A classic white kitchen tour

I am working on creating a series of room-by-room tours of our home so I can go into detail about each space. Starting off with our kitchen tour, the heart of our home and the place we spend most of our time as a family. I have always wanted a classic white kitchen with a large island for our kids to sit at. I know there are so many beautiful kitchen trends right now, but I personally think a white kitchen is timeless.

I like to think of our kitchen as transitional, but streamlined with modern clean lines. It has a touch of coastal vibes with the rattan counter stools and rattan panels on our blue serving island.

Builder: ADC

Interior Design: Erica Bryant Design. She helped me every step along the way and I am so grateful we got to work with her.

White Kitchen Cabinetry

Main Island Dimensions: approximately 10.5 ft long x 38 inches wide

Paint Color: Benjamin Moore Simply White

Rattan Counter Stools: Serena and Lily

Brass Pendant Lights: Visual Comfort

All of our cabinetry, including our range hood, is custom by CE Smith. We chose an inset style because we love the flush, seamless look it provides. Benjamin Moore’s Simply White is a warm white but it is definitely not yellow. It is a great white paint color for a white kitchen!

Our main island is where we all gather in the mornings for breakfast and for lunch in the afternoon. It seats four counter stools with plenty of room. We love having extra storage for seasonal dishes in our island behind the counter stools, too. To access the cabinets you just push the doors in and they pop open.

Countertops and Backsplash

Countertops: Caesarstone Calacatta Nuvo Quartz, polished. Two inches thick with mitered corners. The island is made from a “jumbo slab” so there aren’t any seams.

Backsplash: also Caesarstone Calacatta Nuvo Quartz

Supplier and Fabricator: CKF

Kitchen Faucet: Waterstone ‘Traditional Extended Reach PLP Pulldown Faucet’ in a polished nickel finish

Since we do everything in this space from cooking meals, doing homework, to kids coloring I wanted durable countertops for our family. I love the look of marble, but I think our quartz counterops are just as beautiful without the maintenance. I didn’t want to worry about spills or etching, and these countertops have been wonderful for our family. We chose the same quartz for our backsplash for a seamless look.

Etu Home Cutting Board, White Vintage Reproduction Pitcher, Personalized Recipe Cutting Board

SHOP KITCHEN DECOR:

Kitchen Sink and Faucet

Kitchen Faucet: by Waterstone in polished nickel
The accessories are also by Waterstone: purified water faucet, soap dispenser, and a disposal button all in polished nickel

Apron front sink: Kohler Whitehaven 35″

Drip ledge: a piece of walnut wood stained to match our engineered white oak Hearthwood Floors.

Isn’t this faucet a work of art? When I saw it in the showroom it was love at first sight and I knew it was the perfect faucet for our kitchen. At our previous home we had a pull down faucet and I loved how easy it was to use, so I am glad we found a faucet that combines both form and function in our new home.

I’ve always envisioned an apron front sink in our kitchen. The Kohler Whitehaven is huge at approximately 35 inches wide, and it makes washing big pots and pans much easier! Our sink came with a grate in the bottom to help protect it and if you get an apron sink I highly recommend using one. Our sink has held up wonderfully and I don’t have any regrets on choosing an apron front sink.

We added a drip ledge under our sink to catch all of the water drips so they don’t ruin the cabinets underneath. We also tried to hide our microwave by placing it low in the island. We had CE Smith create a custom vent around the microwave and I love how seamless it looks.

SHOP KITCHEN SINK ACCESSORIES:

Kitchen Lighting

I was drawn to these brass country industrial pendants in an antique burnished brass finish and think they balance the white kitchen cabinetry so well. They are substantial in person and I love the warmth they add.

Ceiling Details

Our ceilings in the kitchen are 10 ft. We added a tray ceiling and applied 5 1⁄4” shiplap going across the tray area. I like that it adds a little texture and breaks up the white ceiling. We did a semi-gloss finish on the shiplap and a flat finish on the drywall ceiling. For more details on the paint colors and finishes we selected throughout our home, you can find them in this blog post.

