VESTAVIA VALLEY kitchen remodel   |   VESTAVIA, AL   |   COMPLETED 2017

2018 Alabama Remodeling Excellence Awards Winner | Kitchen Remodel Under $40,000 Category

After living in their home for almost three years, these clients came to the table with a laundry list of problems they would like resolved in their home. On top of adding on a Master Suite and two-car garage to the home, they also had big dreams to remodel the kitchen and living spaces in the existing home. Big dreams, and a small budget. The task at hand was to figure out a way to open up four separate spaces (foyer, living, dining, and kitchen) so everything felt bright, open, and connected, while also maintaining the sense of boundary between each. One of the clients’ biggest fears was turning what felt like a small shoebox into just a larger shoebox. And all these things were to be done while the homeowners continued to live in the home – cooking out of the basement with only a crockpot and a microwave.

Budget being the biggest driving factor on this renovation, the recommendation was made to keep as much of the existing cabinetry as possible in the new space. Other design parameters that were included in the process were to add a dedicated pantry, a place to sit at a kitchen island, and incorporate their dream apron-front farmhouse sink. With the task at hand, we made a plan (actually several plans) to achieve the clients’ goals. The new design removed the existing peninsula cabinets and inserted the existing dishwasher in the resulting opening in the cabinetry to the right of the sink. The sink cabinet was very carefully adjusted to accommodate their dream apron-front farmhouse sink. The cabinets adjacent to the stove were made more symmetrical and functional by carefully relocating the existing stack of four drawers from the right side of the stove and moving it to the left-hand side. A portion of the upper cabinets were removed to allow for new floating shelves to display the clients’ everyday dishware and provide a new sense of balance to that wall. The existing refrigerator was relocated along with the cabinet above it to where the existing back door was located. This allowed for a new full-height pantry cabinet with roll-out trays to take the place of the existing fridge and anchor that end of the kitchen. The doors of the pantry cabinet were custom created to match the existing cabinet door faces to make the new vs old as undetectable as possible. The cabinet above the refrigerator was brought forward 12” and new side panels were added so this cabinet was much easier to access than it was previously. This built-in refrigerator cabinet anchors the other end of the kitchen and provides that desired boundary from the adjacent dining area. Other than the pantry cabinet and refrigerator panels, the nearly 8’-0” island was the only other new cabinetry purchased for this kitchen. Rather than splurge for custom cabinet doors on the island to match the existing kitchen, we chose to complement them with a shaker-style door front in a soothing blue-ish color with a gray glaze to add depth and texture and a bit of interest to the island. Since the island cabinetry is such a focal point of the newly opened space, we chose to skin the back and sides with beadboard paneling rather than just a smooth, flat back panel.

One way to ensure that the space accomplished the goal of feeling bigger and brighter was to vault the ceilings. It took some convincing to get client approval on the added cost, but after touring another project of ours, the clients were completely sold that this was the right thing to do in their space. This single item is likely the highest-impact design decision made on this project. The vault was further accentuated by adding shiplap to the ceiling plane. This brings in more texture and interest but also proved to be quite the construction feat to ensure that the repetitive parallel lines the shiplap creates remain visually straight and even in a house that is not perfectly square. This shiplap ceiling relates nicely to the beadboard on the back of the island, unifying those two elements.

The placement of the kitchen island allows for circulation around and through the kitchen without any dead ends like in their existing kitchen. The new island incorporates a double overhang and swivel barstools that act both as the third side of the living room seating area while also connecting with those in the kitchen. The new quartz counters throughout provide a highly durable work surface that can withstand the mess from everyday cooking to kids art projects and everything in between. White subway tile with a contrasting dark grout provides a low maintenance backsplash solution for these clients. The floating shelves were installed on top of the subway tile to avoid unnecessary tile cutting and grout joints

The hood vent was the only new appliance added to the project and now serves to adequately vent the kitchen odors to the exterior. Oversized downlight pendants over the island focus all their light onto the work surface while eight LED can lights illuminate the general space in the living room and kitchen. These can lights were carefully mirrored across the vault so they all aligned perfectly. 6” can lights were used in the living room side and 4” can lights were used on the kitchen side since there are several additional task lights throughout the kitchen. Additional pendant lighting was placed over the dining room table and front entry to highlight those spaces.

New hardwoods were laced in along the length of the space where the dividing wall had been removed and also under the existing peninsula that was removed. Having the same material running through all the spaces unifies the different rooms in a calming and warm way. The foyer hardwoods were left running in the opposite direction of the living room to define the entry and leave subtle clues as to the original floor plan of the home.  New arch-top panel door slabs were installed in place of flush hollow core doors on the coat closet and basement entry doors with new oil rubbed bronze hinges and hardware to modernize and elevate the feel of the rooms.

The existing double windows in dining room were replaced with double French doors that open out onto the new screened porch. This provides a stronger connection to the exterior and doubles their living and dining space for around nine months out of the year. The floorplan changes also create a stronger connection to the basement rec room which is accessed off the dining area. Both of these connections from the newly renovated kitchen allow their young children to play independently while remaining somewhat supervised.

At its inception, this kitchen remodel was really secondary to the Master Suite addition, but in the end truly exceeded the client’s initial expectations. The two projects in unison create a space that is much more functional for the way they live and they will enjoy it for many, many years to come.