Our biggest post of the year around here is undoubtedly our kitchen trends exploration in January. You and the internet at large just love to see what’s new in these utilitarian-cum-showpiece spaces in our homes. So we decided to do a mid-year check-in to see what else might have materialized in our research since then, and wow, am I smitten. I think you will be, too. Let’s deep dive. #1: Double Bullnose Counter Edges I have to be honest. I’m not 100% certain that this countertop edge finish is even called a “double bull nose,” but that’s what I started calling it when I first saw it (some Google searches confirmed at least some people also call it this). Then, like learning a new word and hearing it constantly after, I’ve been seeing this absolutely nonstop ever since. It is far and away the most prevalent “trend” I’ve found in the kitchen space (as well as the bathroom) this year and as much as I mentally retreat from a concept the more I see it, I really love this detail. It feels somehow classic and modern at the same time. You can see a close-up here by Decus Interiors. Prepare yourself because this space by Anne Mcdonald Design for Isla Porter will make another appearance in this post (keep reading), but for now, it’s here to showcase the DBN (double bull nose) edge finish fully. I think this technique works particularly well on a heavily veined stone because it creates a bit more depth in the inset middle line. At full scale (meaning, seeing a kitchen, pulled back), it’s subtle but powerful. We shared Sarah Sherman Samuel’s delicious kitchen for Semihandmade in our January kitchen trends post for different reasons, but it’s such a glorious space that we had to keep breaking it down to the details, including its use of the DBN counter edge. Though I know I *just* said I prefer this treatment on a heavily veined natural stone, there is nothing wrong with it on a more subtle stone, either (it’s just a preference!). Our trendy gal, the DBN, looks wonderful here in this kitchen by House Nine Design. #2: Red Marble This one is bold, and not for the design meek, but wow, does it make an impact. Red, pink, and burgundy marbles have been slowly edging their way into our kitchen design vernacular, and I believe it’s broken out of the fringes to be more widely accepted. Red marble comes in maybe different types, just like other marbles, and some names you may want to acquaint yourself with if you’re dreaming of adding this to a future renovation are as follows: Rosso Collemandina, Rosso Levanto, Rosso Verona, Rosso Arabescato Orobico, Rosso Peperino, Rojo Alicante…and many more (note that some of the “rosso” labeling could also be “rojo” or simply “red” depending on origin and how the store is selling it). I’ve never typed “rosso” more in my life, but it’s a good idea to study all the different kinds to learn which shades and veining types are right for you. The one here in this beautiful kitchen by Susannah Holmberg Studios appears to be Rojo Bilbao marble, though it’s hard to tell as the image is dark. One comment on the post mentions it’s an Alicante, but that didn’t look right to me. Either way, it’s a beautiful stone color to use as an accent or throughout. Some red marbles have a white base and red veining, such as this surface in a kitchen by new-on-the-scene custom cabinetry company Isla Porter. This one is likely either a Calacatta Viola or Calacatta Borgogna, though I’m sure someone with expertise in natural stone could tell you more accurately if you were interested in it for your own home. This stone in a kitchen by Abhishek Dekate is similar in coloring but far more dramatic. It’s stunning with a dark-toned wood cabinetry and darker bronze accents. A thick edge lip on the counter helps show it off even more. And because it would be hard to find a tile that could compete with this, if budget allows, it simply must be brought up on the wall, too. No, this isn’t red, but it’s in the family, so I’m allowing it. How gorgeous is this pink stone (a Breccia Pernice marble), which is quieter and would be great with more of a linen or taupe cabinetry, similar to how it’s shown here in a post by the stone gallery, Starel Stones. Here’s a Rosso Rubino marble from another stone purveyor, SSC Countertops out of Vancouver, BC. Their post mentions it’s resistant to scratches and heat, making it a great material choice for countertops and even flooring. I’ve been in love with this kitchen by Workstead for nearly two years, having bookmarked it numerous times (basically, every time I see it), on all my inspiration hoarding platforms. It’s where I first saw a red stone and thought OMG I HAVE TO HAVE THIS ONE DAY. This is a warmer, brighter red than some of the burgundies and pinks shown above, but it really comes to life with the matching persimmon cabinetry. I’ll never tire of seeing this one. #3: Dark Wood Cabinetry & Paneling White oak and similar blonde woods (as well as white or painted cabinetry) have reigned supreme for well over a decade, but dark wood tones have slowly made a comeback. First in furniture, now abundantly in our kitchens. Unlike the vibrant red-toned cherry cabinets we all held on a Tuscan-inspired pedestal in the early 2000s, this dark brown wood is rich but neutral. You’ll find it both in traditional styles as well as more contemporary profiles, such as in this kitchen by Decus Interiors. Another one above by Decus Interiors, but I wanted to show it because of the lighter floors they paired with the dark cabinets. I think these would also work well with a creamy-hued stone floor, such as limestone, or even something like slate if you get enough natural light (otherwise, it may feel cave-like). Unnecessary Projects paired their warm wood cabinetry with a black stone, but kept it from getting too heavy with a blonde herringbone floor. (Note the wood handles and pulls in the same stain as the cabinets…beautiful.) I always enjoy seeing the work of Norm Architects—possibly because it’s the complete opposite of how I envision my future dream home—including the quiet, simple luxury of the kitchen here by Danish cabinet makers Kolon. I can’t imagine making any kind of mess in here, let alone leaving a rogue crumb, but the tidiness and warmth of the materials is a nice vacation for my mind. #4: Paneling > Tile We can thank the rise in popularity of the English kitchen with the onslaught of paneling use, where tile was king. I love a good tile moment (like LOVE), but you have to admit shiplap, tongue and groove, and beadboard sure do up the ante on the charm factor in a kitchen. To keep it more “now,” opt for a modern tone like the earthy brown in the kitchen above by The Misfit House. Jean Stoffer is American cabinet royalty IMHO, and she and her team love leaning into the use of paneling in a kitchen to achieve that pie-cooling-on-the-window-sill vibe (but make it elevated). Here, the wood is used throughout all walls and the ceiling, though you’ll often see it just along one or two walls where you might otherwise see tile. Beadboard painted in the same color as your cabinetry can be much more affordable than solid slab marble (not to mention lighter without needing as much reinforcement for an added shelf). In a saturated burgundy like the vignette here by Uns Hobbs Interiors, the look is classic but forward-thinking. Interior designer and content creator Lauren Costello revamped her 1930s Cape Cod kitchen for just over $1,000 (with no demo), including the MDF she used to cover her existing wall tile that no longer suited her aesthetic. #5: Custom Edge Shapes On Slab Backsplashes Slab stone has been popular as a backsplash material for a while now (it gives a kitchen a clean, luxurious vibe), but the new iteration of this is custom edge shapes. Here is one example—by Theresa Ory Interiors—I’ve been seeing more often, with an arabesque-style design around the range up into the hood. It’s lovely. I cannot stop looking at this photo (the home was designed by Anna Knight Interiors). The sinuous, tapered shape up from the countertops around the windows is subtle but striking. I warned you I’d be showing you Anne McDonald’s kitchen for Isla Porter again, this time to call out the gorgeous marble detailing around the windows. It would be stunning in just a straight angled cut, but it’s so much more romantic this way, dontcha think? Gotta love a good ol’ scallop detailing. Thank you, Intimiate Living Interiors, for the beautiful inspiration. As all the examples I’ve shown of this trend have been fairly classic and traditional, I wanted to pull something more modern to show that custom edging details on a wall slab can work in a contemporary setting, too. I’m particularly smitten with the delicate nosing trim here by Caroline Andreoni. #6: Butter Yellow Butter yellow has had a chokehold on cabinetry in the last year, and I am Here*For*It. It’s such a wonderful departure from all the white, cream, and green we’ve seen so much of over the past five or so years. Sherwood Kypreos used Farrow & Ball Matchstick here, which works beautifully with the red on the island and the teal floor tile for a buffet of color that still somehow feels subdued. We first explored this beautiful kitchen by Sarah Sherman Samuel for her new paintable line for Semihandmade when we were discussing the double bull nose edge, but it’s such a perfect creamy, hand-churned butter color, it also had to go down here. It picks up the warm golden tones of the marble beautifully, and is in harmony with the stone floor. Butter yellow seems to be primed for use with an accent color elsewhere on the cabinetry, like the grassy green on the island here in a space by Plain English. This hue has a way of looking like it’s been there forever, marinating in the sun, yet still feels really refreshing in terms of cabinetry colors we haven’t seen much of prior. Just when you thought whipped butter yellow was just for traditional kitchens, in comes this modern, cool and edgy room by Sarah Chirazi. Peep the handles shaped like corn and leeks (and even the pedestal table that, according to the caption, is adorned in bronze figs, peppers, and whatever a “gombo” is. And since it wouldn’t be a kitchen roundup without something from deVol, here’s a peep into one of their kitchen designs (slide 1) featuring the color du jour. #7: Bold Cabinet Interior Colors File this one under Fun & Flirty. I love the idea of a peek-a-boo bold color inside a cabinet or drawer. It’s likely most impactful in one or two areas, say, in an appliance garage or a coffee bar. The electric blue in this kitchen by Himlekök is a perfect complement to the terracotta cabinetry. Scroll to the second slide to see the gorgeous interior of this already gorgeous pistachio-tinted modern kitchen by Murray Barker. The orange interior is a callback to the earthy clay stone on the countertops and backsplash, but with a bit more punch. This is the first time I’ve heard of Pluck out of London, but I had so much fun scrolling through their colorful account, particularly to see all their enthusiastically hued larders (a.k.a. a large cupboard with pantry-type storage). The persimmon interior of this chocolate brown Plain English cupboard sure does bring the dark, neutral outer shell to life. Imagine the surprise of opening that door and being met with an unexpected shade like that. Fun! And just one more by Plain English, which clearly uses this