The kitchen remodel plans post is long overdue and I’m so excited to be putting this out there! We first laid eyes on our kitchen last June of 2021, so this remodel has been in the works for a bit! You can read about the why behind our move here.
The current kitchen isn’t too bad (my mom loves to remind me “Nothing is wrong with the kitchen!”). And she’s absolutely right – we consider it high end for the 2005 era of the home, even if the finishes date themselves. But when I look at it, all I see is a luxurious roomy space, high ceilings, and LOADS of potential.
Update: see the completed remodeled kitchen here!
I am detailing all the day to day real life progress on my Instagram stories – are you following along?
Table of Contents
Our Kitchen Floorplan
Below you can see how the kitchen sits between the living room and dining room.
The kitchen and breakfast nook combined is a roomy 28′ x 15′, with 10′ ceilings. The formal dining room is 21′ x 12′. The spaces are sizable and the potential feels endless!
What is my goal with all this space? Well, coming from a light and bright kitchen filled with sunshine that gave me life each day, I want to honor the bones of our traditional home, make the kitchen the star of this house, and LIGHTEN EVERYTHING UP!
The Kitchen Plan: Details In Motion
Just a note: We are paying for the kitchen remodel ourselves. The nature of my business means that at times I am graciously gifted items by brands that I align with. At this time, nothing in our kitchen is sponsored, gifted or exchanged for exposure; these are our choices paid with our own pennies.
Here are some of the initial drawings…
Getting closer…
Aren’t those drawings fun? Cabinets are underway, and measurements set in stone, so let’s take a look!
Hood Wall Elevation
Starting on the far left is a built-in kitchen hutch with arched glass fronts, sitting back from the line of cabinets. There is a second kitchen hutch, a mirror opposite, sitting directly across on the other side of the room. These hutches flank the breakfast table.
Large ornamental cremone bolts will detail the front of the two hutches.
Since the kitchen hutches sit within the breakfast nook, they will be functionally styled for aesthetics and every day use. Lots of white dishes and china, but also small drawers for our placemats, tablecloths, napkins, and a small thin shelf over the drawers that slides out to place things on temporarily.
To the right of the hutch are stationary cabinets that are actually doors – these will open to the future scullery (our current dining room).
Not the same design, but a similar concept:
A full height marble slab backsplash sits behind our range. The hood is clean, 48″ wide, lined with a piece of marble as a pretty detail.
On each side of the range are small drawers sitting back to keep some counter space, with spice inserts inside for my chef. And when I say chef I am talking about my husband. 😉
Small sconces will go in against the backsplash, sitting on either side of the range. I think it will also bring some warmth to all the marble. These lanterns are what Jose and I liked most for this spot:
The last two cabinets on the far right offer roll outs for some food storage and our smaller appliances.
Below the last cabinet is a 12″ deep bottom shelf, with a place for Zion’s dog bowls. So fun – and useful!
Taking Out a Wall
One big structural change will be knocking down the wall that separates the living room from the kitchen (the wall with the drywalled “window”, dead center).
This change opens the house significantly, but still keeps the kitchen a defined space with three other walls.
We are replacing the current “window wall” with a long arched opening, as seen in the below plans. Trim is within the arch to add detail.
From the kitchen sink we will have a direct view through to the living room. The living room and kitchen should absolutely be joined – it’s where our family will spend the most time! The other walls will stay so that it’s not actually open concept.
Related: our last home’s blue and white kitchen – see how it sat open to the living room in this kitchen tour.
The thickness of our arch will be as wide as we could fit (16″? 18″?), and the opening will frame the island and the range.
I love a good arch; we are repeating that element in a few places. They are having a serious moment again in interior design! Read about The 9 Kitchen Trends You Want To Know About In 2022-2023 here.
The Appliances + The Side Elevation
Last August we picked out Sub-Zero column refrigerator and freezers, with panel fronts designed to look like drawers and cabinets. The Sub-Zeros are seen in the drawing below looking straight on, running perpendicular to the island:
Or below, the refrigerator and freezer are on the far right.
Jose was initially excited to keep our current range, but after living and cooking here he complained it was showing too many signs of age. He had a full change of heart and we went with a Fulgor-Milano dual range with griddle.
We switched from Bosch to Miele dishwashers after hearing about Bosch’s major delays of paneled dishwashers. The feedback from readers about Miele is great and solidified that decision! A plumbed Miele coffee maker will sit in the scullery, and we are keeping the current Thermador microwave, warming drawer and wall oven.
