#kitchen-renovation

#kitchen-renovation

When Lauren Whitfield, a content creator with an interior design degree, wanted to renovate her home's kitchen, she turned to her husband, who used to work in the trades, as her co-captain. "Our kitchen before was very cramped and dark," she says. "We wanted to create a space that felt inviting and cozy, while also being opened up to the living and dining rooms."

I'd see a galley kitchen in listing photos, with a narrow hallway with counters running down both sides, and immediately click to the next home. It seemed too small, and too closed-off. I had a vision for my kitchen. I wanted one of those bright, open cooking spaces where my people could gather around an island and where I'd have ample wiggle room to move about. A galley kitchen was the opposite of everything I thought I wanted.

Thanks to Butler and Kwaw, the kitchen, specifically, got the most charming update. Before the fire in 2023, the kitchen had last been updated in 1993, and the designers described it as "outdated with a peninsula and laminate cabinets." The duo had to approach the renovation with sensitivity and tact. "We noted, empathized, and revisited the highlights," they share. The designers drew inspiration from happy times, such as the client's annual visits to Martha's Vineyard, for the design of the new kitchen.

We gutted the original kitchen and laundry room, expanded the space, upgraded our appliances, and splurged on matching stone countertops and backsplash. But when the time came to select a color scheme, we just couldn't get the idea of black cabinetry out of our heads. We fell hard for the deep, dramatic hue and envisioned a sleek, modern kitchen with black cabinets, marble countertops, and brass fixtures. The vision was chic, elegant, and magazine-worthy.

Every homeowner wishes they could do a full kitchen renovation whenever the place starts to look dull, but much fewer of us have the funds and patience to pull it off. A more affordable yet super impactful move is to simply paint your kitchen cabinets a different color. A new hue can completely change the atmosphere of the kitchen without replacing every last thing in the room.

"to keep everything flat - no upper cabinets ... so you don't accumulate more than you really need," she says.

A kitchen renovation doesn't have to be a stressful project completed at a breakneck pace. If you aren't about to sell your home (or aren't making emergency repairs), it may be worth it to take your time. A slow renovation is a more intentional, gradual, and mindful approach to addressing challenges or concerns in your kitchen or just making tasteful upgrades. To get a better handle on the process, we spoke with Carmine Argano, owner of Creative Design Ceramic Tile & Bath, to get his tips for putting this trend into practice during a kitchen renovation.

I wasn't a fan of the countertops and bare walls behind the sink. And updating the faucet was necessary to gain more space in the sink to do dishes," Sarah says.

The beauty of granite is natural, and part of that is the fact that it varies slab to slab. Granite is a rock that comes from deep down under the earth's crust. It takes millions of years of impacts in temperature and pressure for its marble-like patterns to form. You can find different colors with various kinds of swirling, flecked, crystal-dotted motifs. It can be difficult to tell exactly what you're getting from online photos, especially considering how big of a role lighting plays.

A few things to love from the '70s, design-wise? Macrame, rattan, funky patterns - even conversation pits. A few things that certainly aren't missed from the decade? Orange-toned everything, florescent lighting, and bland laminate countertops. Unfortunately, Jenessa Weaver's 1977 kitchen had several not-so-fun-or-funky '70s details, and she was looking for a change. So she enlisted the help of her childhood best friend, Alysha, designer and owner of Camp Interiors.

"The whole space feels larger."

It was important to us that it flowed seamlessly with the rest of the house and had a warmth that made people want to gather there. We also wanted to weave in a bit more vintage character so it felt true to the home's original charm.

"Custom IKEA cabinetry really helped me save," she says.

Monica Gounaropoulos emphasizes that Mediterranean-style kitchens can be transformed into serene sanctuaries by choosing light countertops and natural materials for an inviting ambiance.

During a kitchen renovation, having shelf-stable food options like hummus can help prevent hunger while appliances are out of commission.

During the pandemic I gave myself a project of renovating my kitchen, which I actually hadn't done in 25 years!!