Houzz Call: Show Us Your Kitchen Remodel

Slesinski Design Group, Inc. My kitchen renovation took inspiration from my partner's antique Japanese kitchen tansu in the adjoining dining room. The custom cabinets were designed to mimic the design and finish of the tansu. Additionally, I purchased another antique piece, a 19th century Japanese Mizuya, but split it in two, hanging the bottom unit on the wall to act as upper cabinets. I put the same countertop material (Tiger's Eye, a quartz and petrified wood composite) used elsewhere in the kitchen, to cover the bottom unit. The walls and backsplash are all covered in antiqued mirror, adding a bit of sparkle and bouncing light throughout the room. It is magical at night!

Slesinski Design Group, Inc. Additional photos of the tansu inspired kitchen

ikwewe We wanted to add light and space to our kitchen without spending a lot of money. We opted to keep the 1963 era Laminate cupboards which were in good shape, and keep the fairly new functional appliances. The vinyl flooring was damaged, so we replaced it with a creamy pale terra cotta tile that we used throughout the house. We removed a wall between the kitchen and living room, then moved the breakfast bar from between the kitchen and dinette to the space where the wall was. The paneling from the removed wall was used to face the living room side of the bar. We also moved the ceiling hung glass cabinet from over the breakfast bar.

Once the bar was moved, we could move the refrigerator from its position blocking traffic to the end of the counter where the bar had been. The refrigerator originally was next to the small cart on the left side of the third picture. We added some retro ceramic tile to the backsplash, but so far the existing Formica is staying on the counters. We kept the wonderful three bowl sink, but upgraded to a new faucet that better reaches the sinks on both sides. The end result makes us very happy, the kitchen is open and bright, the traffic patterns are improved, and we did not spend a fortune on the project.

sblum517 We moved into a 1930's Cape last year and it had great 'bones' but was in dire need of cosmetic upgrades...particularly the kitchen. The kitchen was a small, 10 x 11 enclosed space in the center of the house. The previous owners had built a lovely 4 season sunroom in back of the kitchen, but it was totally separate from the rest of the space, and the sunroom boasted beautiful views of the lovely trees in the backyard. Other than the appliances, the kitchen had never been updated, and had the original 1930's floor and cabinets. The stove was also in a high traffic area which was going to be a problem with our 2 little kids. We decided to bring down the wall separating the kitchen to the sunroom to make the space appear larger, and to take advantage of the backyard views and sunlight. We added counters to the back wall and were able to re-locate the stove and microwave. We gained storage by adding cabinets along the new' eating' bar we created on the new peninsula that flanks the kitchen and sunroom. We were on a very, very, tight budget and had to keep the existing appliances and could not do custom/high end cabinetry, but we are enjoying the semi-custom shaker style that works well with our cape-style home. We stayed with white cabinets and used a light granite with warm tones. The backsplash was a hand-painted light sage subway tile. We used antique bronze accents for the hardware and faucets. We added a dark, high gloss wood floor in place of the linoleum in the kitchen and those cold, white ceramic tiles you see in the skylit sunroom. We worked hard to make the kitchen and sunroom flow into one open space.

sblum517 Additional photos to the kitchen

Mr Fixit Fast Here are some before photos of my circa 1986 traditional kitchen.

tanyae23 We moved into our 1935 cottage house knowing on of the first things we needed to do was renovate the kitchen and bathrooms. The kitchen was previously pine but more than that, a waste of space. Washing machine & dryer, a display cabinet, a 1/2 fridge and the remainder of the existing outside wall (previously taken down for an extension) all taking up valuable space. Removing all this allowed us to put in more cabinets, a full size fridge, breakfast bar, and increase the floor area by a meter wide. A dramatic and smart change that's a joy to cook in now.

JAN MOYER My client so loathed the 1985 kitchen in this house, she had to be convinced it could be a great kitchen in her move to an empty nester house.We were on a tight timeline, and a tight budget, but in six weeks plan to finish, it's a hugely improved space. The before pictures are probably a blur, sorry! And my pictures hardly do the result justice, but you get the idea.

JAN MOYER Oh rats... two more. You can see why I am not a tech, or a photographer.

Sarah Gayle Carter Design Studio Four years ago, I moved to Maine to live in a "barn" with a long term bachelor. (don't ask, it's a long story) This is what I found in the kitchen (?!!)). My South African, ex-Rugby playing guy was cute, but clearly oblivious to his surroundings...

Sarah Gayle Carter Design Studio Then along came Sarah with a couple of cans of paint, some do it yourself floor tile, a trip to the dump and Ikea......et Voila!

Ann Smitt Sarah Carter - You love your Rugby Playing Guy so much you made an improved sitting area in the kitchen for him. Your Rugby Barn Kitchen gets my vote for best remodel. ;-)

immaggiemae Our renovation was all about budget and re-purposing what we could. We had original "stick built" custom cabinetry in our 1960's ranch, just wanted to update them with paint and most importantly change the layout to open up the center of the space and update our appliances (original stove top folded down out of the wall!). The standing cabinet which encased a vintage double oven was refurbished to make a window bench/storage cabinet. New budget-friendly (and dirt hiding) counter tops, hardwood flooring, and creamy subway tile back splash warm up the space while keeping it light and airy. We added a custom-built butcher block island which sits on furniture glides so it's moveable. Tons of storage.

annabauer I recently bought a condo that was built in 1981 and had never been renovated. There was jade green wall to wall carpeting throughout, except for in the kitchen which had cherry red high gloss subway tiles on the floor and with an extra flourish, on the backsplash as well. The kitchen also had a nifty serve through counter, walled in by one tiny entry space. You were lucky if two people could fit in it.
Being thoroughly modern, I removed all the walls, laid wood on the entire floor to tie in the dining room and family room, and extended the existing counter to gain more floor space. A dream kitchen? Close to it. I alway wanted a fireplace in my kitchen. Aaah...next house.

Martha Moore This is the almost finished kitchen. I can't seem to find my "before" pictures. We lived in Modest, CA and our home was a pretty typical 70s ranch with a modified galley kitchen. Cabinets over the 10' peninsula separated the kitchen from the family room area. The old cabinets were dark and the counter tops were laminate. The eat-in area was nearly unusable. We took out the upper cabinets, changed the counters to CaesarStone (color: Blue Ridge - to honor where we were from). The new cabinetry was built out of hickory. My favorite pieces were my new dual fuel stove w/ warming over and the twin pull out pantries. Our carpenter built a beautiful hutch in the eat-in area to replace the dish storage space lost in removing the upper cabinets. The family room became a "keeping room" of sorts. Except for the cabinets and counter installation, we did most of the work ourselves. The stained glass pendulums over the peninsula were a clearance bin find. They picked up the flecks of red in the CaesarStone and matched a ceiling fixture and antique stained glass window I already had. The mosaic back splash over the stove was my own creation - my first attempt at mosaics and not perfect by any means. Sadly, we lost the house (and my kitchen) in the housing bust.

marilynfirestone After 20 years of cooking in a small galley kitchen, we recently removed an original exterior brick wall and a smaller breakfast room wall on our 1940 St. Louis home to unite our kitchen and family room addition. We love how it created an open living space and made room for a large six-seat island, which we use for casual entertaining. Designer Margie Weintraub helped us select a warm natural palette using maple cabinets, wood floors, a granite island top, and silestone surrounding countertops.

malena933 This is a 1950's kitchen on Cape Cod. Like so many, I didn't have a lot to spend. Most of my resources went into getting the electrical "up to code" so that I could install new appliances. The first two pictures are before shots. You walk right into the eat-in portion of the kitchen from the driveway. Main problems with the kitchen were: 1- no dishwasher besides my two hands (and no space to add one); 2- the space for the fridge was too narrow to purchase the new style of fridge (and the old one was rusted inside and leaking); 3- both range top and stove gas piping were rotted through and leaking gas (into the house!). My friends refer to the light fixture as the "naked baby lamp". Its motif is little cupids all over...

jsheatu Our kitchen was still in the sixties with dated cabinet doors, dated tiles on the backsplash and older appliances. Since we were on a strict budget, we decided to order new cabinet doors because the actual cabinets were in good condition. We tore out a desk that just collected junk that was on the far wall and replaced it with an IKEA drawer base in black shaker style to offset the new white shaker style cabinet doors. We also ripped out a protruding pantry closet that was obviously homemade and a major eyesore. To dress up the cabinet doors, we bought beautiful glass and stainless handles, which really added a nice touch. The backsplash was removed and we went with a carerra type marble subway tile behind the cabinets and a stainless steel subway tile behind the new stove. We had granite countertops installed in River White, and we couldn't be happier with our choice. For just $10,000 we have a modern and beautiful new kitchen with plenty of storage and energy efficient stainless appliances!

jsheatu Our "after" pictures continued....

malena933 The after shots are from essentially the same angle; I just turned the floorplan from a square-C to an upside down square-U (Mom's idea). My dad did the demo -- carefully, so I could refinish the cabs. I was going to go white, but it was his idea to stain them a color. The beadboard cabs are the ones I bought unfinished to fill in the gaps where I didn't have enough of the old ones. Turned out that the sink "cabinet" was just a false front; there was no actual cabinet there. I used the cab underneath the old range top for the sink cab and I repurposed the old oven cab to be my appliance garage. I hired a college student to help me reinstall the cabs in their new configuration and then trimmed it all in to match the original trim.

bpharber We knew we needed to change everything, the original kitchen had limited cabinetry, the linoleum was rolling up at the ends and when the refrigerator was open you couldn't get into the kitchen. I wanted a traditional look for our 1950's home, but with a clean modern feel mixed in with some industrial vibes.
Since we had been in the house for 8 years we decided against hiring a firm to handle the remodel. We drew the layout and did the demolition ourselves and hired out the things we were not capable of doing. Our wonderful friend is a cabinet maker and made all of the custom cabinetry. This allowed us to fit cabinets everywhere we could. It gave us all the storage and convenience we needed without having to increase the overall square footage of the kitchen or move any interior walls. We updated the adjoining family room. We installed a barn dor in an existing closet so we could use it as a pantry and storage for seldom used appliances. We haven't finished the small design details but the major renovation is complete. Houzz was a huge help, the ideabooks and photos helped me figure out what my design style was and what could work in our small kitchen.