We will likely be floating the old appliances in the new kitchen temporarily, as they take so long to arrive.
The Countertops
We are such huge engineered stone fans (read all about our quartz countertops here!), but this is a different space and we are loving taking it in new directions.
I went down the Google and Instagram rabbit hole of photos and videos showing marble with real life use and etching. Etching as in, permanent etching. The more I saw the patina on aged marble, the more we got on board. So I’m brushing off the naysayers, because we’re going with marble in this house!
We need a big enough slab to scale the island, a second slab to scale the backsplash behind the hood, and a 3rd piece from the same lot to cover the waterfall sides of the island.
Finding slabs that give us all the feels, but are big enough with no seams is a challenge! It’s not as if you can just go out and shop around.
We like Calcutta because of the veins and the coloring, and Statuary (a new one for me) always stops me in my tracks.
Last week, Jose and I visited a slab yard to peek at a few slabs of Arabescato Vagli marble.
We fell in love with several slabs of 2cm Italian marble, which is now on the way to our fabricator!
The Island (My Favorite Part!)
The MOST exciting part of this kitchen to me is the island!
Spanning approximate 11ft, the sides are waterfall with a paneled effect. The marble edges are heavily fabricated, to give the effect of trim and molding. This marble trim will run along both sides and all along the back edges where the stools sit as well.
Isn’t this kitchen stunning?
The island will house two dishwashers, the trashcans, drawers and a 33″ Bocchi fireclay workstation sink. We chose a Waterstone pull down faucet with a sprayer in unlacquered brass.
The Working Pantry
One structural change I’ve talked about – even before the house was technically ours – was a working pantry or a scullery. “Back kitchens” are going in a lot of the new homes in our area, and I love anything practical that feels luxurious. Since we’re losing a wall in the kitchen, a scullery allows us increased capacity!
We had a beautiful walk in pantry in our last home – but this one will be a different kind of space.
Our dining room is so roomy – I am happy to give up a portion for a pretty, hard working space.
We will keep the 2 windows along that back wall, and sit a wood cabinet between them. Full height molding detail will adorn the wall.
Along the newly created wall will be the baking set up (we will simply move our current microwave, warming drawer and oven appliances that we already own), two 30″ refrigerated drawers, a coffee cabinet with a plumbed Miele coffee maker inside and a 30″ open space for preparing caffeinated beverages. A few more cabinets for storage and this place is functional and fun!
No sink – although it’s useful (and cute, lets be honest!), we need the counter space much more.
Arched French doors will allow a secondary access, directly into the dining room.
The Cabinets and Hardware
Related: 17 Gorgeous Greige Kitchen Cabinet Paint Colors
Kitchen & Bath Galleries is helping us perfect the cabinetry (love their team, they have been incredibly helpful!). We placed our order with Crystal Cabinet Works. They are a furniture grade American made cabinet company. They aren’t seeing the same levels of delays other cabinet companies are experiencing at this time, I am told.
The majority of our cabinet pieces are custom and Crystal has been great about taking our requests. Lots of hidden customizable storage too!
All of our hardware selections, except for the cremones, are from Classic Brass.
You can watch my Instagram Stories for real-time updates with the whole house (not just the kitchen), challenges, and our move to my parents’ house while we demo.
Speaking of demo, we are just a few weeks away (February!) and we are getting excited/nervous/all the feelings to see our house get taken apart and put back together! Lighting, floors and other choices will be shared here another day.
See our completely remodeled kitchen here!
Not on Instagram? Or if you just want more… Join my once a week newsletter here to receive weekly updates and see all the details/pics as projects unfold.!
Chrissy, I’m obsessed with your remodel plans. I can’t wait to see the finished product. I’m wanting to get my cabinet refinishing in New Braunfels done soon so that I can have the kind of kitchen you have.
Thanks for sharing with us!
Thank you, Chrissy, for sharing your wonderful kitchen renovation. Many people desire to update their kitchen but are unsure how to do so. People who are short on time and ideas, in my opinion, should hire a renovation contractor.
I love watching this gorgeous kitchen come to life! I am curious how you handled the beautiful ceiling in the dining room when you used part of it for a scullery. Could you show how you “fixed” the ceiling in the dining room after the change, please?
Hi! Part of the demo process was sadly taking down that beautiful coffer, because once a wall went up it would not be centered – there was no way to keep it. I was sad to see it go and decided we would work in some kind of special ceiling detail. The dining room is still under construction so no photos of anything exciting yet but we are lacquering the dining room ceiling with an accent color used in the room.