Kitchen Reveal: Before & After

Welcome Back!

If you've been around my instagram you've probably noticed that out kitchen continues to have some work being done. But it is officially done! I do have a little idea to add some wood to the ceiling but that wont require demo, and we don't have a timeline for that, so for now we are finished.

First off I have to admit the house did have great bones and structure to work with. Just like our bathroom this area was basically one big open space, so a lot of possibilities. so let’s break down the before;

It was a bit funny that for the amount of space available the actual island was pretty narrow and tight with the counters behind it. Cooktop was on the island but It was also double height, and not enough hang to actually sit there and be an eat-in kitchen. The bar did have a bit more room to sit but definitely not designed to eat there either. In general, the cabinet layout was good and wrapped around the entire kitchen, which we kept.

This house did have, what I call an 80s formal dining room. You know, when you would host very formal dinners in a room that was completely closed off from the rest of the house, and hanging out in the kitchen was a big no no. This is something we didn’t want, we don’t host secret meetings or formal dinners and felt that whoever was cooking would be completely isolated from the dinner party (unless you have a cook and want it that way) we also wanted to do one big island but the wall to the dining room wouldn’t allow it.

options: we considered opening up the entire room, but it would have created a weirdly large space with way too many sitting spaces (breakfast, island, dining) so we needed openness but not that much … hence came the idea of just a half wall coming down. To still give the room the division it needs, without it being completely closed off from the world. This way we could use it as formal dining or a more casual setting with the kitchen.

What we did:

- Half Wall removal: we did remove half of the dining room wall. TIP: although knocking down walls in the US is a lot easier (mexico houses are all concrete … so good luck opening up that wall lol) you still need to get a structural engineer to plan it. For example our house is a one story and yes, this wall had a support post in it, thankfully the team working on our house did amazing work and added a full support beam to make up for it.

- New Floors: we decided to run our wood floors into the kitchen as well, I do love seeing different floorings in a kitchen but only if the lay out allows, our kitchen is extremely open so switching floors would look weird.

- One Big island: Yes, we did it, one massive island, my inspiration came from my parents house, my dad was an amazing chef and host and he loved having friends/family over and hanging in the kitchen as he prepped and cooked, and then sit in the kitchen and enjoy. And I love that, So we did it. It’s a big island for cooking and hosting/eating. Removed the wet bar and made it one big one.

- Moved stove: I have gotten a few questions on why we moved the stove, or why we didn’t put the sink on the island. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I don’t like having the cooking/washing stations on the islands (some exceptions exist) Because we like hosting and having people sit in the island area, I hate having that space messy or try to keep water, oils from reaching our guests lol. In our previous house, we had our sink on the bar/peninsula and although I loved being able to watch tv while I did the dishes I hated that I splashed water on to whoever was sitting in front of me and that any mess in the sink was visible. But that was the lay out and it also worked. Here we decided to move it to the back wall and do an exhaust fan and leave the island just for prep and hosting.

- Sink stayed in its original place by the window which is also very cute, you have a nice view.

- Cabinets: Went all the way to the ceiling with our cabinets to maximize storage, as well for island. I actually ordered more deep drawers, they are a lot more comfortable to pull out plates and stuff. Classic clean shaker doors. but stayed with the original layout for cabinets.

- Floating shelves: I love shelves, and not just because they’re in, but because it breaks up the cabinetry very nicely. We went with a stain a bit darker than our floors, to tie them in but still survive cooking

- New appliances: no surprise we couldn’t keep the original appliances. Here comes the multiple updates you've probably seen since we moved in. We originally did not have a gas line into the kicthen, although the house does use gas. So, we considered getting a large professional style gas range, but that would truly blow our budget out of this world, and although not a huge deal we would have had to pull the gas line to for the stove/range. We figured we would just put in an electric range and maybe in a few years upgrade to something bigger, my mom also offered that if she ever moved out from our family home (in meixco) we could have my dad's Viking 48" wide professional range set (heck yes), we thought that would be in 5 years or so, The Kitchen was fully completed originally on january 2022, and a couple months later my mom decided she would move out ... by end of October 2022 ... which meant I needed to figure out how to get that over to Texas, which was not that complicated in the end, and in December we were able to adapt the countertops, cabinetry and run a gas line, without complications, our main concern was the marble but thankfully no issues. The vent hood however was another story since the cabinetry had to be modified and no one had time to do it or didn't want to, and to be honest it didn't look bad, so fast forward to January 2024 when we finally found someone who knew what they were doing and could get it done quickly, and ta-da we finally have our Viking set installed and done ... which makes it even sweeter is that my dad loved cooking so much and I get to keep a little part of that in our home.

- Counters: ok on a whim, we did get marble. Here’s my take, if this is your house and want to stay in it for years (maybe your forever home) SPLURGE! And as long as you’re not over invested in your house’s/neighborhoods price range, get the look you love.

I am a sucker for natural stone and the movement it has, yes, it’s more maintenance and care, but at the same time I like to think that our marble is living life with us. We do protect it from heat and stains (wine) but still very important to SEEL it! But enjoy it, don’t over stress about it. It's not as bad as many people make it sound, it's just basic care. Our marble is Calacatta Viola.

- Marble tip: I love marble that is “busy” and it’s the one style I recommend for kitchens. If you have a solid completely clean marble; stain, heat marks, scratches, and other stuff, will be more noticeable. Our marble has so much going on that a little stain here and there doesn’t really stand out. If you want that pure white look I personally wouldn’t do marble, check quartz, granite or what we used in our previous house. dolomite

- White-ish kitchen: I wanted to modernize and update this house, but still keep it somewhat classic that it won’t go out of style in the next couple years. We considered darker cabinets, but in the end decided on white (being timeless). This is also why I picked this marble it was white enough to keep it light but had enough grey and black to pop. It also has hints of green and red. And some yellow that ties in with the floors … it was planned lol. With the back splash we decided a simpler tile but with texture and dimension: I know a lot of designers and remodels that when they use marble they run it as a backsplash too. Personally, I felt our island was already a lot of marble that adding it even if just partial backsplash would have been too much (and more money lol) we instead did this pearly textured subway tile placed evenly, each piece is a slightly different shade so it doesn’t make the wall look flat.

- Lighting: we did get rid of the stained glass, no it wasn’t a sky light lol. I got a couple comments “why did you remove the skylight” lol and added pendants and new can lights. would have never removed a skylight.

Pfew ok I think this is longer than I thought lol but I’ll share the before and after pics and hope you can spot the differences hehe And added links to fixtures and accessories

Before / Antes:

After / Despues