Things have been busy on the house front. A good thing - but also difficult to manage during pregnancy!

We went most of winter without a kitchen and now I can happily say, we’re about 90% there. Seems to be the theme with ongoing projects.

I like to set up our design plan and inspiration before showing any finish work. And to be honest - we are a ways away before I can really capture all the lovely details in full.

Our kitchen was a big focal point for me. After all, it truly is the heart of the home. The style and condition both needed upgrades so there was never any question in my mind we were going for it (though my husband protested a bit in the beginning!).

Architectural elements

We mostly kept the layout the same. We have a beautiful new window above the sink, a more squared off peninsula, and we may add a portable island in the future. Above the sink we will be adding a scrap piece of the vintage wood we used for our fireplace mantel. It’s always helpful when you can make use of beautiful materials!

The biggest challenge we had was designing a functional pantry space. With a growing family, the previous kitchen design did not have a pantry at all - merely a few pull out shelves - so this was a big priority as well as storage (always trying to keep the clutter at bay!). To achieve this we reconfigured some of the appliances including swopping out a stove for a cooktop so we could fit additional drawers underneath. We also added a convection microwave stacked with a wall oven. The pantry was designed to be beautiful and functional and I am so happy with how it turned out!

Design elements

The cooktop area became a focal point and includes some of my favorite design details. I knew I wanted a decorative hood and we landed on a simple plaster look with a slight flare to keep consistent with the overall house aesthetics. Flanking the hood will be two small shelves with sconces above. I gave a sneak peek of the sconces over on IG, and they are my favorite lighting in all of our project. They are brass with a glass conical shape wrapped in black leather…so elegant yet a bit edgy. I love them!

Cabinets were another big design element. I wanted something simple so we went with a shaker style cabinet in Farrow and Ball Shadow White. I was a bit hesitant how the off-white color would turn out but it is absolutely beautiful. It pairs so well with our hardware, too. We splurged for the English brand Armac Martin in burnished brass and so happy we did! Hardware really brings the design to life. Some of my favorite pieces include latches to compliment our English-cottage style feel. It’s also very Amber Interiors which of course I am obsessed with.

*Renderings courtesy of our design team. Inspo images via Pinterest.*

The other big kitchen decision was countertops. I debated on this for some time as originally we were going to go with what we had before - a neutral quartzite. But my gut was telling me to go for something different (we are only planning to go through this once). So after shopping around, I chose a beautiful marble called Caprice White. I know the drawbacks of marble, but I also know how beautiful it is and the look we wanted to achieve. It was actually only slightly more than our original option (in between we had another quartzite picked but it was a lot more expensive). We also had the stone extending as our backsplash and because there was so much of it, I wanted to love it.

The install for the marble went well but we did run into some challenges with the sealant. Marble needs quite a bit of care so we decided to go with a protective sealer called MoreAntiEtch, recommended by our stone shop. The sealant was applied professionally. The countertops turned out great and it gives us peace of mind to have the added protection. Unfortunately, the backsplash above our cooktop got a bit discolored in the process. We debated what to do (it was really throwing off the whole vibe) but ultimately decided to have the company sand off the sealer and reapply a standard, clear sealer. So happy we did this! It now matches the rest much better and looks great.

Other design details include a pot filler(which as Italians we are very excited about, though I’m not eating much pasta these days with my diet). The faucet matches (also from England along with our farmhouse sink) and adds a more masculine feel with its character and style. We chose nickel for these pieces to mix and match the hardware and it looks great. I knew I needed to have a pull out sprayer for the sink (I’ve seen too many IG renos regret this one) but it was hard to find one with in the bridge style. Ours has it, and I’m loving it so far.

We are working on organizing now (along with waiting on some finish work) but in the home stretch. Having an indoor sink is HUGE! And a pantry. I’m so excited to show the finished product soon, but in the meantime we are settling in and finalizing so many other areas of the house. Stay tuned for more! Below are some progress shots (stone shown is before sealant was removed).