Vermont kitchen reno finished! (mostly)
The kitchen is Vermont is done! Hooray! Honestly, it has been done for some time but I haven't set things up quite as I wanted them so I didn't really consider the kitchen to be blog worthy just yet.
If you haven't seen the before pictures of our kitchen in Vermont, you can read about it here.
A little about me and home decorating: I tend to be great at picking out big stuff-paint, furniture, design aesthetic, etc. I do this fairly easily and always have a good idea of the direction in which I would like a project to go. Also me: I absolutely suck at the smaller stuff-wall art, decorative objects, accessories. I stress about it so much and have come up with a brilliant strategy; buy none of these things so I can't get it wrong. I have spent too many hours, money in hand, in a store trying to buy beautiful things to accessorize my home and left with absolutely nothing. I become paralyzed and can't make a decision. Seriously, I can't tell you how many times this has happened.
Well ready or not, here it is. The footprint of the kitchen remained basically the same. I have updated appliances, new cabinets, counters, and lighting. YAY! It still needs a bit of finessing here and there. Some more greenery (I can't have live plants as I am not there enough to care for them, and I loathe fake plants). Maybe a few more accessories on the shelves. Progress is being made and that is what is important.
I am in love with the navy cabinets. IN LOVE. They are from Schrock in the Maritime finish. I think with the honey bronze hardware they really pop. I went with a white quartz for the counter as I don't have a lot of light in the kitchen and knew this would help keeping things brighter and airier. I believe the quartz is called Misterio.
The lights are from Restoration Hardware and you can find them here. They are the 20th Century single library sconce. They have helped tremendously with our poor lighting situation!
I also really love the dish cabinet. J. and I keep a few things out on the open shelves: coffee mugs, a few wine glasses, several plates. Just what we need when we are up in Vermont on our own. The bulk of the dish and glassware has found a home in the new cabinet which really feels like a piece of furniture to me.
With a larger piece of quartz we were able to create a small seating area at the counter in front of the cooktop. We did not have this before but I can see it being a great spot for someone to enjoy coffee or a glass of wine as a meal is being prepared. Not a huge investment for a great spot for 3 more people to sit!
What else can I tell you? Oh! The appliances are all from KitchenAid. I have been pretty happy in the past with my appliances from them and they fit the budget so that was a no-brainer. The oven is a wall mounted oven just placed under the counter. I really like how sleek that looks!
You may have noticed that I have three different finishes in the kitchen and it took a little bit of doing to get over my fear of mixing metals but I did it! There are a couple of general rules: don't choose too many finishes, and try and keep the finishes on the same plane visually. Again, they are general rules and I think it can work. We have black stainless appliances, textured chrome handles on those appliances, honey bronze cabinet hardware, and finally, the flat black finish on the sconces and the faucet. I think they really do play pretty well together. Be fearless in your choices! But don't choose too many. Put some back.....there, that's better.
Last but not least, I think this is just the sweetest spot in the kitchen. I can't really explain why. The framed print is from Smallwood Home. This little area is where we get breakfast and dinner ready for our two Golden Retrievers. It just makes me smile.
Cheers!