Our New Kitchen

For our family, the kitchen is the most important room in the house. In our last home, the kitchen functioned as our primary gathering space, whether with or without guests. In fact, we decided to eliminate all formal rooms from this house because, while beautiful, they got practically no use because people just naturally gravitated to the kitchen and family room.

To refresh your memory, this was our old kitchen:

It was a really, really great kitchen. It the one room in the house that I truly miss. However, it also taught us some things that have directed our choices, as I’ll get into, below.

Also different this time: the kitchen is a part of a great room the also holds the dining room, family room and a “den” (which is just a shallow little nook with a wall of windows and modern Wittus wood stove, kind of similar to here). There are wood beams and ceiling treatments that provide visual partitions, but ultimately it’s just one space:

The Range

The first purchase we made for our kitchen was the range. It was super adorable of me to think that this renovation would move much quicker than it is, so we ordered it in February assuming we’d be able to install in like December or January 2022. Yep, I was totally delusional.

We first started thinking about a Lacanche (pronounced Luh Kanch) range when I started seeing them all over the place in kitchens designed by designers that I really love. Yes, my design crush Amber Lewis also has one in her kitchen. The reasons designers probably love it so much: it is incredibly customizable, in both aesthetics and features. But, I didn’t want something that was just pretty but also super functional, so I did a bunch of research online and then went into NYC to visit the Lacanche showroom. It might take some time to get used to cooking on, but it’s not like an AGA that seems like a totally different cooking system.

We decided to get the giant Sully 2200 in Ivory. At over 86 inches, it’s a gorgeous beast of a oven:

Why did we go so big? Mostly because of the proposed floorplan of the kitchen. Here’s an elevation of the range to illustrate:

At this width, the range is basically the width of the entire wall between the entries from the mudroom (right) and the walk-in pantry (left). If we did any smaller, we would have needed to install narrow cabinets on either side of the range that probably weren’t going to be super functional at best and awkward-looking at worst. We decided that the additional millwork and countertops surrounding a 60″ range made going with the Sully 2200 a wash cost-wise (this might also be delusion of mine). And I really, really loved the idea of the range being centered on that wall with a gorgeous plaster range hood that went all the way to the flooring on both sides, especially since it’ll bookmark the room along with the primitive stone fireplace planned for the family room. Here are some dream images of plaster vent hood/surrounds:

We configured the range so that drawer to the left of the double oven will be just storage, while the drawer to the left of the oven is a warming drawing (but will likely function more regularly as storage). We also configured the stovetop like this:

We decided to center the burners and griddle stovetop in the center with stainless steel workspaces on their side. I’d like to say this was all driven by function, but it was mostly by cost. We could have added induction or a grill or any other bells and whistles, but we had reached the high end of what we were willing to spend on a range. However, it will be nice to have work spaces on either side of the cooktop, and will likely purchase custom cutting boards to fit both steel tops so that they are truly functional workspaces.

The Cabinetry

After a painted kitchen, we decided that we’d prefer stain-grade wood instead. I love a white kitchen, but I absolutely hated the constant dinging of the paint and little dents in the softer paint-grade wood. We knew we wanted to do unpainted, rift sawn white oak for the kitchen. We’ll keep the shape both modern and timeless, with a combination of slab and shaker panels, with all appliances paneled in the same cabinetry:

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Here are some images that inspired me as we started planning:

At this point, I’m expecting us to keep the stain as close to the natural color of the wood as possible, but this could change if we want variation between cabinets and flooring. Cerusing the wood — a treatment where the grain of the wood is meant to contrast the rest of the wood by using lime or wax on the grain — might also be something to consider (photo on right shows rift sawn cerused oak):

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Countertops and Backsplash

I loved my cool marble and porcelain tile backsplash in a star and cross design that we had in my last home. But, to compliment the minimalist-but-not-boring style of the new home, we’ve decided on a slab backsplash.

