Our closing date on the new house is fast approaching (T-minus 38 days) and we are starting to select our finishes and fixtures.  My head is a swirling mess of ideas and between getting caught up from being gone for our honeymoon and needing to spend my days working for my clients, I haven’t had a lot of time to devote to sourcing for myself.

Luckily, the kitchen is one place where I have exceptionally strong opinions that rarely waiver.  I am a white kitchen kind of girl.  Do I love colorful kitchens, light earthy tones or deep rich woods?  Sure thing!  Just not for my own home.

I am also strongly in favor of a shaker style cabinet.  I will never personally be traditional enough for a raised center panel, nor will I be modern enough for a flat cabinet.  I am leaning toward these doors, which have an extra step down to the center panel, which I think gives it a little extra something.

The flooring is currently wood and while we will need to repair and patch some areas due to layout changes, it will remain wood.  Stain color TBD, but I am thinking dark walnut or maybe a dark walnut/gray blend.  I know that the light floors and gray washes are very hot right now, but like every design trend, that too shall pass and they just aren’t my jam for my own home.

The back splash tile is also somewhat of a no-brainer for me, as I have been drooling over one particular tile for about a year.  Lucky for me, my husband is also very excited by it.  It is the Lori Dennis Flores Hexagon Tile from Tile Bar.  I recently convinced a client to use it in her home and it exceeded both of our (very high) expectations.  It is a perfect blend of simple and neutral but also special and interesting.  Counter tops, lighting, hardware, etc. will be chosen at a later date because it will be open to the rest of the living space and I haven’t gotten that far yet mentally!

The kitchen is currently very closed off and in my opinion, rather poorly laid out. Our hope (fingers and toes crossed here!) is that we can take down the wall that separates the kitchen from the living space and open everything up.  As you can see in the image below, the laundry is also in the kitchen, which I am not excited by.  Our plan is to relocate that to our master bedroom closet so it is more accessible to the bedrooms and so we can recapture that space in the kitchen.  That area on the left with the closed door is a pantry.  We intend to relocate the refrigerator to that space, as it will fit easily there and there will be no issue with power or water lines.   This island is also the goofiest little thing, with the awkward half-moon shaped top and one lone little pendant over it.  Plus, why would it be justified that direction and not clearly the other way as nature intended it?  Builders man…

Since Brett and I are both big cooks and our home tends to be the gathering spot for our friends, we need this space to be functional for us now and in the future.  With this laundry/fridge wall down, we will gain 6 lower cabinets!  And by having the island turned the opposite direction, we will gain 3 more!  Our current house has 9 cabinets total (upper and lower), so this new space, at more than three times the storage, is going to be paradise!

What these pics don’t show is that opposite the stove wall, there is an 11′ long wall with nothing on it or near it.  The current residents have a little wall unit there.  I have something a bit more useful planned!

I plan to do an oven/microwave unit, a bar with glass front cabinets and a 3′ wide pantry on this wall.  This will be so much more functional and will give us the ability to add the second oven, get the microwave off the the range and give us extra storage and serving space.  Below are some basic concept images.  SO much better, right?

I am getting excited!