interior paint pop often in their designs. (Scroll to see the second slide.) #8: Sculleries I first encountered the term scullery when I saw the space Lauren Lothrop Caron of Studio Laloc designed in her own home. (Perhaps I was late to the party, but better late than never!). Since then, I’ve seen these prep kitchens explode in popularity, which seem to have reached a fever pitch recently. For anyone not familiar with the term, a scullery was essentially a kitchen behind the main kitchen used to prep food and wash dirty dishes. There were maids who specifically tended to that space. Most of us wash our own dishes now, but more and more homes have been converting pantries, powder bathrooms, and even back patio spaces (like Caron did), to create the utility space. The one above is technically not a scullery but rather a “flower room” from the Pasadena Showcase House, but functionally speaking, it’s essentially a (beautiful) scullery. Even with its compact size, I’m sure most of us would gladly take this sweet scullery (by Winter McDermott Design) as our main kitchen. The rooms typically have a prep sink, plenty of counter space, and storage for food and large appliances. Anna King & Co. converted a powder bathroom into this light and airy scullery. It may be just wide enough for a single person to work in, but it does the trick. I started this section talking about Studio Laloc’s scullery, and here it is. Compact but functional, it seems to function as an “everything” utility room that just so happens to be so stinkin’ charming. #9: Warm Scandinavian Modern Cabinetry So far, we’ve seen a lot of traditional kitchens, heavy on the English design, but there’s another region making some (quiet luxury) noise in the space. Modern Scandinavian kitchens, particularly with this type of hardware-less drawer and door design seen above by Norm Architects, are everywhere right now. I think they’re an answer to the desire for something clean and contemporary that doesn’t feel sterile and unwelcoming. Of course, Scandinavian design has been synonymous with light, blonde oaks like the wood used in the above kitchen by Nordiska Kök. The drama from the marble veining somehow grounds the modern design. Here is a similar look in a more medium-toned warm wood by A.S.Helsingö, a Finnish company that sells retrofit cabinet fronts for IKEA kitchens. This is another one by A.S.Helsingö but in a parchment color, melding two kitchen trends together in one space. #10: Eat-In Kitchens And finally, in the home stretch of all the beauty shared here today is the last trend: the eat-in kitchen. I grew up with an eat-in kitchen, where we ate all of our meals together as a family (the dining room had a formal table in it but was more a showpiece than an eating space). I’ve noticed an onslaught of kitchen rooms that skipped the coveted island in place of a large table and chairs that seem to have a life beyond the more quaint breakfast nook. It’s rustic, communal and functional, as the table can surely operate as a work and prep surface as well, especially with a marble top like in this kitchen by Parsnip Design. A clever 8-seater table takes pride of place in this compact gallery kitchen that might be short on space but long in style. This Madrid home was featured in Clever. Bigger isn’t always better (or possible), especially in compact Parisian apartments. This one, by Orsini Daventure via Architectural Digest, fits in a small but functional kitchen with plenty of dining space thanks to a comfy banquette. Having an eat-in kitchen is ideal for families who want to be close to each other while doing different things in a more closed-up floor plan. I can imagine my kid hanging out in that booth and table (this one is another by deVol), having a snack, coloring, doing homework (eventually) while someone else cooked. Does an island also accomplish this? Sure, but frankly, I do not like sitting and eating at an island. The best of both worlds here: An island and an eat-in kitchen, by Nordiska Kök. — So much to digest there, I know, but so much good! As I mentioned here and basically every article I’ve ever written, I don’t love a trend for trend’s sake, but I do love seeing beautiful ideas take foot and become more accessible to all of us. Drop your thoughts or any observations in the comments below and let’s chat about it! Until the next time…
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Gretch here, signing on to give you a project update! A few weeks ago we kicked off a new design coaching series and introduced you to our starting line-up (Chrissy & Pete). If this doesn’t ring a bell, hop on over to the intro post where we break it all down. But for a quick memory-jogger, Chrissy and Pete are renovating their builder-grade kitchen, all while juggling a tricky layout, tight budget, tighter timeline, and oh yeah, three kids under three! Since our last post, Chrissy and Pete have officially finalized their layout, purchasing all of their IKEA cabinetry, and have even begun some light demolition to get things rolling. It’s all happening! Many of you shared some great layout suggestions on the last post, and we think you’ll be pleased to see where C+P landed. A few of you also asked for some floor plans of the space to better understand the layout and the vision. So let us deliver! As a refresher, here’s where we last left off with the kitchen: Their biggest concern was the lack of storage space and the need to adjust the dysfunctional layout, considering how the new one should connect with the rest of the open floor plan. And that weird, angled ’90s island? Yeah, it just all needed a refresh. Picture yourself standing where it says “Old Floor Plan”, looking into the kitchen from the dining/living areas (like the shot above). Straight back is a hallway that leads to their garage, with a very small powder bath to the right and a laundry closet to the left. The angled wall opens up to a den, and the hallway next to that loops around the stairs and back over to the living/dining. There’s a small wall across the island with a pantry door to access storage under the stairs. In the new layout, everything is much more streamlined. The main wall of cabinets to the left straightens out, with the bathroom wall bumping out about a foot to sit in line with the short wall across it (adding more space to the tiny powder bath–WIN). The window is replaced and centered on the new sink, and the island is updated to a better shape with more storage and shifted to be more central in the room. The biggest change happens at the old pantry wall, where Chrissy and Pete have decided to put their fridge and oven/microwave, moving the access door to the hallway. On our recent drop-in, we were pleased to see that Pete had already made some demolition headway, removing the pantry door and walling it off to prepare for the incoming cabinetry. While there, Emily also had a chance to help…hold their littlest, Birdie (sound familiar??) while we talked about next steps. With 3 under 3, someone has to hold the baby while someone else holds the hammer–and Em will always volunteer :) Pete also knocked out a new entrance to the pantry space, and Chrissy found an inexpensive place in town that will customize a reclaimed door to fit the new angled opening in the hallway. For now, this will stay as their pantry space, but they have ideas about turning the laundry closet into a more robust pantry zone once they eventually shift the laundry room upstairs (but one remodel at a time). This is their new kitchen taking shape in IKEA’s space planning tool. I added the openings to the garage hallway and den in the back, but hopefully you get the gist! Yes, they’ve purchased all the cabinets, and no, there are no uppers going on the main wall. Changing up our viewing orientation 90 degrees counter-clockwise, here’s the current view of the “main wall” of cabinets. The new cabinets will still cap off where the ceiling height changes as you step into the dining/living areas. The New Kitchen Layout And here’s that new floor plan view, this time with labels! There’s room for all the necessary appliances, plenty of counter space, and the flow just feels SO MUCH better. The Kitchen Island This is the back side and cooktop side of their new island, where Chrissy has also started playing with hardware. As you can see, tons of storage! She is still planning for an overhang on the short end of the island near the garage entrance for a couple of barstools. These are the elevations for the new “main kitchen wall” and what was once the “pantry wall” but is now the “fridge and oven wall”. Again, tons of thoughtfully planned storage and some panel-ready appliances on the main wall. Unfortunately, the panel-ready fridge IKEA sells felt way too small for their family, so they opted for a larger, stainless steel French door model instead. This was part of the reason they wanted to give the fridge/oven space its own wall, so the main wall could stay more of a feature. And here’s that feature wall digitally imagined–Chrissy spent some time mocking up how she envisions this area, complete with floating shelves and some drop-dead gorgeous zellige tile from Ann Sacks. We love it! This isn’t exactly final–the tile may not be within their budget, and the shelves are a bit TBD (two shelves? three? how long? store-bought or custom?). But how awesome is that tile layout? Here, Emily and Chrissy are looking at some samples. Chrissy fell in love with the Pearl Gray Idris Field tile, and is going to try and find a way to make it work. We don’t blame her. It’s awesome. At first, we were a little worried it might feel too dark with the already dark blue IKEA cabinets, but seeing the samples in person changed our minds. The tile is lighter than we were expecting, but still so rich in color, and the finish reflects the light really well. If they can squeeze it out of their budget, it’s going to be so awesome! One thing they did already squeeze out of the budget was this stone. A beautiful quartz slab, “Enigma”. So, countertops? Check. Cabinets? Double check (they’re all on site, and next up after a much larger round of demo). Pete has big tear-down plans to keep the project rolling. We’re excited to check back soon to see how they’re faring. It can be tricky to find “the right time” to demolish such a functional part of your home, especially with three little ones, but they intend to move FAST! And we believe in them! Other design thoughts on the horizon involve hardware, fixtures, and lighting. Chrissy is leaning toward the Archie line from Rejuvenation in polished nickel. She’s also picked out a beautiful sink and faucet from Kohler–the ever-so-functional Riverby and beautiful Edalyn. The lighting is proving to be tricky and expensive. These can lights are just not cutting it, but swapping them for flush mounts will quickly add up. Chrissy is shopping around for better options, but is coming to terms with the lighting not being perfect if it means her tile backsplash could be. And if you’ve been following along since the first post, you’ll know that a dining banquette is still on the table! Pun intended. For now, Chrissy and Pete are really dedicating their attention to the kitchen area first, but still have big banquette plans once phase one is complete. So stay tuned for that and many more fun updates to follow! Personally, I can’t wait to see it all gutted real soon.
