Ryan & Missy’s Naperville Kitchen Before & After
yan & Missy own a typical 2-story home in Naperville. Their home was built in the 1970’s with a traditional floor plan, including a small kitchen and dinette, a separate dining room and separate family room. With their growing family, their needs were changing. They didn’t use their dining room for formal dining and needed a bigger kitchen. The soffits really made the room feel smaller and also reduced the size of the wall cabinets. Even though the room has a lot of natural light, there was no task lighting and in the evening, the room was dark.
OUR PROCESS & A GREAT OUTCOME
We have some clients who want to be involved in their renovation projects and these homeowner’s were no exception. On day one, they took on their own kitchen demolition, which included removing the counters, cabinets, appliances, and all of the flooring. Although we prefer to be in charge of all aspects of a project, in certain instances the homeowners get involved, some prefer to be very hands-on, however, most want us to take care of the small details, both options end up with great outcomes.
With a total of 73 questions and over 100 responses from our team, this was without a doubt the most correspondence we have had with any client to date. While all of our projects are different, these homeowners knew what they wanted and they asked great questions along the way to ensure we could deliver it. So you may ask if this was a problem for our team and our process? The answer is no, not at all, it was quite the opposite in fact. It just shows how great the project management software we use is in ensuring every single question was addressed and not allowing anything to fall through the cracks.
WALL REMOVAL & NEW WINDOW PLACEMENT
Since the wall separating the kitchen from the dining room was not structural, we were able to remove it and reroute the HVAC cold air returns and electrical. By removing this wall, we were able to double the size of their kitchen and build an island! We also removed the soffits in the existing kitchen and rerouted the plumbing that was inside. With the soffits removed, we were able to extend the wall cabinets to the ceiling and top them off with crown molding.
When designing a new space, one thing tends to lead to another. Since we removed the wall to expand the kitchen, we also needed to remove the dining room window. In the new cabinet design, we moved the kitchen sink, which meant we needed to remove that existing window as well. So at the end of the day, we removed two windows and added one new one.
One major challenge of removing and adding new windows on a 40-year-old brick home was finding new brick to match. We sourced many samples and compared options, while none were exactly perfect, at a certain point we found a close option that the homeowner approved. We then used the salvaged brick from the old window location and mixed it with the new brick to provide a much better-blended look. One other challenge we faced while working with a brick exterior is waiting for our masons to finish their work before we were able to frame and get exact dimensions for the new window. Temporary plywood covered with Tyvek was placed over top of the new exterior window location while the custom window was on order.
A TASTEFUL SELECTION OF COLORS
Painted cabinets are the trend these days and are available in a variety of colors. Ryan & Missy chose a very crisp, clean look with white cabinetry. We installed a new red oak hardwood floor and stained it a dark finish, which really makes the white cabinets stand out. The countertops are granite, the color is “Silver Stratus”. If you want to research granite vs quartz countertops check out our blog article. Not to distract from the natural beauty of the countertops, Ryan & Missy chose a basic white ceramic subway tile. They ended up ordering all of their appliances from the vendor we recommended. They selected a 30″ Bosch Benchmark Series Microwave, a 24″ Bosch 800 Plus Series Dishwasher, a Bosch Benchmark Series Gas Slide-In Range, and a LG Counter Depth French 3-Door Refrigerator.
Here at Sebring, we believe you can never have too much light in a kitchen and we used a combination of lights for this project.
- The recessed cans make up the majority of the main lighting.
- The pendant lights are a nice touch aesthetically and functionally while working at the island.
- The LED undercabinet lights make great task or accent lighting.
All of these lights are switched separately, which allowed for dimmer switch controls.
REIMAGINE YOUR SPACE
Whether your home needs walls removed or windows moved, our staff at Sebring will help you re envision your kitchen layout to maximize its potential. Many homeowners have lived in spaces so long that they need a fresh perspective to help them see their space differently. If you are considering a kitchen remodel project, get in touch with us and schedule your appointment with our in-house designer.
