Kitchen Renovation: All the Details

I partnered with Caesarstone for this post.  All opinions are my own.

The two biggest updates I wanted to make to our house when we moved in were 1) the primary bathroom and 2) the kitchen. Both spaces just had such potential; I knew they could be more. But, true to any renovation these days, it took time and happened in phases.  You can read all about our bathroom renovation in this post and this post!  In today’s post, I’m going to share our kitchen renovation and all the details!

Our Kitchen Renovation

To me, the focal point of any kitchen is the countertops.  It’s the first design element I notice and the one I get most excited about seeing.  I know it’s all about how it comes together in the end…but to me, the countertops are it.  I was looking for something not only high quality, durable, & reputable, but also beautiful and timeless.  I eventually decided on the Statuario Maximus quartz from Caesarstone which checked all the boxes and then some.  Having now had these counters for close to a year, I can easily say that I am so happy with them and highly recommend.

But, let me back up.

Let me show you the before picture.

Is the “before” kitchen the worst thing I’ve ever seen? Of course not.  But could it be improved?  Uh…yah.  Before we even moved in, we had the popcorn ceilings throughout the entire house removed and the entire house also got fresh paint.  The “before” picture is before any of that happened.  We also changed out light fixtures & added updated recessed lighting in the kitchen.

So here’s what we needed to do to achieve the kind of kitchen we wanted:

1. Remove short upper cabinets and replace with new, taller shaker style cabinets
2. Move microwave and replace with a range hood
3. Add backsplash
4. Get new drawer and door fronts for lower cabinets to match new uppers
5. Change small double sink to one large single sink
6. install beautiful new countertops

So for the upper cabinets, Craig & I took those off the wall ourselves, and replaced the uppers ourselves too.  We just used stock cabinets from Lowe’s (linked here) that look custom but were a fraction of the price.  I did all the measuring to see how many we would need, and what size, to fit across the width of the space with a hood in the middle.  Craig also built the hood on his own, from scratch.  He didn’t follow a plan but just kind of figured it out as he went.  So we definitely did as much as we could on our own before hiring out what we couldn’t, which is kind of our M.O. with home reno projects!

In terms of hiring out other parts of the project, we got a local handyman to do our backsplash (just went with the classic subway tile) and we ultimately had to get our new drawer and door fronts for lower cabinets custom made to match new uppers.  We used a local company called Carolina Cabinets & More.

I got questions about where our microwave went, and it’s actually in the tall cabinets to the right of our kitchen.  There’s a lot of extra space in there so that’s where it is!  I like that it’s hidden when we aren’t using it.

Then of course the main beautiful detail: the countertops!!

Here are the after shots of the renovated kitchen:

So much better, right?!

The countertops are an instant elevation of the space, even without anything else being different.  The other things really compliment them, of course, but the Caesarstone Statuario Maximus really steals the show…and I couldn’t be happier about it.

Other details:  Cabinet Knobs | Cabinet Pulls | Counter Stools

xo,

Bess