You may have noticed I haven’t shared many pictures of my kitchen since we moved in. The last full shot of the kitchen I shared was the day of closing, or as I like to call it, the ‘before’.
Things started happening at lighting speed from the moment we moved in. Being 7 months pregnant, I wanted things to be done and settled down before baby came. The first thing I did was have lighting installed in the kitchen. Literally the same day we closed the electrician was there at the house working away. (In case you missed it, my Lighting post can be seen here with all the lighting additions throughout the entire house.) But for the kitchen specifically, I had two pendants installed above the island, and under cabinet lighting throughout. [Here is the link to my pendants if you’re interested.]
About a week after closing, I had my dream backsplash installed. A carerra marble subway. [You can find it linked here from Floor & Decor.] Again, this is something I hired out since I did not have the time, but more importantly, marble is very difficult to cut and work with. It requires a wet saw and I had 8,000 tiny cuts going around my vent hood that required a professional. I would have loved to do it myself and save the money, like I did in our old house, but this job was just way above my head unfortunately.
Sorry for the poor iPhone photos, but like I said, things happened FAST around this time and taking pictures wasn’t on the priority list.
Here’s a close up of the intricate cuts around the hood and pot filler that I would never be able to attempt! I watched the guys cutting these in single small pieces with their bare hands on a wet saw. It was scary just to witness!!
And here are a few finished shots of my backsplash!
The next thing I had installed was cabinet hardware. I mentioned in my DIY vs. Buy post a few weeks ago that I chose to have the builder leave the cabinet hardware off because I wanted to install my own after closing. I knew I wanted gold hardware, and the builder didn’t have any gold options. I shopped places like Lowe’s, Home Depot etc. for hardware but didn’t see anything I loved. So I found these on wayfair and knew they were the ones. I bought these Amerock 6.25″ pulls for every single door and drawer, and 2 of these Amerock knobs for the two upper cabinets that flank my hook.
The final addition to the kitchen is one you may not notice right away. It’s a pretty subtle detail, but one that completely takes my kitchen to the next level in my opinion. They’re decorative end panels on the two open ends of the kitchen and decorative “feet” under the range cabinets and breakfast cabinets.
These were done through Lowe’s believe it or not. They carry most builder’s cabinets and therefore you can add cabinets or accessories like this to existing cabinets and they are an exact match. The more you know! 🙂
I mentioned in a previous post that I would be adding decorative end panels and drew this example. Basically its adding a cabinet door front to the blank edges to make them look more finished, similar to how the island already came. Below is another open edge where I added them as well.
Before and after:
The lower before and after: Can you see the difference?
In addition to my range hood, I feel that this added detail in particular makes my kitchen go from builder grade to custom. The other side before and after:
And here’s where I added the decorative feet:
Before and after feet in the breakfast nook:
I also added more feet in my master bathroom vanity, which I will be sharing soon!
And now for the final reveal of all the kitchen goodies! This space truly makes my heart pitter patter and I am so in love!
And for the breakfast area: please also consider this my Fall Home Tour haha! It’s all the fall decorating I did this year!
What do you guys think about my kitchen? It is without a doubt my favorite space in our house. It’s beyond my wildest dreams and I couldn’t love it any more! Comment and let me know your thoughts, I love hearing from you guys!