Here it is – our kitchen renovation reveal! I’m so excited to finally be sharing our finished kitchen with you guys. The whole project took about six weeks and while it was stressful to have everything in our cabinets strewn all over the place, and people in and out of our house constantly, I’m so happy that we did it… and before the baby comes!
Our kitchen is such a central and highly used room in our home so it was important to me that I loved it. While it was fine before, I now feel happy walking into the space. It’s bright and light, and has such a better overall vibe. It inspires me to cook healthy meals, and makes me want to have people over to the house more often because inevitably that’s where everyone ends up hanging out.
Our original inspiration for the kitchen renovation was just very white and bright so that I could add in my own pops of color with ginger jars, flowers, and accessories. There isn’t a ton of natural light in the room, but now since the kitchen renovation, it looks sunny all day long. That does wonders for your mood.
Here’s a reminder of our project and the challenge: We teamed up with Lowe’s to make some simple cosmetic changes to our kitchen. Our budget was $6000 and we managed to stay within that! You can shop the products we used by hovering over the image below or scrolling down for a full list of links.
Kitchen Cabinets
The first step was painting the cabinets. Our amazing handyman helped us by taking off all of the doors, knobs and awful dental molding. He painted the cabinet doors in the garage. While the first coat of paint dried, he painted the sides and the shelves. He did two coats of paint on everything and the previously beige/yellow color disappeared without a trace. He replaced the dental molding with a simpler crown molding and that made almost as big of a difference as the paint itself.
Kitchen Backsplash
While the doors were off, we removed the ugly backsplash and I did a little happy dance. We knew we wanted to go with subway tiles, but had some debate as to the size of the tiles and the color of the grout. In the end we went with a smaller subway tile because the room is pretty small. I didn’t want the big tiles to overwhelm the space. Although grey grout may have been more practical with cooking splatter, I really loved the all white look.
Kitchen Countertops
Picking countertops was probably the hardest decision we had to make. On our three hour trip to Lowe’s where we made all of the decisions, we loved the more natural look of granite but couldn’t find one that was white enough. In a last minute decision (literally we were about to pay), I switched to a Silestone quartz option. I was nervous it would look fake or weird, but it is so lovely in person and incredibly durable. My old granite counters somehow always looked dirty, and even though my new ones are white, they’re easier to keep clean.
Kitchen Sink
Our old kitchen sink was tiny, and it felt frustrating to clean even smaller pots and pans. Water would splash everywhere! We went with the biggest sink that would fit in the space (33″), and it’s been great. You can’t see it in photos, but we also added a garbage disposal which feels like such a luxury after not having one for over a year. We picked a simple chrome faucet that I knew we’d never get sick of. It matches the chrome knobs on the cabinets nicely.
Other Kitchen Details
Below the sink, I put in a cute striped Dash & Albert rug with a thick rug pad so that when I’m using the butcher block or washing dishes, my feet have a little padding. As you can see in the photos below, Boots thinks it’s his bed.
We added two blue and white Serena & Lily bistro counter stools to match our kitchen table chairs. They look so adorable, I can hardly stand it.
We thought about building an island, but that wasn’t an option in our budget. Luckily we found a great butcher block top removable island that fit in the open space perfectly. Added bonus? The price! Having this extra counter space has made a huge difference when I cook, and I have so much more room for chopping. It also has a ton of storage space, which helped to un-crowd some of our lower cabinets.
Scroll down to see before and after pics. I hope you enjoy the transformation as much as I do!
Before
After
Cabinet Paint
Cabinet Knobs
Sink
Faucet
Silestone Quartz Countertop
Subway Tile Backsplash
Crown Molding
Serena & Lily Bistro Stools
Crate & Barrel Kitchen Island
Dash & Albert Striped Rug c/o
Ikea Dining Table
Serena & Lily Bistro Chairs
Dash & Albert Kitchen Rug c/o
Kate Spade Lemon Apron
Thank you to Lowe’s for gifting us product for this post. Photos by Courtney Ann Photography.
The white cabinets are beautiful! And I love the Serena & Lily chairs and stools. Your kitchen looks amazing!
Ellen | A Pop of Pink
Thanks Ellen!
Love it Julia!! Looks stunning. Great job! xo
You did such a fabulous job! Everything is gorgeous. Love the island and chairs….so clean and peaceful! Happy for you.
Catt-in-Kentucky
It looks so wonderful!! I love how much brighter everything is! Such a beautiful kitchen, definitely saving this for inspiration 🙂
Taylor | http://www.livingtaylored.com
It turned out so pretty!! I think the countertops were a smart option, so much easier to clean!
