Living Space and Kitchen Transformation

We love working with all of our clients. But a recent remodel project on a house for a large family who are also animal lovers was especially fun and rewarding.

The renovation project had multiple components. The first part that we had to tackle was uniting several adjacent areas on the first floor – the entry way, the kitchen and living areas, and the hallway – all of which had a very different floor finish.

Hardwood in Hallway

Grey Ceramic Tile in Living Room

Black Granite Tile in Entryway

Grey Ceramic Tile in Kitchen

The entryway was covered with black polished granite tile, the hallway was done in hardwood, and the living area and kitchen floors were covered with a grey ceramic tile. The homeowners love the look of natural stone, so we decided to go with a large format porcelain tile with beautiful soft veining for all of these areas.

No Floor Transitions

Large Format Porcelain Tile Throughout

Porcelain tile is highly resistant to wear and tear and it works great for high traffic areas like kitchens and entryways. As opposed to wood, porcelain tile isn’t as easily damaged from animal claws. Installing the porcelain tiles made a huge difference in how the first floor looked. Without the floor transitions, the space looks bigger and the open layout has a better flow.

Entry Before

Entry After

In the entryway, we also removed archways to open up the view. That added more natural light to the area. In the living room, the owners wanted to go with white walls, but they chose to add some interesting pattern designs on select walls.

We accomplished this by using a beautiful gold, grey and white-patterned tile. We installed it from the floor to the ceiling around the fireplace and also around a newly designed wet bar in the same room. The change modernized the space and made it feel more open and lighter.

The kitchen, a very important room for the family that loves to cook and gather around the kitchen island, also underwent a major transformation. We ended up changing the layout quite a bit to improve the room’s flow, to gain more storage space and to create a more comfortable and collaborative cooking experience for the owners.  

The most important part of the kitchen, the cooktop, was on the kitchen’s small island that had been built in the middle of the room without a proper ventilation. The existing kitchen had a downdraft hood. A downdraft hood is a cooker hood fitted into a kitchen countertop. They’re most often used on kitchen islands. But, we typically don’t like to use downdraft hoods, and especially in kitchens that get used a lot.

So instead, we designed a kitchen with a wall hood. We found a way to run a 10” pipe up through two floors of an as-built house – a challenging feat. We surrounded the wall hood with cabinets up to the ceiling for maximum storage. Glass doors at the top added a nice element of visual interest.

We moved the fridge to the opposite side of the kitchen to give the owners more space around the appliance. It’s always better to have more space around a refrigerator so the doors can move freely without blocking kitchen traffic. Finally, we integrated kitchen organizers like pullouts with utensil bins, an appliance pull out, a spice pullout organizer and more into the kitchen to make the space more functional than it had ever been.

Before our renovation, the kitchen looked dark, especially with the black granite backsplash and countertops. Keeping in mind how much the owners like natural stone, we replaced the backsplash and countertops with Mont Blanc quartzite slabs and Athens silver cream marble backsplash tile.

In the end, we accomplished all of our client’s goals. We created a better flow in the home’s entryway, living room and kitchen areas, we added more storage, and we updated the previously outdated look of their home. Our clients are thrilled with the results and they’ve been enjoying their new spaces cooking and socializing with family and friends.

Top 6 kitchen organizers we like

To make the most of your custom home kitchen and enjoy the time you spend there, you want a well-designed, functional space. An organized kitchen that makes use of built-in kitchen organizers will save you time, it’s easier to clean, and you may find yourself cooking more than you have in the past.

Arieli Custom Homes Remodel Project

During custom home builds, or as we’re remodeling an existing home, we design kitchens first and foremost with ease and efficiency in mind. Part of what makes a kitchen more efficient is seamlessly incorporating several types of built-in kitchen organizers into the design.

Built-in kitchen organizers often give you more countertop space and a clean, contemporary look. They also complement other non-built-in kitchen organizers you may want to incorporate into your space to make it even more efficient.

Here are the top six kitchen organizers we love to integrate into our kitchen designs:

1) A cabinet pullout with utensil bins. This type of kitchen organizer is typically a tall, skinny drawer that’s used to store cooking and serving utensils. It’s an organized, clean-looking alternative to keeping your cooking utensils in bins or ceramic containers on the countertop or shoving them into a large drawer where they often get lost. One level of the cabinet pullout usually contains round holes that bins are slipped into so you can store your utensils upright.

Rev-A-Shelf

Pullout w/Utensil Bins

We like to install this type of kitchen organizer close to the range or cooktop for easy reach and convenience.

2) An appliance lift. An appliance lift is a great option for heavy appliances you don’t use very often, like a heavy duty mixer, a large ice cream maker or a bread maker.  It saves countertop space and it’s a good option for minimalistic kitchens. With an appliance lift, you store your mixer or bread maker inside a bottom cabinet on a shelf that’s connected to hinges.

Hardware Resources

Heavy Duty Applience Lift

When you’re ready to use the appliance, you pull the shelf with your appliance on top out and up, and the shelf locks in place as you use it. Then, you store it back inside your bottom cabinet when you’re done.

