Week...? The kitchen is finally done!

Hallelujah! The kitchen is done (and we love it). Are you ready for the pictures?

First, a quick recap. The kitchen was an ode to 80s white from the walls to the appliances and everything in between. Not to mention, it was closed off from the living and dining room, which was a lovely shade of tan with brown oak floors. 

We wanted an open concept space with serious sophistication. We decided on a classic black and white color palette to marry with the traditional elements of the house, but we put a modern spin on how and where we used the colors. Mix in beautiful brass fixtures, a Carrera marble-like quartz counter, and a Persian rug and we were cooking with gas. While we were at it, we spiced up the rest of the house by refinishing the floors from basic brown to a rich black and changing the paint color from tan to a luminous white. 

For more details on our inspiration for the design and the materials we chose, here's an earlier post

So, here's the kitchen in it's original state:

So, um, vibrant...

So, um, vibrant...

The space for the fridge was almost on top of the sink leaving very little prep room.

The space for the fridge was almost on top of the sink leaving very little prep room.

We took down the wall with the tiny pass-through to make the first floor open-concept.

Good bones, bad design. Get ready for the sledgehammer!

Good bones, bad design. Get ready for the sledgehammer!

OK, enough background, let's get to the pictures!

Without doing substantial changes to the layout of the kitchen, we were able to make a major change to the first floor.

I love how vibrant all the colors look against the simple black and white background. 

I love how vibrant all the colors look against the simple black and white background. 

The crisp contrast between the black and white feels so dramatic but it's softened by the warm accent colors, the wood pantries, and the brass fixtures. 

These Brokhult pantries from IKEA are a great replacement for all the cabinetry we removed when we took down the wall separating the kitchen from the living and dining room.

We centered the sink on the window for symmetry and added counter space for prep by moving the refrigerator further away from the sink. 

This herringbone backsplash makes me happy to look at. It's such a fun way to play around with classic subway tile layouts.

It took a while to find the perfect old school meets new school brass faucet for this space, but it was well worth the effort.

For countertops we wanted the look of Carrera marble without the hassle, so Caesarstone's Calacatta Nuvo was the perfect choice. 

I hope you like it as much as we do. It's such a functional space now and was so cool to conceptualize and bring to life, despite all the usual construction headaches.

One lesson I learned the hard way--don't blog about an ongoing project. Wait till it's done and then show the steps. Otherwise, you've got such long gaps between posts. Thanks for sticking with me to see the end result. 

Can't wait to hear what you think!

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