Ikea Kitchen Renovation Part 2

Another client, another Ikea kitchen renovation. This particular project was a little different from the last one in that we completely reworked the whole layout of space. The old kitchen had a dining area (not the main formal dining room) off of it with horrible built in corner cabinets. It left that large chunk of the room unusable and forced the range and the refrigerator to be jammed right up against the back door, which just so happens to be the family's main entrance. By removing the corner cabinets, weird decorative columns, and island we were able to completely open up the kitchen. In the small space by the back door we added a coat closet/ family mud room behind two closet doors, and a little dry bar so the kids can come running in from the back yard to grab a juice box out of the new beverage center without getting in Mom's way when she is making dinner. It's amazing what a new layout will do, the kitchen feels like it's twice the size as it was before the renovation.

Appliances: GE Cafe Series
Cabinets: Ikea Akurum with Lidingo White Front

Countertops: White Carrara Marble

Faucet: American Standard Culinaire

Backsplash: White Subway Tile 

Lighting: Gothic Iron Lantern

Counter Stools: Ballard Designs 
Wallcolor: Benjamin Moore Moonshine 

Ikea Kitchen Renovation Part 1

Before this kitchen had not been updated since the 50’s, between the linoleum floors, fake kitchen island and the box tube fluorescent lighting it was a mess. We used little touches to disguise the fact that it's an "Ikea" kitchen by retrofitting their standard stock kitchen cabinets. Don't ask me why but Ikea does not give you any other option for an upper corner cabinet than their standard angled wall cabinet. I am not a huge fan of the angled cabinet, so in all the Ikea kitchens I work on I have my contractor’s retrofit upper cabinets so the doors meet at a right angle, mirroring the base corner cabinet. Another small detail we did here was instead of relying solely on the Ikea white refrigerator panel, we added three of the Lidingo doors to the side panel to give the fridge a dressier built in look. We did the same thing with the Kitchenaid dishwasher, and used a door front as the cover panel so it blends in with the base cabinetry. Lastly since Ikea does not make a good trash can pull out (seriously how hard is this?) option, so I had the contractors retrofit a 24" base cabinet (to the left of the sink) so that you simply pull out the two doors and there is a spot for two trash cans and two recycle bins. 

Appliances: Kitchenaid Architect Series

Cabinets: Ikea Akurum with Lidingo White Front

Countertop: Polished Absolute Black

Sink and Faucet: Overstock.com

Table and Chairs: Crate and Barrel

Lighting: Home Depot

Drapes: Restoration Hardware

Walls: Benjamin Moore Gray Wisp 

The Award Goes To...

I have completely sucked at blogging lately but between client projects, alternating days with Mom at the DC Design House, and other things (like finally filling out all the necessary paperwork to "officially" change my last name) I haven't had much spare time. Side note: if only changing your last name was as easy in real life as it is on Facebook, I did that from my phone on the way to the airport for our honeymoon. If it weren't for the Pinterest app on my iPhone I would be annoyed that I spent two precious hours yesterday at the Social Security Administration office. While scrolling through pins I noticed this one Ikea hack that had been re-posted a bunch and I thought A who has the time for that stuff, and B what a great idea! I am sooo not a fan of certain most DIY projects, which I will not mention, but if its going to cost you $10 and 5 hours to make something you could get at Target for $20, I just don't see the point. While Ikea hacks fall in the Do It Yourself category they are on a whole other level of geniusness. To me DIY things remind me of K Mart, where as Ikea hacks are totally Tarjay. I have always wanted to do a fun Ikea hack of some sort, especially after seeing hacks that deserve an award. If I were the national judge for the best Ikea hacks, the awards would go to the following...

via 

via

via 

via

And for those of us without the time an or energy to accomplish such amazing Ikea hacks, there is always O'verlays!