In Love with White Kitchens (a Before-After Reno)

I’ve always fancied white kitchens. They fit with my lifestyle and they fit with my style.

White kitchens Reflect a Practical Lifestyle

I think that a kitchen reflects your lifestyle more than any other room in the house. Your kitchen is that room in the house where you spend at least an hour a day. If not more. Most of the time you are doing stuff, namely cooking. Others have a desk in there and others again a kitchen table that’s used for family breakfast, scrapbooking parties or business meetings for home workers.

Because it is use so much throughout the day, it has to be functional. It has to have ample counter/workspace in it. And storage of the right kind. I like it to be family friendly and be supportive of those entertaining moments in my life.

To me, what’s so nice about white kitchens, is that they make the perfect backdrop to my colorful life. Plus, they are more practical to clean. Maybe it’s my imagination, but I think they look clean even when they aren’t. Thanks to all that white… (smile).

White Kitchens for a Fresh Style

White kitchens also reflect my personal style. To me, I think white kitchens have a certain sense of luxury. That is particularly when paired with wooden floors and a certain amount of rustic and farmhouse chic-décor.

A Before/ After Kitchen Renovation

To illustrate my love for white kitchens, I thought to share this one. This image is an after photo of a kitchen makeover by Greg and Ashley Brown of ‘7th House on the block’. It has a contemporary feel to it that a notch above IKEA kitchens, but there are hints of rustic country.

White Kitchens, and Greg and Ashley’s Before – After Renovation

The kitchen that Greg and Ashley inherited was so dated-brown, it would make you loose appetite the minute you’d walk into it. Look at the AFTER picture below of that all-white kitchen. Now, it’s a splendid contemporary open, light and airy white kitchen. And all that white is contrasted and anchored with its dark wooden floor and stools, and black details throughout: door knobs, stool legs, picture frames, etc. This ‘after’ kitchen’s stunning, functional and a pleasure to look at and be in, no doubt!

Now, looking at these two before-after kitchen renovation pictures. Don’t you prefer white kitchens too?

kitchen_makeover_sink

kitchen_before_brown_dated
Image credit: ‘the 7th house on the left’- blog (note: child-unfriendly ads there!)

Features I love of this particular Before-After Kitchen Renovation:

As I said, I love the color scheme in this kitchen. All that white, paired with dark stained wood is my favorite combination. Brushed metal / silver-colored appliances are perfectly compatible and lend a ‘professional’-feel to the kitchen.
I love the white backsplash subway tiles. They remind me of my time in New York City (what a great memory). What’s nice is that white subway tiles are relatively inexpensive. They look great and are easy to clean. They are ‘a winner’.
I love the practical breakfast table and cookbook storage unit. White and sturdy. It looks to me that it could be an IKEA kitchen, but they have done something more creative to develop this highly functional table.
Great choice for a kitchen sink: this large white utilitarian sink is often used for a mud room rather than the prime kitchen sink and perhaps because of that casualness, works great.

Kitchen Renovation Challenges, the way I see it:

Clear glass kitchen cabinets are only an option if I continue building my blue/white plate collection. They can easily look cluttered. But then again, there’s nothing that a piece of white fabric can’t fix. And a layer of soft furnishings in a stark white with dark brown and black kitchen will be fine too.
This kitchen renovation is really involved and fundamental. This means that you must measure twice and have a plan, a budget and carpenter’s skills. It also won’t be a fast 1 weekend project as a white paint makeover might have been. I know, for some of you, this issue won’t be a problem and you’ll love the results. But for others, this could be a multi-year, when-is-it-ever-going-to-finish drama. So, if you’d like to take on a project like this before-after kitchen renovation, prepare thoroughly and set yourself (, your hubby and your contractors) a timeline for completion of the various parts and elements.

Ok. And there you have it. I diverted a bit from talking just purely about white kitchens, but it’s worth it.

What’s your favorite kitchen and why?