Progress With My Parents' Remodel

One of the big projects I've been working on for the past few months is my parents' home remodel. We added on a new carriage house and a huge ramada on the back and then totally gutted about half of their house. Just this week the kitchen installation process started and my mom and I are so happy to see our vision come to life! She leans toward more traditional style, but really appreciates clean lines. This kitchen, featured on Domaine Home was one of our inspirations. Bright, clean and airy.

The cabinets started to get installed this week and my mom's been texting me photos along the way.

This image was also an inspiration, though we had nothing even close to this ceiling height. That was one of the two big challenges in the space. We had hoped to be able to open up the ceiling a little more and maybe do a coffered treatment, but it was prohibitively expensive to gain what would only be a few inches in the end.

We loved the large glass globes in the above image and thought they would be perfect for over the 8' long island.

These globes are 18" each and I think they'll really make a statement without making the ceilings feel lower or obstructing any views in the kitchen.

We used a local cabinet maker and I love the job he did here with our simple shaker style full overlay cabinets. There's going to be another row of cabinets here to the right over the prep sink area that will be the appliance garage. The electrician installed the lights too close to the cabinets, so we're waiting on that fix to happen first. :)

The kitchen is sort of landlocked in the center of the house, so there are no windows (which was the other big challenge of the room). We did add a couple of french doors just behind and to the left of this photo, but because the kitchen's not just completely flooded with natural light we went with a really soft white on all the cabinetry (Benjamin Moore's Swiss Coffee). We thought about doing the island a different color, but we wanted to keep the base colors very simple so we could add lots of color in accessories and other furniture. There will be a built-in banquette area to the right of this photo and we wanted some flexibility with color and pattern options with the upholstery and the finish on the table and chairs.

The appliances and counter tops will be installed in the next couple days. We went with a Macaubus quartzite for the counter tops and backsplash.

It's mostly a soft gray color and has the beautiful veining that we all love, but it wears much harder than a marble - more like a granite.

We're doing extra long polished nickel bin pulls on the drawers and small button knobs on the cabinets and top drawers. Some of the hardware was backordered, but everything should be in later this week, so in just a few days we'll have all the pieces of the puzzle in place!

The floors will be installed last. We went with an oiled French oak (thanks again for your input and reassurance!). I think it's all going to be so pretty together! Stay tuned for after photos...