Donna My kitchen remodel turned out to be better than I imagined. I needed light & airy due to extremely low ceilings in this old, once summer only cottage in Massachusetts. The house is also built on a slab right on the water so I wanted durablility & easy clean up.

We have since added beadboard & hooks to the wall by the window in the 3rd pic . The entrance door is there as well (not visible in pic). We've painted, rearranged the table & purchased new counter stools. Could not be happier. Man, that was one ugly old kitchen!

Note: Ikea cabinets, vinyl flooring

prtiris The renovation of the barn apartment.

The apartment is attached to the stable and is about 900 sq. ft. It has been a total remodel.

The kitchen is my favorite. As you can see in the before photo the kitchen is totally non functioning, ugly, and well .....did I say ugly?

All the exterior walls are block and interior walls OSB. Where to start? DEMO.

I did buy new cabinets from a salvage place, keep in mind this was a very small budget project. I reused and repurposed most of what you see.

I added ceiling beams (popular, which I distressed so it would look like reclaimed wood) inset with with popular boards I lightly white washed. I used the beams along with the placement of the island to delineate the kitchen area from the rest of the room as it is one big open space.

I used some of the old cabinets to reconstruct and build the island. I pulled it out from the wall so now there is a flow around the space.
The island was fun to do. I took some left over poplar boards painted them different colors, stained then waxed them along with a couple old shutters I had. Once I had all my "parts" assembled I started randomnly cutting the boards and nailing them directly to the existing cabinets. Basically re-facing the surface.
The counter top was made from 8 solid oak boards, 2" thick, glued together and mitered at the corner. I left a live edge on two sides. The cedar tree post was added not only for added design factor but allowed us to run an electric wire down from the ceiling for power to the island. The apartment is on concrete slab so we werent going through that!

I did all the tile work behind the counter....another fun project. It was like doing mosaic work with slate. The counter is "plum" slate, which goes beautifully with the copper sink. I did splurge on the sink and faucet since I saved so much with everything else.
I bought the new oven but the other appliances were reused from another house.
I really, really love old wood floors but that wasnt going to happen. So I found this laminate at a discount place that really looks pretty good considering. Its proven to be the perfect floor for this space, easy to clean and maintain.
I had this old iron fireplace summer board, coated with layers of white paint. Once I stripped the paint off I discovered it had copper flashing on it! It hangs beneath the light I made. Found it at a salvage place, all dinged up, painted white. I took a ball peen hammer to it to further ding it, then did a faux copper finish on it. I love copper but $$$, no can do !

Kitchens are a lot of work but so worth it!! Hope you enjoy the transformation as much as I like living in it!!

R. Martin Choate I loved my 1966 Contemporary Split level the moment I saw it...however, I love kitchens...and this one was NOT my favorite! It was dark, avocado green appliances, dark paneling and cramped. So I sketched what I did wanted it to look like and my talented husband created what I drew - a bright, open and very functional space!

Beverly Well, this is a diffferent perspective on a kitchen remodel. My husband and I did it all by ourselves on a very limited budget...$4000.00, including appliances. It started as a 1980's eat in kitchen, that we never ate in! First, we added cabinetry where the eat in area was located. Then we had to match the 1980 cabinets to the new cabinets. So, we added molding to the old cabinets and added crown molding. We painted them all. We took out the cabinets over the hood and replaced w/a new hood and added backsplash and new appliances. We also, painted our laminate counter tops w/a product called Giani Granite. They turned out better than expected..would still like new ones. But, all in all, it was a great update to an old kitchen. Also, in this down housing market, we didn't want to put too much money in that we would never get back, for this neighborhood.

plurple We are right in the middle of our renovation. We are doing it all ourselves except for the soapstone for the island and the cabinet doors. Our original kitchen was a huge "W" and we felt there was a lot of wasted space. We will have cherry cabinets, soapstone on the island and concrete for the other counters, bamboo on the floor, and 36" soapstone farmhouse sink, copper for the backsplash behind the stove, and very unique handmade tiles on the other backsplash areas. So far, getting the tile up off the floor has been the hardest part (and it probably will remain so) but it will be so worth it! Here is a of before, and a couple of pictures part way through the island install.

patscats2 I love the orange and light wood cabinets but those uppper cabinets look like they are waiting for doors to hide all that mismatched stuff in them. I think open cabinets should have matched items in them so they look decorative. Otherwise it just looks cluttered and ugly.

That Texas kitchen is a nightmare. I can't imagine boiling water in that thing. LOL

The last one is very pretty but with another color on the walls it would have even been better.

Tanyae I love your candy apple red. Not my style, but beautiful all the same.

All the remodels are very pretty. Nothing like an updated ktichen to make you feel like cooking, is there?

lwaylett The 1995 kitchen in our recently purchased home was typical of its era. It was a workable kitchen, but my soul needs light, bright, and height to feel truly at home and happy. So, we knocked out the partial wall enclosure (box) around the dining room and continued that open effect by raising the ceiling in the kitchen, including much more light, flipping the peninsula and leaving it counter top height instead of blocking the view with a tall bar. This peninsula is not an "island" but is absolutely perfect to serve from. The opening to the kitchen from the living/dining area is much more inviting! The old kitchen "desk" was replaced with butler pantry and a pocket door replaced the hinged door that blocked half that area when it was open. Kitchen went from a drab gray/green with dark-tiled backsplash and short natural wood cabinets to a happy atmosphere with yellow-beige wall paint, taller cream-white cabinets, (some with glass fronts), Revelation granite, and small stack-stoned backsplash. The wood floors are warm and contrast with the lighter cabinetry. Stainless steel appliances and the corner farm sink top of the shine! Now, light, bright, and height feeds my soul every time I'm in our new kitchen!

tsemdkel I recently renovated a 1975 ranch kitchen and am thrilled with the results. I painted the existing cabinets - very well built but dark - and replaced the old vinyl flooring with hardwood. The original tile backsplash is versatile and timeless - white tiles with black diamonds - so I kept that as well. By taking down a wall that separated the kitchen from the den, I now have a wonderful, sunny great room where there were two small, dark spaces before. I'm planning on adding an island when I come up for air.

MaryEllen Kowalewski Architect Our kitchen renovation was a part of a total gut renovation of our 530 sf apartment. The existing kitchen and apartment were unlivable. The dimensions of the kitchen were constrained by the location of the walls, one being a shared party wall and the other a plumbing wall that fed not only our apartment, but the units above as well. The dimension of the kitchen meant that the cabinets on the east wall could not be a standard 24" depth. We had to adapt all of the lower cabinets on that wall to leave the minimum 36" width of space. We used Ikea cabinets to save on the cost and we knew we could adapt them easily. This allowed us to splurge on other things, such as our Viking range, KWC faucet and the stainless steel countertops with an integral sink. Another constraint we ran into was the main steam riser in the corner. We designed a custom stainless steel cover to hide it that was fabricated by a local metal fab shop, who also fabricated the custom cantilevered microwave shelves. We purchased apartment sized appliances, an 18" wide GE Monogram dishwasher, a 24" wide Explorer refrigerator, and a 24" wide Viking range. We used every available inch of space we could find in our small space. After demolition we found an old niche in the wall that use to act as a cold cellar long ago. We designed and built a simple wooden cabinet to fit into this space, which served as a space to store additional food. We also double-stacked the upper cabinets to allow for more storage for seldom used items. We installed an epoxy floor for a clean aesthetic and durability. My husband and I self-performed all of the work in the apartment, with the exception of demolition and electrical. Although the kitchen was small, it had ample storage and was very functional.

Debbie Schulte_Wilkens I love my kitchen not quite done yet but you get idea

abramsansari We live in a heritage home and I wanted a kitchen that felt in keeping with the house but also stylish and super-functional. The more traditional and/or classic elements were the white shaker cabinets with some crown molding (a tribute to our foot-high baseboards), beadboard around the island, the lighting, and the quasi-industrial faucet. The more modern elements were the stainless appliances, the modern take on traditional marble tiling, and the funky blinds for the windows.

After spending months with designers who wanted to have the kitchen go around the walls of the room as is typical, I finally realized that what would give me what I most wanted in this long, thin room - a sizable area for prep which would also offer some seating - was a long, thin, "runway" island with a straightforward row of cabinets an the back wall of the room and then a pantry area against the front wall. Initially I wanted a more symmetrical look for the back wall but a host of factors made it impossible, so in the end I embraced the lack of symmetry with a lowered desk area under the window.

The end result is a kitchen that is great to work and relax in, and particularly fantastic for parties!

Cheri Miller We had a main floor renovation done, knocking out a wall between the kitchen and fireplace room (den). New custom bookshelves were built in the den and a new tiled fireplace. A new half bath was also accomplished with new tiled back wall.

custom-tiles.com Just one photo to offer, sparked by "Grandma's Kitchen". One customer wanted a unique kitchen tile backsplash. To remind the family of grandma's utensils and decorations, she placed them close together and photographed them. We edited the image and provided the 'vignette' effect on ceramic tile. http://custom-tiles.com/wp-content/gallery/tile-pictures/grannies-vignette.jpg Hope you don't mind the link; I don't have the picture on this computer.

Cheri Miller Before and after pictures of the bathroom.

mwillis42 We built our home in 1990 when the decor (at least in Southern California) was black and white and modern. We loved the look for many years, but the white tile was so hard to keep clean so we decided to go with granite about 5 years ago. That worked for awhile but then I fell in love with dark cabinets. Unfortunately since we put the granite in first...removing it was not an option. After struggling with the idea of "painting" our oak cabinets, we found a painter who actually stained them a black cherry color. It was love at first sight! We love the new look...and it was sooo much cheaper than refacing the cabinets.
Since we had never put on any drawer pulls, we were able to add the modern touch of the larger stainless cabinet "jewelry". My husband (who is very handy!) did take off all of the original hinges and replaced them with the hidden european hinges.
The darker cabinets make all of our stainless appliances really POP. We are thrilled with our "new" kitchen...and the best part is that the cabinet staining cost less than $2000.00 (and we have a LOT of cabinets!)

carolyn4homes We had a nice kitchen with good bones and layout but it was time to make a softer and brighter space. We remodeled on a tight budget. I designed the kitchen and family area around a recently aquired houndstooth rug and our existing nautical theme.