This is one of those places that won’t be finalized until we visit a stone yard and see what available. But I have ideas. Initially, I was crushing on Calacatta Viola marble, which is super dramatic and heavily veined. Here are some kitchens with it:

It’s really beautiful and graphic, but upon spending some time thinking about it, it feels maybe a bit too aggressive for the space. If we did do it, I don’t think I’d do the entire backsplash and countertop situation in it. I have seen in used as a backsplash with other monotone countertops, like this marble/limestone combination by Disc Interiors:

However, my new favorite marble is Calacatta Macchia Vecchia. It has a more subtle drama, and I love that the flow of the veining that feels a bit soothing in this Jake Arnold (@jakearnold) kitchen:

Unlike the Viola, I feel like this could be done on both the walls and counters and not feel overwhelming. However, I do love this marble/soapstone combo:

The Pantry

One of my biggest pet peeves in the last house is that we had a large kitchen but no pantry because there really wasn’t a place for it. We had enough storage, but I’ve always felt that a place to tuck away movable appliances and better arrange dry goods would be ideal. This time around, we were able to incorporate a walk-in pantry right behind the kitchen. The microwave and an extra wine/beverage refrigerator will be housed in there, too, but otherwise it’s going to be all cabinet storage.

As we wait (and wait…and wait) for this renovation to actually gain momentum, I’ve had time to think about what the cabinets should look like. We’re not doing white oak in there because it’s a pantry, so I’m thinking a muted color would be great.

My top choice at the moment: a muted green:

I worry that this might be a little too trendy (both Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore picked a muted green as their 2022 Color of the Year). Perhaps more timeless? A muted blue:

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Alternatively, we might decide to match the ivory of the range:

Ultimately, I think color will come down to the backsplash/countertop decisions we make in the main kitchen, so will be TBD for now.

Lighting

When we moved from our old house, we took the Urban Electric Company Eddystone pendants over the island. We has planned to leave with the buyers of the old house but they were difficult (i.e., agreed to a price in the contract *if* they purchased and then tried to renegotiate after we signed the contract, hoping the hassle of removing would force us to come down). To refresh your memory, here they are.

Still love them and their dramatic oversized-ness (which isn’t too obvious in this photo). We’ll possibly reuse them over the island in the new kitchen, although we have to consider the fact that our new island is likely 2.5 feet shorter than the 11ft behemoth we had in the old house, so two super-big pendants might not work as well. If we don’t use them here, they’ll probably go in our sunroom or some other place, because I’m unwilling to quit them.

If we can’t reuse in this kitchen, I have ideas, but I’m all over the place. I vacillate between doing something small and streamlined, like the Lostine Edmund pendants in another Jake Arnold designed kitchen:

Sometimes I lean towards pendants with a vintage/antique feel (and can we discuss that reclaimed wood lintel), like in this Amber Lewis kitchen:

And sometimes, I wonder if the best option is to skip all feature lighting over the island and just keep it super simple, letting the range and slab backsplash be the big moment, like Amber Lewis did in her own home.

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For additional lighting, I want to do super simple and relatively traditional sconces, likely in brass or a pretty bronze to coordinate but not totally match with the Rohl faucet with picked in Satin English Gold. One thing TWO home renovations has taught me: not everything needs to be a moment, and this house is going to be pared down to let the good stuff shine.

Below are some of my favorite sconces for the kitchen, or a kitchen like mine that is straddling the modern/traditional line. Most are super understated, but I couldn’t pass on the subtle whimsy of the Malvasia sconce (center). And, the Beetle sconce is absolutely going somewhere in my house).

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I’m really excited for this to (eventually) come to fruition. It’s been a long, exhausting journey for us, but spending time journaling what will be have been little moments of joy. And, if you are started a renovation or home build, I definitely suggest doing it yourself (no blog needed), because it has been so incredibly helpful in fleshing out the rooms of my home with more specificity than I otherwise would at this time, which means less stress down the road.