3) Paper towel holder. Instead of keeping your paper towels on a freestanding paper towel holder that takes up valuable counter space, we like to install built-in paper towel holder out of the way. Built in paper towel holders can be installed under the counter or in a drawer.

4) A sink front tip out tray. These trays directly in front of your kitchen sink are an excellent use of otherwise wasted space and they help to keep your sink area looking uncluttered. Sink front tip out trays are used in place of false drawer fronts under a sink, and they hide small items like your sponges, rags and scrub brushes.

Buit-in Paper Towel Holder

Rev-A-Shelf Tip Out Tray

5) An under-sink pull out bottom shelf. Sink plumbing and a disposal often don’t leave much storage space under the kitchen sink, but you can still effectively use the space you have by installing a pull out shelf on the bottom of the cabinet. This type of kitchen organizer makes it easier to access the soaps, cleaning products and dishwasher detergent tablets you store under your kitchen sink. The best type of shelf is either a pre-bought or a custom-made simple wire or wood shelf attached to metal tracks.

6) Lazy Susan. Maximizing storage space in the kitchen is always important, and that’s especially true when it comes to smaller spaces. Installing a Lazy Susan in corner cabinets is an excellent way to utilize blind corners and it gives you overall more storage for your pots, pans and other kitchen items. Design and prices of Lazy Susans vary, from inexpensive simple ones that rotate inside the cabinet, to ones with intricate finishes that you can pull outside of the cabinet to access your kitchen items.

Hafele Lazy Susan

Rev-A-Shelf under Sink Pull Out

As you’re designing your custom home kitchen or considering an upgrade or remodeling, keep in mind these top six kitchen organizers. More often than not, it’s easier to build them into your initial design rather than adding them later. Most are relatively inexpensive and they’ll make time spent in your kitchen much more enjoyable.

Double Kitchen Islands. A Trend Not Going Anywhere

The trend toward having two kitchen islands has grown in recent years and it’s a design feature that’s become even more popular among homeowners during the pandemic.

Kitchens have become more of a focal point of the home in the past year—a space for cooking, eating, working remotely, trying out new hobbies and helping the kids with their schoolwork. Many homeowners these days need more overall counter space, but they don’t necessarily want one massive island sitting in the middle of their kitchen. For many homeowners, creating two custom kitchen islands instead of one has become a more appealing and functional design option.

Having double kitchen islands as opposed to one divides the kitchen into a socializing area and a working space. Two islands can give you more space to prepare food and gather guests in your kitchen, and it can improve the traffic patterns and flow of your space. With two kitchen islands, you also get more storage space.

Homeowners who have two islands often dedicate one solely to function—food prep—and add a dishwasher or a second sink to the island, and then reserve the second island for eating and entertaining. As you design your custom home and kitchen, consider the following when deciding between one or two kitchen islands.

1)    How big is your kitchen? The National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA) says an open kitchen that contains an island should have a minimum of 42 inches on each side of the island to make the space feel functional. Whether you’re planning for one island or two, consider the size of your space and what will fit without making the space feel cramped. If your kitchen is especially large, having two islands can give you more options for how to use the space. If you have a small space, it’s probably better to stick to one.

Studio M

2)   How much do you cook and entertain? If love to cook and entertain and you spend a good amount of time in the kitchen, having two kitchen islands may well be worth the investment. One of your islands can include an area for bar stools and function as a spot for guests to keep you company and relax with a drink without getting in the way as you prepare a meal. Or, it can double as a second, more intimate dining area. If you rarely cook or have guests over and you tend to eat out more often than not, a single island might suffice.

3)   What’s your budget? When you add one island to your kitchen, you’ll need to budget for a countertop, cabinets and any appliances or fixtures you might want to add. When you have two islands, your materials increase and so do your costs. You’ll want to think about how your kitchen figures in to your overall home design and budget. Perhaps the kitchen is the most important room in the house for you. If so, it may be worth it to dedicate more money to your kitchen than others rooms by incorporating two kitchen islands into your design.

danielscottkitchens.co.uk

If you choose to go with two kitchen islands, you have a number of design options. Two popular layouts include parallel islands and T-shaped islands. Parallel islands tend to work best in large square kitchens, while T-shaped islands—either connected or separated by a few feet—can be a good choice for smaller spaces.

Also, think about the shape of your kitchen. For a wide and short kitchen shape, you can put two islands side by side instead of building just one long island. That way, you can cross the room in the middle, and you don’t have to go around a long 12’ island. If your kitchen is deep and long, you can put the islands parallel to each other or build them in a T-shape.

Islands also don’t have to match. One island could be open underneath to allow for stools while the other could include plenty of cabinet space. With both islands, you can add interesting accents like unique pendant lights above each and a variety of hardware.

remedy.design

As you plan out your custom home, you have a lot of decisions to make. For many families, the kitchen often does become the focal point of the house, so it’s worth putting some extra thought and planning time into designing the room.

At Arieli, our experience in design and building can help you figure out whether one or two kitchen islands makes the most sense for you and your family. If we discover that two islands are a better fit, our team will help you plan out how you’ll use each island, and then customize them for your family’s unique needs.