Planning a Rustic-Contemporary Kitchen Remodel

Four and a half years ago, my husband and I bought our current home, even though I initially was adamantly opposed to this house. Why?

The kitchen. Oh my gosh, y’all. My kitchen is so stinkin’ small. We have a finished bar in the basement for entertaining, but I spend every single day in this kitchen, not the basement. It’s so small, in fact, that I can literally spread my arms out to my sides, spin in a circle, and touch everything. Not even kidding.

But that’s all about to change! I’m planning a rustic-contemporary kitchen remodel, and I’m taking you along for the journey!

So, rustic-contemporary. I totally made that up, but it works for the look I’m going for. You’ll see. But before I can show you the beautiful “after”, you have to see the not-so-beautiful “before”…and the contractor has to come in, demo, rebuild, paint, install, etc, etc.

Let me show you what I’m working with:

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And that’s it. The whole thing. I bet you’re exhausted from that ginormous kitchen tour. Have a seat. Take a breather. I’ll wait for ya.

When we decided to remodel, these are the things I put on my must-have list:

• more counter space – I have 3 squares right now
• open up into the living room so it feels less dungeon-like
• brighten the color scheme – again, less dungeon-like

I’m not asking for much, y’all.

Initially, I planned to combine the kitchen with the dining room, but our contractor offered up a different idea that would allow me to expand the floor space of the kitchen and save the dining room, which is better for future resale value.

You’ll have to wait for the finished results to see what we’ve decided to do, but I wanted to show you my design plans. This is the main inspiration:

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I’ve wanted navy blue cabinets since way before Chip & Jo made it cool. I’m a trend setter, didn’t y’all know that?

I’ll be painting my lower cabinets navy blue and adding new hardware. For the uppers, I’m removing the doors, painting the boxes white and interior navy blue. We’ll be going with white glass subway-style tile from Aspect Peel & Stick Tiles, and a white granite countertop.

The lighting will be changed, too, because let’s be honest – florescent lighting is the worst! And I don’t even know what that weird light is over the sink. It’s gotta go.

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I’m thinking glass pendants over the yet-to-be-built bar will be a nice way to update the lighting while maintaining an open, airy feel to the kitchen. Both of those options are from Lamps Plus – click the images to shop those looks for your own kitchen.

Part of our remodel will require us to get rid of our eat-in kitchen nook that currently has a round table & 4 chairs in it. Instead, the countertop will extend behind the sink to give us an eat-in bar area, which means I’ll need new chairs.

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I fell in love with the Carmilla Blue Damask chairs (left, above) from Pier 1 Imports. Y’all, those are seriously gorgeous and classy and everything my husband hates. HAHA! But I love them. The Corinne Indigo chairs (right, above), are more his style – also from Pier 1 Imports. If we went that route, I’d have to apply a darker stain to the legs so they’d coordinate with the rest of our decor a bit better.

Our pantry is getting sized down as well, to allow for more counter space. I’m not super happy about losing my walk-in pantry, but I’ve decided to make the best of it. A couple things I plan to do are install a fun door for the new pantry door, and find a cool storage piece that will look good in the dining room to house some of our lesser-used dry goods.

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I can’t yet decide if I want a screen door or a dutch door. They both have so much character! Regardless of which type of door I go with, I’ll most likely paint it a pretty red (not as bright as the dutch door pictured above). We have red accessories throughout the living area of our home, so I think that would be a fun accent in the kitchen.

I’m beyond excited to get this show on the road. It’s all happening in October, and I’ll be sharing every step of the process with you. What do you think of my design choices so far? Weigh in down below in the comments!