I am THRILLED to finally be able to present “The Vintage Mod Kitchen” remodel to you! This project was honestly a joy to work on from conceptualization to styling. It’s a fantastic balance between class and playfulness and I couldn’t be happier with the way it came together. We certainly had a few minor product delays (I’m lookin’ at you, appliances…) that put off the finishing touches for a while, but these clients were just so lovely and had the best attitude about it all. The perk of all of that patience, of course, is that they now get to call this gorgeous space their own for years to come. I’m not jealous, you’re jealous.
So enough rambling. Let’s get into these drool-worthy design details, shall we?! First up, let’s take a look at this incredible…
Before & After
Before…
After…(!!)
The Functional Elements
As you can see, we kept the basic footprint of the kitchen the same both because the homeowners prefer this configuration to give them as much counter and storage space as possible, but also to save on costs so that we could splurge a bit more on other features, like the overall finishes, the appliances, and the custom cabinetry features.
Like most old 80’s cabinetry, a big box with a single shelf inside just doesn’t cut it to maximize storage at the capacity needed for all of our modern cooking gadgets, small appliances, dish sets, you name it. I love how smart modern cabinetry has become with extra deep drawers, hidden pull-outs, under-counter microwaves & small appliances, customizable spice storage, pretty appliance garages that blend seamlessly with cabinetry, (not the ones your grandma had), etc. The modern kitchen is all about tailoring everything to your personal kitchen workflow, and this one is no exception!
This kitchen has a bit of a constricted footprint, so we really needed to maximize every inch and make our cabinetry work hard for us. The homeowners opted to nix the old (very small and most unusable) breakfast bar on the peninsula and instead added another row of base cabinets for additional storage. They have an eat-in breakfast space directly behind it, so for their sweet family of four, it just made more sense.
The Aesthetic
“Vintage Mod” sums it up pretty well, hence the title, but let’s dive a little deeper just for fun. 😉 When I first met with these homeowners, they’d already picked out this wallpaper (sample pictured below) that they knew they absolutely wanted to have featured in the eat-in nook space. That set the tone for the rest of the design to follow. I love a good point of inspiration.
Since the print and color tones in the wallpaper are so bold, we opted to pull back on saturation in the kitchen to prevent clutter and competition. I love the soft black that continues from the wallpaper background onto the walls surrounding the kitchen as well as onto the floor in a matte black hex tile form. The Walnut stained cabinets warm things up nicely while the white accent cabinetry keeps it airy and blends seamlessly with the gorgeous matte white appliances.
We actually started out with a beautiful sage green backsplash tile, but it felt like too much in this space. As Coco Chanel famously said, “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off… It is always better to be underdressed.” I find the same to be true in finishes. The minute we tried this beautiful & simple cream tile instead, everything else felt right too. This beautiful tile is interesting enough with the vertical 1/2 offset pattern and slight color variation, but so refined at the same time; a true classic.
If you can’t beat ’em, Join ’em…
That’s what we decided when it came to the soffit above the range hood, that is. It couldn’t be removed like the rest of the soffits (without massive additional costs) due to ducting and electrical running through the entire thing. So, we decided to embrace it instead. By finishing the custom hood to match the wall above, and designing the pantry cabinets to fit in so flush that they almost function as built-ins, I’d say we created the perfect little “Cook Nook”. It looks like the soffit was meant to be, and this is actually my favorite part of the kitchen now. See?! Obstacles can produce the very best ideas. This one turned out to be a major win.
(& Don’t you love the homeowner’s knick-knacks and art prints on the shelves here?! I had so much fun styling these beauties – Vintage-mod feels all the way.)
There she is, folks. What do you think of the “Vintage Mod Kitchen”?? Let me know which feature from this space is your favorite and why below in the comments! I always love to hear from you.
Stay tuned for more project updates & posts coming up soon!
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You can follow along on Instagram as well (@hill.interiors ) for more behind-the-scenes and pretty project sneak peeks too! Thank you for being here, my friends. Until next time.
Xoxo,
Alyssa
(Photos & Design by Hill Interiors LLC)
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