Kitchen Freedom

Happy 4th of July!!

Whether you’re celebrating your independence on the lake, with your toes in the sand, or grilling out at a friend’s, I hope the freedom you feel today follows you home, too.

Because truly nothing feels better or freer than returning to a space that supports you and allows you to rest, recharge, and return to yourself.

Personally, my kitchen is one of the “freest” rooms in my home. After redesigning it a few years ago, it has become a place where I feel happiest and most at ease.

When I first bought my current home, the kitchen made me feel anything but free and at ease. Here’s a peek at what it looked like back then:

Can you believe this was the listing photo when my house was up for sale? It hadn’t been touched since it was first build in 1954!

When I moved in, I was a new business owner and could only afford paint, so this is how it stayed for the next few years.

This dark, outdated space definitely didn’t support how I wanted to be living. A kitchen this old certainly needed updating, that’s pretty obvious. The drawers stuck and there were – count ‘em – 4, total! The base cabinets were spacious, but so many things got lost and lived unused in the back of them. It wasn’t quite small enough to be efficient, and not quite big enough to add an island (but I did at one point because I needed the work surface). Cooking at home — something I really love to do — was far from easy or joyful.

At least it wasn’t until I applied the proven design process we use at RCL Interiors to my own kitchen! I treated myself like a client, and my kitchen just like it was a project we were working on in our office. That made all the difference in the world!

Here is the floorplan of my kitchen before

Now, I know you’ve heard me say on many occasions that I don’t believe in going in and knocking down all the walls to create an open floor plan. And I still don’t! But in the case of my kitchen, it had to expand. I redesigned the space with a plan to remove the wall between the kitchen and the dining room (the wall with the pantry), so that I could add an island, more storage space, and a much larger pantry area.

Here is the re-designed floor plan we created at RCL Interiors for my kitchen.

The former dining room would be incorporated into the kitchen, and it would also create a small breakfast area – something the old kitchen didn’t have. But we never stop at just floor plans! We also created elevations for each wall, so that we could reconcile each and every detail – like the placement of the upper cabinets, special features (like my super convenient pet-feeder drawers), and the fact that I wanted mostly drawers in my lower cabinets (so nothing could get lost and unused in them).

I really love the opportunity to create truly custom cabinetry. Planning my pantry wall was one of the best things I did for the organization of my kitchen. The pet feeders work on a release button – all I have to do is give them a nudge with my toe, and out they pop! Great for when company drops in and all I have to do is push them back in.

You’ll notice that circle detail on the pantry and the ends of the island. I was very inspired by Palm Springs, California with its retro/throwback vibe, and I thought it was a great nod to the era in which my house was built. Behind the full-height doors, I have adjustable shelving above and drawers below. I even added a closet for cleaning supplies which has turned out to be incredibly useful!

Here are the spectacular results: