White Bright Minimalist Kitchen Renovation

Let’s start out the year with a dramatic before and after shall we?  I swore I was never going to go through a kitchen renovation again.  Cooking out of the living with a toaster oven was an incredibly stressful experience.  When we purchased this new home, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to live with the dark cave like kitchen.  It’s hard to see in the photo but the cabinets had a thick layer of grease on them and they were banged up pretty badly.  The sink wasn’t centered on the window.  There was a horrible drop ceiling that made the room feel really dark and closed in.  We decided we needed to create a bright white minimalist kitchen that we would want to cook in!

Here are some of the MAJOR changes we made:

1.  Gutted the walls and raised the ceilings.

2.  Added an island and pendant lights.

3.  Added tall pantry cabinets on the back wall.

4.  Widened both entries to the room.

We wanted to be very thoughtful on what we kept on the counters.  I’m constantly editing them and it’s a careful balance of keeping the things we use everyday handy but also not cluttering up the surfaces!  This may be a minimalist kitchen but as you can see we love our coffee devices! 😉

  

The flooring we decided on was Marazzi’s Dapple Grey from Home Depot.  It looks like wood but it’s a porcelain tile.

I’m a huge fan of bright and white spaces so we went with a white moroccan style tile for the backsplash.  Quartz countertops, white pantry cabinets and stainless steel appliances (we ended up keeping the brand new oven but will eventually replace) were priorities for us.  The tall pantries hold all of our food and the majority of our mason jar/crock pieces!   

In addition, that magnificent stainless island was something that I really had to sell the husband on.  We used butcher block in the last kitchen but I wanted something that was totally different than before.  We had a local company fabricate the top and our contractor installed it.  Yes, it easily scratches but it also develops a patina over time.  I love having a sterile surface to place hot pots and to roll out dough on.

These Martha Stewart cabinet hardware that were a splurge and one of my favorite aspects of this kitchen!  We went with soft closing drawers, I love not hearing cabinets bang shut!  We also mixed up the metals, choosing a chrome faucet that we got brand new from a friend!

Thanks for taking a tour of one of my favorite spots in our home!  Leave any questions in the comments!

Photos by Sarah W. Kingsley