Be Colorful Coastal

Kitchen Remodel: The Cabinets

 

This is it!

This is the look I am going for in our kitchen remodel.

I found it via Home Brunch.

It incorporates so many of the elements that I am looking for in our new kitchen design.

I love the white cabinets and the glass inserts.

I am crushing on the contrasting island with the X end caps,

and it even has the ceiling details that I am looking for.

I die.

We haven't signed on the dotted line yet but we are looking at cabinets from Meridian.

 

I saw a showroom display of their cabinets at

Kitchens By Monic,

and we would use this modified shaker door style but with the X mullions in the glass front doors.

 

 

 

I am envisioning the island is a light and warm gray and the cabinets in this soft  white.

 

 

These are beautiful cabinets that are made in the USA, they have the soft closure on all doors and drawers, and full extension glides.

 

There will be glass at the top of all the cabinets much like this.

 

 

There will also be a couple of glass fronts in the cabinets flanking the cooktop. I am a fan of the X mullion for those glass panels but I haven't decided which look I prefer.

 

The stacked mullion,

 

 

 

or the single.

 

 

I would like to add a few ergonomic elements to the cabinets like this utensil drawer insert,

 

 

and if it will work with our final design, this spice rack pull out.

 

 

I showed this image to our kitchen designer, and yes, they can create it, but is it worth the extra $$$? 

I think a lazy susan will be fine.

 

 

I am beyond excited.  Pulling together the plan is so thrilling.

Hopefully, that excitement will carry us through the construction phase which should start in about ten weeks.

I'd love to have you follow along and give me feedback. 

To be sure you don't miss an update, subscribe to posts by entering your email in the subscribe by email box in the right-hand column at the top of this post or follow via Bloglovin.

However you decide to follow, I'm so glad to have you here.

 

I am sharing my cabinet inspirations over at Coastal Charm

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia,

 

 

Savvy Southern Style

and Between Naps On the Front Porch

.

xoxo,

p

 

Photos via Home Bunch, Pinterest, and Hooked On Houses

Kitchen Remodel, Choosing Flooring

Flooring decisions for a home in a tropical climate are different than choosing a floor in the Midwest.

 

 

 

 

 

In Florida, humidity is a huge factor. Our home here is about fourteen years old and except for carpet in the bedrooms,  the flooring is a neutral tone, twenty-inch square tile.  We are fortunate that the tiles are a bit larger than what was typically used in the early 2000's. They were most likely an upgrade fourteen years ago and for the most part,they still look good today.

 

 

 

 

We were surprised to discover that when they installed the tile they did not run it under the kitchen cabinets. This creates a real issue for us as we prepare for our kitchen remodel.  The fourteen-year-old tile isn't available any longer and we do not have any left over tiles. Because the cabinet footprints will be changing, we are looking at a new floor and this floor will also need to be carried into the open plan family room.

 

 

 

 

Fortunately, there are some easy transition points at the two kitchen doorways where the new floor will meet up with the old.

 

 

 

Even with those transition points, I could only envision a wood floor partnering up with the existing tile. Since we began planning this remodel I have learned that not just any wood flooring will work in this humid climate. Old school, solid wood flooring is not an option.  

A solid wood floor has a lot of pores or paths for moisture/humidity to enter.

 

 

If the expansion is too great the board will warp and either cup or crown. In some situations, this expansion has even caused floors to buckle.

 

 

 

Then came the engineered woods which are much less susceptible to humidity because of the way they are made.

 

 

 

 This engineered wood makes it possible to enjoy the beauty of natural wood floors even in tropical climates.

 

 

So with this new information in hand, we knew we needed to limit our choices to engineered woods.

We also knew we were looking for a light finish in a warm gray or taupe color and we liked the look of a wider, roughly seven-inch plank. Something like this Lighthouse sample from The Medallion Collection of Naturally Aged Floors.

 

 

 

The color is great and it has a lifetime structural warranty and a UV Polyurethane finish.

The downside for us is the product is made in China.

 

We also liked this Greystone Maple from Uptown Floors.

 

 

It is a superbly made product but the sales rep advised us to stay away from maple, saying it would dent easily and the smooth grain would make those dents very apparent. They didn't offer this color in an oak or hickory.

