Kitchen Inspiration

In the early stages of designing/scheming/planning our kitchen renovation, I spent an OUTRAGEOUS amount of time drooling over photos in magazines and gathering inspiration from those of you in blogland.

My initial plan was to go with black/dark grey cabinets and carrera marble countertops.  I used Layla Palmer's kitchen update from The Lettered Cottage as inspiration for that plan.  It is a nice blend of traditional and cottage-y, lending a nod to our home's colonial style..  But after letting that idea marinate for a while, I realized that although it would be a beautiful kitchen, it wouldn't be the light, bright and airy space that I was going for (or that this house DESPERATELY NEEDED).  Thus, my focus shifted to white, creamy cabinets and light-colored countertops (possibly carrera marble still).

Here are a few of my inspiration photos:

thekitchendesigner.org

I L.O.V.E the steely grey of the marble backsplash.  Subway tile is so simple, yet so beautiful....and it is the perfect accent to white cabinetry!  And then there is the butcher block countertop that warm up the space and break up the cool tones on the walls.  It is gorgeous! 

Better Homes and Gardens

Again, love the subway tile backsplash and the farm sink is PERFECT!  I also really love the pattern in the floor.  It seems to ground the space a little and break up the monotony of the white.  This kitchen just screams FRESH!

freshome.com

First of all, this is an enormous kitchen, which is not even close to the footprint I am working with, but a girl can dream!  I love the huge island and the vintage schoolhouse pendants.  It is a large space, but it still feels warm and inviting despite the cool tones used.

These kitchens all seem to give off a bright, fresh, and airy feeling.  And when I looked at our current situation, I knew that was EXACTLY what we needed:

Yikes, huh??  She was SCREAMING for a makeover.  In fact, we hadn't planned on renovating the kitchen for a while (we thought we could wait it out for 6 months to a year, ha!), but as soon as we closed on the house we knew that we HAD to do something.  So, this is where the story begins.  Instead of the ultimate kitchen makeover, we chose to do some of the work ourselves and try to make a big impact on a reasonable budget.  Stay tuned over the next few weeks for the complete step-by-step kitchen renovation process.

And here are a few more shots of the kitchen when we first bought it in February to give you a FULL understanding of what we were working with when we started all of this.

Lovely, isn't she?  And I know what you're thinking, "why don't I have a sofa in my kitchen"....but hey, that is only reserved for the coooolest kids!