Our cabinets were well built and in good condition so we put most of our money into having them professionally painted and added new hardware. I'm forturnate to have a very talented DIY husband, so I was able to design a few cabinet and wall trim accents and he built and installed them. (See custom beadboard over range cabinet with new sconce.)

My original plan called for replacing the granite counters and black appliances, purely for aesthetic reasons, but once the walls and cabinets were done and the new black and cream color scheme was more evident, they worked really well. In fact, I liked them better than the new plan and saved a whole bunch of money as a bonus.

I made some new window treatments, bought coordinating chair cushions, and painted and reupholstered the antique church pew in the nook with a boldly graphic print that I just love.

With the money saved in the kitchen space, we were able to buy some new sofas and accessories in the family room area and still come in under budget.
And, now we have a family entertaining space that makes me smile.

Here are some before pictures of the kitchen family area.

carolyn4homes Here are the after pictures of my kitchen family area

awen_interiors This was a remodel of a kitchen in an apartment. Kitchen plan was rather long and not very wide, but we managed to put in everything by making the counter go all around and placing a small table for 2-3 at the opposite wall. New colours are warm, with a deep orange wall by the table. The place feels very homey with a modern touch given by the steel appliances. The orange wall gave it a vigourous and positive look, making it a great place for both drinking your coffee in the morning, as well as enjoying a drink with a couple of friends at night.

carolyn4homes A couple more after photos:

mspano When we bought our Florida condo on the water, we updated almost everything except the kitchen. We liked the clean look of the quality cabinets and the unit was only a few years old so we thought we could live with the black granite counters and blacksplash. After two years, we decided to rip out the counters and backsplash and replace with Solarius Gold granite and put in a glass backsplash from the Brushstroke collection -- called Harvest Stalks. We changed the colors in the kitchen and adjacent living areas to a soft beige paint. We didn't wrap the columns with tile so keep it from looking "too busy". The change to the counters and the backsplash has transformed the kitchen from too dark and "flat" to bright and stylish.

dragonfly95354 When I purchased my 1945 Caliornia bungalow the renovation list was so long, from the roof on down, new doors and windows, HVAC, adding a patio, etc. The kitchen, which had never been touched had to wait. The 10 X 17 space was closed off from the rest of the house, had little usable counter space(18" counters) and total lack of usable storage.
Finally after 10 years I got to take the first swing of the sledge hammer when the gut renovation started. The wall was opened up into the living room which changed the whole feeling of the house. Now there is plenty of counter space, even though this is a small kitchen. There is plenty of usable storage and all the lower cablinets have pull out shelves. I love the granite I finally settled on(River Bordeux)and the glass tiles add a subtle contrast.
Now this room makes me happy every time I walk into it.

dragonfly95354 Additional photos

The Aldrich Group, LLC Our 1930's whole-house renovation included a prime focus on the kitchen. We kept the basic layout, ripped-out everything down to the stud walls, and rebuilt the entire kitchen. We added an island, pantry, and desk to make the large space more useful and functional. We also reclaimed original hardwood floors from other parts of the home to use in the kitchen. The result was beautiful.

pfmorgan1416 I had to do my kitchen redo myself...and with very little money. The only contracted thing was the new counter top, which, as you can see is a huge improvement over the 80's green laminate. The rest was just cosmetic; I did a tile back splash in off white subway tiles that I purchased for about $50. A little minor carpentry changes and new hardware completes the change. The only thing still to do will be a darker hardwood floor. It's not a spectacular high end dream kitchen...but it is warm and homey and is a huge improvement for a diy-er like me, with no money ! before

pfmorgan1416 and after

pfmorgan1416 DIY back splash

mspano When we bought our Florida condo on the water, we updated almost everything except the kitchen. We liked the clean look of the quality cabinets and the unit was only a few years old so we thought we could live with the black granite counters and blacksplash. After two years of dealing with the black showing EVERY streak, dust, etc, we decided to take out the counters and backsplash and replace with Solarius Gold Granite and put in a glass backsplash - Harvest Stalks from Brushstoke collection. We also replaced our free form sink with a rectangular stainless sink and new Grohe faucet. We also changed the paint colors in the kitchen and adjacent area to a warm beige color. We didn't put tile on the corners so as not to make the kitchen look "too busy".The kitchen went from being dark and "flat" to bright and stylish.

Pam Garcia We purchased this house with the vision of what could be. The old kitchen was small and dark but, by removing the wall we created a bright, open, functional space that now allows the beautiful backyard to be fully appreciated. We captured unused space from the 3rd garage to enlarge the pantry closet to make it a walk in pantry with a wine room at the end. The farmhouse sink was reused in the laundry/mudroom just off the kitchen in a bathroom we situated so as not to be open to the kitchen.

capucine28 We did a pretty simple renovatioin. The cabinets needed to be sanded and varnished. I actually painted the cabinet door knobs the correct color. I also painted the backsplah the same color as the wall, a soft yellow (instead of the bright mustard yellow the previous owners adored...). We scrubbed the floor tiles and cleaned the grout, which we discovered was gray instead of dirty black... Finally, the biggest change was the counter. We didn't change it, we acutally refinished it with the Encore Countertop system. It gives a sort of natural ciment look. We love the result and we didn't have to do any big work or buy any expensive things!

Tracy Hansen Our old kitchen had a great layout but we wanted to update it making sure that we kept it in the Craftsman style, so we gutted the kitchen and rebuilt using the same layout. Our contractor was Rose City Construction in Pasadena which I highly recommend and I made the stained glass Roycroft window for the kitchen door.

mvbrown29 This ranch house kitchen has had many makeovers since 1990 - this last one..we used the boxes and just added new fronts and where there were old fashioned cabinets we added deep drawers. The countertops are concrete..the concrete is skimmed over tile...I love to cook and have a catering company and the kitchen gets a lot of use...

summilux Here is the photo of the kitchen as of this summer. I still have to replace the cabinets by the fridge and sink area. As cabinetry/woodwork is DIY, it has been done in stages over the past 15 years. There is a link to a blog which has a june 2012 post with the details in my Houzz profile. Lots of great stuff on this thread.

Lija Greenseid Here's one shot of our kitchen when it was about 90% complete. Our house was built in 1930, but the previous owners added on a great room which they wrapped around the old kitchen. We took out walls to connect the two rooms and improve flow and usability. To save money the wood countertops and farmhouse sink are from Ikea. I'm happy to post more photos if anyone is interested - we love our kitchen and feel it is the soul of the house!

summilux Mistake on the post date. For the whole story, see the March 2012 entries. Here are photos of the kitchen when purchased in 1994.

Urban Orchard Interiors We redid our dark tiled, spanish-themed kitchen into a bright open farmhouse kitchen more appropriate to the architecture of our 1902 brown shingle. We were able to get a lot of bang for our buck by only replacing some of the cabinetry, keeping all appliances except the dishwasher, and using paint to help us get dramatic change. For more images and details see here:http://www.urbanorchardinteriors.com/final-kitchen-wrap-up/

sloch24 mwillis42,
Please email me at mloch24 at earthlink dot net
I have some questions for you about the layout of your kitchen & would like additional pictures, if possible.
Thanks,
Michelle

Carolina Girl I love Joy Overstrreets coral kitchen because it is so close to the color I used in our lakehouse kitchen. I have a coral and sage sculptured rug in the living area and since we are open concept, it sure helped tie it all together.

piyu123 Hi mwillis42

Your kitchen looks lovely! We are also based in Southern CA and would like to stain our existing red oak cabinets. Would you be able to share the name and phone no. of your painter? You can email me at nnigam@yahoo.com, if you cannot share it directly here.

Thank you.

Leslie Kreger We purchased a 1968 traditional two storey last summer that had a 1990's oak/black granite kitchen. Eight months later we had an open plan home with a modern kitchen...and constantly turned to Houzz for ideas and inspiration!!

We love the open plan, large island and glass tile backsplash.

Lugbill Designs I own the Chicago interior design and remodeling firm, Lugbill Designs. One of my more recent projects, was helping out a couple in my housing complex. They already had a great place, but wanted to upgrade their kitchen. We added new lighting, extended the counter top, and added this awesome back splash.

tollyon We, unfortunately, had to replace the original kitchen of our 1922 Oregon lumber mill owner's house, but tried to remain period-appropriate even if using new materials. Kept the dark finish and Craftsman styling of the base cabinets, but used painted, glass-fronted cabinets above to keep an old-kitchen look. Additional dark cabinets created a china cabinet in the adjacent breakfast room. Schoolhouse fixtures from original molds, green granite counter on half (because people expect it), quartz on the other half to resemble limestone but damage less. The commercial restaurant range and hood were a legacy from the previous owner, a chef. Backsplashes are stainless steel tile on one half and natural slate on the other to balance shiny and natural materials. Floor is the original old-growth fir as in the rest of the house, but we dyed this one to keep the color scheme, then painted in an "inlaid" stripe to separate the breakfast room visually, again matching dark cabinets. Light butter yellow walls make the most of sunlight on the Oregon coast (windows face east, so this is a wonderful room in the morning!), with trim and original paneled ceiling painted to match the upper cabinets.
We know that owners of this house through the years had servants, so we've tried to update the kitchen while keeping it looking old-style and meant for work rather than public display. It was sometimes difficult to balance historic accuracy with modcons, but we're pretty happy with the result. It's definitely one of my favorite rooms in the house (and the warmest, due to ten pilot lights in the range!). Lots of room to work, stage parties, etc., and the wood floor (over basement) is definitely easier on the legs than previous tile-floor kitchens. I've definitely done more cooking here!

synergylw We bought our home in 1999 and did a mini make over of the kitchen with paint in 2004. This year we gutted the kitchen (living room, nook, guest bathroom, partial master bath and upstairs bath) and kept the same foot print with the exception of the refrigerator. New Cabinets, plumbing, electrical, counters, appliances, tile backsplash, and floors. From frumpy to country to modern contemporary. We love it.

mizzyc We built this house in '94 and used good materials that would survive 3 growing boys. Now the kids are on their own and the kitchen needed an update. I didn't want to spend alot so I asked my tile man if he could cut the tile backsplash out from the blue rope tile down and install the glass tile. We also decided to do the entire stove backsplash.

