Back in January, we began the first of two major remodeling projects at our house. From January to March, All in One Kitchen and Bath transformed our main bathroom from a white-tiled 90s paradise to a gorgeous oasis.
It was during the early stages of the bathroom project that we asked our designer Cara to come up with a design for our dream kitchen. While well-appointed and with some great features, our kitchen was head-to-toe oak, the floors matching the cabinets, with earthy tones throughout. Very 90s/early 2000s. We dreamed about white cabinets, darker floors, a backsplash similar to the subway tile in our new shower, and making the space more functional. We never used the small bar sink, the microwave was below counter level, and we wanted a narrower island to help open up the space.
Here’s how our kitchen looked before the renovation
Knowing that All in One’s schedule was already filling up for 2021, we locked in a summer start date. We figured that between time away at the lake and a couple of planned trips, it wouldn’t be so bad to live through another renovation.
A kitchen is obviously a much bigger undertaking than a bathroom. The kitchen is the heart of the home, and doing a complete remodel would mean not having use of our kitchen sink, oven, dishwasher, cabinets, countertops, and basically everything with the exception of our microwave for several months. It also means a lot of packing and storing of large and/or fragile items. I swear, I never realized how many mugs, wine glasses, and pieces of tupperware we owned until we had to pack them up.
It’s not fun, but in the end, it’s so worth the chaos. Thanks to some COVID-related delays in materials, holiday weekends, and coordinating schedules, the entire process has lasted from the beginning of July until toward the end of October.
The design process
As with the bathroom, one of the best parts early in the process was seeing Cara’s presentation and renderings of the kitchen design. We knew how well the renderings would capture the feel and look of the finished product. With the exception of a few tweaks, we loved everything about Cara’s design. For example, the initial design included a white island to match the cabinets; it felt like too much white in the renderings, so we went with a dove gray island instead.
Rendering by Cara Spleet, All in One Kitchen and Bath 
Rendering by Cara Spleet, All in One Kitchen and Bath
One of the somewhat unique features of the design was the seating area in the middle of the island. In the original design, the seating was at the far end of the island, but we didn’t want it to feel too far from the rest of the kitchen. We also liked how making the island longer and narrower would provide a lot of storage while also creating more space to walk around in the kitchen.
It’s demo day!
While we originally anticipated the kitchen project would start in mid-June, things ended up starting after the Fourth of July holiday weekend. The delay gave us some extra time to get everything packed up and set up a makeshift pantry on our dining room table. We arranged to stay with my parents for the first few days of demolition to avoid all of the noise, dust, and dogs barking incessantly. By the time we returned that weekend, our kitchen was completely torn out.
Once all of the old cabinets came out, the crew from All in One did repairs to the walls and prepped the space for our new cabinets. At this point, our oven was moved to the garage and our refrigerator was set up in our living room. It was quite a setup for those months! Once the cabinets were in place, the countertop company could create the templates for our quartz. With a lead time of 4-6 weeks, the countertops would cause the longest gap in time for our project.
During this break in the kitchen construction, we lined up having our floors refinished. It worked out well to have this big component of the project done when the cabinets were in (so that we could see the sample colors against the white and gray cabinets) and we planned to be out of town for the week. We were referred to Professional Hardwood Flooring and Trim by All in One, and they did a wonderful job.
One of the members of their crew brought over four sample colors, and we went with Aged Barrel, a darker brown color that had some gray tones:
Having the floors redone was very exciting for our kitchen (and family room) transformation, but was also a bit stressful. We needed to move all of the furniture in our family room and the kitchen table to other parts of the house, from our TV to the couches to our area rug… all before leaving town for a week. Similarly to packing up the kitchen, moving a little at a time helped me feel a little less overwhelmed. It was worth the stress to come home from our trip to finished floors we could walk on. And they looked beautiful!
The rest of the project comes together
The All in One crew returned once the countertops were installed to continue work on the electrical, plumbing, and backsplash. The decorative paneling on the back and sides of the cabinets also made everything look more finished. It was at this point that the kitchen really felt like it was coming together.
Getting use of our kitchen sink and dishwasher were a big game changer after not using either of them for several months. It’s amazing how easy it is to take something like a kitchen sink for granted. Each day brought new progress and excitement as we got closer to the end of the project.
While we still have a couple of loose ends, our kitchen is 90% complete and functional. It felt great being able to finally put everything away in the cabinets, organize our refrigerator, and personalize the floating shelves with cookbooks and Halloween decor. I also couldn’t wait to start making dinners at home again using something other than the microwave.
The final result
Two big renovations in one year, let alone during COVID, has been interesting to say the least. It’s meant a lot of coordination, organization, having people in and out of our house, and rolling with changes and delays. I’ve learned that it’s important to have patience and understanding, especially when it comes to the effects of COVID. In the end, it’s all been worth it to have the kitchen of our dreams in the home we love.
Looking back at photos of the original kitchen, it’s hard to believe it’s the same space. We can’t thank our designer Cara, our installers Matt and Colton, and our electrician Brett from F.D. Hayes enough for all of their help and attention.
Before and after
My five favorite features
- These floating shelves
This area used to be a wet bar with wine and glassware storage cabinets on top. The countertop was often cluttered with our mail, charging station, and stray toys. The floating shelves help break up all of the new white cabinetry in the kitchen and created a wonderful spot for my cookbooks and seasonal decorations. This spot brings me a lot of joy.
- This hidden charging station
We asked Cara to help us come up with a space to tuck away our charging station and the girls’ devices. This cabinet door pops open from the bottom and is the perfect size to hold this little bamboo stand we already owned. We love having everything nearby but out of sight.
- This pot filler
Having a pot filler was a wish list item that I hoped would be a possibility, but it wasn’t a deal-breaker. Now that we have one, I’ve used it several times already and I am so glad we have one.
- These refrigerator organizing bins
We purchased a narrower, counter-depth LG refrigerator to go with the new cabinet layout. Having a new fridge also gave us a clean slate when it came to organizing everything inside. I bought several clear bins from HomeGoods to assist with keeping similar items together and easily visible. I don’t know if we’ll always be able to have our fridge look like it belongs on an episode of “MTV Cribs,” but so far we’re loving the view whenever we open up the doors.
- This vertical storage
We had cabinetry above our refrigerator in the original kitchen layout, but never utilized the space to its potential. Our sheet pans, muffin tins, and cutting boards used to be stacked in drawers next to the oven. Having this large area with dividers gives us a place for all of these items, plus frees up the drawers next to oven for utensils and taller cookware. I had a couple friends joke with me that storage like this is great for tall people, haha. Definitely a fair point.
If you have any questions about our renovation or the items we chose, feel free to reach out to me. Thanks for following along on my Instagram and for reading all about it.