I am sharing our kitchen cabinet progress for week 2 of the One Room Challenge.
Hey friends! I hope you had a great week! It is week 2 of the One Room Challenge, and I am back to share some kitchen cabinet progress. I am also going to share some of our choices for lighting, counter tops, etc. If you would like to go back to the beginning of this challenge, you can go to week one where I shared my plans and before photos of this kitchen renovation.
If you have not heard of the One Room Challenge (also called ORC), currently in its 16th season, is a widely anticipated biannual event every April and October. Each round, twenty design bloggers take the challenge and transform a space. It is hosted by Better Homes and Gardens. Wednesdays is the day for the design bloggers to go live with their progress, and Thursdays is the day for all the guest participants to go live. You guys will be amazed at these reveals, they are just beyond words good!
If you found me through the ORC Link up, welcome! I am so happy you are here! My name is Nicki and I am the blogger behind Sweet Parrish Place. I love to share our DIY and home decor shenanigans, along with some organization, fashion, travel and other lifestyle types of topics. Thanks for reading!
You can find each of my previous One Room Challenge™ rooms by clicking the links below:
Modern Farmhouse Kitchen Reveal
The first photo above is a photo I took on the day of our final walk through. You can see my husband and our realtor there, but I didn’t want to cut them out of the photo because this is the only photo I could find that shows the two levels of the original island before we started renovating. I have only oe progress photo to share with you this week, and this is it below. Sorry guys, I just don’t want to give too much away this early in the game. This is our biggest and most expensive home renovation ever, and I am so excited to share it all with you right here!
You can see in the photo above that at this point the custom cabinet boxes have been installed above the original cabinets. You can also see that the bookshelf I wanted to add to one side of the island has been installed. They will be removing that top tier from the kitchen island. They will also be adding drywall to the left side of the bookshelf to blend with the rest of the wall. If you look at the ceiling, you can see that they removed the ceiling light that was in the center of the room, and they installed four recessed lights around the perimeter of the ceiling.
We are simply thrilled with the amount of light we have here in the kitchen with the recessed lights that were added. Before they were installed, I was struggling in this room at night because it just wasn’t bright enough. You also may recall that the ceilings in the entire downstairs was the same color as the walls. You can see the ceiling before here. This has already been painted white, along with the crown molding in the entire downstairs. You wouldn’t believe how much that brightened up this space! I can’t wait to show you! The lights over the island are also being replaced. Keep reading to find out what lights we chose for this space.
We had quite a few items to shop for for this kitchen renovation. So for today’s post, I thought I would share some of our choices with you. I dreamed of a farmhouse sink for our new kitchen, but I wasn’t sure if I could fit one into our budget. I did hours of online shopping trying to find the perfect farmhouse sink that was at a price we could afford. I finally settled on this one you see below, from Wayfair. And the $449.99 price was within our budget. I also love that this sink comes with a basket strainer, which you can see in the photo below. This sink has already been installed and we have been using it for a few weeks now, and I have to say, I am extremely happy with my choice! This sink is a stunner!
Please note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which allows me to make a small commission from your purchase, but your price stays the same.
Farmhouse Sink With Basket Strainer
Next up, I needed to choose lights for over the island. The original kitchen had three small pendants over the island. But my contractor and I decided that it would be better to only have two lights over the new island. Because I wanted to add large lanterns. So we thought three would be overkill.
At first, I ordered these lights pictured below. I was thinking I would like a lantern that had a distressed white look to them, so I shopped for hours, and I settled on these Chloe 3 light lanterns from Wayfair. Unfortunately, when they arrived, they were not the color I was hoping they would be. They were much more silver than they appeared online. I also thought they were very poor quality. I was so disappointed when I pulled one out of the box. I knew immediately that they were not the right lights for my kitchen vision. So I sent them back and started again with my search.
I finally decided to go with black lantern pendants. I again shopped for hours, and finally settled on these Finnick 3 light lantern pendants that you see below. And good news, I love them! I love the size of them and the quality. And the best part is they were cheaper than the first lanterns I sent back. And the quality is was better as well.
I shared the refrigerator I chose for the kitchen in last weeks post, but it only seemed right to share again, since I was sharing our other choices. I am so smitten with the clean lines of this white Kitchen Aid refrigerator. This refrigerator does have a drink dispenser inside of the left hand door. And there is also an ice maker. You just have to reach in a scoop the ice out, which is a small price to pay, in my opinion, for the clean lines of the front of the refrigerator.
The most important choice, and probably the most expensive, was the counter tops. I knew I wanted a marble look, but I also knew I did not want the high maintenance of real marble. I was surprised to realize that I could have afforded real marble in our budget if I wanted it. But I just don’t think my family can handle the maintenance of real marble, so I settled on this white quartz that is pictured below. I also included a photo of the sticker that was on the quartz, just in case you are in the market and want to find this exact counter.
That is all I have for you this week, my friends! I have to say that seeing those cabinets being built was super exciting to see my vision starting to come to life! Next up will be painting all of the cabinets white. To refresh your memory, Here is my to do list for this kitchen renovation. And we actually got a few important things checked off the list, so woo hoo!
To Do List For Kitchen Makeover
- paint cabinets white
- replace lighting over island
Remove ceiling light and add recessed lighting- add new counter tops
- paint doors
add shelving to islandhave custom cabinets built above existing cabinets- paint ceiling
- paint walls
- add new accessories and decor
- paint trim
- drop kitchen island to just one level
- add subway tile backsplash
- install garbage cans into an island cabinet
- install new farmhouse sink
- install new kitchen faucet
- paint existing bar stools
Please don’t forget to join me back here at this same time next week to see more of our kitchen renovation progress. Next week I will be sharing some peeks at the cabinets being painted white! You do not want to miss it!
Do you have champagne taste and a tiny budget too?
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Especially if you dislike shopping for appliances, it’s easy to fall into the trap of buying the first thing that looks good. To avoid disappointment later, it’s best to make an informed decision instead. Go into appliance shopping with a list of features that are a priority for you.
Love the idea of the extra cabinet boxes over top of the original cabinets, I would use some of them as storage for the ton of kitchen appliances we have. Thanks for sharing this transformation in progress!
Thank you! I use it to put pretty items in the glas cabinets, and then I have small appliances in the other ones with wood doors.