It’s Friday, I’m loopy, I’m freshly blonde again (thanks babe!) — so I’ll try to make it through this post without you wanting to stick a fork in your eye. (Please don’t, that would really ruin your weekend!)
Yesterday I showed you the ‘Big Picture’ changes. Today I’m going to show you the little details in the new kitchen that make me giddy.
First up, let’s look again at the eyesore that once housed the trash compactor:
I think it gets worse looking every time! And no, we didn’t live with it like that for 5 years! I rigged up hung a small tension rod with a fabric curtain. I hated it. So my amazing contractor built a new cabinet face and it looks like this:
But hiding behind all that sleekness:
A pull-out trash! And it’s huge! And the cool part is I can just sweep crumbs right off the counter and into the trash. Notice too that the cabinet to the right of it has been converted to drawers. You’d never think it, but drawers hold so much more stuff than a cabinet. Remember this wall:
He built drawers there too…just look how deep! Every counter top appliance, Pyrex, mixing bowl, cutting board, etc that I own fits in these!
A pull-out tray was installed for my cleaning supplies so I don’t have to crawl under the disposal to get to them.
And see the two cut-outs above the cabinet opening? Those were the ‘dummy’ drawers. Well, Fred Sanford doesn’t live in my house, so I had the cabinet doors built taller to cover them. I think it looks so much more streamlined…and truthfully, it’s one of my favorite parts of the kitchen! (Thanks for the genius tip AC!)
Ideally, I wanted to build a second row of glass front cabinets to go on top of the existing ones…reaching to the ceiling. But my budget forced me to get creative. The original cabinets are 30″ tall, and looked so squat and sumo-wrestler like.
I got kind of an ‘eyebrow raise’ from my contractor (I’ve been getting those for years, I’m not offended by it. I’m a Scorpio…I know what I want dammit!!) when I suggested he added a piece of wood, and then an extra tall crown molding…both stained to match the cabinets. It literally took him two seconds to nailgun it down.
Now the cabinets are 37″ tall! It didn’t add any extra storage…but it added drama by drawing the eye up more. I also think it makes the cabinets look so much more substantial, and furniture-like.
I didn’t want the room too serious, so we gave the room a little quirk-factor by adding a fun Ikea light over the sink
More efficient storage with a tray divider
Keep the clutter hidden by putting a few cork panels on the inside of pantry doors
And created a breakfast bar by simply placing a piece of granite on top, anchored by a couple of iron brackets.
One of the more genius ideas my contractor had was to drop the switch plates and outlets down flush with the counters, and turn them horizontally
It keeps you from having a big ol’ plate in the middle of your beautiful back splash!
I got silver plate covers to blend in better…and he cleverly painted the actual plug part with silver car paint. Those details make a huge difference.
After having white Formica, I’m beside myself to have granite. They extended the counters 1.5″ beyond the edge of the cabinets….you wouldn’t think such a small adjustment matters…but it really feels like I have more room to work. The under-cabinet puck lights are a nice addition too.
But the showstopper is the glass tile back splash. It’s the first thing people comment on, before they go over and stroke it. It is so reflective and the color changes with the light. It can be very expensive (most start at $30/sq. ft), but I scoured discount tile stores relentlessly, begged asked for discounts, and then had my contractor go pick it up using his additional discount. My motto for most everything is “It can’t hurt to ask!” It paid off, I got this beautiful gray/blue tile for $9/sq. ft!!
Are you still awake!!!??? My advice to you if you are about to start a reno (any room really!), is to look at as many pictures as you can! Use them as your guinea pig to see what you like. I consulted pictures for everything down to where I wanted my hardware positioned (that’s what she said)! Also, pick someones brain who has been through a similar reno and benefit from their experience and “coulda woulda shoulda’s.” And I proved it can’t hurt to go directly to the source…by asking for additional discounts, or even emailing the designer of a room directly for advice! You never know!!
What are the favorite little details of a room you’ve redone? Have you scored additional discounts or had a similar experience with a designer? Do tell!
