This post is long overdue! Here are the details and sources for our kitchen renovation.

When we purchased our home in January 2019, I knew we had a long list of upgrades and renovations in our future. As we started our to-do list on the house, one thing I knew I couldn’t live with was the existing kitchen. After gutting and renovating the kitchen in our last house, we knew the ropes and didn’t waste any time getting started.

The first steps were to figure out the look and design we wanted. Many hours were spent on Pinterest pinning all the elements - cabinets, counters, sinks, hardware, lighting, shelving, appliances, and all the little details. I also made a trip to Floor & Decor to get even more inspiration. It was on this trip to Floor & Decor that I fell in love with a marble chevron backsplash. I purchased a piece of the backsplash and brought this with us to our first meeting with the cabinet company. It was that piece of backsplash that our entire kitchen was designed around.

Although my husband and I consider ourselves experienced DIY’ers, we left the cabinet build and installation to the experts. For both our kitchen renovations we have used Progressive Cabinetry in Bradenton, Florida. Although we had a really good idea of how we wanted the new layout to look in the kitchen, we accepted their offer to come to our house and talk through the layout. Man, I am so glad we did this! They are truly the experts and helped us come up with a layout we would have never imagined that was not only beautiful but functional. Then we met with their designer and selected our cabinet door style, colors, moldings, and storage options within the cabinets. I had two features that I really wanted to incorporate into our design and that was the farmhouse ‘X’ on the side of the peninsula and the decor shelf above the microwave. With the help of their designer, my dreams were brought to life. She created a 3D rendering and we were able to easily visualize what the completed kitchen would look like.

Once all the selections were made for the new kitchen, the fun part was about to begin - demo! With the help of friends and family, we removed the entire existing kitchen including the drop down ceiling and tile floors. Once we removed the drop down ceiling and replaced the gaping hole to the attic with sheets of drywall, we needed to decide on a ceiling finish. The ceilings throughout our home have a very unique textured plaster. We knew we could never match this detail and needed to come up with a ceiling finish that would work side by side with the existing textured ceiling leading off the kitchen. So we decided to do a shiplap ceiling. Shiplap seems really easy right…Just nail the boards to the ceiling. Well, with a house built in 1962, we quickly realized how unleveled our ceilings were. In an effort to level out the new shiplap ceiling, we (and by we, I mean my husband and father-in-law) had to use lots of shims between the drywall and the shiplap to make the new shiplap ceiling level. In addition to the ceiling, we laid our own tile floors which we purchased from Home Depot. With the ceiling and floors complete, it was time for the new cabinets!

It took just over a week for Progressive Cabinetry to install our cabinets. During this time we went to a local stone company called Planet Stone to look at counter top options. We considered granite, quartz, and other natural stone options for the counters. I really wanted something white with minimal veining that resembled marble. Our goal was to find something that was both affordable and easy to maintain so marble was unfortunately not an option for us. I fell in love with Cambria Quartz but it was coming in much higher than what we had budgeted for. Luckily, they had multiple quartz manufacturers at different prize levels and we ultimately decided on Pompeii Quartz in the Statuario color which worked with our budget. They ordered a full slab for us and called us in to approve the slab when it arrived at their store. Once all the kitchen cabinets were completely installed, Planet Stone sent someone out to take exact and precise measurements which they used to cut our slab into the exact pieces we needed. Once cut, they sent their team to install the counters and kitchen sink.

Once the counters were completed, we began installing the backsplash. My advice is to go slow when installing backsplash and ensure the tiles are sticking firmly to the wall and not sinking or shifting.

Finally we were to the fun part - selecting and installing all the finishing touches. Since I wanted a Modern Farmhouse feel to this kitchen, I picked out all matte black finishes (hardware, kitchen faucet, and light fixtures). When it came to selecting the kitchen appliances, I knew I didn’t want stainless steel. We looked at a few different brands and color finishes and decided on the black stainless steel look from Samsung. We also installed our own reverse osmosis water system under the kitchen sink.

A year and a half later and we are still so in love with our kitchen! It is my favorite room in the house and where we seem to spend most of our time. My advice to someone considering a kitchen renovation is to sit down and make a list of all the work that will need to be done, a list of all the elements that will need to be selected and installed, and to come up with a renovation budget. I highly recommend using my free, printable Renovation Planner. Then decide what aspects of the project you can do on your own and determine what aspects will require you to hire a professional. ALWAYS have a cushion in the budget that is 10-15% of your total budget. One thing I have learned from renovating two houses is that there are always unexpected expenses! Finally, be patient. This renovation took just over 8 week. During that time we ate a lot of takeout, used a toaster oven that was in our dining room, and washed dishes in the bathtub. Be flexible and enjoy the process!