me the most are the antique detailing on the cabinets, busy brown granite countertops that are impossible to keep clean (we’re pretty sure it’s “Santa Cecelia” granite if you’re wondering what it is), and the rugged stone mosaic backsplash. It’s very brown-on-beige - not exactly my cup of tea.
So! We’re going to change the entire look and style of the kitchen without replacing the cabinets or changing the structure, and I’m excited to bring you along for the ride!
We’re definitely still in the information gathering phase, but I’ve hitting “save” on a bunch of kitchens on Instagram and Pinterest that have components of the style I’d like to bring into our kitchen.
Let’s jump into those!
Modern Traditional Kitchen Inspiration
I want to honor the historic nature of our home (it was built in the 1930s!) as well as my style, which leans modern traditional. We’ll either be painting or refacing the cabinets, and I know I want to introduce some color - I’m planning to do that in the island. I’ve been drawn to a dusty blue/gray like the Rejuvenation kitchen below, but with lighter cabinets on the perimeter. I also really like the vertical tongue and groove paneling detail. I think our island could be a good candidate for that.
via Rejuvenation
For the perimeter cabinets, I’m torn between a soft white like Sherwin Williams Snowbound or something that leans slightly more saturated and taupe-y like Benjamin Moore’s Swiss Coffee. The kitchen below from Amber Interiors pretty much nails the color I’m considering! I just love the warmth of it and the contrast with the white walls.
via All Sorts Of (Design by Amber Interiors)
If we did more of a true white on the perimeter cabinets, it would look more like this kitchen from Lindsey Brooke Design. It’s a really pretty option as well, but it feels a little more coastal to me, which isn’t quite right for the look I’m after. It’s a tough call!
Another other key piece of this puzzle is the backsplash tile. I’ve had my eye on this Cloe tile for a long time now and I think it might be the winner! You can see how a similar tile might look paired with the blue I’ll likely have on the island. You can see that there’s a handmade feel to it and a good amount of color variation that I really love.
For countertops, I’m planning to do a marble-look quartz. I love quartz for its durability and I was a big for of it in our last kitchen. I’d like to have a good amount of veining, but nothing too dramatic. I haven’t been to see any in person yet, so that’s on my to do list! It’s a little hard to tell, but I’m pretty sure the kitchen below has countertops that are close to what I’m looking for. From the article about the kitchen, these are real marble, so I’ll be hunting for something close to that in quartz.
It looks so great with the blue and soft white cabinets!
via One Kindesign
As far as metal finishes, I’ll be using a lot of brass with touches of black. Our whole first floor is open concept, and I’ve already got brass and black light fixtures in there, so I’ll be bringing the kitchen into that scheme as well.
So where does that leave us? I took bits and pieces of what I loved about my inspiration kitchens and put together a little mood board so you can take a peek at where I think this kitchen is headed!
Modern Traditional Kitchen Inspiration Sources
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White Paint Color Inspiration: BM Swiss Coffee and SW Snowbound
Blue-Gray Paint Color Inspiration: BM Boothbay Gray and SW Dutch Tile Blue
Mitzi Anya Pendant Lights (already own)
Counter Stools (already own)
Quartz Countertop Inspiration: Alabaster White and Calacatta Monaco
Since we’re still in the very early stages, these selections may (and probably will!) change, but I like how it’s coming together! I’ll be sharing a lot more on this kitchen on Instagram as we get into it, so be sure to follow along over there if you’d like to come on this journey with us. I can’t wait to get started!