Kitchens are one of the most important rooms in your house! It’s called the heart of the home for a reason. Because you spend hours in this space on a daily basis, details like proper lighting, a functional layout, and adequate workspace make such a difference in enjoying your time in there. Today I’m sharing a Kitchen Remodel E-Design I created a few years ago for my friend, Kathleen!
In this Remodel E-Design, I provided:
- 1 Recommended Design
- 1 Alternative Design
- Additional Options for Lighting, Hardware, and Flooring
- Construction/Remodel Recommendations
Seeing Her Kitchen With Fresh Perspective
Kathleen requested a few specific details for her kitchen remodel e-design.
Marble countertops, a white cabinet color, black hardware, a colorful island color, and a modern style.
She sent pictures of her current kitchen to work from (see below).
A few details jumped out at me right away.
I love how much room there is around the island, and how close her cabinets are to the ceiling. (I’ll show you my one remodel recommendation about her cabinets in a minute.)
Without any windows, it feels a little dark and closed-in. I’m guessing this kitchen is in a central location in the house. But we can play with cabinet colors and finishes to help it feel more open and bright.
She told me her kitchen sink looks into her living room, where they have white built-ins with black hardware. She wanted this look to be repeated for cohesiveness. I kept this in mind when creating her design.
The Key To White Cabinets For A Lived-In Look
The first design I created was a blend of neutrals, mixed hardware, and clean lines.
One of the elements I find that a modern style sometimes lacks is that it can feel a little too polished, cold, or lacking character.
Since there tends to be a lots of slick lines and cooler toned colors, I wanted to add a few elements to her design that would bring in a mix of a lived-in, timeless, modern look.
First, I chose a creamy white cabinet color that would brighten up the room, while still leaving some warmth in the overall look. I prefer to pair gold or brass hardware with white cabinets because I think the slight contrast is beautiful.
Matte Black hardware, in my opinion, is too high of a contrast against white cabinets. I save this finish for other elements like light fixtures, chairs, or appliance accents.
Second, I chose hardwood floors that are very warm in color. This is so important! These warm floors are the perfect backdrop for the bright white cabinets and a clean-line look. They also give opportunity to create even more layers of color – whether neutral or bold – around the room.
A Design Trick For Your Senses
Bringing in natural elements and materials will add to a feeling of depth in the design. The warm hardwood floors, the antique cutting boards, the marble counters, and vintage rug are textures that add a sense of timeless-ness to the design. Our bodies crave texture, and weaving real materials throughout a room design will create a space you never want to leave.
Playing With Color
Within this neutral color palette, I added a bold blue island color to catch your eye and create movement around the room. I love a tonal look like this! This blue is still earthy, but definitely modern. It would look great with the same gold hardware that’s on the white cabinets.
Since the sink looks into the living room which has black hardware in the builtins, I chose a black faucet for the sink. Black pendant lights over the island repeat this color to help it feel cohesive. Brass hardware on all the cabinets and island add warmth to the overall aesthetic. The matte black hardware helps blend the two spaces together.
A More Vintage Design Take
I genuinely couldn’t decide between a few options within this design, so I put together a second design so she could pick her favorite elements between the two.
See how quickly the look can change by swapping out a few elements?!
This is why it’s SO important to make a design plan before you remodel. Create a mood board, book a design remodel, or pencil it out. Making a design plan can save you so much headache and stress in the long run.
You get to play around with ideas before you make any big purchases or pay for any labor costs from contractors.
This design still has a black faucet, but I added black hardware for the outer cabinets. Can you picture how different the room would look with black vs. gold hardware? Which do you prefer?
I don’t recommend black hardware against a darker blue cabinet color – not enough color contrast for me– so I kept the gold hardware on the island.
Mixing hardware finishes isn’t everyone’s style, but I think you can make it work in some instances.
The brass pendants above the island provide needed warmth that’s now lacking from the black hardware on the white cabinets.
I added a bright red, Moroccan style rug on a whim and fell in love with this look. I swapped the backsplash for a white picket fence tile just to give another potential option.
This design still has lots of neutrals, but the added depth of the mixed hardware, brass pendants, and the red rug give it more color variety.
Kitchen Design Tip
In Kathleen’s final Kitchen Remodel E-Design Package, I added a few additional options that she could choose from too. These are all elements within the style categories of her design. You could easily swap these in without altering the final design too drastically.
Kitchen Renovation Suggestions
Creating A New Cooking Space
I noticed that her stovetop is currently in the middle of her island. This feels like a huge layout issue to me. Getting it out of the island will create a central location to serve food and for people to gather. It’s also much safer because hot food won’t be splattering all over the kitchen while dinner is being cooked.
I suggested that she create a new, larger, oven stovetop area on the wall behind her island instead!
Can you picture it?! I think removing the pantry and built-in ovens, and adding cabinets centered around a stainless steel oven on this wall would add so much functionality to this kitchen.
One Small Cabinet Design Change
Her kitchen cabinets are so close to the ceiling. I suggested adding trim that extends them to ceiling height. This creates a more custom look, draws your eye upwards, and makes the kitchen feel bigger.
My goal in creating this Kitchen Remodel E-Design was to make her Kitchen Remodel project easier. They can decide how much they’d like to hire out or do themselves.
I provided design solutions for making the room feel bigger, brighter, in a style she loves, while also making it cohesive with the rest of the home.
I spent a long time thinking through the details of this design and love how it turned out. This is a design that could be handed off to a contractor or could be implemented on their own.
Now I want to know, which design do you like best?!
Shop This Kitchen Remodel E-Design
Interested in a Remodel E-Design for your next home project? Get details and pricing here!
