Ready for this?
It’s the Big One.
The Kitchen Reno Reveal 

I went in with a plan:
an open floor plan and sight line from my kitchen sink to the playroom and family room
 a huge, giant, crazy big island
easy access to the mud room
white cabinetry, a mix of glass and solid cabinet doors and deep drawers for pots and pans
as little as possible stored on the counters so a space for the microwave and appliances down below
tons of power outlets 
a specific drawer for spices, tall thin pans and for trash.
I also knew I wanted to do two huge statement lights over the island and something unique with the white subway tile back splash.
Think I was able to get everything on my Must Have List?
Here’s a peek at the Before:

Keep an eye on the windows below to keep your bearings! 
Shop my faves for our home:

Ready?
(I always get nervous just before I show a space for the first time. Weird, huh?)
All photos are by Christa Rene Photography, all styling and design by yours truly, all sources tagged at the end of the post. And brace yourselves, there are, without a doubt, too many photos.
After:
Wanna walk through the details together?
Oh you do?! How fabulous, let’s do that!
We decided to make the move to a gas range in this house and, despite some (scary-ish) issues with the hook up process, I am loving our decision.
 
| kettle | 
I’m kind of weird about stuff laying around on kitchen counters so I make tiny little vignettes of pretty things and then stash everything else in the cabinets. The cutting board and salt well below is Greek Olive Wood from our Babymoon in Santorini. 
| wood salt well similar | wood cutting board similar | utensil set |
The original shape of the kitchen was a very strange galley style with a crooked angle under the windows. We rounded out that angle and extended the cabinetry to blend the dining room and kitchen. By doing so, we also gained extra counter space and made that angle a little more pleasing to the eye. It’s hard to tell, but if you’ll look closely, you’ll see that every single inch of wall space is covered with white subway tile – all the way to the ceiling! That was a style decision that I made early on and not too many people were on board (side eyes to all of you) but once it was complete, even the construction guys told me that it looked “nice”. 
| stand mixer | copper tray |
 
Side Note: we are replacing the windows we just need a little break from construction. Can you blame us?
Side Note #2: the skinny drawer below the stand mixer is the dedicated spice drawer. The thrill I get from announcing that is borderline crazy town. 
Between Justin and I we have three sets of china (our wedding china, his mother’s wedding china and my grandmother’s wedding china) so I knew we needed a few glass cabinet doors in our space. I love that the glass breaks up the working wall and keeps things light. Thanks to a few interesting twists and turns in the renovation process, our cabinets are a mix of special order Home Depot cabinets and custom pieces. It’s a long story.
 

For cabinet knobs we went with a traditional look but kept things interesting by going with a completely different style for drawer pulls. The knobs are just generic silver round disk pulls from Lowe’s and the pulls are actually knock offs from a discount construction supply store.
glass cake plate | white cake plate |
The kitchen sink is by far one of my favorite features. 
I wanted a giant stainless steel square bowl – no dividers and as deep as possible. I sought out Caroline’s advice and she and I decided on a 16 gauge stainless steel sink from Ferguson’s Mirabelle line. I honestly love it so much because (brace yourselves for honesty) of the amount of dishes it can hold before you can actually see any peeking out. Sorry not sorry. 

My husband’s favorite features in the kitchen are the touch faucet (a housewarming gift from Caroline!) and the air switch garbage disposal button. Because we didn’t want to mount a switch for the disposal on a wall that was quite a few feet away from the sink, we decided to mount a push button start next to the faucet and honestly love it.

Ok, let’s talk lights.
I called in Caroline (yes, again) to help me find the perfect globes for the space. Because our sight lines are so open, I knew I wanted two huge clear glass orb pendants. I’m not afraid to add a little attitude to a space (see: my dining room pendants) so I was open to all suggestions – and I am so glad that I was because these babies are perfection (if I do say so myself!). 

Ready to chat about the island? 
 We worked with our contractor and drafter to ensure that our space was functional and as open as possible but their biggest task was humoring my giant island concept. I wanted the island to seat a ton of people, house the sink, dishwasher, trash drawer and under mount microwave and I wanted my kitchen sink to be a clear sight line to everything in the main living spaces. What can I say, I’m a girl who knows what she wants in an island. It took some measuring and negotiating but I stood strong and my island dreams came to life.

The island seats seven adults, or six adults plus one high chair, comfortably. We chose saddle seat counter height stools for the L shaped portion of the island that bridges the living room and kitchen to keep the sight lines open. 
On the kitchen sink side of the island, we went with full backed, gray linen counter height stools for comfort and to bring in a bit of warmth.
I love how the wood of the gray bar stools is a perfect match to my dining room chairs and marries the two spaces together  – such a find (and my first ever purchase) on Overstock! 

We entertain in our home a ton and I love the flow and layout of the kitchen. People can congregate around the island and still be a part of the party. Bonus: you can see into the playroom from most points of the island, making the mamas in the crowd happy and relaxed.

My clutter free counter top loving heart loves that microwave nook so hard.
The island has something like 5 power outlets on the exterior (another Must Have for me), just under the counter top, so that you can move small appliances around or plug in your lap top and work from any spot in the kitchen.

Hidden underneath the microwave is my husband’s one wish in the kitchen:
his candy drawer
Yes, I’m serious. 

In case you missed it, I detailed our search for our granite in this post but I’ll give you the abridged version here (because this post isn’t long enough or anything): we knew we couldn’t live a Carrara lifestyle but we desperately wanted the look. We combed what felt like every single stone yard in the state until we found Monte Blanc granite. The soft gray swirls remind me of the striations found in Carrara and the bright white coloring of the stone makes my design novice heart happy. We ended up needed three slabs for our project and I’m glad that we found a stone that fit the look we were dreaming of (that’s a ton of stone, using one that we only liked would have been a deal breaker). 
I fought (again) for a blunt, sharp edge to our counter tops – I like the clean lines and, despite the efforts of the granite guys to steer me towards a rounded corner, I am thrilled with my decision.

And that’s all she wrote! 
Just a few more glamour shots and then we’re hitting the source list.
What do you think? Any questions? 

For the record, as much as I hated this reno process, I do love the final outcome of this space. I had a very strong vision and am glad that everyone eventually gave in to my wild ideas. It was a battle but this one was worth it. 

If you want to see more of our Renovation, check out our Dining Room Reveal!

I’ve tried to source everything pictured so that you don’t have to wait around for me to respond to your emails! If I missed something, shoot me a message at [email protected]

If you’re interested in how our granite has held up a year after finishing the renovation, check out this post. 

Sources:

All Cabinetry: The Home Depot
Hardwoods: Lumber Liquidators
Granite: Monte Blanc
High Chair: Ikea
Sink
Faucet: Delta
Pendant Lights
Rug: Pottery Barn
Gray Bar Stools  :Overstock
Wood Stools : Overstock
Copper Wine Tray : Williams – Sonoma
Stand Mixer : Kitchenaid
White Cake Plate c/o Minted
Glass Cake Plate :Williams -Sonoma
Knife Block: Williams -Sonoma
Red Tea Kettle:Williams – Sonoma
Stemware: Pottery Barn
Our Wedding China:Williams -Sonoma
Cow Creamer: Williams – Sonoma