It has come time to start the design process of the KITCHEN! This is one of the most anticipated rooms in the home and the central hub where everything stems from. Jenn and I have been going back and forth on so many design elements inside the kitchen. The one thing she told me from the start of this project is that the kitchen was going to be different from our last kitchen and she would make most of the choices. LOL! Over the years she has seen so much of my work she knew what she wanted to do in this space and that it would be custom to what she likes. Yes that means I have to compromise! Since we have taken down so many walls in the main area of the home the kitchen really is part of the dining room, living room, and mud-room area. All of these spaces need to be cohesive and blend together. I am doing that with paint colors and lighting.

I came up with a “L” kitchen design and a MASSIVE 10’6” island that would flow right into the dining area so it makes it feel like one large room. The first stop to plan everything out was to visit my buddy Bob Amberg of Certified Kitchens. Bob has over 20 years experience and an incredible showroom that would allow us to choose the perfect cabinets for our space. We had an overall idea of what we wanted, but needed to see a couple different cabinet ideas to bring the entire design together. One of the main design elements is going to be the island and we already knew the paint color we wanted which is Benjamin Moore 2124-10 Wrought Iron. This color would start the design process for us and everything else would stem from that. I always like to find one element that will start my design process and build from there. This color is also going on all the trim and doors inside the home so everything will blend together. You will be able to follow this color throughout the home and see it used in many different ways.

When going to a showroom expect to be there for a couple hours. There is a lot to choose from! Also try and have your appliances, backsplash, lighting, and even cabinet hardware chosen. This will make the process go a lot smoother and quicker. I know this a lot to ask that is why it makes sense to hire a designer like myself to help you through the process and get these choices made before you step inside the showroom. For the cabinets Jenn and chose to go with Medallion Cabinetry. The cabinets are semi-custom and have incredible craftsmanship around every detail of the kitchen. We knew these cabinets had to be unique and Medallion was the one that could give us all the options we wanted. I lean more towards a modern kitchen and Jenn likes rustic so we had to have the right balance of both. I also wanted to bring in an element of industrial design as well that would really change things up! As soon as we were there we saw the exact stain we wanted for the “L” part of the kitchen. This part of the kitchen will be a Cherry wood, Bayside model, Peppercorn with a Ebony glaze highlight. The short side where the fridge is going will also have a shiplap backsplash in the Benjamin Moore Wrought Iron color.

All of the Medallion cabinets will be inlay doors and draws giving a much more custom look and more rustic feel to the kitchen. The cabinets next to the in-wall oven will have doors that fold back into it allowing us to store all of our plug-in appliances like a toaster, mixer, and coffee machine. I love this because they will be hidden when we want and open we are in the kitchen cooking. The corner area of the kitchen and next to fridge is the only area that will have upper cabinets. The main area where the hood and range are will have 4 open re-claimed shelves.

Below I have put the 2-D floor plan so you can see where everything is laid out inside the kitchen. The island has a 4’ft long workstation (sink) that is going to be a focal point. There is going to be a separate blog just about this since it is so unique! All the appliances in the kitchen are going to be from Monogram. In the island I have a 24” custom panel dishwasher, a 36” gas range with custom hood above, an in wall speed oven, 30” wall oven, and custom panel 36” French door fridge. The hood above the range will be the same shiplap as the backsplash on the 107” run of the kitchen. It will also be painted Wrought Iron. With the island, hood, and backsplash in the same color it will bring the kitchen together and make it very bold.

I am going to give a lot more details on the Monogram appliances in a separate blog showing their tech, cooking power, and beautiful lines.

The 3-D images of the kitchen give a great representation of what the layout will be and functionality of the space. Yes, I do have the kitchen triangle, but you do not always need that when designing a kitchen. My layout worked out like this and it happened to be the best configuration for the space.

The backsplash on the hood side of the wall with the floating re-claimed shelves is going to be from Walker Zanger, Stardust Moon Rock, in a Hexagon pattern. This will give the contemporary edge that I am looking for. This is very large section of the wall and it will be from the counter up to the ceiling. The tile has a crackle and gloss look to it so it will give a very custom feel to the kitchen.

The counter top is going to be two different materials by SapienStone. This is by far the best man made stone on the market and it looks exactly like marble when it is a porcelain. The island counter is going to be Calacatta white in a gloss finish. The “L” section is going to be Light Earth to give a cement design. By having the Calacatta we get a very old world feel and the Light Earth gives a industrial/modern feel to the kitchen. Both Jenn and I are getting a little of everything we want in this kitchen.

The final element to this design is one of my favorites! The lighting and hardware! This is the cherry on top of the kitchen and it is going to bring in the industrial elements along with some metal into the kitchen. Mixed metals inside a kitchen are very on trend right now even though I hate saying that. I think the look is timeless and very unique to our space so that is why we are going with these choices. I have chosen all of my lighting and hardware from Buster and Punch. The island will have 5 of the hooked small/stone/brass lights.

The back section above the shelves with will have four of the small caged light with black marble. Two lights will go above each shelf.

The Pulls are going to have two different types which are a Pull bar in black and T-Bar in brass. This hardware is a machined material that is going to make the cabinets really stand out!

There are are lot of very different design elements going into this kitchen, but it is also going to make it very unique in style. We have gone back and forth on a couple different items, but I think overall this is going to give the both of us the traditional-country-modern-industrial-kitchen we have always wanted!!! Say that 3 times LOL!