I had the laminate countertops replaced with granite and an undermount sink and new faucet.

I love the updated look.

sartwellgirl I call this the Flippin' Flood House not out of frustration from remodeling a home in Minot, ND, after the 2011 flood; but because it truly is being remodeled for resale. The kitchen was opened up in this circa 1950's rambler by removing a wall and adding an island. I'm still not 100% sold on the cement countertop; but with a little staging, it's growing on me.

Kalyn Haba We transformed the unused space to create an open and inviting kitchen layout that opened into the new living and dining space. Newly captured natural lighting was also created from the addition of French Doors in the dining room. We added ceramic tile floors and base trim, upgraded with custom-designed cabinetry, a granite countertop and bar, accent lighting, and more. Not to mention the bamboo hardwood floors, crown molding, lighting, and painting we added to the dining and living rooms. All in all, a custom, one-of-a-kind upgrade that made this house our home.

The last photo is a before shot. We literally bought this house in pretty bad shape!!

Christie Thomas After several appliances broke at Christmas, and the refrigerator leaked and ruined our old heart of pine floors, we decided it was time to remodel the kitchen and refinish the floors. I am not a designer, so I found the task challenging, to say the least, but I loved every minute of it! Houzz and other sites helped me tremendously in the research process. I viewed many, many kitchens and researched many products listed at Houzz. It was a great resource to view light fixtures, stoves, colors, countertops, cabinets, etc..! The project is ninety percent finished and we love it!

nixon27 We just finished up our kitchen remodel this weekend. It took a while for our hardware to arrive, but once all of the pulls were installed it made a huge difference. We have not decided what to do for countertops yet, but we will not be updating those until we finish a few other small projects.

We are very happy with how this project turned out and once the unseasonal torrential downpour ends, I hope to take better 'after' photos to match the before.

Christie Thomas I forgot the 'before' picture! Here are some additional views from the remodel. I will upload the entire space, as soon as it is complete! The look I am trying to achieve is 'Modern Country.' To see the process, visit my blog at www.threepixielane.blogspot.com!

Christie Thomas The best part of my kitchen remodel is my stove! In all my searches, I could not find an image of a Viking induction cooktop like this one. Here it is in case you have other Houzz viewers in search of one. I also refinished an old butcher's block for the new space that belonged to my mother.

Premier Remodels This home was vacant for 3 years in Princeton Hills, NJ. The new owner contracted us to design and renovate the entire cedar home before they moved in. The house sat because it was not livable. Four months later, we added central air, new kitchen (pictured here), hardwood floors, and bathrooms. We also reworked the floor plan to make this a pretty interesting living space. What we did with the far-facing wall, in giving it the large windows to show off that beautiful view, is what sold the client on the remodel. Homeowner just had the house appraised for double their investment of the renovations.

The first picture is the before shot; a small kitchen made even smaller with clunky cabinets above the island. The next 3 shots are after pictures.

clairedial Two years ago we purchased a home built in 1951. The first thing we did was update the kitchen. Here are pictures of the before/after. We love everything about our remodel.

julia1362 We moved into our house 18 years ago with the intent to "redo" the kitchen first. Well, after raising 2 children and doing numerous other necessary house projects we were finally able to build our dream kitchen. Our home was built in 1920 and has great bones. We wanted our new kitchen to look and feel like it was always there. We love cooking and always said you can make a great meal anywhere, but we envisioned a more workable space to cook in. We took inspiration from the pantry and the original cabinets at the end of our galley kitchen. With the help of our interior designer friend and a great contractor we fulfilled our dreams. Our cabinets were custom made to match the pantry doors. The soffits were removed and we took the cabinets to the ceiling which added height to the room. We kept our original pine floor but, had it sanded and sealed. We added stainless steel appliances, a marble counter top and a new window for more light. The white kitchen subway tiles were installed vertically with charcoal grout which picks up the colors in the pantry. We painted the pantry cabinets a charcoal grey, refinished the original poplar countertop, installed green glass tiles and a fabulous wall paper on one wall. Our kitchen and pantry feel bigger, and more inviting than ever. We mixed the old with the new and are thrilled with the results!

julia1362 pantry photo's

Willadsen Design This 1980's kitchen renovation started with solving a few critical problems that included a fireplace that leaked when it rained, a Mexican tile floor that was never sealed so it constantly looked dirty, and a sinking island that was already 1.5" below grade from the wall. Once we got all those issues out of the way, the rest elegantly led to a warm and inviting destination for family and friends. The floor was removed and structurally rebuilt with solid Brazilian Cherry installed to compliment the Birdseye Maple & Walnut refaced cabinets. Upgraded finishing touches included a hand-painted faux finish on a new custom designed fireplace, Red Dragon countertops, hand-glazed Chinese backsplash tiles, Asian theme fixtures and pulls, a custom-repurposed freestanding cabinet for cookbooks, Italian leather chairs for cozy bay window seating and a beautiful imported Turkish silk & wool rug.

Willadsen Design Additional photos of the kitchen.

lizwparks When we bought our 1980's Cape Cod we knew we had to make it feel bigger and brighter. We removed a wall that separated the kitchen from the rest of the house, got rid of the wall paper, added task and accent lighting, painted the existing cabinets and replaced the island with a much larger one. The new island measures 5 x 8, is topped with ice brown granite and is where everyone wants to hang out. It has more than doubled our original storage and has miles of counter space. The dining side of the island is slightly curved to facilitate conversation. The island also has a hidden docking station for charging all of our electronic gadgets. Another feature that I love is the extra deep sink. When this photo was taken the sink was full of dirty dishes, so having a place to hide them in an open floor plan kitchen is a definite feature!

Susan Silverman Designs I was hired to do a kitchen renovation for a client who had an original 1960's kitchen. The 24" double ovens were so old that there wasn't even a viewing window. One of the ovens was not in working condition and parts were no longer available. Since budget was a issue, we opted to do a Home Depot Thomasville semi-custom kitchen. We didn't change the footprint because that have been too costly and the footprint worked for the client. We did move the ovens, and increased the area of the working space by moving the peninsula closer to the patio doors. We put in new hardwood floors, and a quartz countertop with a beautiful coordinating backsplash. The client was beyond thrilled. She never imagined having this wonderful, functional kitchen with so much storage, bells and whistles, and beautiful appliances at half the price of a custom kitchen.

jasilver621 Our kitchen remodel is functional for cooking and entertaining.

alilly This is our weekend home in Otis, Ma. We didn't intent for the house to be a total gut job, but it quickly became one. We used Quartz countertops, and butcher block on the island on the Kraftmaid cabinets. It was important to us to re-orient the island to face the lake outside. It's a small, but efficient kitchen...with an amazing view!

olivedarla This kitchen lives in a charming 1940's Cape Cod, and was one of the top remodeling priorities. The entire project was a DIY with my husband and his brother, a kitchen designer (www.tomegandesign.com), doing all the work, which included gutting, electrical, plumbing, floor installation and custom wet bar and range hood cabinets. The only piece of the old kitchen that remains is the original cabinets, because they were custom installed for the previous owner and a high quality wood. The space is not only stunning, but functional and perfect for entertaining as well. Highlights include: granite counter tops and matching granite floor tiles, under-the-counter LED lights, custom red wine rack, range hood and wet bar.

olivedarla More photos...

sharonsf In 1989 I bought an Edwardian home in San Francisco that was built in 1907. It had had almost no work done to it by the time I bought it. Over the years I prioritize my expenses (the house didn't have central heating!) and my sweat equity so I didn't do anything major in the kitchen until 2007 when I had a window converted to a back door and had one empty wall finished with beautiful custom cherry cabinets and a granite remnant. The sink and dishwasher were on this wall. The rest of the kitchen had no cabinets or counters, just a freestanding refrigerator and a vintage Wedgewood stove. The exposed water heater and all its pipes were next to the stove in plain sight. Finally, in 2007 I could afford to have the kitchen finished. I had a tankless water heater installed outside on the back of the garage so I gained some square footage and lost the UGLY tank and piping. I kept the stove (but on a different wall) and had the kitchecn finished around it. I scraped up two layers of ugly linoleum and had the douglas fir floor refinished. It is a gorgeous, practical room now--particularly given the history that the sink and only counter space was in a small passthrough from the dining room to the kitchen.

mcorfieldadams Beverley - you get my award for biggest bang for your buck! That kitchen is totally transformed!! You should be very, very proud of yourselves. You probably added $15,000 in value to your home. Amazing!

jeanpasvar I wanted to do a simple facelift to the kitchen for no more than $6000.00. I think we had some simple changes made that have really made a difference. Because, I already had solid wood cabinets I had no intention of changing them. I just wanted to pretty them up a little. I restained all of them myself and had my husband remove the pulls then I painted them with an oil rubbed bronze finish (saving myself over $400.00 for new ones.) We had a nice wide crown molding with rope trim added to the cabinets which really dressed them up. I had the 2 small cabinets above the cook top removed and had this vent a hood built and stained to match. It fits over a self contained metal vent a hood bought on line for about $100.00. I love the way it looks. I had fluted columns added to the island dressing it up a bit. Above the refrigerator we had a decorative box made in order to hide an opening left from a previous remodel back in 1996. It holds some decorative items. (Don't know why the other guys didn't think of that before) We changed all of the light fixtures and ceiling fan to oil rubbed bronze finish. I needed additional storage, which is one of the reasons for the update. We wanted the window seat to be removed and have the new cabinet built but, discovered during demolition that the seat was a boxed out window and could not be removed. Therefore, the cabinet had to be attached to the seat and the top was made to accommodate the change. We had 3 doors cut out in the back in order to utilize the empty space from the window seat to the new top, it gives us some extra storage. We had the Window above the seat framed out with fluted columns to match the new cabinet and island. I had the new cabinet painted a bone color. I repainted the top and wood around window with an oil base enamel paint. This really made the cabinet look a lot better. I had my wonderful painter seal the old wall paper, skip trowel texture it and paint with a base coat then a glaze. He did a great job on my walls!. He always does. We didn't change the tile on the counter top. I know it is out of date but, I still like it!

jeanpasvar Ok, I did this wrong. Here are the new pictures.

