Designing a kitchen from scratch
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Hands down the top questions in my DM’s are about my kitchen! I am so flattered, because it was such a dream to design and see come together!
Designing a kitchen from scratch is overwhelming, to say the least! There are so many things to consider from layout to appliances to finishes. I started with my must haves, made sure we were fitting those into the budget, and saved in areas I knew we could upgrade later, if needed.
The FIRST thing I purchased, before we even broke ground on our home, was our Ilve Range. I had completely fallen in love with it, and the nod to European design in our home was born there. The whole kitchen was planned around it, from the black accents in our lanterns and granite, to the aged brass hardware we chose (a perfect match that I definitely agonized over!)
We built our home in 2021 when there were still a lot of supply shortages due to the Pandemic. We were told that our range would take 12-14 months to arrive, which is why I ordered it so early. As luck would have it, it arrived in 6 weeks, hah! This meant we kept a giant crate in the garage of our rental house for the entire build! At least I knew she was safe!
Other non-negotiables for me were panel ready appliances and our custom design pantry door. I knew I wanted an element of unique charm in our kitchen. I had various photos of charming door inspiration pinned and saved for a year leading up to our build, and this design was the perfect blend of what I had visualized. We brought the design to a local building supply company who executed the vision perfectly. I almost chickened out when I saw the bid (it was around $3500 at the time) but I’m so glad we stuck with our gut, as I know costs have gone up significantly since then.
We saved money in other areas - for example we do not have a built-in microwave. I don’t love the look of them in the main kitchen, so we decided to make space for a countertop microwave in our butler’s pantry, and added electrical in the pantry shelving to store it there. It has worked out perfectly for us, and lets be honest, microwaves are the number one appliance that needs replacing, so if that happens for us we won’t sweat it.
I’ve got all of my frequently asked questions about our kitchen listed in our design selections guide, and if you’ve asked me about plans for my pantry door - those are coming soon, so stay tuned for that announcement!
