The story of our kitchen began as a spontaneous idea when we bought our house. When we toured the house, we knew immediately it was right for us. It had great bones, had been kept up despite it's 40-year age and the size was right. It had a nice yard that was big compared to most townhouses (necessary for pups) and had beautiful pine trees planted all around.
However, I knew the wall between the kitchen and what used to be the "dining room" had to come out. This was super important to me so make the house more livable and comfortable. I specifically said to Carlos, I love this house, but this wall NEEDS to come out. He was like ok we'll see...
That being said, the kitchen was livable but in rough shape. The cabinets were really small, the sink was tiny and there was not enough counter space. By the way, the counter top, was laminate and could easily be lifted off the base. So because we were living with my parents at the time, we knew it was a good time to see if we could renovate the kitchen.
Planning the Renovation
So as soon as we closed on the house, we started making calls. The first visit by a contractor was not encouraging, the guy came in, looked around and said, "it'll be $30,000 minimum". Umm WHAT? He referred to under-cabinet lighting and other fancy things we did not need. The second was a phone call we made to a local kitchen and bath place in downtown Herndon, where we live, again the response was we start at $30,000. WTH?? So I'm not one to give up. A few days later we drove by another place called Floorware, we gave them a call and scheduled a visit. When Ramin arrived, he started measuring right away and drawing. Hmm, good sign. Then I said to him right off the bat, "we have a $10,000 budget, can you work with that?" And held my breath. He said, "it will be tight, but yes, we can figure it out." AND I said, "we also want to take down a wall, is that possible?" Yes, he said, I think so! AAAHHHH my HGTV dreams are coming TRUEEEEEEE!
Sidenote: Several people had given us the opinion that the wall was probably load bearing and couldn't come down, so I was seriously excited.
Design Inspiration
So let's talk inspiration. I was very inspired at the time with Fixer Upper. I knew we couldn't really customize like they do, so no open shelving, etc, but her designs inspired the simple design, which has white cabinets, with black oil-rubbed bronze handles, dark espresso island and gray counter-tops. Also, of course, we had to go with white subway tile, which I think really tied everything together. By the way, there was no island in the room before, so that was something we added altogether and I think it makes the biggest difference!
Starting the Renovation
Our kitchen renovation journey began thanks to Ramin. Ramin and his brother run Floorware together and although they had started primarily doing floors, hence the name, they now do all kinds of renovations, mostly kitchen and baths. In 3 days, he had a design ready for us, when I saw it, it was perfect!!
Because of our tight budget I kept insisting to Ramin that we didn't need wood cabinets, and we didn't need granite. We wanted to upgrade our kitchen but it didn't need to be fancy. "Trust me", he said, you want wood cabinets if you want this kitchen to last more than a few years. "...And I can show you the more affordable granite samples." So we were able to select the cheapest white cabinets that were all wood and of course pre-fabricated, but they were still beautiful. For the granite, we visited a showroom, and they told us to go to the VERY back of the place, past ALL the beautiful more expensive stones (tear), to the affordable ones. We choose a dark gray one with some stone variation.
The Process
Once we had approved the design, work started quickly, they took down the existing kitchen cabinets AND most important, took down the wall. Which of course, was my favorite part and to this day, I just stare at the kitchen with heart eyes from the living room, loving the fact that there's no wall.
Then the cabinets came, which were beautiful! They put them up really quickly and then we asked them to install our new microwave over the stove.
With the island, Ramin took two pre-fab cabinets and put them together back-to-back to create it. Carlos and I actually played around with the layout. We opened the fridge door, the dishwasher door and the oven door and then maneuvered the cabinets to the exact spot we wanted. Then the crew came in and nailed it down. The island is probably my favorite part of the kitchen! It's also bigger than we expected because I had told him I wanted a 3 foot by 4 foot island and forgot that the overhang is an extra foot, so the island is 4 x 4 feet. I LOVE it thought. It's the perfect gathering spot for having friends over and we have plenty of room to spread out while cooking.
Adding On
Even though we worked with a contractor, we were pretty involved in the process. We bought the subway tile at Lowe's and the crew installed it. Same thing for our microwave. Pretty soon, we decided to add on the kitchen and bathroom floors, and were super grateful we did because it turned out each of those room had THREE layers of linoleum. Then, since we were doing that, we decided to add the master bathroom tile surround, which used to be 70s yellow with some mold. And finally, since everything was coming out to do the floors, we bought new vanities for the master and powder bathrooms and new toilets. So it ended up being a much larger renovation and cost us a few thousand more (we got a small loan to cover the extra) than we planned, but sooo worth it. Stay tuned for more to come on the master bathroom reno soon, sneak peak below!
To this day, the kitchen and bathrooms spark so much joy!
Thanks for reading! Byyyeeee.