After almost 2 months in our home, we are beginning to feel more and more settled. We have slowly but surely filling our home with furniture and sitting on things other than oversized pillows around our fireplace. It still has a ways to go but it is fun going through the process of finding everything a place and getting settled in a place we plan to be for a very very long time.
Since we have started to settle we want to start sharing some of the spaces with you. First up we wanted to share the space that is at the heart of our home; The Kitchen. This space was a big one for us to design. We wanted something that would hold up to the amount of entertaining, photoshoots, and life that happens here. We most of all wanted a space that could get messy but in a flash be clean and minimal without much work. We also wanted a space to modern but timeless. The struggle was combining my desire for a more farmhouse style with those English cottage elements while making it feel modern and clean. After so much debate and finding the right brands to bring together, we feel this space does MORE than accomplish our goals.
There were two key pieces that came together to really accomplish the kitchen we wanted. One was using the cabinets from our friends at Hygge Supply. They have a great line of cabinets that are simple straight forward and lend to storing a lot in a small space. Not only that, they are all powder coated, flat fronts, and offer a lot of options in terms of sizes that when arranged can fit in almost any space and feel custom without the price tag. We loved it and we worked with Sean the owner to come up with some unique solutions for some of our spaces.
For instance, instead of doing 1 fridge we took 2 counter depth Euro style fridges and put them in the cabinets instead. This way our fridges are concealed and hidden but still easily accessible. We used this fridge from Bosch.
The other big piece in the design puzzle was how to bring in those classic farmhouse elements I loved. This is where Fireclay Tile came in. I worked with them to take the recycled brick body and tile our back wall where we would be cooking and ultimately would be the focal point of the home. I wanted the tiling to be timeless but fresh at the same time. This is why I chose to use the Cotton Glazed Brick to tile from countertop to ceiling and around our hood and windows. The result was better than I ever dreamed. The tiling is easy to keep clean in our busy kitchen and varied color of the brick tiles creates texture and depth to the white glaze I chose. We chose to tile inside the windows to really bring together the details of old farmhouses. I also wanted to keep our hood vent out of view as much as possible so tiling it felt like the best way to do that. You can see more of my design process in this post if you are curious or missed it.
The rest of the details of our kitchen were fairly simple. We chose to do all matte black fixtures and hardware in the kitchen. We loved how timeless they were and felt they played on the modern touch. We received hardware from Schoolhouse Electric and chose these knobs and these pulls for our appliances. We chose to put in a Touch2O faucet from Delta Faucets and a Brizo RO faucet for our sink. We also went with a square stainless undermount Kohler sink. Many people suggested a Farmhouse sink, but after living with them in previous rentals we knew they wouldn’t keep up with how much we cook and entertain.
A lot of people, especially the guys working on our home were afraid we wouldn’t have enough storage in our home, but with our pantry and fridges all in the same location, we still have empty drawers in our kitchen. We are glad we decided against upper cabinets and that instead everything is either in floor ceiling cabinets or in lower ones. It makes it easy to access the things we use and to tuck away the things we don’t.
The biggest and scariest decision we made was our countertops. I researched and researched and I knew right away we wanted a lighter countertop but I also knew we couldn’t do Marble. I debated about concrete quite a bit but struggled to find a good supplier. So we ended up going with Cambria Quartz in Swanbridge and a matte finish. In complete honesty, I don’t love them. They have grown on me and I will tell you that I am also glad I didn’t do complete white like we thought about. These guys do stain and it takes quite a bit of work to get it out. I know they are supposed to be stain resistant but even after using the suggested products and scrubbing hard, I finally got a stain from a drip from a Bourbon bottle out. Yes…BOURBON! The matte also marks with the rubbing of metal buttons on jeans and so on. Those are hard to remove as well. So my suggestion is to go with a glossier finish if you do Quartz. It is far more maintenance than I was hoping for. We love the look and how they came out, but they didn’t match our expectations as we had hoped they would. Just look up White Quartz for sale and you will see a lot of better options and easier maintenance.
We love though that we chose to do a waterfall on our island as this place gets the most wear and tear in our whole house. The Quartz does hold up to it and we are happy with how it protects the cabinets.
Overall, I couldn’t be more happy with how this space came together. The tile is better than I ever dreamed and I am so thankful to Fireclay for letting us work with them on this project. I love that we have a recycled product in our home and that the tiles are all created in the US. They are beautiful and the perfect imperfect detail in our home.
What I learned the most while creating this space is that less is more. Sometimes we think we need a lot of color or a lot of detail to make something interesting. I think simple with a consistent color palette and minimal details and textures goes a long way in a space you use a lot. Create something you know you will love for years and will turn with the seasons especially in spaces that are focal points in your home. I know that winter will look just as great in the kitchen as summer will. That was my ultimate goal for our home and this one I feel accomplishes it probably better than any room does.
I know you guys are going to want all the sources so I have them below for you. I am happy to answer any other questions as well. I know that designing and creating a kitchen can be challenging. The details and the measuring is a LOT. So much stress in that. So ask away about anything below.
To see our original post about our kitchen and the design check out this post!
Keep an eye out for a larger story with Fireclay (follow them here for inspiration) in the next few weeks. We cannot wait to give even more looks into our home over the coming weeks.
Materials:
Backwall Tile: Glazed Brick Tile in Cotton from Fireclay Tile
Paint Color on walls: Extra White from Sherwin Williams
Countertops: Matte Swanbridge Quartz from Cambria
Windows: Pella Wood 450 Series Windows as Casements with no Grills
French Doors: Pella French Door
Wood Floors: Natural Maple Floors from Mercier Flooring
Cabinets: Hygge Supply
Grout Color: Light Grey (I am not sure of the exact grout our tile installer used but Floor Covering Brokers did the install)
Hardware:
Knobs: Radcliffe Knob from Schoolhouse Electric in Matte Black
Pulls: Edgecliffe in 6″ & 8″ from Schoolhouse Electric in Matte Black
Sink: 30″ Strive Sink from Kohler
Main Faucet: Touch2O Trinsic Faucet in Black from Delta Faucet
RO Faucet: Talis Faucet from Brizo in Black
Garbage Disposal: Pro 750 from Inksinkerator (soooo quiet it is awesome)
Water Filtration Company: Pure Water Works
Furniture:
Couch: Neva 84″ from Sixpenny in Noble Moss
Dining Table: Handmade by my dad
Dining Chairs: Restoration Hardware Sale Chairs that we refinished. Find Similar here.
Bar Stools: Amendola Stools from All Modern
Appliances:
Dishwasher: Bosch Benchmark (literally SOO quiet as well)
Stove Top: Bosch 30″ Benchmark Gas Slide-in
Fridges: 2 Benchmark Bottom Freezer Counter Depth Fridge from Bosch – We use one for veggies and one for dairy/meat
Hood Vent: Ancona Stainless Steel Built-in Hood
Decor:
Pendant Lights: Capital Bell Pendant Light from Cb2
Dining Table Light: Cyrus Open Bulb Flight from All Modern
Radio on Counter: Tivoli Radio with Bluetooth Audio
Dog Treat Jar: Gloss Jar from Waggo
Bud Vase: Farmhouse Pottery
Cutting Board with Colored Handle: Milled Home Goods (no longer making cutting boards)
As always this space was built by Shugart Builders. You can see more of their work on their Instagram. We cannot say enough good about their team.
