A Gray and White IKEA Kitchen Makeover

The kitchen in our post-reno house is finally getting pretty damn close to the finish line. It’s that pesky 5% left. You know – the small details like caulking and painting the trim that you just can’t seem to get around to doing. On the whole though, we can pretty much call this one done. It came out just the way I wanted it to: a gray and white kitchen with a largely classic and timeless look.


It’s pretty hard to believe that it was almost exactly a year ago (January 2015) that we were moving back into our home. One that had been a happy wee little bungalow and served us well for 5 years, before we took it all apart to create the larger family home of our dreams.
Should we take a little step back in time and see where this room came from?
This was demo day. When our bungalow was about to be no longer (and Dan and I were having serious heart palpitations). Here is our blast from the past kitchen…






And the living room on the other side of the wall (to the left when standing in the hallway where the pic above was taken).






Once it had been demo’d, the wall between those two rooms had come down, and the front door re-positioned onto the other side of the front of the house, this is what we were starting with. All of a sudden it felt so, so open.






Drywall went in…






And then flooring, cabinetry and appliances were up next. Woah – hey, kitchen!






After moving back in, we lived with plywood countertops for a while…






And then our marble-lookalike quartz countertops went in, which felt like a huge victory.






After backsplash, hardware, and other odd jobs, we landed here for a while…






And then one of the more recent things I checked off the list (back in late summer) was to paint the molding around that large window a very close gray to the bottom cabinetry (the same gray I used for all the interior doors on the main floor of the house), switch out the runner below the sink, and a few of the elements on the countertops.






More than a year after getting started, and 95% complete, we are here. Other than removing the dry rack that usually sits to the left of the sink, this is the real-deal kitchen. Appliances, bowls, and trays on the countertops – exactly how we live in it every day.






The layout of the room works really well. Despite having originally wanted an island, the peninsula we ended up with is wonderful and offers so much counter space. The solutions we used for the weird nooks and crannies that we had to deal with (like the angled bottom cabinetry beside the fridge, or the duct work we needed to hide beside the hood vent, or the narrow bookshelf we created to deal with the lack of symmetry) all seem to work. The triangle of appliances is great and having the dishwasher close to the sink is perfect.













We are keen DIYers as you guys well know, but when doing an entire house like this all at once and with the kitchen being a pretty major priority to get done in order to be able to move back in to a space, we didn’t truly DIY too much of this room. Sure we designed it, picked out all of the features ourselves, acted as the general contractor for our own renovation, and handled the finishing stuff (hardware, etc), but it is thanks to our great guys who installed the cabinetry, flooring, tile work, countertops, and appliances that this bad boy came together






Overall, this is a very budget-friendly kitchen renovation. And maybe I was just used to living with 80’s oak strip cabinetry for too long, but I think despite the tight purse strings, it looks pretty darn high end. As you know, I’m all about creating a home and life you love and doing that with the means that are available to you. Maybe you’re in a spot to splurge on some super high end kitchen, and others are renting an apartment where only small, budget-friendly switch-outs are possible. Either way, it’s about creating a space that feels like YOU and makes you happy. You want to get a big hug from your pad when you walk through the door, and that’s what this house and room does for me.






Go here to see the full source list and the final details:
http://thesweetestdigs.com/2016/01/05/gray-and-white-ikea-kitchen/







Original article and pictures take http://www.hometalk.com/12540075/a-gray-and-white-ikea-kitchen-makeover site