Greetings,
Welcome back to Matters of Style, a periodic newsletter from To a T Interiors. This edition continues the series on updating a dated home with a how-to guide for remodeling a 17 year old kitchen based on our personal experiences. Read below for what it takes to plan a successful kitchen remodel and how to ensure you get a kitchen to love for years to come. Happy Decorating!
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Planning: Key to a Successful
Kitchen Remodel
| After checking off most of the update list for our 17 year old "new" home, we decided it was time to tackle the kitchen.
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The "before" kitchen: thermofoil cabinets, tile counters and original appliances.
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First, be aware that a full remodel takes considerable time; ours took 5 months from start to finish--70% of that time was for planning/shopping and 30% for execution/construction.
Here are some planning tips that worked for us:
- Browse kitchens on Houzz.com and create an Ideabook for pictures/products you like. This is a great way to get buy-in between spouses and showing the pictures to contractors and designers helps ensure you get the look you want.
- Unless you are perfectly happy with the existing footprint, use a kitchen designer to ensure you get the layout and functionality you want. As an interior stylist, I focus on the aesthetics of decorating a room but that does not qualify me to ensure optimum space utilization, creation of focal points and flow in a remodeled kitchen. For that we hired Alice, a certified kitchen designer with Dynamic Kitchens. With Alice's help we quickly identified:
- An improved layout for the appliances to optimize the work triangle between the fridge, sink, and cook-top with plenty of prep space in-between.
- A built-in hutch feature with glass doors for a new focal point, and
- Better space utilization by locating the refrigerator near the sink and the microwave and oven in an unused desk area.
 | Design rendering for the new kitchen
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- A complete kitchen remodel is likely the biggest investment you'll make in a home so its wise to use a general contractor to ensure a quality product. We found Kris Johnson Custom Home Builders through neighbors' recommendations and confirmed compatibility and work quality by using his team on several small updates before addressing the kitchen.
- Since a big chunk of remodeling dollars is spent on new appliances, it's useful to compare features and reliability in Consumer Reports. We opted for a counter-depth fridge which meant we sacrificed 10-20% cubic feet for a more convenient location within the work triangle. For the cook-top, research led us to induction cooking for its speed, control and energy efficiency.
- Decide on all the major purchases (e.g., appliances, cabinets, counters) and confirm availability and delivery dates before the demolition starts. Make sure its clear who is purchasing each item so you aren't in a position of having worker(s) show up but the needed materials are not there.
- We'd been advised to sell our old cabinets on Craig's List, and to our surprise, they sold in a matter of days after posting. However, this too required coordination with the demo team (to ensure they were removed intact) and pick-up by the buyers (stored in our garage for several days).
- Don't forget to plan your temporary kitchen: paper plates, plastic utensils, coffee pot, microwave, fridge relocation, etc. Prepare meals in advance and freeze so you don't have to go out for every meal. Be sure to have plenty of boxes on hand to pack up everything else from the pantry, cabinets and drawers and decide where they will be stored for the duration of the remodel.
- We reworked the lighting plans several times from the initial concepts we discussed with Alice. We thought we wanted pendants over the island and a ceiling fan near the table. Once the existing fixtures were removed, we liked the clean look and opted for only recessed lights in the ceiling. We added task lighting under cabinets, and accent lighting with rope lights above the cabinets and puck lights in the hutch. We got advice on placement from the salesman at the lighting store and drew up a plan for the electrician. The electrician also found it helpful to have the separate map we created for the placement/control of new/old switches and outlets.
 | | 5 months later...our new kitchen |
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Ensure a Lasting Wow Factor
in Your New Kitchen
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Do you know what makes a kitchen feel trendy versus timeless? Are you worried about having a "trendy" kitchen and that guests will know that you updated in 2014? These are valid considerations but the real question is: how do you ensure you will love your new kitchen from the moment it's done to 15+ years from now? A good starting point for creating a memorable kitchen is to have a strong focal point. Our designer suggested this hutch feature wall with glass front doors which immediately appealed to us after having looked at a tired refrigerator on that wall for 9 months.   The rest of the wow factor comes from the materials/finishes selected. When shopping for these items, keep in mind the following to achieve a look that you won't tire of over time:
Start with the cabinet color.