Kristina does the Internets
Yes! They look great AND they’re easy to clean. Win/win!!
oh my goodness- this is awesome! i love all the blue and white. it’s all so pretty!
xo, brittany
five ways to help a new mama (and three things not to say!) on my blog today!
http://www.notablob.com
Looks fabulous! We did a similar remodel last year and I am lusting over those counter stools- just can’t pull the trigger yet. Looks great! We love our quartz too!
I know… they’re expensive but I’m glad we splurged on one thing 🙂
This looks AMAZING! Love the updates, it’s seriously a dream kitchen 🙂
xoxo
Cassidy
http://heartofgoldandglitter.blogspot.com/
Looks great! I’m curious, why did you choose an overmount sink?
So curious about this too!
The installers actually installed it incorrectly 🙁 We’re trying to get it fixed but I had to shoot the room before that happened, unfortunately! I’ll keep you guys posted on how it all shakes out.
Love it- so pretty!
I love your new kitchen! We are in the beginning stages of talking about a kitchen remodel. Painting our brown cabinets is at the top of the list. Do you know if they were painted with a sprayer or by hand? They look great!
Thank you! We painted by hand to save money but I think it looks even better if you spray 🙂 Good luck!
It looks amazing!! I love all the blue and white accent pieces.
Ahh congrats, what a cheerful kitchen! It’s amazing how aesthetic changes can transform a space, even when the layout remains the same. Also I gasped when I saw your tiny old sink – I can only imagine what a headache that was (and that’s based on suffering through a truly teeny bathroom sink in a former NYC rental). I hope you enjoy many happy meals in your new kitchen!!
xx Jean
http://www.skylineblossoms.com
Kind of crazy, right? People told me that I had to rearrange everything but I knew that the small changes would make a huge difference. So glad I went with my gut 🙂
And yes the tiny sink was awful!!
It came out beautifully. So much sunlight!! You must be so pleased with the finished product! I love those bistro stools.
Caitlin | http://sunnystyleblog.com/
Beyond pleased! It’s such a happy space now 🙂
It looks beautiful! I’m so happy for you guys and the gorgeous kitchen you get to enjoy now 🙂 Also, I just love you guys.
Thanks love! xoxo
This transformation is incredible! I love how relaxing and clean an all-white kitchen looks, can’t wait to have my own some day. Congrats on your new kitchen! 🙂
Great job!
Where did you find the beach pictures?
They’re actually prints by my husband. He took them on a trip to the Hamptons a few summers ago!
It looks so great! Love the clean white look. And a garbage disposal!!! I live in NYC and I honestly would prefer to have one of those than a dishwasher, haha.
It has been so life changing, I had no idea what a difference it would make!
Congrats on the beautiful renovation! Those are some impressive before and after photos! The new kitchen is so bright and cheery – I love the white with pops of blue! Enjoy it!
xx Allison
alwayseatdessert.com
Thanks so much, Allison!
What a wonderful kitchen reveal, so light and cheerful. Yes, I too am glad you did this before the baby arrives. It gives me great inspiration for my future kitchen renovation.
Thank you so much!
Lovely! Curious to know the paint color you used on the walls? I’m paining a room which is why I ask 🙂
We used Decorator’s White by Benjamin Moore. It’s really light and airy!
OMG Julia!! What an amazing transformation, so light and cheery!!
Thanks lady! Was totally inspired by yours!!
So sunny and cheerful and clean! Love it!!
Thanks Kelly! I’m so happy with how it turned out.
Your kitchen looks stunning! What a fabulously light and bright space to cook and spend quality time with family & friends! I’m curious — did Loews have a variety of “whites” when you were looking at smaller subway tiles (2”x4”) or just 1 shade? We’re re-doing our backsplash and the tiles that I picked up from Home Depot (they only had 1 choice) are creamy/almost a light gray…and I’m going for that “clean white” look you mentioned. Thinking I might head to Loews after seeing this post!
Julia this looks SO good!!!! Love love love!!!
Lovely!! So much brighter. Good job!! All the best. Glad you are feeling better.
Looks amazing! Stop by Consider the Cook in New Canaan if you need anymore accessories, dishes, glassware or amazing cookbooks for you new kitchen.
I’ve never been! Will definitely check it out next time I’m in NC
Where are all the vases from?
They’re from all over but a lot are from Williams Sonoma!
Love your kitchen, Julia! Your bar stools are so pretty!
xoxo,
Katie
chicincarolina.blogspot.com
Hi Julia~ I love your kitchen redo! Could you share the paint color you chose for the cabinets? Thank you 🙂 Kim
We live locally and would like to do a similar project for a similar budget 🙂 who did you use for the counter and backsplash change? Any recommendations for local services or people would be great!
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