This is a big renovation year for us, just like two years ago when we finished our basement. Soon enough, we’re going to pour a new concrete patio. Over the weekend, Ben and I discussed our kitchen. We already had a general idea of the design elements, so we were talking the nitty-gritty details. Cabinet layout, whether to go with all drawers or keep some cabinets, assorted toe kick options and things of that nature. That inspired me to whip up a mood board to give you an idea of where we’re headed. We’re looking for classic traditional with modern touches, something like this:
Here’s a break down of our major components:
1. The paint will tie into the living room and I really want a warm, mid tone grey. We haven’t picked absolutely settled on a paint color, but I like Kendall Charcoal (HC-166) and Cape May Cobblestone (1474) by Benjamin Moore. Both colors are favorite greys selected by Ben Moore himself, well, the company.
2. We’ve used these modern cylinder drawer pulls on our entertainment center and love the look, so we’ll use them both as drawer pulls and door handles. Helpful hint: You can buy packages of 10 at Lowe’s for about 1/2 the individual price.
3. Rather than a standard undermount sink, we’ve fallen for the look of this stainless steel apron front sink. It’s both traditional and modern, all in one. Oh, the smaller size (6 inches smaller than our current sink) will allow us to move our trash from its current location to the left side of our sink. By doing this, we’ll also gain another drawer stack. (Right now we have a small cutting board cabinet).
4. It’s no secret that we (really, I) love Carrara marble. We have it in both bathrooms and we’re adding some to the kitchen. Because our backsplash is minimal, we’re planning a cut it ourselves subway sized, brick-lay marble backsplash. Something similar to this, but cheaper because we’ll buy 12 inch square tiles to cut ourselves. Not literally ourselves, but we will do the cutting.
5. We love custom details and a good price, so Ben has decided to build our kitchen cabinets rather than buy. The square recessed panel, like the cabinet doors in my office, is a clean style with just enough detail.
6. Since we love our DIY welded steel and marble dining table, we’d love to add more of the same marble. I don’t know the name, so I’m sorry that I can’t give those details.
7. A set of matching LG stainless steel appliances is on our list including a backless range, dishwasher and refrigerator.
8. A few months ago, we were lucky enough to find 3/4 inch thick cherry-stained hickory hardwood flooring on clearance, so Ben bought what was left.
Some things might change and others already have. We’re not completely certain on the paint color and we already know the marble remnant we used for our dining table is no longer in stock. We’re searching for a single hole, pull out faucet in brushed stainless or nickel. We’ll also need to find the worlds smallest functioning microwave to keep on the counter, or another secret stash.
We have a few projects to tackle before we can start gutting the kitchen, but the planning is on like donkey kong. While we’re planning, I’m curious what kitchen features you have and couldn’t live with out? What about the gadgets you thought would be great but weren’t? Have any kitchen products you’d like to recommend? A faucet or tiny microwave, perhaps? Do you have all drawers? If so, any regrets?
P.S. Voting ends soon. Please vote for our office and bedroom to give us a chance at $5,000 for our kitchen remodel.
ourhumbleabodeblog.com 
My favorite thing in my kitchen is an under-counter beverage cooler. When we had the cabinets built we left a spot for it to just slide right in (gotta have electric plugs right there though). I keep all the capri suns, water bottles, sodas, etc in that cooler. I never have to worry about the kids leaving the refrigerator door open and when we have guests they don’t have to dig around the big refrigerator for drinks either. Love it, love it, love it. I will do this in any house I live in from now on.
I would love double ovens but I can live with just 1 since it’s only about 3 times a year the 2nd one would actually come in handy.
we’re about to start a very long, multi staged kitchen re-do. First to go is the lovely original country contemporary wall paper,and texture and paint. I’ve been in love with gray, but have had a hard time finding the best topey-putty-not-purple-or-blue-or-green gray, and then I saw Glidden’s wood smoke in Liz Marie’s breakfast nook and it looks perfect! http://lizmariegalvanblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/wood-smoke.html
A friend of mine has the ikea kitchen cabinets sans toe kick, which looks very cool, but is a beast to clean out from underneath. Think under-fridge dust in your entire kitchen. Enter Roomba.
We completely gutted our kitchen almost two years ago and it was a challenge making all those decisions! A couple of highlights of the things I love:
1)My double stove – it’s a flat top electric range with two ovens. We use the top smaller oven most of the time but the bigger lower oven is great for bigger items or if you need to cook two different items at different temps. Love it! We never used that stupid drawer on the bottom anyway.
2)I’m so glad we spent a little extra and got an Eclipse faucet and sink. We got a super deal on Ebay – way less than what we could get through the contractor. It’s heavy duty all steel – no plastic parts!
3)We had an awkward space left over by the sink with the cabinet design. We opted for a small narrow cabinet in which we store all our vitamins, medicines, etc (all that junk that accumulates around the sink).
4)We also opted for the slow close hinges on the cabinets and drawers. No slamming doors or drawers anymore!
Hope that helps – good luck!
Angel, that is convenient. If only we had the space…
Lori W, I think an open toe kick would look really cool, but I wouldn’t want to clean under them all the friggin’ time. I’ll have to check out Glidden’s Wood Smoke, too! Thanks for the heads up!
