As I mentioned last week, I am in the process of renovating and redecorating our apartment. Everything we own is about 15 years old and falling apart. One of the biggest pieces to this puzzle is redoing our kitchen, which you can see in the photo above.
No, that is not just a part of our kitchen. That’s the whole thing. I will pull back so you can see for yourself.
If the kitchen was any smaller, we would not be able to fit a sink in there. The funny thing is, this isn’t even the smallest kitchen I’ve had in Manhattan. In one apartment, we had a stove and a fridge just sitting there in the hallway. No cabinets, whatsoever. We all kept our food in our bedrooms. That’s NYC living for you.
What can be done to such a tiny kitchen? I’m hoping, quite a bit.
First step in any home renovation project is making a mood board, figuring out what appeals to you, and then sharing them with everyone else involved. In my case, that’s Emma Beryl from Home Polish.
I also need buy-in from Mike, but he cares more about functionality than design. Like, I don’t really need to talk countertop material with him, but he’s going to want to weigh in on the size of our fridge. Or whether we have a single or double sink. (After 15 years with a double, we’ve learned we only use one side and can stick with a single. We also have never turned on the garbage disposal once, so we don’t need that either.)
Since we are dealing with such a small space, I want our new kitchen to look simple, modern and streamlined, but I wasn’t sure what that entailed exactly. What materials? What appliances? What colors? After spending about an hour on Pinterest, it all became very, very clear. I started to notice common themes in the photos I was pinning— like marble slab waterfall counter tops that are counter height with wood pockets for stools underneath. How’s that for specific?
Currently, our counter is two levels, so for the past ten years, Mike and I have had a silent battle over whether our kitchen clutter belongs at the counter height (that’s where I like it because it’s more hidden) or the bar height (that’s where Mike likes it because then he has more space to cook.) Having everything at counter height instead of two levels puts an end to that battle completely and also looks much cleaner, which will hopefully deter us from putting anything on there at all. Wishful thinking, I know.
Emma also pointed out that all the kitchen photos I pinned had no hardware on the cabinets, a pretty major detail that I didn’t even notice.
So, without further ado, here are 8 photos that are inspiring our kitchen renovation and why I gravitated to them…
1. I like how everything is simple, white and streamlined.
Source: Leibal
2. That’s the marble slab waterfall countertop I was talking about.
Source: Nicole Franzen
3. I love the wooden pocket for the stools.
Source: Style at Home
4. See how clean it is when none of the cabinets have any hardware?
Source: My Modern House
5. I like how this space maximizes cabinets and drawers underneath the counter. Plus the blonde wood is pretty gorgeous.
Source: Blog Lovin’
6. I like the mixture of modern white and rustic wood.
Source: Blog Lovin’
7. I love the playful lighting with the hard modern space.
Source: Trendland
8. Uhhhhh…I think Mazzy threw this one into my Pinterest board when I wasn’t looking.
Source: Toxel
So, what do you guys think? Do you like this direction? Do you think it will work in my kitchen? Will Emma and I be able to pull it off in my teeny tiny space??? Stay tuned!
If you’d like to follow my home decorating journey on Pinterest, you can follow along here.
It all is very pretty and the pocket stools are cute. Just remember, white hides no dirt and especially without handles, you’re going to accumulate a lot of smudges and fingerprints. If you go that route, I’d suggest a material that’s easy to wipe down at the end of the day. Your kids have a lot of sticky hand years left, yet. And kitchens just generally tend to be good bets for messes.
I love these images! This was such a fun post. Looks like you’re going in the right direction. So excited to see more!!! xoxo
I love white kitchens. They look so light but you do kind of end up using ALL your free time wiping counters and cupboards down
It looks gorgeous but two pieces of advice. All white cabinets I’ve ever seen get pretty dirty and snugged from grimy hands. This will be exacerbated with no hardware on the doors. So you may want to reconsider the white and/or no hardware (or at least make sure you get a material that’s easy to clean and stain resistant).
My other comment is on the white/light counters. I have dark granite on my kitchen island and love it. The rest of my counters are white corian and stain easily (coffee, juice, tomato sauce, etc). Be careful with counters that will easily stain, unless you want to bleach them often to keep them looking nice.
I worked as a kitchen designer for several years and I all of the pins here! Smart idea to choose a white, clean look especially for small spaces. The idea behind the hardware less doors is for looks as well as practicality. Most of those done today have a special click-push mechanism that enables you to open and close doors and drawers plus you get the neat look and have one less thing to choose!
As a past designer I’d recommend you also check out Houzz.com for the biggest variety of kitchen (and every other room) ideas, looks and moods as well as connecting to sub contractors and retailers.
As for furniture, I love Restoration Hardware but they can be pricey.
Good luck! If you need any assistance, I’d love to help you!
Love the direction, clean and simple with a pop of natural wood. As a hardware designer, I think hardware can be a great opportunity to add a finishing touch, pop of color/finish, tying in with your fixtures; hardware also eliminates the white cabinets having fingerprints alll over ’em! Would love to see if you’re updating the layout of your space; it appears you have some room to elongate the counters a bit, or remove the wall where the fridge is at to open up the kitchen even more.
Great ideas! Although I am NOT a fan of white kitchens – I know it’s the ‘in’ thing but all I can picture is how dirty they get. I had white cabinets before my kitchen remodel and couldn’t wait to get those dirty things out of my kitchen! Now we have a wood color but it’s real light wood, more like the color you currently have LOL.
I cry on the inside whenever somebody puts down white marble in the kitchen. My brother just did it even though I warned him. 🙁 It looks beautiful, but it is going to get stained so you have to be cool with that. That said discoloration will happen to any natural stone including beautiful dark tones. I know it probably puts pains in your heart to think about faux, but maybe there’s attractive faux options out there that are stain proof??? (Leaving this comment already knowing you’re probably going with the marble anyway!!!!!)
Okay, I get it. Looking at other options. Thanks to everyone who weighed in! This is why I ask. My sister has quartz and it’s not as interesting as marble but still looks pretty.
I love a lot of this. I’ll just say quartz, quartz, quartz, given Mike’s affinity for cooking. It’ll last well and the durability pays off despite the extra cost. I love the mix of colors, and think darker lowers and white uppers also looks amazing. This all reminds me a lot of the vibe you have going at the summer house, which I really like.
We love our quartz and you can get something that looks almost identical to marble without as much hassle!
How on earth do you not use your garbage disposal?! I can’t imagine not having one…
Totally love the photos. It looks gorgeous but two pieces of advice. All white cabinets I’ve ever seen get pretty dirty and snugged from grimy hands. This will be exacerbated with no hardware on the doors. So you may want to reconsider the white and/or no hardware (or at least make sure you get a material that’s easy to clean and stain resistant).
We went with no hardware in our new kitchen. I love the look. But I need to clean each cabinet and drawer front every weekend. Especially the ones the kids use. The smudges get serious. But after a few years it’s no big deal. I’d still choose no hardware. Just keep good wood cleaner around.
Also, you and I have the same taste in kitchen Islands. I want to do the same thing: waterfall counter with wood pocket. Rusticwood is my perfered choice. I’m hoping this fall I will get a small Island built. We have a teeny tiny city kitchen too so we opted for no Isla d but now I want one.
Really very impressive, I have been already finding a contractor for my kitchen remodeling. I love your great eye catchy collection especially your countertops & counter chairs. Thanks