A Kitchen Remodel for a Serious Home Chef

“I can’t wait to undergo a kitchen renovation that will make my house practically unlivable for months!” Says, no one. But I will say this… I love my kitchen now, and I’m so glad we made the reno happen.

One of the main reasons we bought this house was because of the kitchen. When you see pictures of the “before”,  you may say “But why?!” You have to have vision, patience and lots more patience. And did I mention you have to be patient? Construction projects will test your mental and emotional endurance like nothing else in life. You have to know what you’re getting into, and have a fail-safe button if you want your marriage to survive the process. Not only did Christopher and I survive, we learned a lot about each other. Mainly that I change my mind a lot, and that he has the patience of a gold-medal-winning-olympic-level Buddhist monk. If there were such a thing…

We initially loved the central location of the kitchen within the home, it’s overall layout, and the potential to turn it into something spectacular. We kicked off the remodel about a year after we moved in. I spent countless nights searching through Pinterest, Houzz and an infinite number of kitchen layouts. I researched appliances, fixtures and materials; weighing aesthetics and, most importantly, function. Once I had my design in mind, it was helpful to print out pictures of the current kitchen and draw over them. This helped us visually, and it also helped designers, vendors, etc. understand what we were going for. I highly recommend this approach unless you have access to fancy design software, which I did not.

When Christopher asked me what my must-have item for the kitchen would be, without a second thought I said I wanted a fancy stove. To me that meant a powerful, professional, high-end gas range. No electrical. No induction. I wanted big flames and heavy duty materials. I wanted an oven that would bake perfection, and enough burners to be able to cook a whole meal at once. I’m glad we got a six-burner given I’m now a wife and mother of some very hungry men!

We researched Viking, Thermador and Wolf Sub-zero. Viking was taken off the list because they’ve declined in quality and reputation as of late because of a change in ownership. We seriously considered Thermador because of their ability to provide high-end matchy-matchy appliances (hood, range and refrigerator), we realized that best-in-class Wolf and Sub-zero were unmatched in quality, reputation and customer service (oh, and their warranty is legit and hassle free in our opinion).

Yes, the price tag for these items is ridiculous. I wouldn’t recommend considering Wolf/Sub-zero if it weren’t for the fact that their quality and performance are seriously worth the splurge. Fruits and vegetables do last longer in a Sub-zero refrigerator. The whipped cream can be left uncovered for a few days and it will not pick up the dreaded fridge smell. The air filter in the fridge makes a huge difference in terms of freshness, and we did not find a similar feature with their direct competitors.

Then there’s the Wolf range… My baby… The Louboutin red sole of my kitchen. It is the center piece of our redesign; beautiful, powerful, and iconic. The sound of the burners when the flames come through it, and at the same time it’s ability to deliver the most gentle yet consistent simmer of any range I’ve ever owned, make this purchase worth it. Every. Single. Penny.  And I cook a lot! Whether I’m doing something for the blog, styling for a client, or developing recipes, the range is always getting used.

In terms of the kitchen design, we wanted to implement some industrial elements, yet wanted everything to have a sleek and aesthetically understated result. The handle-less Bosch dishwasher, Sharp microwave drawer, and SubZero wine/beverage center truly put an accent mark on making this into a high-end kitchen for a home chef.

Let’s not forget about the sink area, which we also spent a considerable amount of time researching. First of all, I wanted the ability to pile dirty dishes, pots, pans, etc. into the sink without having them be immediately visible when I walked into the kitchen. I also wanted a faucet similar to those in restaurant kitchens; the ones where the squeeze-handle-faucet can be dragged around to powerfully blast food off dishes and to clean the sink. We wound up with an oversized, extra-deep sink with an industrial-grade hose faucet. And while it has delivered against our wish list, nothing has been more satisfying than being able to also fit the babies bathtubs for awesome shower-baths that don’t break our backs.

To the sink area we also added a three-step filtration system and water faucet. While we still opted for a filtered ice-maker with our fridge, we didn’t go with a water dispensing system because we learned through many savvy sales people that the first thing to malfunction in a fridge is the water dispensing system. With this setup, the filter gets replaced about every six months, and the result so far has been consistent, great-tasting water. It has also come in very handy for cooking and preparing baby formula.

The biggest surprise of this remodel was that the biggest headache came from the reworking and refacing of the cabinets. If I had to do it over again, I would probably just opt to get new cabinets altogether. However, I thought we could save a little money by keeping most of the old cabinets, replacing the doors, and repainting everything to match. It was a lot of work for both the designer (moi) and the contractor, and a process I wouldn’t necessarily recommend to anyone. We started by purchasing new upper and peninsula cabinets to match the existing door style (primarily the pantry cabinet wall). While the new cabinets were amazing quality, the door styles were not an exact match to what we had. So I had to contract a cabinet maker to supply us with the rest of the doors to now match what we had purchased online. Add to that the cost of repainting, replacing drawer pulls, hinges and handles… You get my drift. Don’t do it. Just buy everything new, and save yourself the headache.

The floors were of particular importance to my hubby. He wanted tile for sure, but he also wanted heated floors. I will say that it is incredibly most wonderfully amazing to walk onto warm floors during the cold winter months. We have them automatically come on in the morning, then turn off during the day to save energy costs. Yes, this simple luxury will jab-jab-right-hook your electricity bill if you’re not careful…

Believe it or not we are still working on the kitchen. I am now trying to add pendants above the island (instead of pot lights). I also want a basket drawer to put produce/fruit into, so that these don’t have to sit on the counter. I also want to add drawer organization, because they’re complete chaos. I also want new bar stools because the ones we have swivel and are always clinking against the counters, which drives us both nuts. There’s always something…

But honestly, I absolutely LOVE our kitchen the way it is. I often stop and stare at it in disbelief and I am humbled that I actually have my dream kitchen. I have everything I’ve ever wanted in a kitchen.

Love.