We bought our home a little over a year ago and I would say that we spent the most money and time into renovating the kitchen. It was really small and dark in its original form, but we’ve always wanted some open, bright, and is the center of our home. My husband and I love to cook and entertain, so we wanted a large island to offer a large space to work on and people can gather around.

The process included completely removing the entire original kitchen, designing a completely new layout, reconfiguring the gas lines so that we can put our stove on the island, and putting in a free standing range hood. We had a lot of fun choosing out cabinets, hardware, countertops, appliances, etc. But it did take a ton of thought and decision-making (which I often have a tough time with). Luckily, I knew I always wanted clean white quartz countertops, natural tones wood cabinets, and a minimal style. My husband was in charge of choosing the appliances, since he’s much better with that stuff.

We are fortunate enough to have my father in law and George’s uncle help us. They are both contractors and we couldn’t have done this without them. There were some disagreements on what layout worked best, cost, etc (but what did we expect when working with family), but I just had to go with my gut and stand my ground on what I envisioned.

After all of the work and stress, it turned out much more than I could have ever hoped for. It still gets compliments and our friends and family were so shocked at the transformation. We’ve spent countless evenings making dinner together, hosting parties, and various projects just around the kitchen in the last year. And I’m looking forward to many more.

Here are some items I have in my kitchen!