Charlottesville/Johnson Village Kitchen Renovation
When a realtor from Charlottesville’s best brokerage calls you and says her clients want to renovate their kitchen, you run! Well, I do anyway. That was the case when Nest Realtor, Erin Hall, contacted me to meet a couple who had just purchased a home in the city neighborhood of Johnson Village. The home is a beautiful one, but didn’t suit their more modern design sensibilities. So, we got to work immediately to formulate a plan.
When I manage a kitchen renovation, design is only one part of it. It’s certainly the most visible representation of the process and is the part that I get to share on social media. Before and afters are the best. But to really make it happen, there is a process that needs to be followed and lots of moving parts that need to be managed. Because I don’t just design these spaces, I bring the design to life by sourcing all of the materials, hiring and scheduling the contractors, paying the bills, handling invoicing, etc. Suffice to say, there’s a ton of very unglamorous stuff that goes on behind the scenes.
I want to break down the space and the process here to go a bit behind just the before and after.
As you can see from the pictures, the design of the kitchen felt basic and builder-grade. Although with features life an oversized island, a double oven, and a peninsula to seat five, some may wonder why anything needed to change! But in an open floor plan like this, the kitchen drives the feel of the whole home. And with proceeds from the sale of their farm available, the new homeowners were ready to personalize the space. Luckily, the rest of the home was neutrally colored and so ready to go along with whatever we cooked up!
There were certain things that were known at the beginning of the process. They knew, without questions, that they wanted to incorporate a built-in refrigerator into the space where the existing fridge lived. They also wanted to replace the cook-top with a slide in Wolfe range. I had never personally worked with these higher end appliances but accepted it as a challenge! It wouldn’t be the only one we’d face in this project for sure!
If you know anything about built in appliances, you know that the specifications to install them are SUPER specific. So installing them into a space where we would be keeping 90% of the existing cabinets (and painting them) is a daunting proposition. A Sub-Zero built in is significantly taller than a traditional refrigerator. So, we had to remove the set of cabinets that were above the original fridge. However, while taller, the Sub-Zero would not be as tall as the adjacent cabinets. So what do you do?! You problem solve and focus on adding functionality if possible.
You can see in the above picture that we filled the space above the new built in fridge with a custom built wine rack! I commissioned this piece from a local wood worker who also happens to be a great friend.
Another challenge we faced in this space was a set of cabinets that were unfortunately placed under a bulkhead that separated the kitchen and living areas. We ultimately decided to remove that set of cabinets and opted for custom walnut floating shelves. These were made by the same individual that crafted the wine rack. We sourced walnut slabs and he cut and planed them to our specifications and he finished them simply with Danish oil to allow the true walnut color to come through.
The decision to use open shelves can feel like a controversial one. In this situation, they wanted to introduce some wood into the room for warmth and they have a very streamlined, minimalist glassware collection that all matches. Those of us with mismatched plastic cups may not feel confident going in this direction and that is OK! It worked beautifully for this couple, though! It also allowed the beautiful wall of tile to shine. I had to really convince them to allow me to tile to the ceiling and at the end of the day, they commented that they were glad that we did it.
Challenge number three! The set of cabinets next to the fridge would no longer function properly once the Sub-Zero was installed as the angle needed to reinstall the hinge was too large to allow me to even fit my hand plus a drill. Basically, even if I could reinstall the door, it would not open against the fridge. I originally asked my contractor to secure the door shut, but the homeowners were insistent that the door be completely functional. We considered several options that even included a set of hydraulic hinges. Ultimately, we settled on bracketing the two doors together and creating one large door that would operate on the hinge NOT adjacent to the fridge. From the front, it still looks like two doors but it functions as one!
In addition to the large changes made that included:
Painting all of the cabinets
Replacing the countertops
Removing the existing backsplash
Installing a new backsplash to the ceiling
Installing new built in appliances
Installing a new range hood and venting to the outside
Adding new island pendants that doubled the light in the space
We also made several smaller tweaks that included:
Removing the traditional molding from the cabinets and windows and replacing with a more craftsman style straight molding
Rotated the island 180 degrees to allow more access to the doors/drawers from the prep space
Updated the faucet to a matte black touchless
Updated cabinet hardware
Ultimately, this entire project took about three weeks from start to finish! It was certainly a whirlwind and tested us in many ways but I am OBSESSED with the outcome.
I think this kitchen is one of the best examples I’ve seen anywhere of working with the existing cabinets and the existing layout and completely transforming the look and design. Had this couple replaced their cabinets, the budget for the cabinets alone would have been close to $40k. However, they were able to remodel their entire space AND get the appliances of their dreams for about that same amount. This kitchen is customized for a fraction of the amount needed to get a typical “custom” kitchen.
If you’re considering a kitchen renovation, I encourage you to consider working with what you have. It’s better for the environment AND for your wallet.
And if you’re in Charlottesville and would like to work together, please get in touch! I’d be excited to help you.
