Kitchen DIYs, Details and Sources!

Well hello! I can't thank you enough for the kind comments about our kitchen here and on social media! I always appreciate that you take the time to do that and it's especially nice after working so hard on a space! If you missed the big reveal, check it out here. 

Have I mentioned crazy happy I am to be done with this room? It was a labor of love but I worked my butt off. Wish that was literal, but no. ;) I'm recapping all of the projects I've done in this room and I'll share some resources on products as well. 

You can see my overall plan for the space early this year here. I stayed that course pretty well! Planning this all out in my head for YEARS helped because I was pretty confident with what I wanted to do. I'll start in order of what I tackled -- first with the window seat! I had some help with that one, but I finished all the trim and painting myself: 

Some of the items I get asked about in this area:

• The pillows are a mix of buy and DIY -- the lattice were from Target, blue with stripe are fabric from Joann's and the wide stripe are napkins from West Elm I made into pillows. 
• The lights are outdoor lights from Lowe's 
• Pantry door was done years ago and I got that at Home Depot. You can find more info about that here. 
• My fork and spoon are from a thrift store and I sprayed them. I hear there are similar ones at Hobby Lobby.
• Yes a cushion is coming. A friend is making it for me, I hope to have it before Christmas. :)

The island was next! I am still so thrilled with this transformation -- making the island bigger is definitely one of the big things that makes this room feel custom: 

I wanted to pack a TON of function into this! Here are the details:

• You can see more about the wine rack I added here (I think that's one of my favorite parts!)
• I get asked about the stools a lot! Here's more info about those.  
• The lights above the island are from  Lowe's as well -- the metal is much darker than it looks in the photos, almost black. I found the exact same lights for way cheaper on Amazon here. (Only four left as of right now.)
• The big reveal and more details about building the island are here.
• I finished it up by adding the microwave to the end a few months ago.

I am asked a lot about how we like the microwave down there -- it's been an adjustment (more that we moved it to a different spot than it being lower) but we like it! I prefer to pull the hot dishes up and onto the island than pulling them down. It feels safer to me. We're both tall, I'm 5'9" and my husband is taller and it's not a big deal for us. I'm SO happy we moved it! 

Back in August after a summer of slothdom, I started tackling the kitchen again. The first step was to take down the cabinets along the window wall, as well as the old microwave: 

Let's look at this one during that process, shall we? I love seeing how far it's come: 

More about this area: 

• Dad and I took down the tile and drywall and it sucked. :) More about that here. 
• I found the new lights for the wall on Amazon. They are a dark bronze and I ended up spraying them black. I left the underside bronze and it looks so cool with the two-tone. 
• I thought I wanted to do a tile backsplash but then wasn't feeling it. I ended up doing a planked wall that I LOVE so much, but it took some tweaks. I used fiber cement boards -- super cheap, easy to install and they are fine to use behind the stove. You have to watch the dust while cutting though, be sure to check out this post for more info. 
• The vent hood is another favorite in this room! We decided to vent ours outside and there are a few things to consider if you are thinking of doing the same. I shared that info and the vent hood build here. 
• I love the open shelves! I shared more about the wood shelves and the gorgeous metal brackets here: 

Yes the door to the cabinet by the shelves still opens plenty -- we can reach everything inside easily. More on that and a change that may help even more soon!

The counters are one of my favorite parts of this room. They are simply gorgeous! I wanted a marble look but more color and variation and less upkeep. I found River White granite and knew it was the one:

It works so beautifully with both the white and the dark gray cabinets. Love it.

I kept our granite sink and faucet because both were still working great:

I love the dark gray sink with the counters! That worked out beautifully too. 

Here's more info about the counters and that area:

• The sink was from Home Depot years ago, but they still carry it. It's very deep and upkeep is easy. We had it mounted over our old laminate counters and as you can see it can be undermounted as well. 
• I shared the process for picking out the granite -- it's not a simple as I thought! This information is helpful if you will be doing the same.
• Marble is gorgeous but you have to baby it a bit or be OK with imperfections. I shared a bunch of stone counters that have the marble look without the worry. 

The cabinets were probably the biggest change in here! I did a ton of work to these: 

Here's the list!

• I built a surround for the fridge -- this is another DIY that makes this space feel much more expensive than it really is. :)  
• The big change came when I built the cabinets up to the ceiling -- huge! 
• I sprayed all of the cabinets -- I love love LOVE the sprayer I used. More on that and the full tutorial on spraying your cabinets in this post. 

The paint colors in this space are all Sherwin Williams, but the cabinet colors were mixed in Advance paint by Benjamin Moore:

• lower cabinets are Peppercorn 
• uppers and trim are Pure White 
• backsplash is Gray Clouds
• walls are Analytical Gray

Goodness, I think that's it for the DIY stuff! If I forgot anything you were wondering about please let me know! I have been asked about the accessories in the room so here's a list: 

Runner: Target

Round clock, pie sign, marble and wood pedestal (I've had it for a while, not sure if they still carry it): World Market

Eat sign, island stools, baskets above cabinets, utensil holder (originally had a lid I removed): HomeGoods
Bars on island and under vent hood: IKEA
Bamboo shade and cabinet hardware: Home Depot
Chandelier above kitchen table: Lowe's (I painted the "wood" parts)
See how I added DIY cabinet lighting later here.

OK, if I forgot anything let me know! I hope this answers all of your questions. :) Thanks again for following me on this long kitchen renovation journey! It took me nearly a year but I finally did it! I do have a few more posts to share with you and I'll be sharing more about accent lighting and some night photos soon. I love this room at night. Sigh. :)

Some affiliate links included for your convenience.