Finally our kitchen journey is finished. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions, designs and advice. Every comment was reviewed, considered and in many cases incorporated, even when the advice was not to include an element that would not serve the aesthetics or budget for our project. Much appreciated to all. I especially appreciate the time and effort of the professionals in the thread who helped without compensation. Their expertise was invaluable and gave us the econfidence to make choices that helped to push us to the finish line. I wanted to share our final pictures and some of the learnings from the process. 1. Budget is a guideline. Our guideline was 10k, a significant sum for a face lift and sufficient for a basic reface in my area, repainting cabinets, sink and countertop. It didn't allow for all of my wishlist (e.g. extending cabinets, custom rangehood, waterfall countertops, extra large sink and antique brass fittings). Those items required extra budget and some serious negotiation and shopping excursions to support. All in we spend 14K and that included extra cost fo unplanned updates (rewiring for undercabinet lighting, range vent, plumber to replace old plumbing). We also paid twice as much for our counters than we expected. $2700 grew to $5500 but still very reasonable considering our configuration. It meant that my island depth had to be reduced which still bugs me a little but ultimately works better for our floorplan. 2. Sometimes you just can't get a deal on price. I was desperate to find a backsplash that would be timelines, add texture but not break the budget. We were going to go with quartz to match the counters but that was a budget buster. We decided on subway tile but had made spanish tiles that matched out counters exactly. We found the perfect tile but it was 45% higher than our budget so we searched high and low, for weeks but never found an alternative option. We went with that option and have not regretted it for a second, it has an old world feel that works with the rest of our transitional home. 3. Somes reusing something better serves the overall project The floors in our kitchen were my biggest concern. "Lipstick on a pig" came to mind everytime we discussed, picking a cabinet colour, quartz countertops and tiles. We had to find a way to incorporate the existing flooring with a new bright kitchen. I needed to refresh our tile to a standard that would not detract from the new cabinets. This was a journey. We finally decided the biggest impact was to regrout the floor reducing the impact of the patter and lightening the floor overall. I think this labour intensive, cheap exercise ($50 in materials) was our biggest bang for our buck and the most satisfying update to our kitchen. 4. Having a plan will save you heartache and reduce regrettable spends. We poured over thousands of pictures, asked hundred of questions and discussed the project with as many experience people to have a solid picture of what we were trying to achieve. This helped us to know where to spend our dollars effectively. We researched all of the people we worked with and understood the work that would need to be done and we only hired people who understood our vision. 5. Be realistic You can't have everything, everything won't be perfect and sometimes concessions will have to be made unless you have unlimited time, resources and an army of tradesmen who can do anything you can imagine. I learned that the real fun is in the problem solving and thinking outside of the box. It took 6 1/2 months but it was more than we had hoped to achieve within our budget. Project: Update our builder kitchen, making it brighter, in line with the rest of the work we had done on the main floor and reusing as much of the original kitch as we could. 17'X 19' floorplan remained the same. It was dark, crowded outdated and just worn out from 17 years of use. The cabinet had a 10" dust collecting gap, the counters were laminate and in need of repair and we didn't have backsplash. We focused on light, bright updates that were not overtly trendy or specific to 2023 but rather aligned with the transitional design that we have been incorporating throughout the house. We also replaced the lighting to create unobstructed views within the room and out to the backyard. Perfect spot for morning coffee, chatty dinners at the end of the day or a hand of crazy eights with the kids. Is our kitchen magazine perfect? No but neither is the rest of the house but it is beginning to be perfect for us. :-)

One other item. I kept the original cabinet and drawer pulls. They were lovely, the knobs are in a rose bud shape. They were in an oil rubbed bronze finish. I was having trouble finding something to coordinate with the new rubbed brass lighting fixtures. I tried the oil rubbed bronze ones that I salvaged. I think they work well with the countertops which have some pretty large dark brown flecks in them.

Looks like your house was built during the Brown/Mediterranean trend, so unless I was changing out the floor tile too, I probably would not have chosen a gray stone for the counter. If everything else is staying the same, Taj Mahal quartzite would have been a better stone to complement the existing Brown/Mediterranean elements. Taj mahal would have also brightened up that dark corner, without needing to add more lighting. I would leave the vent hood alone, but paint it the same color as the rest of the walls.

"redo the kitchen " can mean various things. From what is shown Id say the kitchen warrants a complete renovation. I would hold off w changing counters and gold embellishments in the existing space. The kitchen is quite removed from the living room so matching things perfectly isnt such an issue. Is the dining space w the small table and chairs the area between living and kitchen?? But there is another larger dining room it appears with the formal drapes..... You cant do all of this in a heartbeat or a wave of a wand. with a growing family I guess being practical and budget minded is what comes to mind. I love the rug..Id keep it. Here are pictures.....you can bring in the seating furniture closer for conversation venues with a nice focal point now. Otherwise the Craigs list search for a dining table for the dining room..and use of rug under a table can work.. So there are options. Craigs list always has a lot of dining tables and chairs. LIVING SPACES shown w focal areas featuring beautiful rugs/ furniture arranged " closer in" details like coffee tables/ accent pieces etc. Looks to me Id search for the table/chairs you apparently need for eating and a nice worn leather or shabby chic ottomon/ footstool like this for your growing kiddo to grab and so on. Bring your upholstered pieces in for a better seating/conversation area. If you want a new kitchen.....I would measure right now and price out Ikea cabinets for budgetary reasons.....go through their displays a few times...Ikea is a good spot to roam around w a child. find yourself a cool ottomon .... or some version of these cubes for a kid friendly idea. can you bring in the upholstered pieces to make an arrangement? its always better rug under table also an option shown here.