Since we've started our business, our weekends and most of our evenings are spent planning and picking up odds and ends for the homes we have under construction. We are finishing up a project (which I can't wait to show you guys) and starting demo on another, so this weekend was one of those rare times when we could be at home and didn't have any other social obligations (weddings, engagement parties, baby showers). Sometimes I forget how much I love my kitchen until I get to spend some quality time there and that's exactly what I did yesterday.
For those of you interested in remodeling or building, the kitchen, as you know, is the most important room in the house. Even if you eat out every single meal and use your oven for storing sweaters, spend the money on designing a great kitchen. If you follow my Home Sweet Home board, you know I am totally obsessed with kitchen design, so when I had the opportunity to design and build my dream kitchen, I was already prepared. My main priorities were amazing marble, a badass range, and a huge island, so those are the items that I focused on with the design.
As you can see from the before photos, we ripped out a very long wall that closed off the living area from the kitchen. This created a huge space for the island, which is where everyone congregates when we entertain. We also don't have need for a dining room, so it's entrance was walled off in exchange for creating pantry space. I didn't want double ovens, nor did I want to physically see a microwave. Big pet peeve of mine. We chose a 48 inch range with double ovens and a griddle that we got for a fabulous price (over 50% off) because it was missing it's feet. We simply ordered them from the manufacturer for $100! This was the first purchase for our new home and the whole room was planned around it.
Two budget items that I had used on other homes and knew would fit seamlessly into this home were the apron sink and cabinets pulls, both which came from Ikea. Apron sinks can get into the thousands, but this one is huge and was only $186. Cabinet pulls can be outrageous, especially for the larger ones and the most expensive ones in our kitchen were $6 a piece. I do tend the splurge on backsplash tile and mosaics simply because a small area can make a huge impact. I had the Carrara marble laid in a brick pattern for the backsplash and then a herringbone pattern over the range for something decorative and chic.
We are a bit messy in the kitchen on a day to day basis and it would have been a bad choice to put white marble throughout the kitchen. I chose black leathered granite around the cooking areas because it holds up to grease. The Calacatta marble is much better suited for the island where it's less likely to be stained. I kept the cabinet design simple with shaker style door fronts but added some style with the mantle and glass fronts on either side. You can't really see the living room TV from all points of the kitchen and we have a small tv nook so I can watch Bravo while I'm preparing dinner. Finally, I mentioned earlier that I am not interested in seeing the microwave. I designed a 'garage' of sorts to hide it when it's not in use.
I'm so super proud of the kitchen design and it's the one thing that people absolutely fall in love with as soon as they see it. It's functional, stylish, and makes me happy every time I walk in the front door. I'm so very lucky that the man trusted me to design it from head to toe exactly as I wished. It's definitely my crown jewel!
Happy Sunday, loves!
xoxo,
sarah
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