Before and After: A Six-Week Solution to A Very Dark Kitchen
This family kitchen had a lot going for it—tons of windows, seating, and storage—but its owner described it as “SO dark. Dark counters, dark cabinets, dark lighting.” As magical as dark lighting sounds, the family felt this kitchen was due for a makeover and made it happen in just six weeks.
The new kitchen, created by Haneen’s Haven, retains all of the good stuff—ample cabinetry, seating room for the family of six, all those windows—while brightening things up greatly. I love that this kitchen is now higher contrast: Rather than nearly all-over medium-tone brown hues, there’s now deepest black and brightest white. The wooden floor provides that nice middle ground and, along with all the gold accents, keeps the room from being completely monochromatic.
I do my best not to criticize spaces as they were before, but I feel comfortable making this factual statement: That is a lot of brown at work here—island, counters, chairs, lights, cabinets, backsplash, and accessories.
There are so many things I admire about this kitchen now: The cooktop set into the quartz counter, the to-die-for quartz waterfall island, the elegantly oversized handles on the cabinets, and the concept of hanging art over the stove! That is such a great idea, and if you hang a non-precious work of art in an easy-to-clean frame, I can’t see any reason why this isn’t a brilliant idea. My range is set into my island or else I would be hanging art above it tonight.
I chose this photo because we don’t often get to see what’s going on under the islands. This one features a ton of additional storage in a convenient spot for food prep and breakfast bar serving.
Perhaps not everyone finds microwave placement interesting, but I certainly do. So often we see perfectly styled kitchens with nary a microwave in sight, but there’s no way ALL of those homes are microwave-free. Here’s how this slim little number came to be:
So let’s talk about that range hood from Home Depot. I’ve always wanted one and I really feel like getting rid of the under-cabinet microwave was the first step in updating our kitchen. We ended up finding a new, smaller microwave model and relocating the microwave spot to the other side of the kitchen by shortening some cabinet doors and putting it inside a cabinet. Our carpenter did such a good job with trimming it out to make it look built-in.
Microwaves above stoves—while quite practical, especially the ones that incorporate fans—make me feel too crowded while cooking. I need to lean over this pot and there’s a dang microwave in my way! Cheers to Haneen for this elegant solution to a common problem.
Thank you, Haneen’s Haven!