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Oh boy, this is fun. I love inserting myself into other people’s problems (usually when asked) so this whole “help someone else design their house” thing is already making my dopamine spike. After sifting through countless submissions (sooo many good ones–thank you to all who applied!), battling weeks of email hacking snafus, and balancing our super stacked schedule, we FINALLY found our match. You can read about this sweet couple here! To refresh your memory Chrissy and Peter, our first participants in the Renovation Coach series, have 3 kids under the age of 3, really good taste, and enough experience with remodeling to not hire a contractor. And yet, like all of us, doing it alone feels daunting and scary (because it simply is the nature of the beast). About The House The house was built in the 90s and has an addition and some awkward angles and finishes for sure. But the neighborhood is great and the lot is HUGE. They want to change a lot about the house – adding a primary bedroom, moving the powder bath, adding a mudroom, moving the washer/dryer upstairs, and redoing the kitchen (maybe more, but that’s what came out of the 2-hour initial session). For our purposes, we are talking kitchen, but it was so good to know what else they were thinking – how long will this string be?? For total visual context of the space before we get into the ins and out of this kitchen, here is a video of the space! (just wait for the ads to play:)) Back To The Kitchen (Pre-Move-In) Here’s how it looked when they first moved in. From the drop ceiling to the weirdly shaped island to the unfortunate, immovable structural elements, the kitchen was not their fantasy – both in function and style. Their biggest complaint has been the lack of storage but truly it all needs updating–countertops, cabinets, appliances, flooring, you name it. The flow is a bit weird overall and they’re open to reimagining the space entirely. Oh, and the cabinets are falling apart. “BUILDER-GRADE” (she shakes her fists at the sky). They’ve already made some killer changes, starting with the floor. They opted for this beautiful wide plank wood flooring, getting rid of the checkerboard, which only enhanced the datedness of the kitchen, but also opened up options. By changing the direction of the wood floors it also really helped to better connect the kitchen to the living areas. Here is what their kitchen looked like the day we stopped by to check it out. As you can see, they are mid-project and have been agonizing over the best solution for this space to keep moving forward. They’ve explored a number of layouts and have yet to land on the right one (her keynote collages look like mine – abundant and messy a la A Beautiful Mind. When we first got there she had a plan and two hours later we totally changed it (for the better, we think). Chrissy’s First Mockup (Pre-Meeting) Christy wanted to extend the size of the kitchen into the space next door (which seemed to be initially intended for a dining room). Desperate for storage and a nice big island for cooking and entertaining, they thought that this could be a good solution. I didn’t, TBH, especially because once you get into the space the biggest issue is two different ceiling levels. The dropped and vaulted ceiling is really the culprit here. Well, actually it’s just a regular 8ft ceiling in the kitchen zone that feels like a dropped ceiling because the rest of the space is vaulted. But this cross section is definitely structural, holding up part of their kids’ room upstairs, so they have to find a way to work with it. There were some other issues, as well that they wanted to address. Speaking of structural, both the wall attached to the stairs and this diagonal corner wall connecting to their current washer/dryer closet, have to stay. In this back area is the entrance from their garage, a tight walk-thru, with laundry on one side (that they want to be moved upstairs) and a teeny tiny powder bath on the other. Ideally, they’d love to find a way to add a mudroom in this area…but one project at a time. My perspective was that all these little moves would end up costing $250k at least and not all of them were worth it. Moving a powder bath 5 feet could cost $25k (could also be less, but you just don’t know) so I advised against it unless they were 100% sure this was their “forever home”. Stepping into the kitchen, this is your main view: a bank of tired cabinets, the sink, the dishwasher, and a view that overlooks the dogs’ potty zone. (Did I mention they have two cute pups?) The whole house actually gets really great light exposure from the many windows in the living room, and Chrissy hasn’t loved looking out into this area. They’ve discussed removing this window entirely (or maybe the one in the dining room) or just shifting it over to make room for their ideal cabinet layout. Regardless, they will put in new windows should they keep them here. Plumbing will likely stay on this back wall to keep costs and complications down. But they want to shift the sink over, swapping it for a bigger/better one, then flanking it with a panel-ready dishwasher and trash drawer. And of course, all of this means new cabinets, countertops, hardware, appliances, etc. Again, here is their last mood board (which is rapidly changing, per the usual design process). Chrissy has great taste and design eye – I loved her mockup. None of these elements are final except for the style/color of the cabinetry. The one thing they know for sure is that they love the AXSTAD blue kitchen cabinets from IKEA. The price is right and the look and color really speak to them. Us too. Initially, she wanted to extend the cabinetry all the way across, into the vaulted ceiling dining area, creating a bar zone and prep area with more storage. But she’s struggled with the right combination of cabinets that will align with that ceiling height jump in a visually pleasing way. Additionally, they are losing the corner cabinets, instead shifting the oven zone in line with the back wall to create more of a galley-style kitchen. In order to make this work and look right, they will need to address this weird wall situation and plan to bump it out to make it flush with the walkway opening. Doing this will also add about a foot of space to the powder bath on the other side (another project they have plans for, but again, one thing at a time!). Another part of Chrissy’s design (and we are definitely aligned here) is to keep the island. Well, this funky island will not be staying, but a new rectangular island will take its place. Again, one of their big issues is having enough storage, so prioritizing extra cabinetry here makes sense. They talked about keeping the stools where they are currently, but Gretchen had the idea to build in the overhang at the end of the island instead, near the garage entrance. Enough room for the kiddos to have a seat on a couple of stools while dad cooks, and plenty of room to stand and gather around the back of the island when entertaining–which they do a lot of–while maximizing storage along the backside. The cooktop would stay here (though at one point in our meeting, we discussed swapping it with the sink but that would likely be too much of a ha$$le). Behind the island is their “pantry”, in quotes because it’s more of a Harry Potter closet than a pantry, positioned in the void under the stairs. In all of Chrissy’s plans, integrating a new pantry cabinet was a staple of her design. If you scroll back up to her mockup, she originally envisioned it next to the paneled fridge, likely coming out past the 8ft ceiling divide. The problem then became making it look right with the vaulted ceiling. Would it come up past the 8ft and intersect with the vault? Or stay the same height? Does IKEA even make cabinets to fit a situation like this? And how would this all shake out measurement-wise? Well, Gretch suggested instead turning the original stair/pantry wall into a grand wall of floor-to-ceiling-pantry cabinets, closing off the existing door, and moving its access to the side hallway with some clever angled doors or drawers. Both Chrissy and Peter perked up at this. Of course, it will all have to make sense dimensionally and could be impacted based on the size of the new island. And it means more projects. But it could be a very cool statement moment and would give the chef something more interesting to stare at than the current situation. With more storage going in the island and the potential for a larger pantry area across it, the initial bar/cabinetry build-out into the living space now becomes less crucial. But the problem still remains. How do you integrate this living area with the kitchen so it feels cohesive and connected? Ending the cabinets in the same place as they are now might keep the kitchen feeling small. But extending it into a wet bar or just more counter space isn’t super functional if they also need this area to hold their dining table. Sure, it’d give them more storage but it’s unlikely they’d actually use it for prep space. Our Solution? So what if instead, it became a built-in dining banquette, flanked with cabinets and shelving? This might feel more visually intentional than closed-off cabinets and could address the ceiling shift in a way that makes sense–to us at least. Remember, Chrissy is not married to this window staying here, so a new window could shift around or it could leave altogether and make room for a matching bookcase to flank either side of the bench (with the window in the middle?). The bench (and the shelves) would provide even more storage, but could also turn this wall into a really beautiful, thoughtful focal point. So that’s where we left them, with plenty of new ideas and potential solutions swirling. The biggest question now is how does this all fit together?? Does that wall really have the right length for a double oven, sink, trash drawer and dishwasher, drawers, panel-ready fridge, open shelving bookcase (that starts at exactly the right spot with the weird ceiling shift), plus a built-in dining bench? How big should the island be? Can a grand pantry wall fit into the mix? Their Homework We were so excited about the layout change, but Chrissy really needed to figure out math-wise if they could fit their appliances AND the cabinets in the same kitchen footprint, utilizing the island for the cooktop and knowing that we’d have more storage in the new pantry and the floor-to-ceiling library cabinet focal moment in the dining room. We can’t really do much until we know that the layout will work within the footprint (we all feel hopeful). They have to do some homework to get all of those answers, so we’ll check back in with them soon. I also tasked them with taking an inventory of their kitchen things, what all they’ll need to store, and mapping it out based on the new proposed design — a practice we swear by! Maybe they’ll find they don’t have so much of a storage issue after all? As I was writing this I realized that this is a LOT to try to understand without you being in the space. If you’ve made it this far you are as invested as we are. With 3 kids under three years old, attempting a kitchen remodel is a doozy (thus me wanting to help). They think they can get it done in under 3 months and I’m loving their enthusiasm. They aren’t hiring a GC and instead are going to hire subcontractors and manage the project themselves, which honestly I think will make it go faster if they are on top of it and certainly could save them some money. They have already started getting bids and making relationships with subs and honestly, we all know that no one can get shit done faster than a mom, so maybe the 3 kids under 3 years will actually prove to be the motivation to drive fast. Regardless, we are along for this ride and hoping to not just be a backseat driver. Next up is seeing the update on the layout with our new plan and then we’ll go shopping for tile and stone (assuming that we are good to use the IKEA kitchen). Since this is the first time we are documenting someone else’s project (and not doing renderings, etc) let us know if you have suggestions on the rollout of this – it’s a lot of information to get so we’ll try to break it down so you can weigh in and also gleam any help for your own project. A huge thanks to Chrissy and Peter for being our guinea pigs:)
