My kitchen remodel | the reveal!!

I am SUPER excited to reveal my kitchen remodel.

In many ways this was beyond years in the planning.  The kitchen is definitely ‘my’ room.  Although all my boys now cook, for most of their life I was the key cook in the house, and aside from meals, I have always loved to bake.  When the kids were growing up, I’d probably bake every second day.  So, it is fair to say I spend quite a bit of time in the kitchen.

When we purchased our house 13 years ago, the kitchen was probably the one room that I didn’t feel a need to change.  Although it was a little dated, it was very bespoke, and quite beautiful.  In its day, it would have been a very high end kitchen.

However, what you don’t see when you’re just looking at a kitchen, is how it works in practical terms.

The 2 most important factors in my kitchen remodel

What I was to find over the years, was that practically my beautiful kitchen just didn’t work for us, with two key issues.  The first was a lack of storage space.  Now it is fair to say I do own a lot of kitchen ‘stuff’, but I don’t think the kitchen would have worked well for anyone.  (In fact, the entire house has a lack of storage.)  So we ended up with kitchen things in the hall cupboard, a bedroom cupboard, and in an armoire in the lounge.   Which functionally is less than ideal.

The second issue was a lack of bench space.  We really had very little, so this time, the dining table in the kitchen had to take the overflow when it was full steam ahead in the kitchen.

Oh, and I almost forgot, that we also had the world’s smallest fridge. OK, I may be being a little dramatic, but it was tiny, and built in, so there was no capacity to change it.

None of those issues could be worked around without a complete remodel.  For years I would sit at the kitchen table, looking at my kitchen, then dreaming about how I would change it.  I was always on pinterest and reading magazines, storing away ideas on what was possible. (Anyone else do that??)

It all seemed a dream

But in many ways, it all seemed a bit of a dream, and a fantasy. 

You see, I have never ever had a new kitchen, and it really seemed the thing that other people got/did.   And mention to my husband about the need for a new kitchen, and he would just bring up all of the comments that we continued to receive about how lovely our kitchen WAS.  And it was.  But good looks are nothing without the right heart.  And our original kitchen just couldn’t back it’s looks up with functionality.

Long story short, by some not so small miracle, helped by the passing of many years, I did manage to convince the fisherman that it was time to update the kitchen.

I will tell you the story of the design, construction and installation in another episode, but in the meantime I know you just can’t wait to see what we did.

The remodel – before

But first, this is how it was.

We didn’t want to change the footprint of the kitchen, because that’s where you can incur huge additional costs. So the new design had to work within the existing footprint, but deliver on extra storage, and extra bench space. As well, of course, as looking good!

The kitchen remodel – after

Drum roll please …..

It is one year on, and hand on heart, there are days when I still sit at my kitchen table, and pinch myself.  The new kitchen is everything I could have dreamed of, and I feel so lucky and blessed to have been able to make it happen.

Check out that fridge!! I LOVE it! That’s another area of functionality that has improved no end. The top french doors open to a huge fridge area, while the bottom doors are freezers. However …. the bottom right area can be transformed to a fridge at the touch of a button. This works really well for us, as we don’t use our freezer a lot.

When designing the kitchen, it was really important to me to retain the character of the house. So whilst it needed updating and modernising, it still had to be a fit for what was there. The house is a unique mix of Australian Queenslander and a farm style, so the new kitchen couldn’t be too modern. Shaker style cabinets were a given, and the new version in a lovely fresh white are just perfect.

But, in keeping with the rest of the house, it was also important to me that the kitchen wasn’t all white. We grounded the island in this beautiful grey. It’s both modern and classic, and adds extra character to the kitchen.

We replaced the funny ‘part’ island with a whopper!  (8ft9″ x 4ft or  2.67 x 1.2m) Boom – counter space issue solved in one!  But, we did add counter space along the back walls as well.

We brought in touches of natural timber because it brings such a beautiful warmth to a space. We started with the floating shelves, and continued the timber in the bar stools. (Which are SUPER comfy, they were a fab find.)

This view’s from one end looking into the working area of the kitchen. It’s a great wide zone, so several of us can easily be in there at once. And check out the basket! I have to admit, it was one of those ‘silly little things’ that I was absolutely fixated on having (for potatoes and onions), and still love. I just look it it and it makes me smile.

So there’s a little peek into the remodel.

But wait, there’s more ….

BUT, what you can’t see is all the magic.

As much as I love the look of my kitchen (and I really do, I still stop, look and pinch myself that this is mine), the magic in this kitchen is in the details. My mantra is that things need to be pretty AND practical, and after experiencing a kitchen that was only pretty, there was a heavy emphasis on practical in this kitchen remodel.

If you’d like to see what’s inside those beautiful cupboards, check out my Top Tips for practical kitchen design. Here you’ll see some unique ways to save you $, and to make the most of every inch of space. Make sure you join my VIP group, so you don’t miss out on future instalments also.

I’d love to hear what you think of our new space, so please do leave a comment below.

 Don’t forget to pin this too, so you can easily find it when you want to.