Kitchen Sources

It’s been so fun sharing this kitchen reveal with you all! Everyone’s kind comments and support mean so much. I feel like we really did pour our heart and soul into this kitchen transformation and having others appreciate it with us feels so rewarding.

Let’s talk about all the little details in this kitchen…

The Cabinets

I agonized for a long time about what kitchen cabinets we would put in this kitchen. In our last house we did IKEA, and I loved them. So customizable, totally durable and modern, and affordable. Naturally, I wanted to go with them again….

But, I also was really wanting to go darker this time around. And IKEA is just a bit lacking in the darker painted spectrum of their cabinet fronts. Really the only one I was considering was the Lerhytten which is a black stained wood in the shaker style. So I scoured Pinterest for black kitchen inspiration and every time I found one I loved, I looked closer and realized it was a very dark gray.

Eventually I came across The Cabinet Spot and we ordered their Inset Charcoal Gray Shaker Cabinets. Which amazing turned out to be on par (if not cheaper) than the IKEA kitchen we had picked out.

I am thrilled to have the elevated look of inset cabinets. And I shared a lot more about the decision making process in this post. Am I happy with them? Yes. Would I choose them again? Probably not. The inset style turned out to be difficult to assemble and while I see the pros over IKEA style, I’m not convinced they are leaps and bounds above. I will try and right a post comparing and contrasting the two options.

Cabinet Hardware

The hardware buying process turned out to be a whole fiasco of it’s own. If you recall, I actually bought all the hardware from one company and ended up not liking them and returning them all. But, in the end it all worked out because we settled on these beautiful bin pulls and knobs in Bedford Brass from Home Depot.

I had already picked out a polished brass faucet, so I was originally set on polished brass hardware (and then there is the whole lacquered vs. lacquered debate which I won’t even get into). But I just could not find a rectangular cup pull in polished brass that I liked and was in budget (read: $9 or less).

So in desperation I ordered like all the brass hardware that I semi-liked at Home Depot to try out. And from that mass order emerged some winners! I liked the Liberty Bedford Brass Cup Pulls because they had the most presence and came closest to my vision of rectangular pulls. And then we went with the Martha Stewart Bedford Brass Knobs because I wanted to keep the look simple and have a dash of ‘traditional’ in the kitchen.

And you know, it doesn’t bother me one little bit now that the hardware are an aged brass and I have polished brass faucet. Seriously I have every single metal type in my kitchen… Stainless steel, copper, aged brass, polished brass, brushed brass, chrome…. That’s everything but nickel people.

Kitchen Faucet

Speaking of that polished brass… Oh man, does this faucet make me feel luxurious. It’s totally one of those no-name brands off of Amazon (Kunmai High Arc Gold Kitchen Faucet ) with only a few reviews, but I’m telling you this baby is legit.

As soon as I found it, I knew I wanted it. The question was only.. can I pull it off?? And, I think I did ok, right? It seems to be at home in our kitchen and add just the right amount of glam.

At first I was totally stuck on getting a bridge faucet. But, let’s just say those were priced out of reach for us, so I had to expand my horizons. In the end, I’m so so glad we went with this and not a bridge faucet. Although having two handles is beautiful and symmetrical, wouldn’t it be so annoying to have to turn two handles on every time you use the kitchen faucet??

This faucet has a great spray feature and is made of solid metal. Some of those spray faucets trick you and come with plastic heads, but this one is nice and heavy. I wasn’t sure about the decorative ceramic handle at first, but I think I’m cool with it now.

And we decided to install a separate water spigot. Our house is on well water and it’s seriously iron laden. Even though we have a great softener system, we wanted to be able to install an additional water filter for drinking water. We ordered the Kingston Brass Gold Water Faucet, and it seems to match the other faucet well. Actually, it’s not hooked up yet since we haven’t forked out for a filter yet.

Kitchen Sink

About the only request Jake had for this kitchen was that we get a stainless steel sink. In our last kitchen we did the double bowl IKEA farmhouse sink. I ADORED it. But Jake said he always felt like he had to be delicate with the porcelain and he’d prefer a sink he didn’t have to baby.

I know everyone has their own preference on single versus double bowl. I’m on team double bowl. We went with a 60/40 split in stainless steel. And my only other criteria was that it had straight lines to look modern. No curvy sinks for me.

Overall I have mixed feelings about this sink. It’s too deep for me. But, really they all come that deep nowadays and the undermount just makes it that much deeper. Our IKEA farmhouse sink was shallow, but just right for me.

And to be honest with you, I miss the porcelain. It felt pretty. I wanted to clean it because it was beautiful. The stainless steel.. I don’t really want to clean it because it’s kinda blah to me… So moral of the story, don’t look too closely at my kitchen sink.

Pendant Lights

These were so so hard to pick for some reason… I felt that they mattered so much, and I probably put too much pressure on myself to find the perfect ones for the perfect price. But that’s how we live and learn, right?

They are from West Elm, and I bought them on a Black Friday sale. My criteria was that it have gold hardware and a shade that diffuses (so milk glass most likely). And these met that.