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Acouple of months ago we put out the call to find a reader (or apparently two, more on that later) to help coach through a remodel. It was extremely hard to choose the right family/project – I wanted to do all of them. Some were a full house “where do I start – it’s a gut job”, most were solid design challenges where I could feel the overwhelm come through the writing. I’m so sorry we couldn’t interview everyone (and in true Emily fashion I ended up choosing two – just NOT being able to choose). But like hiring a new team member, it really came down to chemistry, the potential for design, compatibility, and frankly our collective excitement level. IF this is a project that I am dedicating my team’s time to (through meetings and content creation, not design work) I wanted us all to really really enjoy it as much as possible. While this is “free” for them (we aren’t being paid by them) EHD isn’t paying for the renovation, so making sure that someone was serious about doing it and genuinely excited to do the work that it would take to do without relying on us was a key factor. After culling through them all it’s clear that there is a big hole in the market – that design coaches or consultants could be a real career for so many people who can’t afford the true luxury of hiring a designer and yet just want someone to help them through it to avoid massive pitfalls and wipe the tears. I know this is part of what The Expert is doing but it’s clear the need is really large. ANYWAY, that’s all to say that I’m excited to introduce to you our first family – Peter and Chrissy (+ their three young kiddos). The application came from Peter on behalf of Chrissy – be prepared for this sweetness. Here is the letter he wrote: “Emily/Gretchen/team! AD Peter Cambor here. So nice to e-meet you and really excited about this post you and the potential of you assisting in our remodel! First of all, I am an actor/writer/director/producer/bit-of-everything that moved up to the Portland area a few years ago with my wife and now 3 kids (was only one kid when we moved in 2021 – we now have 3 kids under 3.. Insanity! But the best kind!) So nice to e-meet you! Okay. Real talk. My wife, Chirssy, is an amazing human being, a full-time mom, a huge fan of your blog, and she has been doing design for, well, forever – She has done small projects for other people, but she mainly does improvements and designs to the house we are living in at any particular time. She sent me your blog post saying how cool she thought this would be, and I am totally on board, and well – I figured I would just apply before she got the chance! We have done a number of projects together on a few different houses that have had incredible transformations, and this house we just moved into has, well, a number of projects to be done (Work in progress, Emily. Work. In. Progress.) Side note: In some strange twist of fate, I have become Chrissy’s handyman/contractor over the last few years. This from man who didn’t own a drill – and now I am not too terrible at the remodel stuff (thanks YouTube!) So we do a lot of projects together. My ability is….let’s say I, too, am a work in progress – but I have learned a ton in the past few years… Basically, our house in needs a lot of work, and Chrissy and I are sort of torn about how/what to do with it. We have been sort of chipping away at it, small project by small project, but the thing we would be bringing to you is our KITCHEN, which is, to put it lightly, a total disaster. It is a full-on 90s nightmare. For reals. It literally keeps Chrissy up at night. There are a lot of interesting challenges with the space, and we have a few game plans in place, but just don’t know which way to go with it. From what you said in your post, this might be a good fit for you and what you are trying to do. We want to do this on a budget (we are pretty savvy – scratch that – CHRISSY is pretty savvy at doing things on a budget – I don’t have hard numbers in front of me but we do have a pathway to doing it around 20K – no joke – and I think we have good options to do it that way. There might be a bunch of different cool angles in which this could work for your format. 1. The Kitchen remodel itself obviously, 2. The fact that Chrissy is sort of looking for mentorship/guidance in design and building confidence 3. ME looking for mentorship guidance in my JV Contracting abilities, 4. The on-camera stuff is totally cool with us and we get it – photo or video – I have done a lot of TV through the years as an actor… I do more behind-the-camera work now. Not sure how much of this is video or blog posts/photos. But all good either way. Chrissy was really excited at the idea of this being something to do as she loves your blog/work – but also I think to build her confidence and sort of get her interior design juices going! She’s been such an amazing mother and gladly immersing herself in being a mom and just hasn’t had the time for the design stuff. But design is her happy place and she’s so good at it( I’m her biggest fan!) Anyway – she sent me this (your blog post) said she was into it, and, well I thought I’d just jump in and apply! … With Gratitude, Pete, Chrissy, Claire, Beau, and Birdie” The effort put in here, the sweetness and enthusiasm were just infectious – while other people might prefer more cut-and-dry applications, getting to the point, etc, I’ve always hired or chosen projects/employees based on my excitement level (remember I’m an enneagram 7). Peter went on to show us the projects they’ve already done themselves – take a look: What this shows is that they can execute a good design, that they understand the work that it might take, and that they appreciate good design. I was so impressed. Doing these projects with small kids means running around means they must love it. One of the things I feared with doing this “coaching” is that since I have no control over the timeline, budget, or design choices what if they don’t ever finish or it takes three years or god forbid our personalities don’t mesh then I’ve launched this thing that you guys get invested in and we don’t ever finish. So seeing what they have done before on their own, gave us hope. So we jumped on a Zoom call and as predicted as so much fun. We found out that Peter is in the entertainment industry (I didn’t google or do any background checks, of course) and like us, they moved up from LA during COVID. So if you recognize him (I didn’t because I haven’t seen his shows but Jess did as soon as she saw the photo of them! Grace and Frankie and NCIS:LA anyone??) know that is NOT why they were chosen. Their application was just extremely compelling, their project was perfect, and our chemistry was immediate. So this is them:) We are so EXCITED and later this week we’ll show you all the ins and outs of their kitchen project. You can get a little sneak peek from the opener photos.
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Over a year ago I threatened to put up cafe curtains in the kitchen. We have a lot of glass windows and in “the great long dark” (i.e. November to March) it just looks like black reflection and doesn’t feel very cozy. But then other priorities got in the way, spring came and I forgot again until this November. So January seemed like the perfect time to tackle it and this time I’d DIY it to save some dough (felt simple enough). This is how our kitchen looks on days when it’s clean, without a lot of styling, so you can get a sense of how it feels. It’s always bright and sunny and during the day you don’t really think about cafe curtains until about 4:30 and then you want them badly. Also, ignore our dirty windows – we didn’t hire someone this winter, but will in the spring – they are FILTHY. As a reminder, this is the rest of the living room (with some slight changes). The Block Print This is how it went down – I chose this block print linen, in a bright white with a green and gray pattern on it. I really liked how it looked and spent hours and hours making the panels. I have a tutorial coming soon (they are no-sew). They look pretty great in this shot. But here’s the deal, when I started putting them up that night, they looked so bright and high contrast and just BUSY. Now this could be because the kitchen was also messy post-dinner, but I did NOT like the vibe (and Brian and the kids agreed). Just too much. Nothing is wrong with these and again in the bright sun I think they are so happy! But it’s like all I could see after the sun went down, against the darkness outside. Sure, if it were a softer cream that might have helped, but during the day the bright white works so well with the bright kitchen. So 7 panels in, I had an epiphany and decided to move the Boro fabric (the vintage indigo plaid) from the other windows in the living room and hang them here instead. I LOVED THEM. Now the issue with these is that there is no way to get 10 panels that match so I had to make sure that the tones worked well together and that they were balanced. Additionally, the panels that we had weren’t exactly the right size so I turned them horizontally and they were a bit short (while