Traditional Kitchen Remodel- Bye Bye Cherry Cabinets

Nothing says “old school traditional kitchen” like cherry cabinets. My mom, who never got the kitchen of her dreams in the 1980’s is still holding strong to her aspirations of having her kitchen remodeled with cherry cabinets one day. Luckily, she has me to intervene and gently direct her to a more updated look when she is ready for her new kitchen. In the meantime, I have an amazing remodel to share with you today. The homeowners have a very traditional style and wanted to stay true to that style while also updating their kitchen.

Kitchen Must Haves

Beverage Station

On the top of the kitchen remodel wish list was a light and bright kitchen with a better traffic flow. They are frequent entertainers and wanted to add a beverage station that made it easy for guests to serve themselves a drink. We removed the old desk and added a beverage refrigerator, a wine refrigerator and upper cabinets with glass doors.

Taller Cabinets with New Doors

The cabinets they had were good quality, they were just squatty and short. The cathedral style doors were further dating this kitchen. We installed molding on top of the existing cabinet boxes to raise the height about 8 inches and trimmed it out with boxed molding. We refaced the kitchen with all new doors with a more up to date profile.

Island and Bar Seating

Also on the list was additional seating around the island and bar area. They had a nice size island but it wasn’t comfortable for sitting. We extended the existing island by adding new legs and installed a new countertop. We were able to give them another seating option by lowering the two tier bar to counter height and installing a countertop with a 14″ overhang. I’ve found this is the minimum depth needed for comfortable counter seating. We also added wood panel molding over top the existing drywall back to increase durability from shoe scuff marks and to also inject some architectural detail.

New Stove Hood

We removed the upper cabinet over the stove and installed a beautiful custom stove hood. We decided to take it all the way to the ceiling so it would elevate the height of the cabinets even more. We installed a pot filler above the cook top as another water source. Did you know these are not just for pots? You can pour yourself a glass of water while someone is working at the kitchen sink.

New Countertops and Tile

The clients fell in love with this limestone look brick tile. It has quite a bit of variation in texture and color, so we decided to go with a solid color countertop on the perimeter so we wouldn’t have competing patterns. We used a leathered black pearl granite. For the island, we installed Calacatta Vicenza quartz with a 3″ mitered edge.

Painted Cabinets & Walls

We painted all the perimeter cabinets in Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee and the Island was painted Benjamin Moore Wrought Iron. We painted Sherwin Williams Accessible Beige right over the wallpaper to neutralize the pattern and bring in a fresh clean update.

Lighting and Hardware

We installed a long linear lantern over the island to accentuate the long and narrow architecture of the kitchen. We ordered an oversize drum light light for the breakfast table. We selected gold hardware for the cabinets and appliance pulls to coordinate with the gold in the new lighting. We installed new under counter lighting and added lights inside the new glass cabinets.

In the end our clients were able to freshen up the traditional style, lighten things up, improve function and increase storage. This kitchen is even dog approved.

Final photos by Geinger Hill.

We would love to help you too!

Do you have a kitchen that needs an update? We would love to help you fall in love with your kitchen too. Whether you are ready for a full kitchen update or just in need of cabinet refinishing, we would love to help. We do everything from custom cabinet refinishing and painting to full kitchen project management and design. Fill out the form below if you’d like more information.