 

 

The color and texture of this Rosina from Legno Bestone is stunning but it has an oil rubbed finish that needs to be buffed and re-oiled every few years. We want something that we can install and forget.

 

 

 

I'm out.

 

 

Q Wood's Wedding Cake and Picket Fence are two more intriguing options.

They are made in America, have a durable protective coating, and they are oak.

 I like both of these shades.

 

 

 

Wedding Cake.

 

 

 Picket Fence.

 

We are fortunate to have so many choices and I don't want to over think this since there are a lot of decisions ahead when it comes to this kitchen remodel. This is a big one to be sure, in terms of visual real estate and dollars. So we are doing our homework and should be able to make our choice quickly and with confidence.

 

Want to follow along as we journey through this remodel? Subscribe via email or Bloglovin by entering your email or hitting the Bloglovin' button in the right-hand column at the top of this post.

 

Sharing my new found knowledge at Coastal Charm and at The Stonybrook House

xoxo,

p

Real Estate Photos Can Be Deceiving

I Feel A Kitchen Remodel Coming On

 

We bought our coastal home a year and a half ago.

We traveled across six states to see it after fawning over some beautiful pictures of our dream home on the internet.

In so many ways it was even better than we could have imagined. 

Then we walked into the kitchen.

Really? The listing sheet said that the kitchen had been recently remodeled.

 

 

From where we came from this would not be called a fully remodeled kitchen.

This was an amateur job at best.

 

There are two dishwashers but apparently one was replaced and now they don't match. They were most likely original to the house so the other one is probably about twelve years old. We also questioned why they didn't update to stainless.

 

 

 

 

Some of the granite was also replaced with an incongruous stone.

On top of that, the glass cooktop is cracked.

We knew all of these things when we bought the house and made an offer that reflected the need for a new kitchen.

 

I am a little embarrassed when  I tell people that we are preparing to remodel our kitchen after having shown them the original real estate photos. 

Who said pictures don't lie?

 

Like us,  by looking at the pictures, most people can't believe that a complete gut job is necessary.

 

The reality is that the kitchen is barely functional. It is okay when it is just the two of us, but when the kids are here it is totally insufficient.

 

As you can see from the real estate photo, the original refrigerator has been replaced with a much smaller, aka less expensive option.

 

 

What is hard to see from this angle, it that the refrigerator also projects out beyond the cupboards. In fact, it sticks out far enough that the drawers in the pantry in that corner can not fully extend.

Geesh!

Unlike the Midwest, where we can put a backup frig in the basement, homes in Florida do not have basements and it gets much to warm here to keep a refrigerator in the garage. Our laundry room doesn't have a workable space, so we are limited to this one refrigerator and it has to house everything. After we loaded it up with wine and beverages, we didn't have any room for food.

 

Then there is the issue of ventilation. It wasn't apparent in the real estate photos but there isn't any exhaust fan in this kitchen. Nadda. None. Nothing but this ceiling fan.

 

 

Notice, too, how many canned lights there are in this ceiling. I'm all for great lighting, but this ceiling looks like a piece of swiss cheese.

Not to mention that there are twelve lights on one switch and that switch gets HOT.

 

 

 

What the real estate photos also don't show is that these cabinets have been repainted...

by a hack.

 

 

 

 

 

I think they painted them with a broom.

 

 

Oh, I know I sound just awful. I should be grateful for what I have.

If they were well configured, we would keep them, sand them and paint them again but there are too many design issues to want to seriously consider working around them. The island is too big and doesn't allow for the dishwashers to open fully. 

Then there is this desk which is totally obsolete. I would much rather have drawers or cabinets here.

 

 

 

It may not appear like it in the listing photo, but this kitchen is a hot mess.

So if all goes as planned there will be a demo day in our near future.

I look forward to sharing some of my inspiration photos for my dream kitchen so sign up for updates by adding your email over there in the right hand column and follow along with our kitchen remodel.

xoxo,

p

 

P.S. Yes, the ceilings in the adjoining rooms were purple. I know, crazy. That has already been addressed. They are now a more sedate shade of gray.

:D

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Stonybrook House  and Coastal Charm