My kitchen: what I love… and what I wish I would’ve done differently…
So let me start by saying… I love my kitchen! Part of the creative process involved in remodeling is an understanding that our lives evolve and so do our needs. After living with my design choices now for almost 3 years, I’m excited to share the things that have worked really well … as well as the things that I would do differently.
Let’s start with the design elements that I’m still loving:
MORE-BIGGER-WINDOWS: I will never regret adding and widening both windows and sky lights. Though this was expensive…it brought in so much light, expanded our views to the outdoors, and brightened the entire space. This was a win win!
REMOVING A WALL TO ADD A LARGE ISLAND AND WALK-IN PANTRY: Our kitchen before was very tight and difficult to move around in and had very little surface area. Now I have a large surface that I can use for food prep, food display, counter eating, and even folding laundry!
REMOVING OUR UPPER CABINETS: The fact that we have a wall of windows and no upper cabinets has never created a storage problem for us. The wall removal allowed us to add lots of kitchen storage in the bottom of our surrounding cabintry as well as on all sides of the new island, and in the pantry.
ADDING AN APPLIANCE GARAGE: Yep…a garage for appliances so that they are always accessible, plugged in, ready to use… but hidden away! I love having my counters clear of clunky, often ugly appliances and those messy cords…
HIDDEN DRAWERS: Tucked away on either side of my range… I have my forever disorganized spice drawer and knife drawer. Again… ready to use… but hidden away behind larger cabinet doors… genius!
VARYING SIZES OF LONG DRAWERS: Instead of shelves with cabinet doors…I used drawers throughout my kitchen for easy access and visibility when storing dishes and pots/pans etc…
OPEN SHELVES: I know that open shelving tends to be a controversial kitchen discussion… people either hate it or they love it….and I’m on the “LOVE IT” side! I use my bottom shelves for my daily dishes, glassware, and bowls and then use the top shelf for mostly decorative items.. This works for me because I like to have a space where I can just style in a little bit of pretty. However … dust happens… so here is my dusting playlist : ) https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0m1CPbxjTipqoUSC9z2yD5?si=Y2DuKzDrSA6AE1jdrLuHJg
SINGLE BASIN-APRON FRONT SINK WITH GRID: I love our sink.. The bottom grid protects the sink from chips/scratches and the front apron adds a beautiful design element. The single basin is deep enough to submerge my largest thanksgiving pots!
LAST BUT NOT LEAST…OUR MOROCCAN ZELLIGE TILE BACKSPLASH: Simply a love affair with this design element. Im so happy that I took the tiles from the countertops all the way up the ceiling for a full height backsplash …it makes it easy to decorate in this space because the full height serves as artwork on its own . These tiles are handmade so no two pieces are exactly the same—each tile has the perfect amount of texture and imperfection.
Now lets talk about a couple of design choices I would do differently:
LIMITED SEATING AT MY KITCHEN ISLAND: I really wish our kitchen island was designed to double as a table top/dining area. We currently can seat 3 people on one side comfortably but if I had originally extended the “overhang” around the entirety of the whole island … we could easily sit 6.
CUSTOM DRAWER INSERTS: I paid for specialty drawers with custom dividers and ended up removing them. These divisions didn’t fit the way I actually store our items and I would have been better off purchasing inserts online or from the Container Store after installation.
NO UNDER CABINET/SHELVING LIGHTING : I wish I had installed lighting to create ambiance and light up the countertops more efficiently
When planning a kitchen renovation there are SO many decisions that need to be made…it can be overwhelming. I hope that sharing my experience is helpful to you …whether you are considering a full remodel or just a kitchen update. Keep in mind that the best kitchen design ultimately is all about what works for you… and feel free to shoot me an email if you have a specific question
❤️