others are a bit long TBH), but I think I can still make them work. Pulled back I like them so much more in person (and in the photos, TBH but I’m not sure that opinion will reign supreme). In context to the whole room, shared with the living room, it looks so good. It pulls you over there, but it’s not busy (just blends in with the blue during the day and the “black” of the windows at night). And when they are closed you see the pretty patchwork quilting of the Boro fabric, which I know is not everyone’s cup of tea (one commenter told me to stop “trying to make my ripped rags work” which honestly made me LOL that someone would DM me such a thing – hurt people hurt people!). We used the Rejuvenation unlacquered brass tension rods so that we didn’t have to drill into the tile, and then they sell these pinch clip rings that were tricky to figure out, but once we did were so easy and I love how simple they look. Now don’t look too closely or you’ll see that some of the rods are at different heights and that’s because some of the Boro was just shorter than others, but it’s really hard to detect. Since I generally live in the “interesting is better than perfect” philosophy I don’t care. I’m into this. And before you say that you aren’t sure about this I’d love to style out the kitchen and shoot it with the context of the living room (soon!) We did take one shot with more context and me in it :) I actually love the solid neutral curtains in the living room being simpler now, and it’s inspired me to finally paint the fireplace. The blue cafe curtains just draw you over to the kitchen in such a “me” way and create so much coziness. And you’ll have to trust me that the white was actually busier than the darker blue, which seems nuts! Stay tuned for more photos in the spring of our updated living room (with some surprise products in it :))
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Welcome to our biggest post of the year! That’s right, nearly every year our annual kitchen trend post is the most popular which equally feels like a huge honor and responsibility as the gal that’s been writing them for the last 6 years. As we always say, when it comes to “trends” and more permanent applications in spaces such as a kitchen, we like to caution people because unless you know you’ll love it for 20 years maybe don’t… However, I like to choose and highlight our predictions very thoughtfully. While I’m not saying every person will love every “trend,” we think each one of them has longevity, can spark inspiration, or show a special detail you hadn’t thought of. Some of these trends would likely require a remodel while others are easy swaps if you’re looking for a little kitchen spruce up. So without further ado let’s see what this year is about to have in store for the world of kitchens. Rounded Cabinets I feel probably the most passionate about this one. Actually, I already talked about it in this post last August so you know I mean business. It looks fresh but isn’t too “right now” and I feel has total longevity when done well. Oh, and the style versatility is amazing. Let me show you. Now, if someone had told me that rounded cabinetry is trending without showing me a picture, I would have likely pictured a more modern design like this stunning one by Stefania Reynolds of Studio Johnston. This is actually Stefania’s family home! It’s modern, soft, playful, and just cool. The way those rounded corners bring an effortless contrast to the harder angles is perfection. Another contrast that I love is the glossy sheen of the cabinetry with all the natural wood grain and natural limewash accent walls. It creates such a nice balance stylistically. Also, I know this isn’t about lighting but that oversized sconce in that nook is SO GOOD. This beautiful kitchen by White Studio & Co Interior Design leans much more modern traditional but is softened by the curved corners of the lower cabinetry and island. Doesn’t this just scream “I’m a very special kitchen”? My god is it elegant. This is a perfect detail if you want a very neutral kitchen but also want it to feel like it’s got a little something extra special going on:) I believe this incredible kitchen by Bidgood was the first one last year where I really took note of this trend (or the initial murmurs of a trend). The cabinetry in the range surround is just so special. In this space, the rounded detail feels both modern and retro! Then paired with the sweet light dusty blue and butter yellow paint colors, this kitchen is dripping with charm. Don’t worry, you’ll a few more examples as we get continue through the post:) Integrated “Stand Alone” Cupboards Integrated refrigerators are not new, obviously, but what I’ve been seeing more and more of are cupboard/hutch-like pieces being integrated with the more traditional floor-to-ceiling cabinetry. The majority of these “cupboards” are in fact where a lot of refrigerators are hiding but in that extremely special kitchen above by Nina Farmer Interiors (I just bought her book and have no idea why it took me so long), the fridge looks like it’s in the wood cabinetry on the far left and which leads me to believe the green cupboard is just that, a beautiful integrated Dutch larder cupboard. It’s a standout piece but feels like it belongs. Ugh, I also just noticed that incredible double wood trim around the doorway. Aside from seeing how awesome this kitchen is in general, that sort of detail is why you hire a designer. So so good. This beautiful cupboard-looking piece is most definitely a refrigerator but at first glance, you might assume it’s simply a regular cupboard. I love the sweetness this design brings to a kitchen and for this kitchen by Vaughan Design & Development especially! All the textures, perfectly aged materials, and color palette are amazing. Putting a naked fridge in there (especially a modern one) would have really changed the whole feel of it and I’m so glad they went with this design. It’s not a real kitchen trend post if Sarah Sherman Samuel isn’t included, am I right? Well, here she is with a “cupboard fridge” as well as her DIY beaded cabinet fronts from her Semihandmade collaboration! There are a million things to love about this kitchen (I mean look at those counter edges!!) but this fridge cupboard is a very special feature that really gives added charm to an already very charming kitchen! There were a couple of examples I found with triangle tops instead of the bell shape that I loved too. I just didn’t hear back from the designers in time to get them in this post:) Pop Of “Permanent” Color Ok, so yes. At the beginning of the post, I said we usually caution people from making potentially very bold or super colorful choices with permanent features. On the other hand, if you are a person who loves a bold moment and loves color then this is for you! I am very much in love with this kitchen design by Monika Michałowska. Those soft minty green cabinets (a trend we called last year that I continue to love), the veining stone with a short backsplash, those herringbone wood floors, all soft and stunning. Then boom! That pop of bright red is so exciting. The kitchen would have clearly been so pretty without it but with it, the whole space is taken to another level. This pop of baby blue is a little less bold than the red but just as special and puts a little extra electricity in this wonderful kitchen by a. NABER DESIGN. Baby blue is on fire right now but it’s also a timeless color when done right. I really love this so much. In that August trend post I also talked about zelliege tiles and the cool ways they are being used. Well, a pop of color is a very cool way. I love that instead of this kitchen peninsula being made out of the same wood the cabinetry is, Curio Interior Design decided to go for a rich brick red zellige tile. It’s eye-catching but doesn’t overpower the space and adds an incredible amount of texture. Then with this kitchen by the amazing Rebecca Zajac (the cabinet designer of Bowser’s kitchen), she chose that beautiful green zellige tile as the perfect color pop. It really makes this kitchen look so inviting and extra special. Plus, greens and blues (depending on the tone) are a great choice if you want color but not have it overpower the room. They are neutrals after all;) Reeding Accents Not a brand-new trend but it feels extra on fire right now so let’s dig in! Reeding is another one of those features that can be used for almost any style. Take this wonderful modern luxe kitchen by Charlotte Lucas Design. It adds a refined organic texture that beautifully contrasts the painted modern cabinetry and luxe lighting. In this unreal kitchen by POCO Designs, she not only used reeding on the island but also on the cabinet fronts. It’s simple, elegant, and then with that incredible burgundy marble, it’s a texture design dream! Of course, Sarah is on this list again! I love love how she used wood reeding not only on the body of the island but also on the support post. I don’t have much more to say aside from that it’s beautiful, the texture (like all the others) makes my eyes extremely happy, and the wood tone is perfect. In a bit of a twist for the last example, I’m looking at this tile! I’ve had my eye on this style of tile for a minute so I’m really hoping this is the year it’ll so more mainstream. I mean it’s so good and it has that reeded look! Colorful Window Trim If you are thinking, “Hey Jess, wasn’t this a trend you called in 2020?” Well yes, yes I did. So while we all know what that year was, it was also 5 years ago and baby the window trims are getting a fresh coat of colorful paint. This wildly beautiful kitchen by Bright Designlab perfectly shows the organic modern MCM style and those painted window trims and beams bring the whole space together. It’s a small detail that makes a huge, wonderful difference. The painted green trim on these kitchen windows by Anna Haines Designs is equally as wonderful as the first! The personality it adds is so wonderful. I also really love that they chose the warmer color on the lower cabinetry and then went for a lighter, cooler shade for the windows which makes the room feel a little more open and taller if that makes sense. Now this pop of bright blue is so fun and adds just the right amount of whimsy to this beautiful kitchen by Sophie Rowell (also look at those knobs!). I wholeheartedly stand by this trend because it’s a beautiful and fairly simple way to make a huge visual impact. Dark Beige This could be the new “white kitchen” and I’m not mad about it. I mean when you have a kitchen like the one Tali Roth designed above, wouldn’t you want the same? It is neutral but it feels cozier than a traditional white. Now there’s nothing wrong with white but having some other neutral option is very nice.
