Modern Farmhouse Kitchen Makeover
This is the story of our modern farmhouse kitchen makeover! This post is so much more than just changes we made to our kitchen but you will have to keep reading to find out 😘.
The kitchen is the center of everything in our home. Truly, it is the center-both in where it is in our house and how much we are in it.
We stand around and talk and share life and words and music and food and all while cooking and baking and, of course, eating. Because of that, this post is one I’ve been waiting to do for a very long time. And it gives me so much pleasure to say…
We finally did it! Our kitchen is complete!! Eeeeek!! It took us six years to get it just the way we wanted but it was definitely worth the wait. Not only six years at this home but honestly more like 30 years as we moved from home to home. Laminate countertops and vinyl floors have been our life. Honestly, though, that is really okay and I have no regrets!!
I wanted to give you that perspective because it illuminates the joy in my heart and makes clear how much accomplishing the kitchen I’ve dreamed of for years really means to me.
I guess if you look at it that way, six years doesn’t really seem that long.🤷🏼♀️ Our modern farmhouse kitchen evolved bit by bit into what we wanted it to be. Truth be told, there wasn’t an overall plan to begin because I couldn’t even dream we would be able to add the upgraded touches we have.
Modern Farmhouse Kitchen Makeover
Before
After
Can you even believe the difference????
As per usual, we made changes as we could afford to do them. This was a slow, gradual process that took patience as well as perseverance. But it was absolutely worth the wait! We are elated with our completed kitchen and the fact that we get to live here!!
Our Previous Kitchen
To put things into perspective, we lived in our previous home for 14 years. When we bought that home my family wanted it so badly because it had a pool. I strongly wanted another house but I acquiesced to the house with the pool because that is what everyone else wanted. In hindsight, I’m so glad I did because it was the best decision for our family.
We had precious beautiful memories in that home and especially the pool. There was, however, one thing, in particular, I really didn’t like about the house…there was a white linoleum floor in the kitchen. When we bought it I told my hubby that I only wanted one thing and that was to replace that floor ASAP.
Ironically enough, 14 years later we sold that house with the same white linoleum floor. The reality was that with four kids and me being a stay-at-home mom with a part-time job, the extra money was never there to replace the floor.
Worth The Wait
My point in telling you that story is to shed light on why I am elated about our kitchen makeover and what an extra special blessing this modern farmhouse kitchen is to us.
I feel like I have been waiting for it for 20-plus years. That being said, God in his grace, allowed me to enjoy that white floor more than I thought I would. Instead of being bitter that we could never replace it, I became thankful that at least it was neutral and it could have been a lot worse.
From This
Home for me is just the best place to be. We spend a good bit of our time in our kitchen. Sometimes it is just hubby and I, sometimes with one of our kiddos or sometimes with all of them and our grandkids!
We love to have intimate dinners with friends and share our kitchen with them. And we love it when dear friends come to visit and stay at our home and we get to hang at the island and make breakfast together. Cooking breakfast for my family and friends is one of my favorite things to do and the fact that I get to do it in this kitchen is amazing.
To This!
It is never lost on me how far I have come in life. I am always mindful of where I came from in my childhood. For more, you can read my About Me page. I love to share my story and where God has brought me. Every day I look around and thank God that we get to do life in our home and in this kitchen.
And this
What is a modern Farmhouse?
What is a modern farmhouse kitchen you ask? A modern farmhouse kitchen has elements like flat panel painted or shaker-style cabinets (although you can truly use any style cabinets), open shelving, antique furniture, vintage signs, and natural elements of wood and faux or real plants.
It’s a mix of old things like vintage cutting boards and rolling pins that bring character into your kitchen and new things like stainless steel appliances that provide modern conveniences. To me, it’s that perfect mix of old and new that bring warmth to our home and make everyone feel cozy and loved.
And This…
To this!