One of my favorite views in the house is looking in the kitchen pass through from the living room as the sun is setting. You can see the sun glint off the gold faucet and then these gold and milk glass lights shine in front of the dark green wall in the den.

Countertops

Oh me oh my…. I LOVE my countertops. I went into the countertop search with much trepidation knowing that I would fall for a more more expensive stone (aka quartzite) and Jake would be a proponent for a granite or quartz (both more affordable options).

Thank goodness for Factory Plaza . If it weren’t for their seriously fantastic prices, there is NO WAY I would have gotten my dream counters. And thank goodness for a sweet husband who let me buy the most expensive stone that they had….

This is the White Macaubus Quartzite. Quartzite is more durable than granite, but has more fluid patterns similar to marble. Everyone gets very confused by this stone and thinks it’s Quartz (which is man-made). It was $65 a square foot installed. Which is no small cost, but also a phenomenal deal for this type of stone.

Probably one of the greatest moments of stress in this kitchen renovation was surrounding the layout of this stone. Because of the size of the slab, it was looking like we would have to have a large seam on the peninsula where the direction of the lines would hit perpendicular. That would have made the seam super obvious. (I could and should write a whole post on this…)

Thankfully, after much brainstorming (and maybe a little freaking out on my part) we found a way to do away with the perpendicular lines by adding a seam in the middle of the sink and taking some stone from underneath the backsplash on the peninsula. Totally the best possible solution, and I’m so glad we did it that way.

Shiplap

You might notice that we opted not to do a traditional tile backsplash and went with shiplap instead. I think this was partially a cost saving move. But also a maximization strategy. I knew that we would not tile an entire kitchen (for labor or budget reasons), but Jake might be convinced to install shiplap instead of drywall.

And that achieved the same thing in the end. We got texture throughout the kitchen, in a more understated manner. I’m glad we went with the ‘pre-made’ stuff. I’ve seen tutorials where people rip down plywood etc., but having the wood pre-primed and the nickel gap for hidden nails was super nice.

Open Shelving

Originally I had planned to make these shelves out of some old weathered cedar that we’d kept from our old house. But, to my great dismay, those boards ended up being to warped to make shelves out of. So we ended up buying some new Douglas Fir to make them out with.

I was definitely disappointed because I was looking forward to having naturally weathered/distressed shelves. But I think they turned out great in the end.

We were too cheap to buy the floating shelf hardware to hang these. Seriously, they are over $30 a pop!! And Jake had the idea of pounding rebar in the wall and drilling holes in our shelves. Great ingenuity, thinking outside the box for sure.

Not sure we would do it again though… I don’t think are shelves are totally straight. And how do you straighten out rebar in the wall? A lot of pounding… so yeah, we definitely saved some money, but maybe lost some sanity.

The Range

Practically speaking, this is hands down my favorite thing in this kitchen. It’s basically a miracle stove and I love it so much. From the get-go in this kitchen design, my heart was set on a ‘professional’ range. NOT-mind you-because I feel like I need one for cooking, PURELY because they are beautiful. I’m a ridiculous girl, I know.

So, for months I had been checking Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist for a professional style range. But they were all like at least $2,000, or were seriously falling apart. The chances were not looking good for me achieving this desire.

Nevertheless, one glorious morning my range appeared on Craigslist for just $400!!!!!!! I was in disbelief, like was it a scam??? We reached out immediately and arranged the sale.

We showed up to a million dollar house, and the guy explained that their ice maker had broke so they replaced their whole kitchen. Ha! The range was a GE Monogram 48″ Duel Fuel and was around 10-15 years old. It has two ovens, six burners, and a griddle. This is what dreams are made of right here.

It took 6 guys to get this puppy home, but know it is mine, all mine! And I love cooking on it. Totally unnecessary, yet it makes me so happy. Don’t be afraid to shoot for the sky folks, miracles do happen.

Patterned Tile

How special is this cement-look tile? And even better: I installed it all by myself. It’s ceramic, so super easy to work with. And I’ve seen this pattern in so many beautiful designer kitchens and baths. It’s a serious showstopper.

The vision was to see this beautiful pattern as you drive up to our house because there are floor to ceiling windows in front of it. I love it so much, I’m thinking of using it as our master bathroom flooring.

And there you have it, everything you ever wanted to know (and more) about our kitchen!

Sources:
Cabinets – Inset Charcoal Gray Shaker Cabinets from The Cabinet Spot
Knobs – Martha Stewart Bedford Brass Knobs
Pulls – Liberty Bedford Brass Cup Pulls
Kitchen Faucet – Kunmai High Arc Gold Kitchen Faucet
Water Spigot – Kingston Brass Gold Water Faucet
Sink – Double Bowl Stainless Steel Undermount
Pendants – Sculptural Glass Globe Pendant
Countertops – White Macaubus Quartzite from Factory Plaza
Shiplap – Home Depot
Shelves – Douglas Fir
Range – GE Monogram 48″ Duel Fuel (bought on Craigslist)
Fridge – Kitchenaid (bought on Facebook Marketplace)
Peninsula Tile – Kira Ceramic Cement-Look Tile
Wall paint – BM White Dove
Flooring – Floor & Decor
Photography – Rilea Petersen