BEFORE & AFTER: A KITCHEN RENOVATION
July 28, 2019When I first bought this place, the fixes I made were quick. They were meant to make the house livable in the fastest amount of time I could handle. This included things that were immediate #need like: popcorn ceiling removal, swapping vertical blinds for curtains, repainting the walls, and stripping the carpet for wood. Three years later and several Pinterest boards later, this eyesore of a kitchen was still staring me in the face.
This is how the place looked when I first toured it. Started at the bottom.
The condo was built in the 80’s and only had two previous owners prior to myself. Both owners never made any time for any upgrades — keeping the original fixtures as is until it was turned over to me. I tackled many redesigns for this place prior to the kitchen, knowing it was my biggest hurdle. But finally I decided it was time to climb the mountain.
Now we here!
The space had always felt dark and dreary before. And I knew in the update, I wanted to freshen things up. I kept true to the white cabinets — but swapped them from those clinical, boring boxes for these clean, modern ones. The white plastic handles before just melted into the cabinets themselves. Here, they get their own moment after being replaced with brass hardware.
The most eye-catching thing in the kitchen is definitely the countertops. I was very much inspired by the Japanese art of Kintsugi — which uses gold to repair old pottery. It gives the appearance of gold cracks within vases. The gold hardware and the gold flecks on the marble were my own spin on it.
The previous kitchen had divided the sink into two sides; both of which were pretty shallow. I opted instead for one main sink that was super deep. And naturally, I stuck to the gold fixtures with this champagne-colored faucet.
It was a week long effort, but am so infinitely happy I did it. It’s made me even more attached to my place and even more hyped up to take on more renovations. Here’s a breakdown of what changed and where I got the materials:
Cabinets / Sink / Handles - from 405 Cabinets (cabinets are in Spartan White)
Countertops - from MSI Surfaces in Titanium Granite
Backsplash - from MSI Surfaces in Whisper White Hexagon
Range Hood - from Pacific TrueSteam
Gold Faucet - from Amazon
Hope this inspires you to get started on any renovations you’ve been putting off! And if you have any Q’s, feel free to drop them below or slide into my DM’s (@minhbui_). Happy remodeling!