Carol 1970s ranch, raised the ceiling and off with old fluorescent lighting, in with recessed. Stainless steel appliances, painted cabinets white with two glass inserts, new knobs, apple green subway tile, black/white granite counters and added an eating nook. Pendants of wicker and terra cotta tile to warm up the cool palette; black and white valance to pick up black and white in granite...so different in there now! Just sold house in 2 weeks, buyers loved kitchen.

srivatsan24 It is almost 40 years since we had our house constructed. We recently thought that we would remodel our kitchen. The pictures will tell rest of the story. I am adding the before and after pics so that the difference can be appreciated...
We are a builders in the small town of Pondicherry, India and this is our home kitchen...

srivatsan24 The new after photo did not appear... in the previous post.

lynnberry123 We moved into our 1950 bungalow in 1999 and gutted the original kitchen and put raised panel pickled maple cabinets in. In 2012 it was time to loose the pickled anything look. Since there was nothing wrong with the maple cabinets I took a leap of faith and decided to paint them. It was a long journey to get this right but they turned out amazing, they are a taupe/grey color.

The counter tops are a dark Giallo Ornamental granite and the backspash is marble. We had to do this on a budget and changing out the appliances may still happen but since all the hardware and tap is a rubbed bronze color I was not sure what the ss would look like with them.

I would love to hear comments on that -should I change the appliances to stainless?

lynnberry123 this should have been attached to the previous post

mjbevilacqua with no room to cook for our family of 6-i had a trantrum and husband said..lets fix this. we designed it together, and he built everything himself! island benchtop is temporary-we plan on getting ceasar stone in black brown.
considering we had to include a laundry (old one demolished to make needed room..) and a pantry (old kitchen simply didnt have one..) i think we did ok. and i thank my wonderful husband often for our fantastic kitchen.

mjbevilacqua oh great. pic is sideways sorry follks :(

jeniecegoellner Our Kitchen was closed off from the dining room and living room. It made it so you didn’t want to be in the kitchen because you couldn’t be a part of the conversation with anyone. So we cut openings into the walls and added additional counter space and cabinets underneath the openings. The added space allowed us to put away a lot of appliances that were previously cluttering the counter. It has opened up the kitchen and made it the space to be in. We changed the blue and white coloring which just felt so sterile to warm browns and oranges that are more inviting.

First photo is the before and the one next to it is same angle. 3rd picture is another angle. The last picture is the picture of the new openings and counter space.

Beth Dodge Our 1970's era kitchen was dark and "closed in" by overhanging cupboards, with a dropped ceiling that encased fluorescent light tubes. We chose to restore the original vault of the ceiling, add skylights, customized cabinetry, tile flooring and tumbled marble backsplash. The new wall color, in combination with our Cambria quartz countertop make the entire project really pop with warmth and color. The new layout is much more efficient and provides wonderful storage capacity. We love the finishes and the crown molding on the varied heights of the wall cabinets.

Lisa Harmon When we moved into our house last year, we knew we needed to make changes to the kitchen. It was a small room with little counter and storage space, and the bottom cabinets were in bad shape. There was a structural post in the middle of the counter that was removed. We were then able to push the peninsula out 18" into the family room which gave us space to add an island. We also extended the cabinets closer to the eat-in area allowing us to move the dishwasher next to the sink and out of the corner. We now have a very functional kitchen with plenty of storage and counter space.

Lisa Harmon More after pictures...

munleyp Although not exactly my dream kitchen, I was able to accomplish this on a very tight budget. I still need to install some recessed lighting but I was able to make the best out of a very, very tight space. The tiny townhouse is only 900 sq '.

shoyal We moved into my husbands family home that he grew up in. This home was built in 1980 and had never been updated. We have almost finished remodeling the entire home, but of all the rooms the kitchen is my favorite. I love the huge kitchen island and I was able to design my cabinets with lots of organization feature in them. This has made it easy to have a space for everything. We spend most of our time in this area of the house and I couldn't be happier with the finished product! These are the before pictures with the after pictures to follow in my next post.

shoyal Here are some of my after photos. We really tried to open the space up and make everything flow better. We took out the corner of a wall to widen the area and put in a french door to give more light. We also took out the closet between the family room and kitchen and added a desk in its place (last photo). This really helped to open the space and give much more light to the area.

Iyare I My remodel had a price tag of $3K... the bulk of my budget went to my countertops. I love color and there were quite a few changes during the planning process. When I bought the house almost a year ago, the appliances were almost new so as much as I wanted to, I knew it would be a waste of money to replace the appliances. The challenge was to figure out how to update my kitchen so that it would fit with the rest of my house and wouldnt look country (because of the white appliances). I did a lot of research on houzz... A LOT of picture looking, reading articles, posting discussion questions. I finally decided to change the color of my cabinets from off-white to white to blend in with my appliances so that they wouldnt stick out. I wanted absolute black counters because I figured those would provide a nice contrast. The biggest back and forth I experienced was over my wall color believe it or not. I went through a phase when I wanted to paint my walls all black in the kitchen. After many opinions, I decided not to go so dark. I chose the bright yellow and balanced out the black . It ended up perfect because Im a HUGE Pittsburgh Steeler fan lol. I wanted some funky lighting so I went to ebay and I was able to find the Island lighting with the six yellow pendants and the black and yellow chandelier with the crystals for cheap. Got a handy man in to install them and it all came together. I also replaced the flooring, made a quick trip to Pier One with $200 in hand and came back with some cute accessories for my space. The next order of business is to clear the clutter on my counters and to replace my fridge (I've been living out of my deep freezer). Overall, Im extremely satisfied with the way it turned out. I was able to save money by hiring cheap labor that did the painting. I did run into an issue with my counter tops because the first guy who I hired tried to install floor tiles and I had to pay another company to come rip them out and install a slab. Thankfully, I was able to get my money back for the botched. It was a stressful project but the results make it worth it :)

Iyare I More pics...

mlalani Our final renovation in the house was the kitchen which got completed last month. We previously upgraded 3 bathrooms and installed hardwood flooring throughout the house. With the help of a designer and a great contractor our dream kitchen is now in place. We gutted the space completely and installed hardwood maple flooring which matches the rest of the house, new kitchen ceiling height cabinets, lighting and Thermador appliances. We also went from electric cooktop to gas. We have two different colors of cabinets; on the perimeter the cabinets are painted BM Gettysburg Gray and the island cabinets BM Bittersweet chocolate. Counters are quartz on the perimeter and black walnut butcher block on the island. We removed the kitchen table and extended the island with seating for six. Cabinets have tons of storage with pullouts and all soft close drawers. A wine cabinet is built into the island as well. Kitchen is very efficient with lots of work space.

katenmiller This Mississauga home is circa 1970 's which you can see from the before pics. With the help of Interior Works (Burlington) we gutted the kitchen and started again from scratch. We also remodeled the living room, the ensuite bath, and built a bar in our tv room. Then we ran out of money :(

Mark Deason We have been in our house since it was built in 1986. The original galley kitchen was narrow and cramped with a dropped fluorescent-lit ceiling and a dedicated hallway between family and dining rooms. Took out the wall separating hall from kitchen and opened up to the dining room and ceiling to the existing roof line. We had previously tried to solve the lack of ventilation with a downdraft range that never really worked well. The island gas cooktop with overhead vent is a vast improvement.

zanzi1 I still miss my Chambers stove - Grandma in Texas has the right idea. I'm planning to redo my NYC apartment kitchen which measures about 7X8. There are actually smaller kitchens than that in this building and certainly much smaller in New York City. Will post pictures soon, I hope.

andreab2011 There are a lot of great kitchens in this post! We moved into our home 22 years ago. She's an 88-year old craftsman. She had decades and decade of remodels -- none of which matched. In addition to the kitchen we remodeled the main and upstairs floors and replaced all the mechanical systems. For this kitchen blog I am including two "before" pictures which were taken the day we moved out (you can see that the appliances are removed) and two "after" pictures. For the kitchen remodel, we removed the wall between the dining room and the postage stamp kitchen. We have painted maple cabinets and a natural cherry island. The granite is Romano Bianco and the backsplash is Lucente Linear, Andrea.

kbgnc I love all the kitchens in this article! Especially the ones with dark wood cabinets!

My boyfriend and I recently remodeled our entire kitchen, doing all the work ourselves (well, he did most of it, but I helped!), moving the doorway to the sunroom from the laundry room into the kitchen so that we could use the sunroom as our new dining room (we added heat and A/C for year round use). We then used the former tiny dining space to increase the size of our 7'x11' kitchen. The former dining area is where the refrigerator and stove are now, in the pics below. The kitchen was where the wall with the knife rack is, to the wall where the opening to the sunroom is. Our kitchen is still small by most standards, but we have all the room we need for two people who love to cook! Because we did the design and all the work ourselves, we were able to do everything (and I mean everything - including making the cabinets and even the drawer pulls) for about $11,000, although it took almost a year of nights and weekends!

Judith Jones This is our Tennessee Cabin Kitchen.We bought unfinished oak cabinets. Stained wall cabinets with red mahogany and painted the island black and then distressed it and used silimlar but different hardware. The island top is cherry and the base cabinets along the walls are topped with laminate. Cabinets cost about $5000. Toatl Kitchen, excluding decor items, about $7000 and alot of sweat! lol It is still a work in progress!

