A Tuscan Kitchen Goes Modern: An Inside Look At The Remodeling Process

Before the remodel, the kitchen was done in a traditional tuscan style decor and lacked organization. There were a lot of warm, dark colors and too many contrasting patterns.

One of the islands had painted black cabinetry while the rest of the cabinets in the home were wood.

The granite had a very strong pattern to it.

The stove was too small for the opening in the cabinetry. The adobe style hood vent and travertine backsplash were way too traditional for my client's tastes.

The cabinets did not have any hardware on them and they were too heavy for my client's mother (who also lives there) to open. The honey colored cabinetry was lending itself to the traditional look of the home.

The green paint, billowy window treatments, and fussy lighting fixture in the dining area were fighting against the calm aesthetic my client was looking for. The client had owned this table for almost a year, yet still kept it protected because she was afraid to damage it. We ordered a custom glass cover to protect its surface and removed the plastic after the renovation!

My client already owned a set of these orbit stools and loved them. They became the inspiration to the entire home renovation.

These are the slabs I selected as they were pulled out for inspection at Arizona Tile. This is design heaven for me! We went with a honed Calcutta Sunrise Marble. Marble can be a tricky surface to use in the kitchen as it stains and scratches, but my client was ready to take on the European attitude of embracing the wear and tear on the marble as it aged and enjoying the patina so it will work quite well for them.

This picture is on day one of the countertop installation. They had to build a wood frame to lift the counters up a few inches to get the thick edging detail we wanted without blocking the swing of the cabinet doors.

Day one of the countertop installation. We moved the sink from the back counter top facing the wall to the island facing the playroom so that the homeowner could see her children in the play room from there.

This shot shows the edging detail I selected. We used a 2cm slab of honed marble, but gave it this 3" thick look by having the fabricator miter the edge and attach another mitered piece to the edge of the counter.

This drawing shows how a miter cut works. The bottom piece in the drawing would be the front side of the countertop.

This picture shows the new backsplash being installed. I went with a vertically laid glass subway tile in arctic blue. I chose glass because of its reflective quality and ability to magnify light in a space. You can also see that we installed some of the extra marble in the window ledges for an upscale look.

We painted the walls Behr Limelight in order to brighten the space. I wanted the contrast between the paint color and the backsplash to be very subtle. You can see the new frame being built over the hood vent to support the custom stainless steel cover I designed.

We had the cabinets refaced by Grapevine Cabinets. The cabinet boxes were very high quality, so we wanted to conserve materials and money by refacing the cabinets. Refacing means that you replace the cabinet doors and stain the cabinet boxes to match.

I removed the billowy window treatments that were previously hanging and replaced them with these custom made roman shades in a textured warm beige fabric. We also replaced the existing socket covers with stainless steel ones to minimize their contrast with the blue glass tile.

This is the kitchen after the renovation. You can see that we replaced the old stove with a viking oven and cooktop. I did this because I wanted the countertop to be continuous and uninterrupted by appliances. This elongates the niche and balances the kitchen. All of the appliances were upgraded to Viking Professional grade.

This is the dining area after the renovation. I replaced the old lighting fixture with a George Nelson Cigar Lamp. I replaced the billowy window treatments with simple roman shades, and I painted the walls the same Behr Limelight paint color throughout the kitchen, dining area, and family room.

This is the kitchen after the renovation. In this image you can see that I replaced the large lighting fixture of the front island with three pendant lights hung a bit lower than the large fixture. You can also see the new stainless steel bar pull cabinet hardware.