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This is a real Deja Vu post for a lot of you. YES, last year at this time I did a post about how I want cafe curtains in my kitchen and then did nothing about it. You see I really only want/need them during the winter when it’s so dark outside and at the time I didn’t have the time to think/shop for the right patterned fabric. But the longer we live here the more I really really want to have these curtains AND add pleated fabric patterned shades on all our sconces (stay tuned on that one). And I finally realized the type of fabric I wanted was a small print on a relatively thin fabric and I couldn’t find this in store at all. So I started shopping for block print fabrics, mostly from India since that’s where the artisans typically specialize in this. They all sell via Etsy so I started ordering sample after sample. But the problem with these is that there are thousands to choose from AND you can select what type of fabric you want – i.e. cotton, pure white linen, off-white linen, thick linen, Duck fabric, etc. And each color of “stamp’ on the fabric looks different depending on the base fabric. So therefore this has taken forever (months) to order all the options I want. A lot of the samples had to be made and many only came in as small as a yard. So many of them I love up close, but then as you stand back in the back of the living room they don’t read as well (either too dark or too polka dotty). I also don’t want them to be too thick as they need to give off that airy casual vibe (not a forma creased pleating – I’m not opposed to pleating, but I don’t want thick fabric and pleating look for this space). I wanted to bring in some warmer tones since the island has a lot of red/purple in it and it’s definitely my “accent” color. But I also don’t want it to be too jarring as when you look at the space as a whole (kitchen, living, nook, entry) a more cohesive color palette will, I think, be more calming and harmonize better. I also can NOT decide between a more white background or the flaxier fabric. The white is fresh and the color pops off of it nicely, but the flax looks good with the wood and is certainly more warm. At one point (the day we were shooting this) we narrowed it down to these two fabrics, but when we hung them up neither felt right. From a distance, the one on the left was so dark (when you are in the kitchen it’s so cozy) and while I love that burgundy floral one it actually looks a little stripey with the repeat from a distance and I think I want something that is more fluid to offset the rectangles of the windows and the tile. So where I’ve landed right now is we all (including Brian and the kids) love this blue-green floral pattern, where the flowers are staggered (not in a line). But I can NOT decide between a brighter white fabric (looks so good with the walls and pops against the windows in a happy way) or the natural linen (warm and more casual, but will it look just dingy?). Sadly, I don’t have a professional shot to show you – I ordered the bright white sample after we shot this, but here is an iPhone shot of it. I fear that I’m drawn to the white more because I like crisp colors, but is it too high contrast? Anyway, I SWEAR I’m on it this time. I love so many of these and I’m unsure if I’m going to DIY this or hire out. And I’m happy to say I think one of these will also be our pleated lampshade fabric (which we are going to DIY here since they are going to cost $115 EACH to do – and I have 9 of them, so…) A fun process post for you today:) The holidays are nuts and even I get sick of looking at holiday stuff all December, so I hope you love a quick design update post :)
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Now that we are just beyond the first half of the year, we thought a little mid-year kitchen trend check-up was in order. In case you missed our big kitchen trend prediction post back in January, you can check that one out here. I still feel very strongly about those predictions but adding in a few more, now that we are halfway through month eight, also sounds pretty freaking fun. So whether you are renovating, just dreaming, or simply a design lover, here are four more kitchen trends we’ve seen pop up on our feeds in a big way recently. Hinges Are NOT Hiding Anymore This one came straight from the top! Emily Henderson herself asked if we had noticed that exposed hinges were coming back. I’m going to be 100% honest that sweet little detail hadn’t popped out at me until I went back through our saved folders (we have access to Emily’s too and I LOVE looking through it). She is 100% right. If you look at the majority of newly renovated kitchens from the past handful of years you aren’t going to see exposed hinges. That’s even in traditional-style kitchens. And I get it. If you have a ton of cabinets, all of those hinges may add an unnecessary amount of visual chaos. But given we are in the era of kitchen drawers being used in the lowers for things like plates, which traditionally were put in cabinets, maybe a handful of exposed hinges could simply add some charm? Let’s check it out. Here are two traditional-style kitchens (swipe to the fourth photo on the right Instagram post for a better view) that totally embraced exposed hinges. Peep that even the dishwasher in the right kitchen has them on the bottom. It’s sweet, nostalgic, and really hones in on the charm of a traditional style. AD But maybe you just want to dabble in the exposed hinge game so choosing to only expose them on a more stand-alone counter piece is a great option. Wanna know what’s extra special about this kitchen? The owner of the company that made Emily’s INCREDIBLE white oak kitchen cabinets, Unique Kitchens and Baths, is the owner of this stunning kitchen. Here are two more traditional-style kitchens that are very playful in terms of color and have exposed hinges. I like that the ones in the left kitchen are a little modern but work equally as well as the classic ones in the right kitchen. Mix it up! I really just wanted to add in this kitchen by Kit Kemp Design Studio because it was so joyful and not the kind of kitchen you see every day (just a perk that it had exposed hinges too:)). Then these two kitchens are just examples that you have options when it comes to exposed hinge styles! You can go for an extra sweet cottage look like the ones on the left or go for a very simple tiny hinge like the modern brass ones on the right. I think this is a great trend (or a throwback style to years before) that you can easily include in your cabinet design. Or if you already have exposed hinges maybe this will inspire you to refresh yours! Only if you’ve been wanting to though. I need to soak mine to get the decades of paint off of them:) Kitchen Cabinets Have Gone Curvy This was one that I brought up because when I saw these two photos independent of each other I thought, “Something is happening here.” I LOVE seeing these curved cabinets in spaces that lean a little more traditional. We’ve seen them in the modern kitchen world but when you add in details like those cabinet cubbies in the blue kitchen, my traditional kitchen heart is SMITTEN. These rounded edges are also great for an island. But let’s be clear that this isn’t the pill-shaped islands we’ve seen over the past few years. Those are great too. Instead, think of these curves as softened right angles. Like taking a pair of scissors and gently rounding the corners of a piece of paper. I know that ultimately this is an expensive detail that most people won’t be able to do (me included) but man do I love to look at it and think it’s so inspiring! Stovetop Backsplashes Are Really Taking Shape This is another trend that isn’t new to the kitchen design scene but has been popping up more than usual. I completely love this choice and am so happy to see it revving up. Plus as you can see between these two photos, you can find the right shape for any style! I don’t know how much extra it costs to choose a more detailed shape if you are already having your countertop stone fabricated but I really think it’s worth looking into. If it’s within your budget, it’s a slam dunk in making your space feel that much more special and custom to you. Even this simple little marble arch behind this stovetop is so sweet and adds a ton more personality to the kitchen. With this example, I wanted to show that it doesn’t matter the style of your kitchen. Whether it’s modern, traditional, eclectic, etc, there’s a shape that will work for you! Zelliege Is Back In The Spotlight I had to slack Caitlin, “Do you feel like Zellige is having a kitchen resurgence or never really went anywhere? I can’t tell why it’s popping out to me right now” to which she responded, “I feel like I didn’t really clock it in many kitchens over the last few years?” Curious, right? I think a part of it is that the tiles are exclusively the 4×4 square size and are being used in ways that feel a bit more fresh. That’s what it feels like at least. Ha. Come see what I’m talking about. What a fun application! Just a little side island moment that adds another layer of texture. I love this detail even if it was designed for a showhouse. Actually, I think that these tiles being used in a showhouse only proves that they are very much on trend:) Now, I’m pretty obsessed when tiles are used to accentuate an accent wall. It’s a large yet quiet statement that again makes this kitchen feel so intentionally designed. They took what could have been a simple white wall and gave it life with those textured square tiles. 100/10. I’m sure most of us get a little overwhelmed at the idea of a colorful kitchen (just me?). But if you take a color, put it on a simple square tile that’s handmade (thus perfectly imperfect) then all of a sudden it looks and feels more approachable. I love that in this kitchen they decided to go tonal with the tiles and cabinets thus dialing down the contrast and visual intensity. Your eye knows where to go and can take in all of the special moments. Well, there you go! These are trends we honestly love and see no reason why they won’t be sticking around. What do you think? Any others that you’ve clocked? Let’s chat! Love you, mean it.
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Ican’t believe it’s been a year and a half since I last talked to you about my kitchen! Honestly, what is time anymore? 2020 feels both like it was 30 seconds ago and that it was 30 years ago. I’m pretty sure this is the longest design project I’ve ever worked on. Four. Full. Years. But it’s done and I could not be more relieved/excited/happy! The kitchen as it looks today has lived in my head since the moment I first toured the house, almost exactly four years ago (August 2020). I was EXTREMELY lucky in that Londo Lodge was the first house I ever looked at, the first house I ever put an offer on, and the first house I was lucky enough to snag. And the kitchen was really what sold me on the house. The space was large, dated but well-designed, and located at the center of the house. It was obvious from the home’s layout that the family who built this home really saw themselves as kitchen gatherers – my type of people (unless I’m in there trying to cook, in which case, GET OUT!). The layout of the room was really nice. It was spacious, grand, and filled with practical storage. Too much storage, to be honest (which is why I knocked out a wall of upper cabinets in favor of more windows looking out onto the forest). So why did I change it? Mostly because the kitchen as it was doesn’t go with the style overlay I have planned for the house. The home is pretty much a 90s contemporary box – very simple, efficiently built, but not a lot of artistry, no millwork or details anywhere. I really want this house to feel more like the little cabin in Yosemite where I was raised, which was a 1929 craftsman bungalow. So my goal is to combine Craftsman and Cape Cod elements with some rustic cabin accents to create a home that feels older, more historic, and overall just more romantic. The old kitchen didn’t really go with that vibe. So from the moment I saw it I had an idea in mind for what I wanted to do. Now, before I get into what I did to transform the kitchen, I want to show you what I did to make it work as-is for the first three years I owned the home. I’m extremely lucky I got to do this renovation and would not have been able to afford it without getting a ton of it sponsored. So I get that a huge renovation like this is not a possibility for everyone. As you can see from the photos, styling can make a HUGE difference to how a space feels. So for those of you out there who aren’t in a position to take on a renovation, just know that there’s a ton you can do by removing dated accessories and adding in objects that update the space. The updates I made midway are probably a full blog post to themselves, but I wanted to share these images to encourage those of you out there (most people, including me if I weren’t a content creator who could attract sponsors) who can’t afford to gut their homes – creativity and a little elbow grease goes a long way! Oh, and for the record because I get this comment every time I post about my old kitchen, the thing on the ceiling is NOT a skylight. It’s a terrible, depressing 90s fluorescent light. So no, I did not remove a skylight to build my new kitchen. I actually tried to add one but I couldn’t find a sponsor for that (maybe someday when I redo the roof!). Okay, onto what I did! Like a lot of people, I’ve had a thing for Nancy Meyers kitchens for a long time. I love that they are cozy and aspirational at the same time. The goal with this house is to build my dream home, so I definitely wanted the kitchen to feel grand and high-end without feeling pretentious. This is a “cabin” after all, it should feel cozy and down to earth. The goal with renovations at this house is to do them well and do them once, so I decided to go very classic and traditional with my design – I definitely didn’t want to do a trendy kitchen that I needed to renovate in five years. Or even ten years. I want this to last a long time. The first sponsor that came on board to help with the kitchen was Bertazzoni. I have worked with them numerous times and I love their appliances so I was elated to have their pieces in my home. I decided to base the color palette of the room on the range, Bertazzoni’s Heritage Range (Color: Avorio). I color matched the range with Timeless by Clare Paint to make