Lauren Jacobsen Interior Design My clients had a tiny 200sq ft kitchen. These are people who love to cook and entertain. They live out in the desert so they wanted the kitchen style to be updated yet fit the country style they enjoy. I took the wall out between the kitchen and laundry, relocated the washer and dryer to a large storage closet area that I converted to a half bath and laundry room. I then pushed the kitchen out into an L shape so they had a nice bar area for serving guests and conversation. New cabinets were designed, some new appliances including an under counter wine center at the end of the counter run for easy access away from the cooks work triangle. Granite counter tops and stone back splash. They could not be happier with the results and adherence to their budget.

rachelru Our goals were to rescue a very tired, dark 1970's ranch kitchen, make the most of ample natural light, have the finished space feel cohesive & warm and do it all without going bankrupt. With the help of generous, talented friends, a wise and excellent designer and the queen and king of IKEA hackers- we were able to realize our dream. Think you can't have a custom window seat, a two tier island, and a seemingly built-in microwave using all IKEA cabinetry? Think again. Built-in cutting boards? No problem. You name it- this crew could figure it out. We did splurge on custom soapstone and bamboo countertops.

balfour_girl How fun looking at everyone's remodels! The worst thing about our kitchen was the particle board cabinetry and half shelves in all the bottom cupboards. We tore out the entire kitchen and installed custom pine cabinets and new appliances. My favorite things are:
- two slide-out bread boards... great for extra space when needed
- the cupboard above the fridge has an invisible side opening and the front cupboard doors are just for show. Now I don't have to remove everything on the top of the fridge or get a step stool every time I need something from that cupboard.
- my Whirlpool double oven range. AWESOME!!

Jennifer Rezeli Our former kitchen was owned by a local home & garden writer who, in print, called it one of the worst kitchens in Philadelphia. Maybe it was the fridge that only opened 45 degrees before hitting a wall? Or the one lone window? We lived with it for too long ourselves and made countless napkin sketches before settling on a the final plan which feels compact in terms of having everything at arm's length yet spacious for multiple cooks and babies at your feet. Big moves included relocating a stair, opening up a wall, and connecting to the rear yard--physically and visually. Small details include a lovely runtal radiator warming your knees as you sit at the counter, salvaged chalkboards for the daily menus, sliding doors to hide appliances, shoe storage under the landing, and the perfect little nook for my favorite radio. I spend 90% of my time at home in this kitchen and I love, love, love it. Please tell me it is obvious which image is "before."

stlouisgaltoo First of all, I am loving these remodels! We moved into a 1930's farmhouse ten years ago and the kitchen was stuck in the 1950's....I am guessing. I hated it! We started the remodel a few years ago and recently "finished" it. While it may not be a "dream kitchen"...I just wanted realistic functionality on a budget. Yes, I "looked" at stainless appliances but frankly, I still like the look of white. My bad! Stock maple cabinets, Formica "stone" look laminate and yes, wood-look sheet vinyl. We have pets...easy clean up! The house needs other "remodel" work but I am loving the kitchen...backsplash tile is next!

stlouisgaltoo now...you can see the floor.

jrei I am attaching two photos... a before (approx. July 2000) and an after (approx. Jul 2009) from roughly the same point of view. There are a number of interim photos too, which I would be willing to share if desired!
I acted as my own general contractor, took on many elements of the project myself (I have my own table saw, which at one time served as the bar in my kitchen when I hosted a party) and somehow lived to tell the tale with all digits intact!
The parties continue to be fun...

paulinas My fiancé and I just bought our first house last year. Since then we have been really busy… We DIY’ed our kitchen from 1990’s standard and boring to custom, modern, and happy! The total for the kitchen renovation came out to $5,210 including appliances, under cabinet lighting, tile, hardware, half of the countertop (we matched the other half that was already in the kitchen), and of course the cabinets.
We were able to do it for this little money because we did it with our own six hands (my fiancé, my dad, and I). It is a design I came up with to make the kitchen more useful, with more cabinets, and every inch used. Cabinets were made by dad who is a great self taught woodwork master. I especially like the custom vertical drawers you can see open in one of the pictures and the glass stacked mosaic tile. I also love the hanging glass above the breakfast bar, and the chandelier we made for the dining table. We are very happy with our new kitchen!
P.S. Some of the pictures below are “from before.” Hopefully you can see the difference. :-)

paulinas More pictures. I wanted you to see the drawers!

p.s. if you would like to see other pictures of our house after the remodel, head over to my profile.

bonmio My husband and I knew the bones of this house were solid. There was a lot of solid wood in the house. It all had to be stripped because the varnish became alligator-like and looked pretty bad. The old-fashioned kitchen had no built in cabinets - just a double 4' standing sink stuck back in a pantry (no place to put dirty dishes) and a free standing hutch. The stove was on the opposite end of the room - about 20 feet from the sink. The first week we were in the house the sink stopped up. I asked my husband to fix it. When he tried to open the pipe it cracked off in his hands. We knew it was time to remodel!

We built a wall so that we could tuck a laundry in the back of the room and on the opposite have a linen closet for the bedroom side of the house. We used Ikea countertops. We sanded them and then stained them Jacobean and put on 4 layers of Waterlox original. We splurged on the sink - a Franke - and much of the appliances. The fridge is normally $5K but I got it on eBay for $2200 plus $500 shipping. There is a ton of cabinetry here and it came from Ikea. My husband used their filler pieces to create part of the surround for the refrigerator.

We got the hardware online and the faucet was expensive, but totally worth it. We love the counters and have lots of space for two people to cook. My favorite feature? The open shelving. We put in simple plywood shelves with cleats that attach to the back and sides of the cabinets.

We just finished the second kitchen upstairs (we live in a 2-family house) and used a very similar design because the cabinets function so well and if we ever get bored we can change the fronts easily by creating custom fronts or using new ones from Ikea. We did this kitchen for under $20K, including the high-end appliances.

bonmio I wanted you to see the sink. Who got stuck back here in the olden days I wonder?

sherribaby54 From Drab to DREAMY.

h2bourne Budget: CA $10K
Actual cost (including EVERYTHING ie taxes, labour, delivery & pickup of appliances, warranty on appliances, recycling fee for old appliances, etc): CA $15K+
(We actually only went $2K over budget if you just count the net cost.)

Before photos show the original kitchen from 1947. It had great character but wasn't practical for today's lifestyle. The cabinets came down quite low so appliances couldn't be placed on the counters to use unless they were pulled right to the edge. The largest cabinet door had warped over the years and would pop open unexpectedly, usually when a guest was walking by giving them a bit of a fright - always entertaining. Our single basin sink was only 17" wide. Our new stainless steel apron front sink is 30" wide. We love it! It was a great package deal online from www.expressdecor.com. We haven't replaced the gas stove yet as we haven't found one we liked. Well, we have, but it's a Viking and isn't in our budget yet. Maybe next year:-)

During/After photos span from Sep '11 when the main kitchen reno was completed to June '12 when we finally installed the mirror above the sink and the glass tile backsplash. We replaced our rotted laminate countertop with quartz. Our house is very small and doesn't have a proper dining room so we eat in the kitchen unless it's nice out in which case we dine on our back deck.

In 2010 we refinished our floors and repainted the walls. We ripped up the oak laminate flooring in the kitchen to discover linoleum underneath. We ripped that up to find the original fir floors from 1947. They looked terrible but were salvageable after being refinished and stained. Overall, we're very happy with how our kitchen reno turned out. It's about 98% complete (still waiting for our dream stove and proper window coverings). Our kitchen is small but functional. Before photos shown below (During/After photos in next post):

h2bourne During/After photos of kitchen reno (pre- and post-backsplash)

h2bourne Fridge before reno and better view of mirror/backsplash above sink after reno...

A & D Glass Inc. Paint, new appliances, and a new pub style table made me love my kitchen!

aliciamapp our friend did the demo, he brought in electrician and plumber; Home Depot refaced the cabinets; we did the rest = rose the cabinets, painted, installed shelves, even the Deco-Poz Eco-Friendly DIY concrete countertops...we will be done with our island's countertops in 2 days; last is the backsplash - Alicia Mapp

Lugbill Designs We recently completed this kitchen remodel. At first, the client was unsure about the grey tile line that appears in the backsplash. I finally convinced them to try it, and they loved it. It turned out awesome. What do you think?

pamsuess Goodbye 1984....Hello 2012. We knocked out walls and enlarged our kitchen (got rid of the dining room). It's now big and airy and great for entertaining. Our architects, Matson-Britton, had a great vision, and our General Contractor, John Jud Construction, made it come to life.

jpc588 My main concerns in our kitchen remodel was that it be eco-conscious, budget friendly, and have a somewhat timeless look. That meant reusing as much as we could. Although I did not care for the golden oak cabinets, they were in good condition so I decided to work with them. I rearranged everything, took down the upper cabinets (used them as base cabinets in places where depth was an issue), and added a new countertop. The materials are eco-friendly-- the tile is recycled, the counter is finished with beeswax, the appliances are small and therefore more energy efficient. The kitchen is only 120 sf, but with the new layout it flows really well.

crganotis My kitchen remodel mainly involved painting my cabinets. But because I was blessed with so many, I repurposed some of them to give me more display opportunities. We made the "hard to get to " cabinet above the refrigerator and open area. Another cupboard door came off to display cookbooks. Another cabinet was replaced with a garage for my toaster oven and a plate rack. I also love the glass shelf we installed above the sink in place of a window treatment. The finials I painted for my curtain rods, the bench we had constructed and the pantry glass doors, all in the eating area, are three more of my favorite things about my kitchen.

crganotis a few more pics....

