Before & After: A dark and tired kitchen gets a bright update

Hi there! Happy middle of the week!

Today I’m sharing a client’s kitchen makeover. I shared her living room here and thank you for all of the lovely comments on the post.

But let’s look at the Before to really appreciate the power of white paint and pretty finishes and fixtures.

So, it’s a typical builder kitchen, small in its footprint, where this dark wood cabinet colour was all the rage and still is at builder decor centres everywhere across the land! (Waiting for the day when builders offer white painted cabinetry as a standard or an inexpensive upgrade.)  Laminate counters, 12×12 beige floor tiles, tumbled marble backsplash and boring hardware round out the look. In addition, the cabinetry and crown don’t meet the ceiling and you have the awkward dust collecting upper similar to what I had in my kitchen.

 

We didn’t change the layout as there was nothing that could be improved upon because of the limited space.  We painted the cabinetry Benjamin Moore White Dove and my cabinetmaker built a riser and crown which now meets the ceiling. We installed a beautiful marble subway tile back splash and an off white quartz counter which adds to the clean and bright appearance in the kitchen.

Art from Minted, blue linen drapes and yellow accessories (and tulips from Fiori Oakville) complete the kitchen. Note how the drapes just touch the floor. This is my preferred way to hang drapes and I cringe when I see drapes that are too long or are too short. (PS The stools we ordered weren’t ready at the time of the shoot, so what’s a designer to do? I spray painted my old stools (see my Kitchen before) in a glossy black and I bring them out when I need to for extra guests in my kitchen.)

They replaced the tile with hardwood to match the other areas of the home. Clients always ask is it OK to have hardwood in a kitchen. Although I have tile in my current kitchen, my house in Vancouver had hardwood. You do have to be a bit more diligent to wipe up any spills than you would with a tile floor but “Yes”, you can certainly have hardwood in a kitchen. Keeping a rug by the sink and dishwasher is important and I always recommend either an indoor/outdoor rug like the one above or a vintage Persian type rug.

 

All of the appliances remained and they definitely look much better surrounded by the white cabinetry. The hardware is from Restoration Hardware.

Photography: Stephani Buchman

The sink is the same one that I used in my kitchen by Blanco and the faucet is by Brizo. Privacy wasn’t an issue for them so we did a flat, faux roman in a pretty paisley fabric from JFFabrics.

So without doing a full reno and replacing cabinetry, the clients were able to have a brand new kitchen which looks clean, bright and more up to date.