Jodee, I completely agree with you, on everything. 🙂 I want the double oven range, but with a gas cook top. We’re also seriously thinking about going with all drawers for the lower cabinets, so the soft close glides would be nice. We wanted to use Blum glides, but they take up too much drawer space (top to bottom) so we’ll have to see if we can find another brand to use because Ben isn’t too impressed/happy with the other soft close glides we’ve used in my office. We’ll see though.
Thanks for all of the ideas, everyone!!
I had custom cabinets made locally, and they really were custom. I also visited the shop where they were being built and got to make adjustments as things occurred to me. A huge “yes!” for the soft close drawers. I didn’t htink I needed them, but now a gentle push does not get the drawer completely closed, and a hard shove has it bouncing open again about an inch. Also, get drawers that open full length, so pots at the back can be lifted out easily. My cutlery and utensil drawers were prefitted with dividers that were anything but standard. Now everything from bbq tools to wine bottle stoppers has its own little cubby.My upper cabinets go all the way to the ceiling, and are 20 inches above the counter so I can get my big mixer underneath without crowding. Undercabinet lighting is also nice. I was able to have 18-inch depth upper cabinets (over 30-inch depth counters) on one side of the kitchen, so I sacrificed some upper cabinet space for a microwave shelf custom built to the size of the microwave.
Hi Pamela, That’s great that you were able to customize as you went along! Ben is going to build ours, so we’ll be able to do the same thing. I really want the cool, custom drawer dividers, too. I think they make life easier. We’re also going to remove the soffit above our current cabinets, so we’ll extend the cabinets to the ceiling and cap with crown moulding for a finished look. Thanks for your input!!
Amanda
We recently refinished our kitchen. My favorite thing turned out to be my sink and faucet – which are both black. But I also love my tile back splash as well as leaving one set of cupboards open…
You can see more pictures here: http://refinddesign.blogspot.com/2011/04/kitchen-reveal.html
Small input here.. ive never remodeled a kitchen. But, I once had a small microwave to take up less counter space, and that thing pissed me off! It was cute and the size was great, but most of our dinner plates would not fit inside it, and a bag of popcorn couldn’t even expand all the way while popping. I guess it depends on how much you use it, but to us, it was a waste! Might as well not have had one at all!
I can’t wait to redo the kitchen in our new house but I will because it’s only 3 years old and I can’t justify the cost right now.
Some things I like about it are the double wall ovens and gas cooktop, no island (those things get in my way!) the sink located under the window and the corner cabinets with big lazy susan type things in them for my pans.
Things I don’t like: hideous granite, hotel bathroom tile as a backsplash, built in desk that we don’t need or use except to throw junk on and the big gap between the uppers and the ceiling. I have no idea what to do with the gap though, I’m 6 feet tall and already can’t reach the top 2 shelves, so I don’t guess I want to move the uppers even higher?
I don’t know if I’d like all drawers on the lowers because I don’t have anywhere else to store my stock pots and big roasting pans.
When we were shopping for a refrigerator, I had my heart set on one of those french doors on top/freezer drawer on the bottom models. I found one on sale and took hubby to see it, he opened the freezer drawer, looked at it and then kicked it closed with his foot. I went with a side by side.
I’ve had 8 different paint samples up on the kitchen walls for over a month now (blush) and think I’ve decided on Martha Stewart Sharkey’s Gray. I’m also looking for the perfect fabric to make roman type shades for the windows like the ones you made in your office (I have your curtain picture on my kitchen mood board actually haha)
My kitchen must haves:
1. Wall mounted faucet and under mount sink. MUST HAVE!!
2. Counter-depth refrigerator
3. Bulkheads. If you put an appliance on the end of the cabinet, a bulkhead really gives it an integrated feel, rather than having it just sticking out at the ned of the counter.
We did both of these in our new kitchen and DEFINITELY do the faucet again in the bathrooms and in our next house. You can see our kitchen here: http://nepdxbungalow.blogspot.com/2011/03/its-officially-official-kitchen-is-done.html.
Can’t wait to see your final product!
Hi Leslie,
Oooh, I love the idea of a wall mount faucet! Nothing to clean around! Something to consider. Unfortunately, we’ll have to spend more money on a special range, so a cabinet depth refrigerator isn’t in the budget, but it would be nice. And, enclosing appliances is on our list. No more side of the fridge. 🙂
Thanks for the ideas and link! Your new kitchen looks great!
Amanda
Don’t know your floor plan, but you will probably regret not getting the counter depth refrigerator. At least leave the space for the coveted fridge, even if the old one will have to stand-in for a while. When the old one dies (and it will) you won’t have to reconstruct your cabinetry to fit in a new one.
Hi Getting people’s ideas for your new kitchen via a website. Excellent! And I like the ideas some people have put forward. I could not live without a countertop convection oven. It’s stylish looks will fit in with any style of decor, and it is very economical to run. Good luck with your planning. Zafira. http://www.brevilletoasterovenreview.com
oh my gosh… just read this post! LOVE your ideas for your kitchen and how amazing is that, that you have a hubby who can build cabinets?!?!?!? So awesome! We haven’t tried building cabinets from scratch yet, but we plan to try at some point. 🙂
i like your ideas for kitchen… great article.