I’m on the road this week, visiting friends and family in my “home and native land” of Ontario, Canada. I visited my dear friend, Sharon, yesterday and oohed and ahhed over her newly installed kitchen. I knew you’d all want to see this dramatic before and after transformation.
Before, the kitchen was oriented down one side of the room making for limited cupboard space and light.
They spent many months perusing pictures of kitchens in magazines and on the internet and culling ideas for what might work in their own kitchen. That was time well-spent as they love every small detail and feature of their newly installed cabinetry. Doors that close with a touch, hidden hinges, a pull-out spice rack by the stove, a cupboard to hold trash AND recycling, ample room for all her dishes, pots and pans, a few nooks for displaying decorative plates. They also added new windows to bring a lot more light into their kitchen.
So, for all of you who are planning a kitchen renovation somewhere down the road, here’s one more picture for inspiration.
1. Hi Joan,
We recently remodeled our kitchen but I never get tired of seeing these makeovers. I love the warmth of your friend’s kitchen and the new windows open up the space. It is really good advice to anyone embarking on a big project to scour magazines for inspiration photos. My husband and I did that for months before hand. You quickly see a pattern of what you like. By the time we input our designer, I knew the style of cabinetry I wanted right down to the glaze!
The other thing that I learned - through our designer - is that your kitchen space can be broader than just the work area. We have two open rooms that connect to the kitchen. In the sitting area, we added a desk in the same cabinetry/finish. I can watch the kids on the computer now and order groceries online. In the other room, we added a bar w/a wine refrigerator in the same style cabinetry but different color. The space is much better utilized and the open rooms all look connected.
by Mary — 10/6/08 at 1:17 pm #
2. Mary: Thanks for sharing about your kitchen renovation process. Sounds like you reallytook the time to figure out what you wanted and needed in your kitchen. And great advice to look at any “connecting” rooms and see if there’s a way to add cabinetry there for additional activities. Ordering groceries on line is a big time saver, isn’t it? And it’s always great to have the kid’s computer within sight. Thanks for sharing these great tips for our readers.
by joan — 10/6/08 at 1:57 pm #
3. I have a small windowed kitchen, sometimes referred to as a “galley kitchen”. Nowhere do I see any suggestions for such a kitchen, only large kitchens. I have lots of cabinets but very little counter space and could use some suggestions. Thank you.
by Natalie — 10/24/08 at 11:39 pm #
4. Hi Natalie: I feel your pain. I have a very small galley kitchen also. Check out my entry “Organizing your cookware for the small kitchen” http://openhouse.homegoods.com/index.php/2008/10/20/organizing-your-cookware-for-the-small-kitchen/
and you’ll see a picture of my galley kitchen. We opened up one wall to create more counter space and made a little breakfast bar there. Just one idea for renovating a galley kitchen.
But there are lots of ways to create more space without knocking down walls. I’m working with some clients now on making more space in their small studio apartment kitchens and when they are done I plan to share the before/afters so keep an eye out here for future posts on small kitchen solutions.
Thanks for writing in — it’s so helpful for us to hear from our readers what they need help with.
joan
by Joan — 10/27/08 at 9:44 am #
5. Hi Joan,
Maybe this is off topic here, but we are going to redo our farm house kitchen cupboards. The rest of the house has hardwood floors in a medium oak finish and the woodwork is too (with bit of cedar tinge to it). The kitchen has an offwhite floor with kinda some beige/gray tinges in it (kinda like the one pictured above.) We won’t be redoing the floor at this time. My question is though, should we go with white cupboards & trim in the kitchen (it is like that now) or go with oak cupboards stained in a shade that goes with the rest of the house. It is somewhat of a small kitchen and I wondered if stained would make it feel too small. I am painting the walls a wheat (with tinge of yellow) color. Just wondered what the trend is now for kitchens and how each would go with the rest of the house being wood floors. I thought maybe the white kitchen doesn’t really fit with the rest of the house being stained wood…
by Jill — 2/28/09 at 10:42 pm #
6. Jill: There’s no right or wrong choice for your kitchen cupboards.
Pine fronted cupboards with simple wooden knobs or brass handles are the more traditional look for a farmhouse kitchen but painted cupboards in all kinds of colors (blue, green, yellow, red) are equally popular with your style.
The kitchen shown in my post here is small but it has a BIG window at the one end and is now open to the hallway at the other end allowing the wood cupboards to feel less overwhelming and of course the bright yellow walls and lighter floors etc. all help.
You mentioned your kitchen is small, so keeping the white cupboards may be a good option for you, but I’d antique them to give them that farmhouse country charm. You can see a great example of antique white cupboards at HGTV’s site (copy and paste the next 2 lines into your browser to view it)
http://www3.hgtv.com/dc-design-kitchen/natural-materials-create-farmhouse-kitchen-design/pictures/page-5.html
Without having seen your kitchen I’m taking a guess that something along this line would work beautifully. Or even a combo of some wood/some antiquing.
If you have room in your budget then I’d choose a fabulous deep farmhouse sink as your focal point.
If there’s room to “eat in” then be sure to have a wooden table and chairs to bring the natural wood back into the room (pine or oak) or if you don’t have room for a table add a small wooden cabinet or two (a pie or jam cupboard or vegetable bin etc.) to offset the white. If you go with the wood cabinets, bring these other furnishings in as painted pieces to break it up.
Add some country fabrics for window dressings and a braided, hooked or rag rug on the floor to tie in the colors of your dishes/accessories. Oooh, can’t wait to see it finished. Send a photo when you are done of the before and after.
joan
by Joan — 3/2/09 at 4:08 pm #
7. What kind of knobs look best with white cabinets and a dark black/green granite countertop?
Thanks
by Leila — 8/14/09 at 6:58 pm #
8. Hi Leila:
Not sure what style your kitchen is done in but I like the look of a brushed nickle handles with white cabinets and dark countertops. For other combinations you might find it helpful to look at some kitchen designer websites — they often have sample kitchens that can provide you with inspiration.
by Joan — 8/17/09 at 11:50 pm #