This project was in a home that we’ve worked on before. We’d done some fun mini-projects like the master bedroom and kids’ bedrooms a few years back. And now it was time to go full Designstorms on the kitchen. The day had finally come to give this couple their very own personal version of the kitchens they’d been stalking on our site for years.

Small, dark and u-shaped, the existing space was cramped and not at all conducive to entertaining – or even just normal everyday conversing for that matter – since the sink and prep area left both cook and cleanup crew with their backs to the room.

There was also a largely neglected and seriously outdated dining room. So they bid farewell to the demising wall, which we knocked out for a full kitchen takeover. By eliminating that barrier, we were also able to visually connect the kitchen with the fabulous new landscaping and outdoor living space on the other side of the windows.

Other reconfiguring included making way for an island, and larger paneled appliances that blend in with the cabinetry. We placed the 36-inch Wolf range along the back wall where the sink used to be, and had the cabinet maker create a custom hood surround, with stained wood mantle detail to match the new ceiling beams and floor (more on those below). Narrow lower cabinets flank the range, keeping go-tos like trays and spices within easy reach. Then we added a wall oven and the highest ranking list-topper for the homeowners: a built(!)-in(!) coffeemaker(!).

While white is the prevailing color, we mixed it up a bit with light gray on the island base and large pantry wall cabinets to give them a furniture-esque feel, complete with oversized nickel-plate pulls from Cliffside. One of the “pantry” cabinets is a semi-secret hideout for everyday plug-in appliances like the blender and toaster, keeping the counter free and clear, while the other serves as an actual pantry-pantry. Since the new kitchen setup had plenty of storage, we were even able to work in some open shelving for displayables in a corner that would have been tight for cabinet doors.

We placed the dining table at the end of the island with four chairs for the family’s everyday scenario, and came up with a creative seating solve for when more of their kids were around. Two ottomans that tuck under the perimeter desk area (between the two pantry cabinets), easily move to perch at each end of the table when they slide it away from the island for gang’s-all-here sit-down meals. We hung subtle mercury glass fixtures over the island, saving the razzle-dazzle for the globe above the table.

A few other notes on unifying the two-rooms-turned-one. The floors needed some serious patch-love after so much moving-around of cabinets and appliances and walls and things. The existing floors were pre-engineered cherry wood, which changes color over time, as cherry does – so they were darker in places that get more light, and lighter where rugs were placed. We did some color-mix wizardry to even it out with a more of-the-moment shade, landing on a deep, rich brown – and ended up refinishing the entire first floor. Our clients loved the new (old) floors so much they decided to extend the wood throughout, adding it in rooms that had previously been tile or carpet. To connect the newly opened-up kitchen/dining space even more, we added ceiling beams, staining them the same dark-roast brown we concocted for the floors.

As often happens with remodels, once the rest of the first floor started looking so new and “now,” suddenly the verrrry traditional (read: classic 90s) powder room didn’t seem as ok as it did before the kitchen reno. So, we ditched everything but the toilet. The vanity, sink, faucet, light fixtures, wall covering annnd window treatments are all new like the rest of the main floor.