Monday, June 2, 2014

Bungalow Kitchen Update


I realized there haven't been many photos of the kitchen and thought it was time to rectify that! We've made some nice progress, and while it's not completed yet, it seemed like it was time for an update.
Kitchen - Before

First, let me start with the big news.  We have hardwood floors under the linoleum!!!  And not just any boring floor, it's beautiful antique maple.  It's happy dance time!  On every other house, I made an assumption we would find hardwood and would simply need to refinish it.  And every time I was disappointed and had to come up with more budget for a new floor.  So.....this time I thought I was being clever and budgeted for a new floor right from the beginning.  And go figure, we have hardwood!  There's quite a bit of patching that will be required to work around old pipe holes, but it should be beautiful when we get it done.

There's another element that we are keeping - the existing maple cabinets are in very nice shape.  It would be a shame to take them out.  But, the layout isn't quite what we wanted, so there were some changes to make.

So.....we pulled out several of the upper cabinets and created: 

- a built-in refrigerator cabinet

- a cabinet with microwave shelf and space for a chimney style hood

And we'll be adding Craftsman style hardware on all the drawers and doors.

Then, we pulled out the old laminate countertops and replaced them with this beautiful brown and cream granite.
Creating the electronic granite template
That's a huge slab of granite!

Steve and Jason, our electricians, got to work rewiring the kitchen.  It was a bit of a challenge, with an odd mixture of wiring tied into the ceiling fixture.  But after cutting holes in the ceiling and in the floor boards of the room above, they got it done!  We added recessed lighting, a new pendant over the sink, under cabinet lights and power for our new stainless steel chimney hood.  

And then I got to work on the new tile backsplash.  I used creamy, matte subway tiles for the majority of the space.  But above the stove, I added the beautiful custom crafted tiles from Odd Inq (more about the tiles and the artist here).  They're surrounded by a marble 'frame', to set them off from the subway tile.


And to tie the tile in with the warm brown tones, I used a cocoa colored grout.  It's the first time I've done a dark colored grout - and I love it!  It really adds a nice touch to the subway tile and links everything together.

And of course the kitchen is adjacent to the breakfast room.  Now that they've painted the knotty pine ceiling, the room is so bright!  I can't wait until they get our amazing $2,800 Arts & Crafts light fixture up on that high ceiling.  And you can see the beautiful fir floors that we have in here.  


Of course, there's more to be done.  But we've made some nice progress and the finish line is in sight!

Pin It

4 comments:

  1. Wow, what a great find having those floors under the lino. Worth the patching to have the old character still intact. And that hardware is perfect. You have such good taste.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! We're just tickled pink with the maple flooring discovery!

      Delete
  2. Laurel ~ Your kitchen transformations are so inspiring, just love all of them! I have recently caught my kitchen on fire (Ooops!) and will soon begin the renovation. I want to eliminate the microwave over my stove look as you have done in your kitchen makeovers. I've looked closely to find the microwave location in your kitchens, but cannot always find it. Do you include a microwave in every kitchen? Can you show us where you place the microwave? Also, I want to install a hood above my stove but it's a 14 year old Kenmore that is bone/black combination….what type of hood should I look for? I can't replace the stove. Thanks for your advice :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Rhonda! A fire! Oh no. Well, that's one way to get your kitchen updated in a hurry :-)

      I have to admit, I hate the look of a microwave and tend to try and hide them. In the last house, we put it in the island, under the countertop. In another house, I had wiring added to the pantry, so it could be hidden in there. As you probably saw in the photos above, we're going to put it on a shelf in this kitchen, but I bought a tiny GE one.

      What about a black hood? That might look pretty sharp above your stove and a little more interesting than the typical stainless style.

      Best of luck!

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...