the range feel integrated with the cabinetry. But I didn’t want the room to be completely devoid of color, so I brought in a faint gray/green/blue in the tile (backsplash is Chain Homme in Mist by Fireclay). Something that’s a little hard to tell from the photos is how warm the room is. Timeless and Avorio are basically a “bone” color. Not bright white, more muted and warm. The inspiration for the backsplash color was the pretty pine trees outside, some of which have really beautiful silvery accents at the tips of the needles (these are called “Silver Tips”). I wanted the kitchen to feel neutral and relaxing but not boring and this color really did the trick. I also added that color on the ceiling, using Clare Paint’s “Rain Check.” The refrigeration wall is one of my favorite elements in the room. I knew from the get-go I wanted to move the refrigerator and I wanted the whole wall to feel like cabinetry, so I opted for Bertazzoni’s panel-ready columns. I trimmed them out to look like a big armoire and I really love the result. To match the range, I added large-scale Bertazzoni Heritage Handles to the refrigeration wall (which includes 24” Freezer, Wine Fridge, and Refrigerator from left to right). To keep the refrigeration wall flush I installed a large custom-built china hutch at the same depth. I love the way the whole thing looks and this is one of my favorite vignettes in the room. One thing I may change eventually is the cabinet depth. While it’s great to have the 24” depth to maximize storage, shelving this deep can be a bit impractical because it’s hard to reach all the way to the back to grab things. So I may eventually add a false wall to the back of these cabinets to make them shallower. Or I may leave them the same. They’re a bit hard to style but the depth actually serves a very practical purpose when it comes to renting my house out on Airbnb. Originally, I’d planned on having these cabinets lock, filled with pretty dishes and my favorite pottery pieces. But that ended up being out of my budget, so what I’ve done with styling is put all the most delicate things in the hardest-to-reach spots. I’m hoping this deters people from using and breaking my favorite stuff while allowing me to have the hutch styled the way I want. So far it’s worked but when you rent your house out to strangers you kind of have to be ready for them to break stuff so I’m just considering that a cost of doing business. I’d love to share all my beautiful dishware with the world, but judging by the fact that guests have already broken/damaged a decent number of things I think you kind of have to assume people are not going to be gentle with your stuff and act accordingly. I want to be generous and share but I also don’t want to be furious when people aren’t careful with things I love. It’s all about balance! Another one of my favorite details is the beautiful antique painting I installed on the side of the china hutch. I did this because I don’t love looking at the side of a cabinet and wanted to do something intentional to make the spot a focal point rather than an eyesore. I found the art on Etsy and it was definitely a splurge. It cost $500 and that expense came at a time where I was REALLY running out of money for the project. I’ll do a budget breakdown at some point, either here or in my newsletter, but the overall budget for this kitchen was over $200K (I haven’t finished the tally yet), I put in a bit more than $100K, so I am definitely still digging myself out of a financial hole. Why did I spend $500 I didn’t have on art? Because I knew it would totally define the space. Not only was it in my minty color palette, it speaks to the majestic pines outside the windows. I’m still broke from doing this, but I don’t regret buying the painting at all. I built a frame for it out of scrap wood from a wood flooring project, installed it on the side of the cabinet, and added an art light. The painting was made in 1923 by Sano Gofu, a Japanese artist born in 1883 and while it is one of a kind, you can find similar works on the Sakura Antiques Etsy shop. For some reason, it felt a little awkward to just have a painting over drawers, so I decided to disguise the top drawer as an art ledge, which I think really helps ground the painting and make it look like it belongs there. There’s also the added benefit that it feels sort of like the drawer is a secret because it has no hardware on it. And I love any sort of playful hidden design elements like this (someday I want a secret bookcase door). Another favorite corner is the coffee cabinet. I added this cabinet for a few reasons. Firstly, I wanted the three windows to be centered on the sink and there were two extra feet of room on the left. Second, I wanted a place to hide the coffee maker because for as large as this kitchen is, there isn’t a ton of counter space that lends itself to appliances. There’s a huge amount of counter space, but almost all of it is in front of a window or part of an island/peninsula (which would be a weird place to put an appliance). I also loved the idea of a cute little coffee station. Because the look I was going for was historic and traditional (and because I hate looking at them) I decided to do my classic trick of putting the microwave in a cabinet. This is such an easy design hack, I’ve done it in most of the kitchens I’ve ever designed. If an appliance isn’t decorative and pretty like the range, I don’t want to look at it! There’s so many white/cool tones in the room, so I wanted the island to be a wood finish. I looked into all sorts of ready-made options that were way too expensive but ended up hiring Justin Swaby, the carpenter contractor from my HGTV show “Build Me Up” (and longtime friend) to build a custom island. I designed the island using Sketchup and we made a lot of last-minute changes on-site to elevate it and save money on lumber. For example, I’d originally wanted 4” solid white oak legs, but we ended up doing poplar instead because it was cheaper. And instead of doing solid legs, we fused four planks together. The wood is currently a little green but will desaturate overtime to a more neutral color. Overall, I really like the way the island came out and it means a lot to me that a longtime friend and collaborator made it for me. Justin also jumped in at the last minute to finish up what the original contractor left unfinished (that’s a story for another day but the original contractor ended up abandoning the job, leaving me to finish it alone for six months until Justin came up to help and get it done). One thing I’m on the fence about is the island styling. Part of me thinks it’s a bit busy. And another part of me thinks it gives the type of “real” that makes Nancy Meyers’ kitchens feel really cozy. If you look at the kitchens in her movies, there’s a LOT going on in the backgrounds. For example, Google the kitchen from “It’s Complicated.” There’s stuff EVERYWHERE. So I’m hoping my island gives a little bit of that “Hey, a person lives a full life here and uses this stuff!” comfort we get looking at kitchens in Nancy Meyers movies. By the time I got to the window treatments, I’d fully run out of cash. So I asked my mom to help me make a DIY “camp shade” for each of the windows and doors. I actually had these all over the house before I got my glamorous Romans and drapes from Everhem (highly recommended btw I love them). These roller shades are not the easiest to use – you have to roll them up by hand and then tie them back with the straps up top. But because of where this room is, I actually don’t close them at night. They’re mostly for if I leave for long periods and I want to close up the house for insulation. I’ll do a how-to on these soon, they’re pretty easy to make if you have a sewing machine (or a mom who does). And I think they make a great temporary (or permanent depending on how high/accessible the window is) window treatment that looks a lot more chic than those paper blinds people normally use as a stopgap. These windows cost about $20 a piece to cover which is a lot more affordable than custom Romans, which would be around $1500 per window (if you read this blog I’m sure you know by now custom window treatments are not cheap). One thing that makes me laugh when I look at the photos of this room is how many lights I put in. In person, you don’t question it at all, it just seems really luxe that there’s all these beautiful fixtures everywhere. In photos though it can look a little busy. I decided when I bought this house that I didn’t want recessed lights anywhere. Controversial opinion: I’m over recessed lights. I think in most cases they are installed in unattractive patterns and the light they provide is very top-down and unflattering. I’d much prefer an attractive small flush mount to a recessed light. But I did want to make sure there was adequate lighting for food prep, so I installed six sconces, eight ceiling pendants, and one cute flush mount. I’m happy with the results as much as I know it looks like I went wild at the lighting store. Honestly, there are about a million tangents I could go on about this kitchen: Why is there a new door? What happened to my pizza oven/fireplace idea? How did I make the beam that divides the two rooms? Why do I hate recessed lights, who hurt me? Who did all the custom millwork on the sides of the cabinets (me)? Why didn’t I put quartz on the island? Why is that wine fridge so huge? What happened to the contractor? How’d a kitchen cost that much money when so much of it was sponsored? What am I regretting already? And so on. But I think I’ll have to come back another day to explore those (or like I said, perhaps explore them in my newsletter, which you should totally read by the way) because, remember, this was a four-year project and there are literally too many stories to fit into one post without your eyes glazing over as you slowly start to question why you let yourself get sucked into this never-ending rant. I guess the sentiment I’d like to leave you with is this. I’m very lucky to have gotten to do this project. But I also had to scrimp and save for four years and am currently broke from doing it. It also doesn’t match the rest of my house. Over time, I plan to swap out all the windows and doors to match the new, traditional ones I put in the kitchen, but that will likely take me years to do as I save up and replace them one by one. So you might walk into my house and be like “Wait why is this kitchen a 1929 traditional kitchen and the adjoining room is updated 90s contemporary?” And you’d have a point. Updating your home is messy and can sometimes lead to things feeling disjointed while you save to do the next project. Most people can’t just do everything at once, if they get to do it at all. And my opinion about all that is that I’d rather save up and spend a lot on something I consider permanent than do something cheaper that won’t age as well. I said no to a few potential cabinet sponsors because I wanted cabinets I could paint by hand. I wanted the texture of the brush strokes and the ability to change them whenever I wanted (and to touch them up given this kitchen is getting a lot of use). Home makeovers often look a lot different than what we see online. Which can sometimes be frustrating to people at home because it makes them feel like their projects are taking forever while everyone else’s are flying by. If I’m honest, I would have loved it if I could have afforded to do this renovation sooner. And I would have loved it if the renovation itself hadn’t taken a full year, which drove me further into debt because all those months of construction meant I couldn’t rent the house out to help pay for the renovations. Real talk, one of the reasons this project took so long is I kept running out of money. I’d have to stop and wait to save up then start again. And I think this is true for a lot of people. So if you’re stuck in the middle of a four-year (or more, I’ve heard stories!) renovation you’re not alone. At the end of the day having the agency to renovate is a privilege in itself, which is something I tried to remind myself of every time I got frustrated and sick of the project. The length, complexity, and challenges of this project led to an epiphany for me about the type of content I personally share online and on Instagram. Basically, it’s the job of content creators to make things look fun and enjoyable. We love the type of video where a person walks into a room and snaps and the whole thing transforms. But as fun as all that is to watch, it can become a disservice in that it makes things look a lot easier than they really are. This renovation made me realize that I’d actually bought into the “this is quick and easy!” I’d personally been responsible for promoting. And that has made me a bit more thoughtful about how I present this type of design project online. I want people to have fun and enjoy watching the process, but I don’t want to add to the frustrations people may be having about A. Not being able to afford a renovation in the first place or B. How long their renovation is taking. It’s a hard balance to find as a content creator so I’m trying to find the middle ground between misrepresenting the ease of this type of renovation and being a drag to readers because I am too explicit about the hurdles I had to overcome to get the job done. Overall, I think the kitchen project has helped me be a bit more honest about the hiccups and setbacks that can happen in a renovation like this. I hope that brings comfort to people dealing with the same logistical and financial worries I’ve been struggling with since the start of the pandemic (I know WOMP WOMP we don’t wanna hear that word anymore, but so many people are still struggling). All that being said, I could not be happier this project is over. I’m actually at the house today working on a few maintenance projects to keep it fresh for my Airbnb guests (installing a new TV, yard work, planning a bedroom makeover, deep cleaning the deck furniture, and so on). I’m glad I have this glamorous Nancy Meyers kitchen now. And I’m even more glad the four years of planning stress and one full year of manual labor that led to it is finally over. Now, a shameless plug! Would you like to come to my house and use my new fancy kitchen? You can rent it on Airbnb! There are limited slots available for summer but fall is more open as I’ve just released those dates and that is a lovely time to visit Yosemite. Come on over and live your Nancy Meyers dreams!
