Hey, guys – who’s ready for a little before and after style room tour?! I thought it would be fun to walk you through my kitchen. I wouldn’t say I’m 100% “done” with this room, as no room is ever 100% done in my house. Ha! But my kitchen has undergone quite a few changes since we moved in this past autumn. First let’s take a little walk down memory lane…
When we bought our house, there were already SO many things that we loved about it: the overall floor plan, the wood ceilings, wood laminate floors throughout, and so much more space than our last house. We were excited to change a few fixtures and wall colors and then just start making the space ours – which is pretty much what we have been doing.
Three big changes happened in our kitchen shortly after we bought it. First, I had the counters replaced. The brown granite counters were slightly damaged in one area and were just not my taste. I thought long and hard about just keeping them anyway because they weren’t super damaged and most people would think they were totally fine even though they weren’t a color I loved. But in the end, I decided that if I was gonna splurge on something cosmetic, I would do our kitchen counters because I spend a LOT of time in the kitchen for work and for fun. So why not make it a space I truly love. Our new counters are a speckled white solid surface and I LOVE them so far. It makes the kitchen feel so much brighter and super clean, unless dinner is in progress. 🙂
Second, we had the cabinets painted white. We painted most of the walls in our house and that pretty much took up all my free time for a month. So that coupled with the fact that I knew a pro would do a better job played into our decision to have them professionally painted. Saved us SO much time.
And the third big change was one we did a few months after we moved in. Trey and I installed the marble tile backsplash. You can read more about that here.
Here’s where you can find me for a large part of the week, either at the stove top or washing dishes in the sink. Yes, we have a dishwasher, but usually it gets full and then I have a few other dishes to do. Plus I cook with a number of things you can’t put in a dishwasher like wooden cutting boards and utensils and also cast iron pans.
I LOVE all the extra counter space we have now compared to our last kitchen. I really can’t say enough how much I love cooking in our kitchen.
A lot of readers have asked me if I prefer electric to gas stovetops and I truly don’t have a strong opinion either way. If I were building my kitchen from scratch, I’d probably choose gas (if possible), but I’ve had electric in many of the houses and apartments I’ve lived in over the years. So I don’t mind either. Our house came with electric, and I’m perfectly OK with that. I don’t see us spending the money to change it.
One update we did for functionality as well as adding value to the house was we removed the (old) trash compactor and replaced it with a mini refrigerator that fit right in, which we use for wine, beer, and usually La Croix. 🙂 We had just had a party the previous weekend when I snapped these photos, so we had more beer in the fridge than normal. I love how this little fridge looks, but I truly appreciate the space it saves in our main refrigerator. We used to have a beer fridge in our garage, but we left it with our last house when we rented it out, so this is a good compromise. 🙂
I am currently trying to keep some fresh herbs alive in our kitchen to use for cooking. I buy herbs so often it just seems silly not to be growing a few that I use most often. I must admit that I don’t have much of a green thumb though, but since I work from home these days, I’m optimistic I can do this!
Oh, and you see that KitchenAid Mixer in the corner? That’s the same one that I tried to paint faux granite and totally failed at (see here)! I ended up repainting it copper because I felt like it went well with our kitchen. I guess it’s sort of a boring choice, but I figured I wouldn’t regret a safe choice after my experimental paint idea didn’t work out so well. Ha!
I love having a double oven AND that it’s standing height. Makes pulling heavy, hot pans (especially things baked in a water bath) out of the oven so much easier.
You can also see that on this counter is where I leave out our most used appliances: toaster, blender, and gooseneck kettle for making Chemex coffee in the morning.
And yes, I have a rubber band around two of my lower cabinets right now. I need to fix one of the doors as it always stays slightly open for some reason. We pretty much have a long list of “little fixes” that we work on during slow weekends.
I keep all our coffee making items in one area, just because it makes it that much easier to get coffee going in the morning. This is probably my favorite daily ritual.
