Free Kitchen Design
I met Jason & Tishelle at the Tacoma Remodeling Expo where we exhibit our custom kitchen cabinets every year. They were in the beginning stages of their kitchen remodel and were planning on doing the majority of the work themselves. Tishelle had a great vision of what she wanted her new kitchen to look like. She had spent a lot of time searching sites like Houzz and Pinterest for inspiration and was leaning towards gray lower cabinets with white uppers, but was having trouble finding the right color gray to make it work.
After talking with them for a few minutes about their project I began showing them samples of some of the many the gray tones that we have to offer ranging from dark gray stains to light gray paint. She was immediately drawn to our Peppercorn stain on Cherry for the lower cabinets and our White Icing paint with a Pewter highlight for the uppers. The additional highlight on top of the white paint really helped tie the two colors together.
Shortly after the home show, I met with them in their home, reviewed their project goals, looked for potential challenges and took measurements. I then put together a free kitchen design for them. Typically, when I work up a design for a customer, there are a just a few tweaks and minor changes but the overall layout stays the same. That was not the case with Jason and Tishelle.
When we met for the third time in our Tacoma cabinet studio / showroom to review my design, we quickly ended up changing just about everything in the cabinet layout. Although some kitchen designers may get frustrated by a large amount of changes, I welcomed collaboration. I often tell my customers that though I take great pride in my products, I will only see the kitchen for the duration of the project meanwhile they will live in it for the next 30 years. Therefore input is far more important than mine.
I encourage my customers to not only look at the visual appeal of my proposed layout, but also to take my drawings home, open up their existing cupboards and look at their stuff. While looking at the pots and pans, mixers, toasters, blenders, spices, cookie sheets, and utensils, I then ask them the envision where in their new kitchen those items will be stored.
For every storage problem there is a storage solution. Whether it’s a pull out spice rack or tiered cutlery divider, there is always something that can be done better.
Cabinet Installation
Jason & Tishelle kept the accessories and storage solutions to a minimum opting instead for large drawers. We did include a double waste basket cabinet, lazy susans in the corners, and a built in microwave cabinet with a custom trim kit. After having remodeled their previous two kitchens and learned some valuable lessons about the function of their kitchen which they carried over into their new design.
The end result of this kitchen is one of my personal favorites. The gray stained lower cabinets combined with the highlighted white uppers really took this kitchen to new level. New Leaf only played a small part in this beautiful new kitchen by supplying and installing the custom cabinetry. Tishelle did a great job installing the backsplash and Jason really impressed me with his DIY skills. I have seen a lot of DIY kitchen remodels go really bad, really fast, but if Jason ever decides firefighting is no longer for him, I’ll have a job waiting.
Click here to read Jason's review on Facebook
Products used:
- Cabinets - Yorktowne Iconic, full overlay
- Door Style - Brockton Flat Panel
- Uppers – White Icing Classic with Pewter Highlight
- Lowers – Peppercorn Stain
Click on a photo to enlarge.