kitchens Archives - Emily A. Clark

Updating Oak Kitchen Cabinets With Fresh Decor

Sep62018

I know it’s easy to think that nobody has (or wants) oak cabinets anymore if you spend any time looking at kitchens on Pinterest or Instagram, but in the real world, that’s just not true. One of my most visited blog posts remains an old one I wrote about not painting oak cabinets so I know some you might still want a little extra (updated) help. Sometimes, it just takes a little vision and some new accessories to make your kitchen feel like new again. I’ve put together three idea boards that were built around the tone of the oak, using modern and fresh decor to give them new life.

What I envision: A pretty fabric on a window shade or curtains, pulling from the grays for the paint and upholstery. (Red or yellow walls will fight against the oak tones.) I’d go with a creamy or soft white on the walls and use a rich graphite color on an island or accent piece like a hutch. Matte black drawer pulls and a stunning pendant (or two) instantly update the overall look. I’d finish up with a deep red Persian style runner for a punch of color on the floor.

What I envision: A strong statement with dark green walls as the backdrop to the oak cabinetry. I’d use a patterned fabric with different shades of green for the windows and add a pop with a chartreuse striped runner. All of your finishes don’t have to match; I’d use antique bronze and glass pendants paired with bronze drawer pulls and add a touch of industrial metal with the bar stools.

What I envision: A fun, more modern take on oak cabinets, starting with an abstract pattern on the window treatment fabric. I’d pair this with bright white streamlined pendants and white on the walls. A true navy would be a strong accent on an island, china cabinet, etc. I’d use matte black on the hardware (and on a modern faucet!). To play off the white walls, I’d use a colorful runner and a set of green bar stools with sleek lines.

Our Black Honed Granite Kitchen Countertops

Oct262017

When planning our recent kitchen renovation, I knew I wanted to go in a different direction from the granite countertops we had in our last house. I was forever wiping them down, only to see more streaks. I also wanted something that was low maintenance and to stay away from anything that felt really trendy. (This renovation is for the long haul.) I know you’re thinking I studied different materials for hours and looked at a billion samples. In reality, our kitchen designer brought over the honed black granite sample from her own kitchen, said it was easy to maintain and I committed.

Now that I’ve lived with them for over a year, I can say that I’m really happy with my choice. With all of the other design details going on in our kitchen, I think the simplicity of the countertops and flat finish works well. And low maintenance? For sure. I really don’t have to worry about spills or what may sit on them for too long. For everyday cleaning, I’ve been using Method daily granite cleaner. The granite installer told me to stay away from Windex, 409, etc., and also suggested I clean them with a water/denatured alcohol mixture. (I do this every now and then but not on a regular basis.)

I do occasionally notice that there will be some ring marks left that you can see in the right lighting. (Look closely at the photo above, and you can see one.) I put a call out on this Instagram post and got a lot of good cleaning suggestions, in case you’re looking for some as well. By the way, some of the rings that were bothering me before are barely noticeable now. . .

So, overall, I’m going to give honed black granite two thumbs up, especially for an extra busy countertop. It may also help that there are few hours in a day when I can actually see the surface of mine. . . ;)

Anybody else have experience with honed granite? What are your thoughts?

See the full kitchen reveal post (with sources) here.

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Our Green and White Kitchen Renovation

Jun82017

More than a year after starting the renovation, I’m finally sharing our completed green and white kitchen. The renovation process itself took about ten weeks, but between eating and cleaning (and eating again), it has taken me a while to get the finishing touches just right.

This is what the kitchen looked like before we moved in:

And, this is the kitchen right before we started the renovation. (We had the cabinets painted white when we moved in, thinking we might hold out longer than we actually did on remodeling.)

Our completed renovation:

I’ll do a follow up post in the next week or so to show you more of the before and after layouts. (We knocked out a wall so that the old kitchen and front dining room all became one room.) I’ll also fill you in on the appliances, how the kitchen is working for us after a year, etc. But, for now, here are the “after” pictures:

The two big items on my wishlist for this space were two dishwashers (the best decision ever!) and a really pretty hood (we had it custom made). That was definitely my splurge for the space, but I think it was totally worth it. I’m sure my husband agrees. ;)

I also really love having open shelving. I feel like it makes it so much easier to just turn around from the dishwashers and put the dishes away. For the most part, I just keep our everyday dishes here. We added L-brackets from the hardware store on the edges of the shelves to dress them up a little. (I brush-painted them gold.)

That’s me heating up my coffee for the seventh time. (Every morning.) I was on the fence about the microwave drawer but it has worked out really well. I do like that it’s tucked out of the way.

I knew I wanted some color in this kitchen and my first thought was to put it on the island. Our kitchen designer suggested putting the color on the end section of cabinetry instead. I like how it breaks up the long room into different areas. The tall green cabinets both house pull-out pantries and we added the chairs so it would feel like a small “keeping room.” It’s my favorite and most-used spot in the house.

We ended up with a short wall that was really too narrow of a pass-through behind the bar stools to add any kind of function. I took advantage of this blank space and hung a gallery of white frames with some of my favorite color photographs of the kids. (It’s always the topic of conversation anytime someone visits our home.) I was also able to work in the library sconces I’d always wanted.

I continued the green theme on the other side of the kitchen by wallpapering the wall behind our table. I found a green paint (Deep Jungle by Benjamin Moore) that almost matched my wallpaper sample exactly.

This is the same table I have guests sign.

I hope you enjoyed the little walk-through of our new space. Let me know if you have more questions about it that you’d like to see addressed in a future post.