Rug: One of a king vintage Turkish rug from Bente Vintage Rugs

Brass Cabinet Hardware

Aged brass cabinet hardware: Rejuvenation ball knobs and bin pulls in aged brass

Oversized 18″ brass appliance pulls: Millenium
*Rejuvenation now makes an oversized 18″ appliance pull in aged brass!

Mackenzie Childs Royal Check Casserole Pot

I love the warmth of brass hardware and Erica found these timeless ball knobs and bin pulls.
We chose an aged brass finish.

SHOP BRASS CABINET HARDWARE:

Blue Serving Island

Serving Island Dimensions: 8.5 feet long x 2 feet wide

Paint Color: Benjamin Moore Blue Heather

The serving island is in between our kitchen and the dinette. I like that it looks like its own unique piece of furniture and helps to break up the white kitchen and dinette. We had our cabinet maker, CE Smith, make the island and then we wallpapered the panels separately with rattan wallpaper by Philip Jeffries. We enjoy serving food on this island for our family dinners, gatherings, and also as extra counter space when baking, etc. It also provides a lot of storage which is always a bonus. The rattan wallpaper panels are held in the cabinet door by brackets, so if we ever tire of them we can swap them out for painted panels or something else.

Beverage Station

Beverage Refrigerator: Zephyr

We wanted to create a space for our family and guests to grab a drink conveniently. We chose this glass-front beverage refrigerator by Zephyr. It has a pull out shelf for wine or bottles and plenty of storage for other beverages.

Paneled Appliances

We went with two side by side 36” Sub-zero refrigerators with freezer drawers underneath. I enjoy cooking dinner for my family and as our boys grow our refrigerators have filled up quickly. Both of the bottom freezer drawers have ice makers which comes in handy.

We chose a 36” Bluestar gas rangetop for both form and function. Bluestar has so many colors and finishes you can customize your rangetop with. We chose stainless with brass trim accents. Under our rangetop is a 30″ Wolf warming drawer.

Refrigerators: Two 36″ Sub-zero refrigerators with freezer drawers underneath

Double Ovens: Wolf

Rangetop: 36″ Bluestar stainless rangetop with brass trim accents

Warming Drawer: 30″ Wolf warming drawer

Microwave: Whirlpool

Dishwasher: KitchenAid

Kitchen Organization

All of the organization inserts in our kitchen are by rev-a-shelf. We have a pull out spice drawer to the left of our range top, a pull out utensil holder to the right of our range top, pull out trash and recycling bins next to the sink, and a wood knife block drawer insert in the island. I try to keep our countertops free of clutter and put most things in the cabinets or drawers, including kitchen appliances.

Our acrylic silverware drawer insert is custom and you can order yours online, too. Here is another acrylic flatware organizer option.

Tips when renovating your kitchen or building

1. Hide your outlets. We hid our outlets under our upper cabinets where the under cabinet lighting is. Also, we hid our outlets in the main island by adding them under our countertop.
2. When you are ordering your cabinets, double check all of the exposed sides of your cabinets and make sure to add panels in areas you want to have them.
3. When planning the layout think about how you cook in your kitchen and where you would naturally reach for items. It helps to much to have a general idea of where you want things before you meet with a cabinet maker.
4. When in doubt, add under cabinet lighting and in cabinet lighting (especially if you have glass shelves). You won’t regret having it but you will regret not having it.
5. Add built in ceiling speakers if you enjoy listening to music while you cook (or dance parties in your kitchen with your kids)! We used Sonos speakers and they are so easy to control with your phone.

Kitchen Sources

Builder: ADC

Interior Designer: Erica Bryant

Photographer: Mandy McGregor

Cabinetry: CE Smith

Countertops: CKF

Floors: Hearthwood Floors

Appliances: Fergusons

Audio Visual: Audio Visual Specialists

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