We still use our bottle opener that I added to the side of the counter last year, and also our marbled knife holder. I’ve been thinking about making some kind of dog bowl holder because they often get moved around as the dogs eat or drink from them, and then I sometimes trip over them. I’m very smooth like that. 🙂 So, yeah, if you know any good solutions, let me know as I’m on the look out.
The most recent update, that honestly made a huge difference visually, I shared about here. We added some wallpaper to the front of the barstool area. Our house overall has a kind of modern meets rustic vibe, and I think the wallpaper totally made this room feel EXACTLY like that. Which makes total sense if you know me and Trey because we are basically city people who like camping, so, there you go. 🙂
I’m sure I’ll be adding and changing up little things in this room over time, which I’m sure I’ll share. But for today, thanks for letting me take you on a tour of our kitchen! Feel free to drop by anytime. 😉 Happy Friday everyone—hope you have a great weekend! xx. Emma
Sources // Wallpaper: Hands by Pottock, Stools: Target, Coffee cart and herb planter: IKEA
Credits // Author and Photography: Emma Chapman. Photos edited with A Beautiful Mess actions.
wow nice looking your kitchen
https://goo.gl/u3fa3b
Love it!
Super Love your kitchen design!It definitely inspired me to try some things I normally wouldn’t have done on my own.
Super Love your kitchen design! It definitely inspired me to try some things I normally wouldn’t have done on my own.
I love how you always make everything brighter! In decor, fashion, crafts… in life!
🙂
xx,
E.
www,theslowpace.com
Oh my this is literally my dream kitchen! It’s dynamic and happy, if a kitchen can be happy, anyway…
It’s called Bistro White (Valspar) but I would go get a bunch of white samples and tape them up on your cabinet to look at for a few days. Lighting in houses can be so different, for example my house has skylights and this changes the lighting/vibe in my kitchen a great deal. So you’ve got to find the white that works with your space and it’s lighting.
Good luck!
-Emma
Hi, Emma. I really love it, it is refreshing.. can you please tell me what paint you used for your cabinets? I am trying to pick a white paint for mine as well, and I like the one that you used it is white yet soft.
Thanks
Rawan
So yeah… that’s basically my dream kitchen! Love how bright and cheerful it is! The marble is so gorgeous and that wallpaper is so fun!
Congrats Emma, that’s one hell of a kitchen!
xoxo
http://www.sevenlivesandmore.com/
Can you share where you got your mini fridge that replaced your compactor?
Beautiful! May I ask what brand/shade of paint you used for your mixer?
So jealous of all the counter space, cabinets and the bright and fresh look! I love the transformation from the before. I’d be in that kitchen all day every day too!
Oh Em, I love what you’ve done! It’s fun and sophisticated and that wallpaper is WOW!
Woah! That’s some 360 degree change. From dark to happy, bright and illuminated. Great job on this one Emma!
http://annescribblesanddoodles.blogspot.com
In love with so many things in this kitchen! First of all, I love that it’s actually a doable DIY! You guys did a lot of it yourselves, and it looks so good! I’d probably opt for a professional to paint my cabinets too, just for the sake of making sure they were done right!
I love the openness, and the bright white does give it such a clean, chic feeling. And then that wallpaper! So. Much. Love.
Thanks for sharing!
XO,
Cortney
A Whimsy Wonderland
www.awhimsywonderland.com
The kitchen is very clean and tidy
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You are very hard-working, the kitchen neat and clean, you are the best
http://www.luxuryofficialsite.com
What about moving the feeding bowls to the laundry area or a part of the kitchen where your cutting boards are on floor? I was thinking some sort of wood slats where your bottle opener is, to hold the cutting boards? Perhaps the bottle opener could still be incorporated in the same spot where it it?
I love how much brighter it is! http://www.hannamarielei.com
Wow it looks fantastic ! Really creative . I’m in love with the the bar ????
Abbigayle
Http://abbigaylewarner.com