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I’m sitting across my half-baked, honey oak rental kitchen, staring it down from the couch as my left foot rests, iced and elevated. The Bear is streaming on the massive TV I’ve placed on a bench and pushed up against the back of my kitchen island. I tune out the show, opting instead to question this abandoned project and my sanity. About two weeks ago, I took off camping to celebrate a best friend’s birthday and came back a changed woman. But not for the better. The trip started out wonderful—a carefree vacation with close friends, overlooking a beautiful body of water. Paddleboarding all day with dinner by the fire, friends piled onto inner tubes we’d been using as couches, laughing all night long. But the next day, the birthday girl cracks her phone and doubles down by accidentally dropping it in the water, rendering it useless. At dusk AND dawn, the bugs descend on our camp, literally thousands, eating us alive. Chiggers. Mosquitoes. We all become more bug bite than skin. The red cherry on top is a sunburn that graces my cheeks with a swimsuit line so sharp it could cut wood (pun intended and you’ll soon see why). The good times are fading fast as frustration and discomfort set in, but we do our best to present a united, positive front. And with one swift chop I shut that down immediately. A swing and a miss with the axe I was using to prep wood for our evening fire instead comes down hard on my foot. I’m bleeding profusely because the only protection I have are my Birkenstocks over bare skin. Miraculously, the top strap stops me from removing any digits but a fresh gash presents itself in the negative space between. I’m rushed to St. Charles emergency room, a cool 45 minutes away, looking through tears at my foot sitting up on the dash, watching as the Coors light shirt wrapped around my wound changes color. From a dirt-encrusted white to a deep, tie-dyed red (DIY coming soon! All natural pigment!). A panic attack and nine stitches later…I am, essentially, fine. But what does this have to do with my kitchen? And why did I just write three paragraphs about a foot injury on a design blog? Well, I write like I talk—a lot. Plus I want you to feel sorry for me. But before this all went down, my kitchen design plan was scheduled to go up last week. Meaning before I left for the trip, I needed to start putting said plan into action, taking ideas from my head and my Amazon cart over to the room itself. And so I did. I intended to come back and have last week to finish up the project while Em was out on vacation. But life had other plans and I instead spent that week in Bend, OR recovering. And now this half-done kitchen is laughing at me and my bum foot as I figure out what to share with you all. You see, my kitchen is dated, comprised of warm-toned wood cabinets, dramatic boob lights, and ornate, silver drawer pulls. A makeover was inevitable, but I’m fairly new to the place and still too timid to ask if I can just paint over their delicious honey oak cabinet exterior since my design limitations are locked into a lease agreement. But thankfully, from the words of Zoolander’s Hansel (and more recently EHD), wall-to-wall wood is “so hot right now”, so I’ve decided to lean in. For me, this looks like covering the kitchen walls in matching wood-printed, renter-friendly contact paper (maybe eventually swapping it for the real deal if I can convince myself and my landlord that the “wood paneled” look serves). Doing this should, in theory, elongate the cabinets hindered by a drop ceiling and give me the slightly more 70s look I crave anyway. Plus, Lone Fox has me dreaming of a wood-drenched space of my own ever since he paneled the pass-thru space between his bedroom and bathroom. It got me thinking that maybe, just maybe, an all-over honey-glow wouldn’t be so bad. It might even be…cool? So I went forth and covered a portion of my kitchen in this nearly identical wood contact paper from Amazon—a really inexpensive way for me to test drive the look. It was so easy to apply (when I had two working feet) and I can 100% remove it with ease. I finished covering most of the walls above the cabinets before I ran out of contact paper and time. I took it just a touch above the crown moulding and a little bit past the wood of the cabinetry so I could swoop back around later with an x-acto knife and give it a trim. That “later” part has yet to happen. To really lean into the monochrome vibe, I ordered these beautiful wooden cabinet pulls from Etsy. Swapping cabinet hardware is usually the easiest, fastest, and most inexpensive way to give your kitchen a refresh when you don’t have a lot of free will with permanent design choices like me. For now, I’m storing the old pulls until move out and going back to staring at these wooden ones until my head spins. I love them, on their own, but I’m not fully convinced about them installed. The cabinet pilot holes were a little janky to begin with and their crookedness kind of stands out to me. The color match isn’t as close as I’d like either, but I’m also not sure I hate the way it looks since it does provide a bit of dimension. I might attempt a stain on the pulls to see what that does for my staring problem. But we shall see. Another easy swap would be the lighting. And as you can see here, I have not one but TWO ridiculous boob lights. A perfectly perky, bedazzled RACK. These simply have to go. I could swap the fixtures for a new pair—and I might eventually—but this first round of design is all about even easier moves, like contact paper and drawer pulls. I’ve had my eye on these Tulip light covers for a while and I’m really hoping to try them out in the space. They look pretty great in my mockup and I love their temporary status. Something about the fabric and the grid pattern on the Gem style really sings with the tile backsplash. Plus I like how they add a bit of softness to the space. I’m curious how easy they are to install, but from what I’ve seen online, it looks pretty simple! But easy and simple are only fun for so long, and this wouldn’t be a project of mine if I didn’t choose to sprinkle in something semi-complicated. My kitchen is connected to my living space and while I love an open concept I’m very much about “zoning” different areas and their functions and it’s been tricky to do that in here. My place has front and back entrances with large windows, providing minimal wall space on either end. A terrible, singular ceiling fan sits overhead the intended dining area just to the right of the kitchen. Smack dab in the living area is my kitchen island, anchored to a support beam. There’s a spot for a couple of barstools on the backside of the island, but with the addition of a small dining table, the area just feels too cramped and obstructs the path to my balcony. Also, just doing barstools won’t leave me with enough seating and I want to be able to sit across from my people. When I moved in, I placed my large sofa against the front window wall, setting my TV along the wall to the right of it. The above is just bad Photoshop, but you get the idea. Not my favorite layout because it’s really not as comfortable to have a movie night with friends this way, cranking your neck to see the screen. But there’s not enough space for the couch to face it unless it becomes one with the island and inevitably disrupts the flow of the room. So I had a “project thought,” which is a sign that mild construction is on the way. To test it out, I rearranged and have been experiencing a half-done living room for some time now, to see if my plan is worth the follow-through. Basically, I swapped the dining zone with my couching zone, moving the sofa from the front window to the long wall across from the kitchen island. Now the tv sits on a low bench, butted up against the island. It looks so stupid and huge, BUT I am enjoying the new layout spatially and I think I’ll go through with said “project” in hopes that I can turn it into a cool focal point, full of intention and intrigue. Maybe it ends up looking stupid too, but I won’t know unless I try! The Project: I’m aiming to build a (renter-friendly) half wall against the back of the island to serve as the TV wall. It would align with the annoying support beam and wrap around to form an L, stopping instead of returning along the other side of the island. I’d of course need to upgrade to a Frame TV and size WAY down from my current, especially because the couch sits pretty close, so no need for a huge screen. The wall would be constructed in a way that would be sturdy but impermanent. It would match the rest of the newly saturated honey oak kitchen (integrating seamlessly in my mind). Rising maybe 18” or so from the counter, it could serve as a visual separation between kitchen and living room, but more than that it would give me extra elbow room over in “wooden wonderland”. Throw in a half wall and suddenly the island transforms into super-deep counter space. I can store my coffee maker and cookbooks up against the new wooden backsplash in the kitchen, leaving me plenty of counter space, with unsightly cords and pages totally hidden from view on the other side. Now, this will definitely require some power tools (and probably supervision knowing my track record), but I think I can make it happen after I’m wholly healed in the foot department. I ordered another roll of contact paper and plan on seeing the rest through, taking the “wood” all the way across the back wall, outlining the balcony doors and over and around the support beam. For now, the boob lights continue to haunt me and I’m hoping the right answer on these new pulls comes to me in a dream or something. I’m excited to get the ball rolling and see what else is revealed to me as I go. I can’t guarantee that my ideas will work or that they’ll stick around by the time I post a “kitchen reveal”. But for now, this is where my creative brain is marinating while I wait for the feeling in my foot to return and The Bear to come back from commercial. Stay tuned! Sincerely, Gretch
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