How to make an oak kitchen absurd once again :)

Oak kitchens were VERY in style… 20 years ago, but now, they are just dated. There have been beautiful houses on the marketplace that just won't sell because new buyers don't want to deal with an oak kitchen. So before yous pass on that steal of a house or think you lot need to paint your own, permit me tell yous some of the benefits to keeping quality oak cabinets the way they are.

  1. Leaving them solitary is less work. Win win.

  2. Children tin can ram their toys into them, and you ordinarily won't fifty-fifty notice the giant paring. Oak is a fabulous camouflager.

  3. Beautiful quality woods is timeless.

  4. It pairs wonderfully with the right colors.

And so hither is how I took my oak kitchen (this house was built in 1997) and brought information technology into 2020.

When I offset laid optics on the photos of this house, I knew that the kitchen cabinets were quality cabinets. Having them go to the ceiling was merely an added bonus! But don't worry, if yours do not get to the ceiling, nosotros tin notwithstanding bring them into 2020!!

oak+kitchen+white+subway+tile+black+trim.JPG

This is a photograph I took of the kitchen the first time nosotros walked through it. I knew this would be horrendous to near people, only I saw the potential it had.

When you lot move into a new house, the nearly important things come first (wah wah), similar installing a new water softener, water purifiers, etc. We had to update the necessary things outset (to my dismay), but this gave me time to think almost what I really want to do with the kitchen.

First affair, and least expensive, we updated the hardware. I institute some pulls that I just loved at Target. I was tad weary about ownership inexpensive pulls, agape they would wearable chop-chop, exposing some strange color underneath the finish. Just they didn't! We have had them now for about iv years and they are still perfect similar the twenty-four hour period we bought them. You tin find them HERE. Since, we have a lot of cabinets and I didn't want the exact aforementioned knob repeated everywhere, I searched for another style of pull for our drawers with the same terminate. I constitute them at Lowes HERE. I also spotted THESE and love them too!

oak+kitchen+cabinets+with+white+subway+tile.png

I could not decide if I wanted to do a traditional white backsplash or an edgier black one. Since I had the time and pigment on hand, I painted the backsplash to see how I liked it.

oak+cabinets+black+backsplash.jpg

I took this photo at midnight, once I had finished painting them black, hence the spotlight I grabbed from the befouled. It was ok. I wasn't in love. I designed a black "hood" that was going to go above the stove, so I figured it might exist as well much black once it was installed.

Likewise, the microwave was not in my new-hood design plans. So, my hubby and I removed it and got a smaller one to fit in our pantry. I love the microwave in our pantry soooooo much more than and plan on always having the microwave in a pantry from at present on in whatever house we live in.

IMG_5597.JPG

I found a local woods worker who was able to come over, measure out once ( I still have no idea how these guys can do that) and make my hood design. Here are a few things that I wanted when I came up with the design:

  1. I wanted to pause up the wall of cabinets, so I needed a variance in depths. This new chiffonier needed to stick out from the residuum. I also designed the doors to be different from the rest of my cabinet doors.

  2. I think that black + oak is such a rich combo of colors, so I wanted information technology to be blackness. This would as well match our appliances. I did non want to buy new appliances just considering.

  3. A ledge was a necessity. I dear artwork in a kitchen and wanted to be able to display it hands.

  4. I still wanted to use that chiffonier for storage, and then information technology needed to fit over the existing cabinet.

  5. I wanted information technology to have the aforementioned crown moulding as the rest of the cabinets.

  6. The new hood needed to extend a tad lower than the existing cabinet because I wanted to install a light and not have it exist visible.

One time information technology was finished, he came over, removed the onetime cabinet doors and installed the whole affair in less than thirty minutes. It fit similar a glove!!

IMG_7351.JPG

I did not install a vent because I rarely ever used the vent (pro chef over here😉) and I did not want to lose the storage space. In the 4 years that we accept lived here, there have been ii times where a vent could accept come in handy. Instead we just opened windows.

(The white space beneath the hood is where the microwave was)

oak+kitchen+black+stone+hood.jpg

I took a few photos so you can meet how it was installed over the existing chiffonier. This photograph shows how the hood sticks out from the other cabinets past about five inches. If you lot desire to do something like, simply your cabinets do not go to the ceiling, try designing your hood to extend a few inches to a higher place your normal cabinet summit. This is a perfect way to requite your kitchen a custom feel and some height!

diy-kicthen-stone-hood.JPG

modern+oak+kitchen.JPG

Not sure if this adjacent picture is understandable or not, but I had my dad install an led lite under the new hood. Since the microwave was in that location before, the cord went through the existing pigsty where the microwave string was and plugged into the same spot. This is why I wanted the hood to extend a tad lower than the existing cabinet. I wanted a perfect picayune cove for a light. If nosotros would take ended the new hood where the existing cabinet ended, the lite would accept been visible from the front.

IMG_5605.JPG

IMG_5600.JPG

Here you can meet where the new front is simply screwed into the old chiffonier.

IMG_5602.JPG

Afterwards, nosotros installed tile (a uncomplicated white beveled subway tile) and added new countertops (Fantastic White granite). I debated between a white tile and an off-white tile. I thought the warmth of an fair would period better. But once I held information technology upwards, the wood cabinets reflected onto it making it even creamier and yellower. A look I did non want. When I held up the white, the wood reflected onto, creating that warm white that I originally wanted. Keep reflections in mind when testing your things!

I always get asked if nosotros restained the wood cabinets. NO. Nosotros did non. That would have been such a pain in the butt. Let me tell you… painting cabinets is a pain in the butt. Especially this many. Too, if you have painted cabinets before, you lot know that they simply do not concur upwardly. They article of clothing speedily, chip easily and need to be re-done every few years. Ain't nobody got time fo dat.

Change the colors AROUND the cabinets and that will change the await of them. Since these cabinets were an orange-y yellow, I painted the surrounding walls with a gray that has imperial undertones (bleached shadow by valspar). We are going deep hither. Everything reflects (except for black). If you look at a color cycle (google it)… the color on the opposite side is the "neutralizer". So by painting the walls with a grayness that had a majestic undertone, it reflects onto the cabinets neutralizing the orangish on them. Effort it. You volition be amazed. Now… practise not go and buy purple paint 😂. Just become a color yous would normally buy, but make certain it has a purple undertone or hint to it if you are trying to tone downward an orangish-y wood. Another affair I did was get a carpet. Before the kitchen had yellow lights reflecting onto a yellow flooring which reflected onto yellowish cabinets. Way too much yellowish and way also much reflecting of the aforementioned color. This rug (from World Market) has like grays to my walls as well as another muted tones that are NOT reflecting yellow onto already yellow/orange cabinets. Are you picking upward what I am laying downwardly?

Yous can detect our hardwood floors HERE. They are phenomenal quality and not insanely expensive.

oak+kitchen+white+black+trim.JPG

oak+kitchen.JPG

If you lot scroll support to the very first photo, you will run across that the oven used to float🙃. I grounded it past finding some beautiful little feet from Lowes. I painted them black and wedged them nether the stove, giving information technology a custom feeling also breaking up a straight line of cabinets down below.

Replacing all of our kitchen cabinets with the same quality would accept cost around $xviii,000. Ain't nobody got time fo dat.

I hope this inspired you in one fashion or another! Leave a comment or tag me in a photo on instagram @CopperCorners. I'd love to hear from you and virtually your projects! :)