Kitchen Elements My kitchen remodel is an “as-is” replacement, meaning I didn’t re-design the entire kitchen. The current floor plan remains intact, yet all the appliances are being upgraded. I selected a Thermdoor range, a Sharp microwave drawer, an integrated Bosch dishwasher and the refrigerator is a Kitchen Aid counter depth French door style unit. As mentioned above, the cabinets are built by Homestead Custom Cabinetry; I opted for custom cabinetry, allowing me to design a custom door style with frameless construction. The colors of the space center around a Celadon green paint, making the design a little different from standard choices.

morelights In 2011 my husband and I transformed our “sunflower” kitchen that was built in the 90’s into a modern and contemporary subtle-colored kitchen that we both prefer. What is unique about our kitchen is the creative use of lights that we added. I give my husband most of the credit for the ideas and design. Glossy black paint was used to cover oak cabinets that were still in good condition. Kashmir granite covered the countertops while we wanted the island to look like a piece of furniture and chose Emerald Pearl granite and painted the island cabinet with blue/gray paint to highlight the blue specks in the granite. We used this paint color on the walls as well. We chose a dark gray horizontal slate backsplash, a modern faucet and a stainless steel double undermount sink. We placed all the stainless handle pulls in a horizontal direction for a modern look. New electrical wiring and pendant lights that reminded us of stainless steel scouring pads were added over the breakfast bar. We also placed two stainless desk lamps on top of the cabinets above the cook top to add character and task lighting. A track lighting system extends beyond the lower flat ceiling level (near the microwave) into the free space as the ceiling angles up. It gives us extra task lighting and highlights an enlargement of a snapshot we took of a Dale Chihuly glass sculpture while on vacation. We also placed two small round LED lights under the cabinets by the cook top and drilled a hole in the furthest kitchen cabinet for the wire so that the third light (3 to a set) is IN the cabinet below the second shelf. This third light gives light to the spices on the bottom shelf. We also added engineered hardwood on the small wall area under the breakfast bar and added stainless steel supports for the granite there. (We also put the hardwood on a back wall for the dinette set, not shown). Our advice (which we used ourselves) for any homeowner ready for a remodel is to take their time and look at the numerous kitchen items available for all the things you will replace or refinish (stores, internet, magazines, TV shows, etc) before buying. You could change your mind on what you like and will find other things you like better than your first (or even second) choices. Your style might not change but the end result probably will.

alectimmerman o, I am a single dad with a 5 and 7 year old. Our old kitchen was white, and white, and more white. It stayed clean approximately 30 seconds after a scrub. We have a small, eat in kitchen with no dining room, so space was a premium. My priorities were cleaning, and space.

I had a booth custom made to push right into the corner. Our booth and small, round table now fit more folks than our old, huge table did that sat in the middle of the kitchen. I also ordered a custom side table to go at the end of the counter tops that doubles as one extra seat or a staging area. The floor is poured concrete, the only job I had contracted out. It practically cleans itself and NEVER looks dirty. The table, side table, cabinets, and even the radio are all cherry. The counter is quartz with a beloved undermount sink. Again, makes cleaning up a breeze!

Kimberly Payton We are finishing up our remodeling of our 1970s house we just purchased in December - the last thing left on the list is replacing the formica countertops. Storage was limited in the kitchen, and there was ample room for my dream island, so we planned for a pantry and an island. We hired a local cabinet maker to make our island base and pantry, found our incredible high end granite top in a remnant warehouse. Initially I envisioned redoing all the cabinets, then just the upper, and then...reality sank in when we priced it out. Our solution was refinishing the cabinets ourselves with paint and antiquing glaze and we were more than pleased with the results. The total cost for our kitchen overhaul thus far (including island, pantry, new faucet, hardware) is $3300 (the granite top and island were 2/3 of that cost). We are very proud of the work we've done on a budget! :) This site has such incredible dream home ideas, but so many are impractical for most of us who live within a modest budget and do most of the work in parts and even DIY rather than forking out excessive amounts of $ for professional services. Thank you for having this forum to showcase 'real' kitchens of 'real' people - at least in the middle class bracket! :)

Audrey Hennefer My dream kitchen evolved from a circa 1980's builder's basic with dated oak cabinetry and tile countertops with impossible-to-clean grout. There was limited, inaccessible storage and basic black colored appliances.

-It all started with the 36" dual-fuel Wolf range I got as a 'scratch 'n dent' deal on ebay.
-The cabinetry was professionally painted and hardware was added.
-All the lower cabinets and the pantry were fitted with roll-outs.
-Granite and marble countertops replaced the gross tile.
-A window seat was added in the eating area
-A garden window replaced the slider.

Five years later and I still love enjoy cooking in it every day!

Audrey Hennefer more after pictures

nycdesignfan I've lived in the same NYC 550 sq.feet of space studio apartment since 1978. When our rental building converted to a condo, I purchased my little piece of the Big Apple. I love to cook and I wanted to remodel my tiny 9' x 7'4" kitchen into something I loved. Believe it or not, that's a large kitchen for a studio. I actively planned the transformation for over a year. In fact, I spent so much time in Home Depot looking at their kitchen displays and talking to the kitchen design specialist, that they started to know my name. Back in 2005, Home Depot in NYC offered mini design seminars and I attended a number of those too and made friends with one of the designers. I actually hired her for one consultation visit which was really helpful and ultimately led me to one of the most important decisions to purchase a French door refrig which was the perfect choice for my galley style kitchen. The remodel was a total gut job, it started mid Feb. 2006 and it took about 6 weeks. The worst part was living in the space during the construction! I had to put a lot of stuff in storage and my living room was a mess and there was dust everywhere, despite trying to close off the entrance work area with heavy duty plastic sheeting. The payoff--a kitchen that I love and that uses every inch of space. I am really proud of the space utilization and the idea that I gave my contractor to solve a problem with one of the cabinets. I even created an "eat in" breakfast bar using a left over door panel from the original cabinetry. I had a large (again by NYC standards) foyer area and since I was going for full size appliances in the kitchen instead of apartment sized ones, I had additional matching cabinets installed in the foyer. That extra storage includes 2 pantry cabinets, 1 display and bar cabinet with a drop down bar door with a mirrored, lighted back and a floating wall mounted drawer with a cabinet above it. Since the kitchen is a separate room and not an open plan, that area is a perfect place for a friend to sit and talk to me when I'm working in the kitchen since it really isn't that large. I still love it, but the one thing that I forget in all my planning was where to keep the broom and the mop! The old kitchen had a combo small pantry/broom closet which was eliminated in favor of the french door refrig. So.. those item now reside in the walk-in closet that is directly across from the kitchen and I can live with that!

nycdesignfan And here are some after photos of that same kitchen

nycdesignfan Additional foyer pictures-there's a cabinet above the floating drawer that is not in the picture

mfaalex We wanted to update and add color while keeping a cottage look

mkbmalone We remodeled our 1950s kitchen with lots of help from Houzz! We made our kitchen smaller to increase the size of an adjacent room and made it a true galley, but we have more cabinet space and counter space than we did before. The butcher block counter tops are beautiful and easy to care for, and we finally have an ice maker! The only thing missing is the custom tile backsplash currently being made by a local ceramic artist depicting a view of our favorite beach. After having saturated yellow walls in our previous kitchen, we stayed with white and painted the ceiling a light turquoise (another idea lifted from Houzz.) We traded the eat in kitchen for a dining room, but there is still plenty of room for people to hang out. It turned out much roomier than we thought it would, and we couldn't be happier!

justone No before pictures but it was cheap builder grade oak, no hesitation in painting them black. Quartz counter tops, new appliances and hardware, some new chairs and bar stools and it's like walking into a brand new kitchen. Only thing left to do is the back splash and that tile is coming in next week. I love it now.

Love seeing all the afters of your lovely redos too!

ladymojo Our kitchen reno entailed removing a wall, turning a closet into a alcove for the fridge, installing propane lines to service the new stove in a peninsula, and having a very talented friend build some custom cabinets, window seats and wooden counter for the peninsula. I couldn't be happier. We did all the work ourselves ( with the exception of the cabinets and the countertops ). I would have loved to have soapstone, $$$, but chose to have laminate counter because we are tea drinkers, and a lovely woman at the countertop manufacturers advised me to not be a slave to my counters! Good advice. We have laminate flooring as well because we live on a farm with all the animals and dirt, dirt, and mud. We have a lot of power failures and it is sheer joy to be able to cook and make tea on the stove by oil lamp during those times. We installed beadboard as the backsplash, but after 6 months of well water staining the caulk orange I bought another sheet of laminate and had it put over the beadboard. Not my favourite look but it works. Altogether, including all new appliances and sink (from Ikea) this kitchen reno cost us $12,000.

reagan1405 We love our kitchen! We moved into our home three years ago and we got to remodel it last month. We had our cabinets refaced with wider doors and painted white. The middle stiles were removed to make more room for dishes. All the cabinets and between the drawers. New custom drawers were made with full extension. We kept the 18" tiles in the kitchen. The counter top we had was a white laminate top and was replaced with Silestone quartz tops. The kitchen walls had a faux stucco texture and a dark green paint. We had the texture changed to a splatter/drag and the popcorn ceiling removed. The pot light covers were replaced with a stainless cover. Switch/plug were changed to a black metal plates and cabinet hardware. the under cabinet lighting was changed from halogen to LED lights.

frugalfarmhouse For 15 years we lived with a kitchen without cabinets, outlets, or style. When we finally remodeled, I wanted my dream kitchen, but my budget demanded we keep the same small footprint. I also knew that I was only going to get one shot at this, so I wanted a design that was durable and timeless.

By opening the doorway,wrapping a new bar area into the dining room, and using custom cabinetry to maximize every inch, I now have my dream kitchen. By shopping online and doing what I could myself, we have the high end finishes and appliances I wanted,maintained the charm of our 1885 farmhouse, and only went a little over budget.

I looked at so many pictures on Houzz - and don't think I could have developed this design without that inspiration. We definitely wanted the bar area to have a pub feel, but needed to keep the kitchen light to make it seem as large as possible. We are so happy with the yellow and cherry stained maple combination. The dark granite gives the soapstone look we wanted with improved durability. Someday, we may get a tile backsplash, but my cabinet maker threw in the bead board - and for now, I like it.

I wish I had before pictures, because it's such a dramatic change. Despite adding a lot of new cabinets, the space looks and feels larger - and it is so functional. My new kitchen is so warm and inviting - I don't even mind doing dishes!

sarapnp In 2006, my husband and I purchased a 1952 mid-century modern from the original owners. We knew the house was a tear-down and would require building an addition, extensive updating and repair. However, the gorgeous Japanese gardens, coupled with proximity to our work, sealed the deal. We took a deep breath and began the process of what turned out to be an arduous, but ultimately very successful, rebuilding of a unique and wonderful house.

