Stephanie's Kitchen Reveal
You might remember a small dingy kitchen from before we started our BIG home renovation, well- after much work, lots of love, and some (very literal) blood, sweat, and tears, I am tickled to share that my kitchen is 97% FINISHED. Not quite 100%, because let’s be honest— nothing will ever be totally and perfectly complete over here. AJ and I decided to save money by doing a lot of the kitchen, as well a few other spaces, ourselves, so it took a bit longer to get here.
One of our favorite things about our previous home was the openness between the kitchen and living areas. I love cooking dinner while chatting with my husband about his day or joining in a family movie. While I didn’t want a completely open concept in this home, it was important for me to feel like the family living area and the kitchen were open, inviting, and the heart of the home. Well, mission accomplished! This is one of my favorite parts of our house!
Before we made any real plans for the kitchen, I fell in love with this range.
Did I know how it performed as, you know, an actual cooking device? NO.
Did I know it was beautiful and shiny and lovely? YES!
Luckily for us, this duel-fuel induction range was everything my foodie husband was hoping for, and it didn’t take much to convince him of my vision. We have been using the range regularly for eight months now, and we couldn’t be happier. They also offer giant lion claw brass legs that are on my current wish list… too much? Or just enough?
A couple of notes on the Ilves range:
Because they are handcrafted in Italy, allow 6-9 months for delivery.
They come in so many fun colors. The Kelly Green range was *thiiiisss* close to being in our kitchen.
A lot of reviews mention that not having the range properly installed can lead to trouble and void the warranty. You want to make sure your contractor understands that the range is European, and therefore the installation instructions are not typical. We had no issues, but communication and reading all instructions is important here.
After our patient saint of a designer Kathryn with Kimmel Design recommended Quartzite countertops, we decided the natural stone was perfect for our family.
Not to be confused with man-made quartz, quartzite occurs naturally. It was introduced to us as marble’s more sustainable cousin. It is so veiny and beautiful. It doesn’t etch or chip as easily as marble, is stronger and more durable than granite or quartz, and is heat resistant. It is a little more expensive than some of the other options, but I found a way to save ALMOST HALF the retail price. I will share more on that in a later post if you’re interested.
One thing about me— I will dedicate the majority of a budget on a couple of bold conversation pieces and compromise by getting everything else from salvage shops, Facebook Marketplace, and, in some cases, off the side of the road. Our kitchen is the perfect example of that. I knew I wanted to splurge on the range and countertops, and cut costs in other places. I’m calling this “feast or famine design” and I wouldn’t change a dang thing.
So, for the rest of the kitchen, your girl was on a hunt to save money.
The 140 year old heart pine floors were original to the house. Since we added on to the house in order to make the original kitchen larger, we needed wood flooring that would blend with the existing wood. A family friend does woodworking in his spare time, and suggested we send him the heart pine wood beams we removed from the attic and he would make it into flooring. So we were able to finish the kitchen floors for basically free! Score!
I found the custom vent hood on Facebook Marketplace from a design firm in Atlanta. We were told their client went with a different size range, and her loss was our gain.
We also found the vent insert from Dirt Cheap for 75% off retail. Some fellow shoppers definitely judged me that day when I squealed with glee in the middle of the store!
Our island lights were sent to me by Kathryn at Kimmel Design. She saw them and thought about me, and I was so glad she did! They are so fun and, well…so me! They happened to be on clearance, and I don’t think they make them anymore, but this piece from Capital Lighting is pretty close.
Our toughest decision with the kitchen was definitely the cabinets.
I really didn’t want to spend the money on custom cabinets, but also wanted something durable and substantial. Our answer was Lily Ann Cabinets.
(Full disclosure, in exchange for a completely honest review in this blog post, Lily Ann gave me a generous discount.)
I was very nervous about using ready to assemble cabinets, but after a lot of online shopping I was drawn to Lily Ann Cabinets because they manufacture their cabinets themselves, whereas a lot of RTA cabinet retailers only sell them. I ordered samples, and loved the custom look and was blown away by the quality. The team is great to work with, and an onsite designer is available free of charge to maximize your space.
After ordering several samples, and seeing the thousands and thousands of five star reviews, we went with Bristol Linen White Cabinets. The solid birch and poplar wood cabinets beautiful.
Each cabinet took around 20 minutes to assemble, and was well worth it. On average, Lily Ann is about 70% less expensive than fully custom cabinets.
I really wanted a giant Viking Refrigerator, but we just couldn’t swing it.
Champagne taste on beer budget and all…Anyway, I was very much set on a commercial size fridge/freezer. There are seven people in this house, and we all like to eat. In this situation, size matters!
After scouring the internet, I found Fisher and Paykel. For a fraction of the price of other large side by sides, they boasted amazing reviews and promised ample storage space and performance. SOLD! We ordered two of the ActiveSmart refrigerators (one left and one right handled) and a joiner kit to make them look like one solid unit.
We also opted for Fisher and Paykel dishwasher drawers. I didn’t know this was a thing before, but after I saw them I knew they would work perfectly for our family. We have two dishwasher drawers and you can run them separately or together. I love the option of doing a half load of dishes and I feel like you can fit soooo much more in each drawer compared to a standard size dishwasher.
The Sharp microwave drawer is from Dirt Cheap. We got it for 80% off retail, but after using it, I would have happily paid full price. I love the sleek design, and how evenly it heats.
I was drawn to some fannnccccy bar stools that were worthy of a Kardashian’s house, but after my husband reminded that we don’t have a Kardashain budget, but we do have five nasty little humans that would be spilling spaghetti on them, I snapped back to reality real quick and ordered the Fuji Contemporary Bar Stools from Target. Inexpensive and easy to clean. One day I will be able to have fancy things!
It was important to me that the hardware on the range, cabinets, faucet, and pot filler matched as closely as possible.
I ordered and returned several faucets before getting the perfect match in color and style with this Kingston Brass faucet. I love the bridge faucet design, and the knobs look like they were made to go with our range.
We also chose the Kingston Brass pot filler from the same line.
Our sink was a real headache. I find that I have a knack for taking what should be a simple decision and over thinking it to death. Stainless steel, fire clay, cast iron, undermount, farmhouse, single basin…TOO MANY CHOICES! I finally let the nice lady at the showroom choose this Kohler Cast Iron Apron Front Sink for me. I really like the classic design and double basin, but I think I could have found one I like just as well at a better price point.
The cabinet hardware was so fun to choose!
The jewelry of the kitchen! I knew I wanted some bling, but also solid brass. I also wanted highly organized cabinets, where everything had a place. Enter Hardware Hut– Eliza and I made a connection with the company early on, and were so impressed by how they really guided us through the kitchen design process pertaining to hardware and cabinet organization. (Hardware Hut gifted all hardware and organizational items, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.)
Hardware Hut has an AMAZING selection of knobs, pulls, cabinet organization, and so much more. They worked with us to design the perfect cabinet layout, and sent samples of knobs and pulls so we could match to the other hardware in the room. Did you know there are like 20 different shades of brass?!? We went with the Schaub and Co polished brass knobs for cabinets and the Schaub and Co polished brass pulls for the drawers and kitchen pantry.
We also opted for the Hardware Hut’s Rev-a-shelf line for cabinet organization. I chose the chrome double pullouts and the birch wood soft close pull out base organizer for my bowls and casserole dishes.
We also opted for these pullouts to serve as spice cabinets on either side of the range.
That’s it! The big kitchen reveal!
For those of you who have followed our journey from the start- THANK YOU! You gave me honest feedback along the way and made the process fun. I may have melted away from decision fatigue without yall.
