We’ve had some requests for more pictures of our homes, so we’ve dedicated this week to giving our nests a little more limelight. I am really excited for the excuse to show a little project that my husband and I have just wrapped up (or, I should say, our contractor just wrapped up). We’ve done minor reno projects before – from replacing bathroom plumbing fixtures to installing hardwood floors, but this is the first time that we’ve taken a room down to the studs and floor boards and started from scratch. Meet our old kitchen:
It actually doesn’t look as bad in these pictures as it was in real life. We were down to one working burner on our stove and the refrigerator door fell apart if you opened or closed it with too much gusto. Aside from quirky appliances, the plaster walls were in bad shape and the floor sloped up significantly in the middle of the room (perfect for my daughter to ride her big wheel over – but not exactly the look I was going for). The bottom line was that our kitchen was looking (and functioning) pretty rough, so, in February, we broke ground, err linoleum.
It was a long process, 11 weeks to be exact, and I had no idea how much of a mess it was going to create. But now that it’s done, we couldn’t be any happier with the results.
We replaced the linoleum with hardwood floors that match the rest of our house, and after lots of anxiety about stains and etching, we decided to go ahead with the marble countertops that I was pulling for.
We mounted the upper cabinets close the the ceiling and left room underneath for an open shelf – an idea inspired by a favorite kitchen of mine from Cottage Living. This is one of my favorite features, and it actually saved money because the shorter cabinets and the shelf were less expensive than cabinets that spanned the whole space. One thing to keep in mind with this approach is that the underside of the cabinetry needs to be finished off nicely. This isn’t always the case, since for the most part, the bottom of a cabinet isn’t visible. We did not take this into account, and our contractor had to get creative with trim to cover some unfinished areas and gaps under the cabinets.
My other favorite feature is the sliding barn door that hides our utility/laundry room. It is a great space saving solution, because we didn’t have to worry about being able to maneuver around our peninsula when the door is open. And I just love the way it looks.
The change that made the biggest impact was raising the ceiling in the back half of the room and adding this window. I painted the sashes the same color as the barn door and carried this color to the legs of these stools from Ikea.
We have been enjoying the new kitchen and are looking forward to making some big meals for the generous friends and neighbors who fed us when we didn’t have a kitchen!
Tags: kitchen, renovation
[...] {This Young House} – I can’t get enough of this gorgeous kitchen from Rachel of blog Urban Nest (another fun [...]
So beautiful! One more question: did you work with a kitchen designer or did you do the design yourself? Congratulations on a job well done!
Hi Monica,
We did the design ourselves, but then turned over all construction to our contractor!
Hi Kimberly,
I got quotes from 3 different suppliers of barn door hardware. For our space, the prices ranged from $400 – $700. ADH Doors (http://www.adhdoors.com) had the best price, and I was very happy with their customer service.
Thanks for stopping by!
Rachel
[...] 8, 2009 Check out this awesome kitchen renovation. I don’t think want to take our kitchen down to the studs, but I like their [...]
Me again :)
We decided to go with your barn door idea for our pantry as well and I sent my designer your specs. He quoted me $400 for the hardware and $125 for the door. I just wanted to make sure this was in line with what you paid? I know you said your quotes on the barn door hardware were 400-700 but I wasn’t sure if that included the door or not. does $525 for the whole shebang sound reasonable to you?
Hi Jen,
The quotes for the barn door hardware did not include the door itself, so the quote from your designer sounds about right to me. I’d love to see pictures when its done!!
Rachel
ABsolutely! We are actually going to wall off the pantry in the kitchen to give us more room in there, I just posted our artist drawings of the kitchen on my blog today:
http://jencaputo.typepad.com/jen_caputo/2009/07/meet-my-new-kitchen.html
We are moving the opening of the pantry to my craft room and in order to not disrupt my current layout, we wanted a door that could slide behind my EXPEDIT’s.
See my craft room here:
http://jencaputo.typepad.com/jen_caputo/craft-room/
(If you scroll to the second post you should be able to see those Expedits that will have to get pushed all the way to one wall and then the barn door will slide behind them!)
I’m so thrilled to have seen that idea from you because otherwise we would have been stuck re-arranging my room (The contractors said they couldn’t do a pocket door there).
Thanks again for the fab ideas, I’ll definitely be back with the after shots when it’s all done!
[...] i loveeee this kitchen update found on urbannest.com [...]
[...] been enjoying our new kitchen for a couple of months now and have really settled in. Our marble countertops are holding up [...]
Hi, Rachel, this is Sam Morgan’s wife – Jacci :) Your kitchen is gorgeous! I can definitely see why anyone would be very, very pleased with how it turned out.
Funny story – Several weeks ago I was putzing around on Etsy and found Lorcum Lane. I immediately recognized the name and knew that it was you and Juliet. So, today I was emailing back and forth a little with Sherry Petersik and I mentioned your business and that you all live in Richmond. Later on in the day, I visited this blog for the first time after googling Lorcum Lane. I cracked up when I realized that this was YOUR kitchen featured on YHL *after* I was just chatting with Sherry about your Etsy business! :) Small, small world. Who knew Sherry and John were featuring kitchens from Accenture DC alumni? Crazy.
Anyway – your kitchen looks fabulous. Sam and I are knee deep in redoing a 1983 eye sore. It *will* be lovely someday ;)
Hope you all are doing really well! I’ll check back in again soon!
XO,
Jacci
I wanted to let you know that my kitchen is now complete and you will notice 2 things inspired by yours!
The barn door and the under cabinet shelf! That shelf is probably my favorite thing in the whole kitchen!!!
You can see it here:
http://jencaputo.typepad.com/jen_caputo/2009/11/kitchen-renovation-final-reveal-before-afters.html
Thanks so much for answering my questions and for the inspiration!!
Hi Rachel,
the Cottage Living kitchen by Anne Turner Carroll is a favorite of mine as well! We are raising the cabinets in our kitchen up to ceiling height and installing an under cabinet shelf – wondering where you picked up your shelves and how they’ve done with the weight of dishes and the heat of the kitchen? Any issues so far.
I need to go to a kitchen and bath reno store and see what’s available, but recommendations from tried and true bloggers makes everything easier! thanks in advance :)
Niki
Niki R´s last blog ..Maps as Decor
ah! nevermind, found your source list in an earlier comment. Beautiful job, congrats again :)
Niki R´s last blog ..Maps as Decor
Niki,
We haven’t had any problems with our shelves, and we have them loaded with dishes and glasses. The heavy duty L brackets in the studs did the trick! Best of luck with your kitchen!
Rachel