The brown trend is on the wane and white and cream cabinets abound. Does that mean you need to go light? No, use your Houzz Ideabook as your guide because that is the look you want.
We thought we wanted a medium-toned wood but opted for white because the existing kitchen was white and we liked the clean, bright look. We also considered cream but decided white was the better choice due to the proximity of an entire wall of white bookshelves and fireplace mantel in the adjacent great room,
Will it be a matching or contrast colored island?
We liked the idea of using a contrasting island color so it looks like a piece of furniture (rather than just more cabinetry) and to break up an otherwise all white kitchen. We chose the actual color (Java) to coordinate with mahogany furniture in the adjacent rooms.
 | | Enlarged island with added seating |
Decide what will be the star.
This is important so you don't get competing finishes vying for attention and its easier to achieve a classic look. Most often its the counter that will be the star. Granite is still popular, but so are marble and engineered stones. After the material decision, you'll still need to pick an edge ( ex. bullnose vs. ogee) and finish (ex. matte vs. polished). With white cabinets, we wanted to see color on the counters and needed to consider the island color. We chose Giallo Ornamental, polished with a round-over edge. It provides a great color palette that isn't too "bossy" so we won't tire of it over time.
 | | Giallo Ornamental: warm-toned and moderately patterned |
Hardwood still reigns for floors.
For a timeless look, opt for hardwood floors. If it's not already in place, then you must give consideration to the ability to match the existing floor. If hardwood does not work in your space, then the floor tile color needs to coordinate with the counter and backsplash, if applicable. We had the existing hardwood refinished after the remodel was complete (note the importance of refinishing the floor last because the existing floor took a beating during the remodel).
Choose the backsplash carefully. With so many choices, the backsplash can bring in a lot of color and pattern into the design palette. However, it is often the backsplash decision that can take a good design into the realm of busy and uncoordinated. This is why subway tiles have become so popular because they have a simple, timeless look. If you want the backsplash to be the star, then the counters should "read" nearly solid. For us, the shiny subway tiles felt a bit contemporary, so we opted for an off-white honed limestone laid in a subway pattern.
 | | AKDO Ephesus Dune |
Coordinating metal finishes.
Next up is door hardware and you need to consider the finish based on appliance color (stainless is still the most popular) and existing door hardware. We have brass throughout our circa 1995 house. Since brass is trending again (look for antique brass), we were not interested in changing all the door hardware in the entire house. For the cabinets, we opted for a vibed black nickel finish, that has a aged patina. We changed the door hardware (knobs and hinges) on the two doors that open into the kitchen to brushed nickel to coordinate with the kitchen metals. I am not a fan of mixing metals but there are very few spots where the brass shows against the silver tones in the kitchen.
 | | Hickory Hardware: Williamsburg Knob |
Last up is paint color. Having a favorite color in mind made this the easiest decision. We used Benj Moore's Coastal Path, which was in the kitchen in our last home.
Never assume a favorite color will work without first checking it against the existing/planned fixed elements (counter and backsplash), how it blends with the colors in adjacent rooms and seeing how it looks in the light conditions it will be viewed in. We also installed new electrical switch plates and outlet covers: opting for white on the walls, stained on the island and ivory to match the backsplash. We don't even notice the three different colors because they blend in so well.   | View from the garage entry.
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As always, if you need help making your home the inviting, comfortable space you envision, call To a T Interiors. We can help you select the perfect paint color, choose finishes for a new kitchen or redesign your living spaces to enhance the beauty and function for the whole family.
Susan
To a T Interiors 301-467-3563
www.toatinteriors.com
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Q & A Corner
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| Q. What do you think of the open shelving trend in kitchens?
A. After due consideration, we opted for glass-front display shelves over open shelves in our new kitchen (read below). Here is an informative link to a designer who explains why she is a fan of open shelves. For me, I did not want to fuss with the way things looked on a daily basis. The items in our display shelves are used infrequently so they generally stay looking neat and tidy.
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Mother's Day Gift Idea
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