Katie's Test Kitchen

This is a much belated post!

Our kitchen reno was completed about 6 months or so ago but I haven’t yet share the final update with you.  When we bought the house in Summer 2019 we felt in love with the backyard but definitely not other parts particularly the kitchen which were original to the house.  We knew we would have to do a reno sooner or later.  After using the kitchen for 2 months I had enough!  I kinda told my husband if we don’t do this now I’d move… LOL.  There was very little storage and the sink was as tiny as can be.

So we started the design process with a cabinet company shortly after that.  Like with any home renovation there were so many unexpected issues along the way especially when you start to open up walls.  For our small kitchen we only wanted to remove a tiny pantry wall to make room for more  cabinets.  Little did we know that tiny wall had pluming pipes from the upstairs guest bath hidden inside.  Weeks of delay and some more money spent later we were able to route those pipes to the back wall.  The other unexpected issue was our AC went out completely while we were trying to figure out the plumbing problem.  Oh my goodness at this point we felt like we were on some sort of home renovation show on HGTV!  A few more thousands dollar later we got ourselves a new AC unit as well.

There were a few other delays with measurements so we had to wait for new cabinets to come in.  The entire process took over 6 months (seriously it did!).  We ate very poorly during this time as you can imagine.  Most days we had carryout and delivery.  It was painful to say the least but the result was well worth it!  Would I do it all over again?  Heck yeah!  The pictures below speak for themselves.  Our modern farmhouse kitchen was a success.  We got everything we wanted and more!

Here are some upgrades in this new kitchen:

• 33″ Prohs Fireclay Single Bowl Sink with Apron Front – Pretty much we got the biggest size possible!  This is the highlight of the kitchen and my favorite spot!  This sink is the easiest to clean and very difficult to scratch.  It’s heavy so the installer had to put extra support on the bottom.  Absolutely no complaints from me.  I highly recommend it over a stainless steel farmhouse sink for its look and durability.
• 36″ Samsung Induction Cooktop – We never had induction cooktop in any kitchens before so it was a bit of a splurge.  There was a period of learning curve as things were spilling over because it heated up way too fast!  But we can boil water in less than a minute now, unbelievable right?  There are pros and cons to induction but overall, we love it now that we are used to it.
• 30″ Microwave Combination Wall Oven Unit – We don’t bake often so the microwave unit on top is much more useful than another oven.  So we went this this combo instead of a double-oven.
• 36″ ZLine Steel/Glass Hood – The hood is a focal point of the kitchen. This thing is so powerful I have no problem deep frying fish inside the house… LOL.
• Quart Countertop – Everyone is going quartz so we did too and was mainly because of the options to match the white cabinets.  We wanted a white kitchen so granite wasn’t going to do it.
• Seeded Glass Doors – We wanted 2 set of glass doors on the top cabinets to provide balance and a bit of modernness to the kitchen.  I know I cannot keep the kitchen organized all the time so going with a clear glass style would be too painful.  The designer recommended seeded glass doors for Farmhouse style kitchen. They are so pretty I must say!!!

Here are some before photos of the kitchen from when we first saw the house:

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Some photos of the messy process:

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And here are the after photos!

I hope you enjoyed reading this post as much as I enjoyed writing it.  Let me know if you have any questions!