New Kitchen Reveal

It’s here, the big kitchen reveal! This new kitchen was 11 years in the making, and I have been dreaming of this for so long. It’s finally done and I am so IN LOVE with it!

I still pinch myself almost every day when I walk into this room. I can’t believe that this is the place where I get to cook for my family and develop recipes for all of you. I am so lucky! And I’m so glad that this project is finally done. It was, not surprisingly, a very big project. I’m going to quickly walk you through it all— with plenty of before and after pics, details about my decision making process, and links to products I chose.

Before

We made almost no changes to the kitchen since purchasing the house 11 years ago. It was built in 1916 and there were still parts of the kitchen cabinetry that were original (that’s 103 year-old cabinets, guys). I always wanted to remodel the kitchen, but since it would be a complete gut and rebuild job, we pushed it off. We actually moved away for a few years and rented the house out and when we moved back in during the spring of 2017 I made it a priority and we started saving. I just couldn’t live with the yellow walls and black and blue backsplash anymore!

Fast forward to early this year and we were finally ready to start the project. After so much time spent browsing pinterest and instagram I narrowed down what I wanted, then I designed the space, found a contractor, and we got to work! The project took 4 weeks start to finish it and honestly turned out even better than I imagined. After so many years of dreaming it is crazy amazing to see it become a reality.

After

After lots of research I decided to go with Ikea for the kitchen cabinets. I liked the price point, all of the different drawer and cabinet configurations offered endless options, and everyone who has an Ikea kitchen raves about it. So I made an appointment with my local store to sit down with a kitchen planner and they helped me plan it all. They also helped me figure out how to maximize the space in my small kitchen, once of my main goals of the remodel.

I didn’t love any of the cabinet fronts that Ikea offers, so we used Semihandmade instead. Semihandmade specializes in cabinets and drawer fronts specifically for Ikea kitchens, with lots more style and color options. So I got my affordable Ikea kitchen with a more custom look thanks to these nicer fronts.

I chose white super matte shaker cabinets for the upper cabinets and graphite super matte shakers for the bottom. I wanted a light and bright kitchen, but since I had white cabinets before and hated wiping them down all the time (I have 2 little boys), I wanted something darker on bottom. And I love how this two-toned combo turned out!

My experience with both Ikea and Semihandmade was great and if I had to do it all over again I would still go with this option. I did make at least a dozen trips to Ikea though, and had to spend some time on the phone sorting out a few delivery issues, but it wasn’t anything too frustrating. Also, my contractor assembled all of our cabinets and I would highly recommend hiring that out if you go with Ikea.

Before

After

We took down the partial wall separating the kitchen and dining room and it’s amazing how much more open it is now. It feels so spacious!

I had also hoped to remove the old chimney stack that was leftover from the days when this house had a wood stove in the kitchen, but once our contractor got in there it turned out to be a much bigger (and more expensive) job, so we decided to embrace the brick and make it a part of the kitchen. And I really like how it turned out! It warms up the space, and I think the brick helps bring a little rustic charm to our updated kitchen.

The last big piece of the puzzle for this room was the flooring. Since we opened up the kitchen, I wanted all of the floors to be consistent. Our contractor installed new hardwood floors in the kitchen, and then we had the floors in the dining room and living room refinished so they would all match. And honestly, the new floors may be one of my most favorite things about this remodel. They look amazing!

It was a lot of work browsing and researching all the finishing touches, but it was also a lot of fun! I went super simple with the tile and cabinet hardware and found both at The Home Depot.

But since so much of my work involves taking photos of food on a surface, I did not want to skimp when it came to the countertops. The previous countertops were black and I was so excited to update to something light and bright. I settled on this white quartz countertop with gray veining from local fabricator Bedrock Quartz. After exploring multiple options, I was so happy to find them. The whole process was great— they had such an amazing selection to chose from, they were very friendly, and they were fast! I would definitely recommend them to all of my Utah friends.

The final thing we added to the kitchen was these exposed wood shelves. I couldn’t find exactly what I needed elsewhere, so we decided to DIY them. My contractor cut each board and I stained and finished them. We also have matching shelves in the adjacent mudroom for my cake stands and other miscellaneous items.

I’m not a professional interior designer, but I don’t think our new kitchen could look any better than it does now. I’m so happy with this remodel and I’m so excited I get to work in this beautiful room every day!

P.S. If you’re interested in seeing all of the behind-the-scenes of the remodel, I shared a lot in my Instagram stories and it’s saved in my highlights.

Sources

Cabinets— Ikea Sektion cabinets with Semihandmade fronts in super matte shaker white and graphite
Appliances— Fridge and Gas Range, Samsung; Dishwasher, Bosche
Countertops— “Rockport White” from Bedrock Quartz
Wood shelves— DIY pine shelves stained in “Early American”
Tile— Daltile Finesse Bright White, sourced from The Home Depot
Faucet— American Standard Heritage wall-mount faucet
Cabinet hardware— Liberty cup pulls and round knobs in satin nickel, sourced from The Home Depot
Wall color— Kitchen, Sherwin Williams “Repose Gray”; Mudroom, Behr Marquee “Hunter Hollow”
Floors— Maple hardwood stained in DuraSeal “Early American”

Disclosure: I received a small discount from Bedrock Quartz in exchange for sharing my experience with my new countertop. All opinions are completely my own, as always.