Annie Schlechter via Martha Stewart
It’s been a while since I updated you on my kitchen plans, so I wanted to share our refined and finally more definite direction. I’m thrilled to feel settled and ready to move forward. Going through the dreaming process, exploring possibilities, and then letting the options settle helped me clearly see what feels right. As I’ve said before, the main reason we moved here wasn’t to design another house but to better live life — that perspective guided many of our decisions.
Keeping our goals and the life we want in mind has made it easier to decide what needs to be done and what can be left as-is. Designing another kitchen is a wonderful opportunity but not a necessity, so focusing on how our home supports our daily life has been the priority. Because our home and life are so intertwined, I’m excited to watch our vision come to life for our family.
We can’t wait to move forward, and it felt reassuring when contractors confirmed our ideas. I’m relieved and excited to finally be at this point.
House Beautiful
Hopefully early this summer the kitchen will be gutted and work will begin. I told one contractor if he could start today I’d be thrilled — keeping my fingers crossed because I’m so ready. My goal is to have the kitchen finished by fall. Timelines can be optimistic and unexpected delays happen (our side yard project is still ongoing), but I’m hopeful the pace will pick up in the coming weeks.
Kitchen – Dana Benson Construction
Layout, size and style
The kitchen will reflect the look we’ve always loved: modern-traditional with a coastal farmhouse vibe. Our whole house will get a style update over time, and I’m excited to see the elements we love come together.
Zoldan Interiors – High Gloss Magazine
The inspiration images here each contribute design elements or an overall feeling I’m after rather than exact colors or details. I’ll share more ideas as the project progresses; these photos are just a small selection of what’s guiding our design.
To simplify the process and control costs, we’ll leave the major structural elements—appliances, plumbing, windows and basic layout—in place. We’ll gut the space within the walls and transform the interior. The kitchen is small, and we’re happy to keep it that way; I love the cozy atmosphere. Instead of expanding the footprint, we’ll improve how spacious it feels, how it functions, and how it connects to the dining room.
Sink location
Originally I dreamed of moving the sink to the back of the house to take full advantage of the distant view, but after living here longer that priority softened. We’ll still enjoy the view from the existing sink area with a simple turn of the head, and by keeping the sink in its current location we avoid the direct late-afternoon glare coming through the back windows. Instead, we’ll add a full-height counter under the large window with lots of drawers below — a perfect coffee and baking station with an unobstructed countertop and a lovely view whenever we want it.
Upper cabinets
We plan to remove all upper cabinets except those around the fridge to create a cleaner, more open look. In a previous kitchen I removed upper cabinets and eventually found it to be a sensible choice; today it’s more common and accepted. Even in a small kitchen, we won’t lose storage because we’ll add plenty of functional drawers. I especially love how much more expansive the countertops feel without upper cabinets, which is a big advantage in a compact space.
Olivia Babarczy via The Grace Tales
Walls and archways
One change I’m especially excited about is replacing two small cramped interior doors with wider archways. We considered an arch early on and couldn’t stop thinking about it, and once a contractor confirmed it’s doable we decided to move forward. We’ll have a wider archway from the dining room and a narrower one from the entry hall. This adds character to three adjoining spaces, improves traffic flow, and makes the entry hall nearly as functional as a mudroom with hooks and better circulation.
Saskia Folk / Inside Out
The archways will open the wall to bring more light into both rooms while preserving the range wall with counter space and a hood. Keeping partial walls and arched openings will also keep the messier cooking areas less visible from the dining and living rooms, which is helpful during holidays and dinner parties — no one needs to see every dirty pan while enjoying a meal.
This isn’t the exact dining room layout we’ll use, but you can see the painter’s tape we put up earlier to help visualize an arch.
So, there you have it — the latest plans. I’m so excited to get this rolling and grateful you’re following along. Stay tuned!
Old Seagrove Homes
See more angles of the “before” of our kitchen and catch up on past posts about the kitchen in the archived kitchen posts on this site.
Related posts:
6 Ways to Make Your Kitchen Feel Bigger
10 Clever Kitchen Space Savers