Before & After: Farmhouse Transitional Kitchen

This kitchen surprised me.  Some kitchens you just know are going to be an amazing transformation.  Anytime you add a window, open up a wall or a ceiling, there’s going to be a “Wow.”  For this space, we didn’t need to knock a wall down – it’s big eat-in kitchen already.  The clients didn’t really need or want to add windows and it’s a two story home, so raising the ceiling wasn’t an option.  Another thing about this kitchen to note is that we left the major appliances pretty much where they were originally. Usually I end up moving things around to help with efficiency, but the clients were happy with the original layout and there’s no reason to move major appliances if it works for you!

This was a cosmetic upgrade and while I love a kitchen update, I didn’t expect this one to be as charming and as dramatic a transformation as it turned out to be.  If you’re feeling like whatever you do, you’re still stuck with the same old layout and architecture – remember the power of new cabinets and new materials.  This is The Transitional Kitchen that Could.

There was absolutely nothing in the dropped soffit above the cabinets so we took the cabinets all the way up to the 8′ ceiling.   Sometimes you get lucky and stumble across a soffit from the 80’s or 90’s with absolutely nothing in it.  It’s not common though – so if you have a soffit you hate, take a peek inside and see what’s there before planning on it going away.

We added beadboard to the ceiling to help give the room a little more character and the contractor made decorative beams for us from reclaimed wood we found at Barns 2 Home.  I felt like the beams were also really important to add character, age and texture to the room.  The floors are white oak with a clear finish.

The husband is a geologist and natural stone is important to him.  There are quite a few geologists working out in Colorado and I learned early on that you can’t sell engineered stone to them!  We had a lot of fun visiting stone yards in the area to find the perfect slab.  This is Alpine White and there are sections of pure quartz in this that you can see all the way through.  We had the electrician put a slim LED light mat under the island countertop and, when you turn it on, parts of the stone glow.

This really is a big kitchen – lots of cabinets and counter space.  I love what the beadboard and the beams do for this space.

We put all new cabinets and finishes in this room.  We used leftover stone from the kitchen for the countertops.  The floor tile is Arizona Tile’s Cementine Retro and the splash is their gray subway tile.  We added beadboard with little brass knobs to the side wall to give it a little character.

“No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, and the wisdom of cookbook writers.” Laurie Colwin