Call us crazy but we decided that we would do our best to tackle one more space in our Mississippi home before our newest Tupta Tot arrives – the center of the home, the kitchen! Although it can sound pretty daunting, it’s actually not going to be as intense as the primary bathroom was for us since we aren’t taking the walls down to the studs. It’s not necessarily going to be a walk in the park but we figure it will be easier to tackle now compared to when we have two nuggets running around. We have two main goals for the new kitchen: to optimize space and function and allow more natural light to pour in. This is how the kitchen looked to start (mid packing to move into our temporary kitchen):

The kitchen is not BAD to start! We just knew we could make it better! The biggest downside of the existing kitchen is the L-shape that not only houses the stove, which is unsafe with little hands that can reach over the side or water boiling over, etc., but it also blocks off all the natural light from the large windows at the end of the kitchen. Since we bought this house, we have been talking about removing that L. From there, it was just a matter of making up for the lost cabinet space with the new layout. Taking the cabinets all the way up to the ceiling (which are 8′ high) is not only going to add more storage but it’s also going to make the room look so much bigger. We wanted to add an island if possible but after a lot of discussion, we decided that we aren’t going to because it would be a very tight fit and feel crammed. I even had the idea of having an island on wheels that could live in the kitchen or laundry room, which is right off the kitchen. For now we are going to table that idea though because neither of us are entirely set on it. Here’s what we came up with and what our cabinet builder is helping us bring to life:

As for the design, it took me quite some time to narrow down what we would do until one Saturday on our usual Lowe’s trip, I spotted this tile and knew right away that it would be in our kitchen. It became the inspiration for it all! Stephen was skeptical at first but once we started putting materials together and I made it easier for him to visualize, he came to really like it too. I think to some people it’ll seem a bit “out there” but not only do we love it but we think it’ll look great, add some fun texture, and be really cohesive with the rest of the house.

From there we had to decide on all of the colors and finishes we wanted to use. The cabinet color is what took us the longest (although not as long as the bedroom). I think white cabinets are timeless but our walls will be Chantilly Lace like the rest of the house so that it remains cohesive. Not only would it be a lot of white with the tile but we didn’t love how the tile looked next to Chantilly Lace. With that said, we narrowed it down to Farrow & Ball Bone, the color we used on our bathroom vanity and a dark color *gasp*. Here’s the mood board for Bone:

Bone is a beautiful chameleon color! It changes quite a bit based on the light and has subtle hints of green undertones. It would be beautiful in the kitchen and would make the house feel cohesive since we used it in the bathroom. What we didn’t love about it though is how it looked next to our floors. There wasn’t enough contrast for our liking. We didn’t have that issue in the bathroom because we used a patterned tile, not the LVP that is in the rest of the house.

“So if we aren’t doing white and we aren’t doing Bone, what do we want to do?” I looked at Stephen and asked, “What if we use our entryway as inspiration for in here so it feels cohesive but will still be very different?” DARK CABINETS?! It was hard for us to believe we were heading down that route but after throwing together a design board and comparing this versus the Bone design, we unanimously agreed we were going dark.

Although we really love the color we used in the entryway (SW Tricorn Black), it has very little undertones. We wanted hints of charcoal undertones in the kitchen so it didn’t feel so stark so we narrowed our paint color down to two options: Farrow & Ball Off Black and Farrow & Ball Railings. We had Home Depot make us up some samples and painted both onto these sheets to compare to our flooring, the tile, and Chantilly Lace walls. Both are beautiful but Railings can look navy depending on the lighting. Since we don’t have any navy anywhere else in this house, we went with Off Black so that it remains cohesive (I won’t be surprised if I someday paint the entryway Off Black too so it flows even more beautifully!).

We love the entire design and what we have planned but I’d be lying if I denied that it gives me butterflies… In the best way! It’s pretty different compared to our previous kitchen. Knowing that we won’t live in this house forever, we are constantly balancing doing what we love and also what we think a potential buyer will love. Imagining how the entire house will look and feel in the end as a whole, we believe that another family will also be blessed by these walls!

What do you think? Are you surprised we’re going so “bold”? We’re so excited to see it come to life and love having you along with us for the ride!

Design board sources:

• Tile
• Flooring
• Walls – BM Chantilly Lace
• Chandelier
• Sconce
• Faucet – polished nickel
• Knobs – burnished antique
• Latches – burnished antique
• Sink
• Table – thrifted and refinished

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