We had moved from a townhouse whose kitchen we had remodeled just
three years earlier. The final outcome of that remodel exceeded our expectation and I cried real tears at the thought of leaving that home. What made that kitchen so spectacular (aside from well-crafted architectural design) was the amazing mosaic backsplash created by Bay Area artist Adrian Litman. I gave Adrian the creative latitude to do what he wanted. The only caveats were as follows: the work must be abstract, non-representational (no images of tea kettles, roosters, etc.) and incorporate tropical colors. The rest was up to him - and he nailed it! (You can see photos of his creation at http://www.adrianlitman.com/. Click on mosaics.)

My plan for this kitchen was to replicate the artistic and energetic
vibrancy of my former kitchen to the fullest extent possible. Doing so
wasn't very difficult. Adrian was delighted to have another
opportunity to stretch his creative muscles. We found a local cabinet
maker who created the European high-gloss cabinetry and used the same
Corian-like material for the counters. The floors remained the
original wooden planks from 1952, sanded and refinished.

In all, we extended the tiny 1950's kitchen by only 3 feet. By
eliminating the dividing wall between the kitchen & dining room and
replacing it with a peninsula, we created an airy, vibrant space.
It inspires ooohs and ahhhs from all who visit. The aesthetics
are secondary; the key to this new remodel is functionality.
Once a cramped, dated, isolated space, our new kitchen is now an inviting,
well designed area, in which it is a delight to cook and entertain.

cjcs56 We moved into a 1990 Cape Cod with 80's country blue decor and oak cabinets in the kitchen, complete with indoor/outdoor country blue carpet!! We did a lot of work ourselves and truly have our dream kitchen...
We had no continuous counterspace, so we moved the fridge down, and the ovens fit well into an oversized pantry. We enlarged the island in length and width, and put storage cabinets in it also. The Brazilian cherry floors are very easy to take care of, and are holding up well. Of course, I am of the belief that scrapes and dings just add character to it! We put in cherry cabinets with a rose stain, and granite counters, stainless appliances and a matte black granite sink that shows no scratches or stains...
It was truly a labor of love and we are so happy with the results!!

djs434 We were wanting to update the kitchen in one of our income properties. The kitchen was last done when the condo was built in 1985 and the living room carpet removed and replaced with tile that didn't match the kitchen sometime in the mid 90s. We wanted to stick with the existing cabinetry as it was in good shape so the efforts began to put it all together. I called in my brother who owns Lee Ceramic Tile and Stone in San Diego and he took me to look at tiles and granite. This is what it looked like before with white 4x4 in the kitchen and blue-ish stone 12x12 in the living room and what we accomplished with our efforts. The counter tops were removed and replaced with Solarius granite counter. The back splash was done with a mosaic style but key pieces were removed and replaced with 1" black glass. We replaced the old kitchen sink with an under counter double sink and replaced the coil burner electric stove with ceramic glass electric and removed all floor tile from kitchen and living room and replaced it with 20X20 Lucerne Grassen ceramic floor tiles.

tspray Recently bought a new house, a short sale, and went through numerous renovations! The kitchen features all new cabinets, new appliances, Silestone Lyra counter top, and a schoolhouse electric light! There was an exterior window above the sink that we had widened without having to make structural changes, and bumped the counter top out over the wall for a breakfast bar. It has helped to lighten the room and has a clean fresh feeling.

journeysbysea My partner and I purchased an 1898 home in Berkeley that was in dire need of a new kitchen. It’s probably the only reason why this foreclosure was on the market for so long, as the “lookers” did not have the vision to see the blank canvas before them. Without going into the minutiae, the photos say it all.

chinstrap We renovated our kitchen and house in a modern style. Our floors were redone in a natural, semi bleached Oak. We kept the layout except for moving the fridge over to the side to expand the width of the kitchen. The cabinets are Leicht from Germany. We mixed materials such as Caesarstone tops with glass tile backsplash as we didn't want to overdue the "wood" cabinets and floors.

chinstrap Some more pics and also before pics

tjholzapfel 1976 Lake house remodel

burns_la I took my "old" country kitchen and added lots of color and texture. The old layout didn't honor my valley view and I eliminated all the upper cabinets in favor of an oversided island in the middle. Love the new look and how it accommodates 1 cook or a room full of guests!

She's Crafty Our kitchen reno is a combination of modern and vintage. We used sleek white cabinets with stainless hardware & appliances and mixed that look with vintage, reclaimed wood. I made the counters out of salvaged barn floorboards and surrounded the kitchen island with old doors turned on their sides. The look is interesting, warm and sleek. We love it and are so happy with how it turned out. The Ikea cabinets are so inexpensive and easy to work with to make the kitchen look like it was custom made.

chellmart There was nothing really "wrong" with my old kitchen, it just wasn't my style and didn't have enough storage space. I worked with a friend (designer Jim Aronson) to create a modern kitchen with plenty of storage and lots of seating around the island - we all gather there, right? Additional storage included two big pantries, cabinetry along a half wall (there was nothing there before), a broom closet, and tons of storage in the 10X4 foot island. Details include a beautiful slab of green granite on the island, white Silestone counter tops, custom cabinets, and a stainless steel appliance garage door. I'm in love!

awood1226 I am obsessed with old homes and I love all of the charm and details in our 1920s dutch colonial house. However, the kitchen was in dire need of a renovation and stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of our home. Thanks to our genius contractor, with a few simple changes within the existing foot print, we now have an extremely functional and stylish kitchen. Although choosing all of the design features of a kitchen can be overwhelming, it was equally fun!

Some design highlights include:
Counter tops: antique leather granite
Back splash: white subway tile
Stools: woven french bistro stools
Cabinet hardware: Restoration Hardware
Light Fixture: drum shade with seagrass shade

awood1226 Additional before and after pictures!

pennyleigh22 Kitchen remodel to farm home built in early 1900's.

ava1 We bought this house with the intention of gutting the kitchen. I knew if we knocked a wall down and brought in better lighting, the little kitchen would come to life!

Diana Haney This is pictures of our recent kitchen remodel done in September 2012. Before and after. The house was originally built in 1995 and the kitchen was outdated and worn and the cupboards had a lot of unusable space. On the cupboards, we chose maple interior with dovetail drawers and soft-close hinges. The cabinet door style is a Shaker Alder w/ beveled inside profile and solid wood panel. It is finished with Cherry Chocolate Stain w/ Conversion Varnish. This gave the cabinets a cinnamon color to it, which is very nice and different. The countertops are Cosmos Quartz Thunder Road with crescent edge. The custom tile backsplash is 6x6 Pozzalo White Sail tile set on diamond with random clips of 1X1 Wall Candy Venetian Toffee and as a feature strip around the kitchen. A favorite area of mine for the backsplash is right underneath the window. We also had the floors torn out and replaced with maple wood flooring. All in all, I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

The Canadian Decorator .com When this penthouse was build it was for a family with alot of small rooms . it was closed in alot and did not take advantage of the fabulous views and the abundance of light. It started out as a dated small closed in kitchen and we opened it up by virtually removing all the walls, plumbing, electrical, flooring- absolutely everything came out except the concreat. It is rebuilt with an open plan that created a kitchen that will fit a crew of chefs and is perfect for entertaining family and friends.

kwnewton We gutted our kitchen and redid everything-- walls, ceiling, lights, cabinets, appliances, the works. I was going to try to stay moderate on the cabinets, but I fell in love with the red birch look and couldn't give it up, so that was an unplanned upgrade. But I'm glad I did it., because the cabinets make the whole room look warm and inviting. Another real plus was deciding to go with LED strips for the under-cabinet lighting. Fabulous!

Megan Conner-Humphries We remodeled our poorly functioning and awkward kitchen the summer of 2012. The kitchen is only about 8x11, so efficiency and creating a welcoming and light filled space were priorities. I am a design professional and wanted something that would be classic and fitting with our craftsman house, but would also have the simple, clean lines of a modern kitchen. We worked directly with a cabinet supplier and a contractor to create our new functional and bright kitchen. We opened up the kitchen to the dining room with a centered 5 ft opening, where the opening used to be 2ft 6in to the side, creating a very closed off kitchen. This not only made the floor plan open, but allowed for more light throughout the main floor of the house. We used granite counters with simple flat panel cabinets and chose hardware as the feature. We have open shelving for dinner and glassware, cork flooring and penny tile back splash. We used bright and neutral colors to help liven up the small space. Typical of older houses, we also lack storage closets for coats, so we incorporated a pantry cabinet for coats/mittens and cleaning supplies since our main entrance we use is off of the kitchen.

Ann Lowengart Interiors, LLC Here's an example from a project completed in 2010 on Upper Toyon Road in Kentfield. It came out of the wife's desire for a beautiful place to entertain. As you can see from the "before" photo, the old space was nothing short of depressing. Definitely not a space conducive to fun soirees! The new kitchen and adjoining family room needed to function as a hub for parties where the wife serves her gourmet-quality macrobiotic food (starters include savory kale chips and homemade cacao energy bars for the kids and cold cucumber soup for the adults!). Of course the main role the space needed to play is as a cheery and relaxing backdrop for her sporty, active family including three young kids and a dog.

The pulls are from Restoration hardware and are between $7.49 and $8.00.
The slab is honed carrara from North Bay Stone and is $110- $120/square foot installed.
The butcher block material at the end of the island is by John Boos and is approximately $770.00

Rebecca Belknap Traditional style with updated lighting. I love the kitchen because the room is open in feeling, the cabinetry looks like furniture, and the traffic flow problem between the fridge and the peninsula has been fixed. I have gained a lot of space by turning the desk into upper and lower cabinets. The lower cabinet drawers are wonderful. I also have a pot lid cabinet, a cookie sheet cabinet, a spice rack that is a pull out cabinet, and a tiered silverware drawer. The sink has a removable second tub plus a removable colander. It's made to accommodate a cutting board. Amazing improvements in functionality and storage.

adking019 When I bought my 1910 Craftsman I was so entranced by the beautiful architecture in the rest of the house I didn't even realize the kitchen had been horribly redone with cheap laminate cabinets, ugly carpet, and a whole 36 inches of useable countertop until I went to unpack my kitchen boxes. By doing all of the work myself and a few great salvage deals, I now have a kitchen i can be proud of - all for under $1500 :)