How Our Modern Farmhouse Kitchen Began
“Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start” Oops sorry I digress… The Sound of Music just randomly popped into my head. Anywhooo, six years ago the very first thing we tackled was the island.
When we bought this home it had the tiniest little island. We purchased an additional cabinet expanding the size of the island and then added a quartz countertop that coordinated with our granite with the hope that one day we could replace the rest of the existing countertops.
In the meantime, we did some work in other parts of the house and the kitchen remained like that for about two years. We then tackled painting the cabinets. It took me three years to get up the courage to paint my brown maple cabinets.
White Cabinets
These cabinets were beautiful but, the bottom line was, I have always wanted a kitchen with white cabinets. In the end, I decided just because they were a nice wood did not mean I had to compromise on what I wanted. I took two full weeks and painted them myself. Hubby did all the removal of doors and handles and I primed and painted. We are a good team with things like that.
It was a HUGE job, but three years later and I still have no regrets whatsoever about painting the wood. The end result was definitely worth every minute of my time. The kitchen immediately felt so much bigger and brighter.
We replaced the dated hardware with brushed nickel pulls to match the stainless appliances. However, after three years we recently replaced them with brushed gold pulls and I’m in love!
A few months after that I painted the dated ceramic tile backsplash white because the color of the tile was showing an orange tint with the newly painted white cabinets and it just wasn’t working with everything else.
At the time it wasn’t in the budget to replace the backsplash. Paint is cheap and this would suffice until we were ready for the new backsplash. I have learned over the years to make the best out of what I have and that was a good solution at the time.
Before…
Next Step…
Next Step…
We lived with that for another two years and then the pandemic hit and we were all housebound. It was then we decided to take the kitchen to its final phase. After all, we were going to be in our house more than we ever had before and we were using our kitchen non-stop, making new recipes, baking all the things… including the proverbial sourdough bread that everyone else was making.
We started by making slight changes to the placement of some of the cabinets and even removed a couple permanently to allow for open shelving.
Removing cabinets and changing the footprint was a little overwhelming and a tad scary but I love how it turned out and we were able to arrange them in a way that was perfect. It doesn’t happen often that things work out that way but this was one time we got lucky.
After and All Done!
My dream of replacing the current backsplash with white subway tile was next. We added the subway tile up the entire wall of the sink and window and then replaced the rest of the countertops with the same quartz we had on the island.
The open shelving is barn wood and it was perfect. My hubby was quite nervous about hanging the shelves after the subway tile was installed for fear he would ruin the tile. However, the shelves came with instructions on how to screw them into the tile and it worked beautifully.
The visual openness this gave our kitchen was amazing. It felt so much bigger and brighter allowing more light in by the window over the sink.
Best Decision Ever
I would like to tell you that it was complete at that point BUT my hubby and I reached the conclusion that our island was still not as large as we wanted and we made the island bigger. This was not money we wanted to spend but when it came right down to it there was only a small space for a kitchen table. We have a large dining room where we eat when our family is in town or we have friends over.
BEST DECISION EVER to enlarge our island! Currently, we have a nice pathway to our deck without making our way through a maze around the kitchen table. We were able to sell the smaller quartz island top on FB Marketplace and sold it for a nice chunk of change recouping some of our money.
It was fairly easy to sell the original granite countertops on Facebook Marketplace. This was a huge blessing to us and to the person we sold them to. Don’t be afraid to try to sell your used items! Somebody out there will love them!
In the six years of transformation, we did replace the island pendant lights twice. But the first ones were only $35 and just a temporary fix when we originally enlarged the island.
Lastly, we added an antique Farmhouse-style hutch we rescued. You can read all about that in my post, Modern Farmhouse Hutch Makeover 😊
Finishing Touches
Bamboo Roman shades for the window from Select Blinds and new bar stools from World Market would complete the look.
Our modern farmhouse kitchen is DONE, FINIS, COMPLETE, FINITO…at least for now…no seriously though, it is perfect for us. Maybe one day we will continue the hardwood floors in our kitchen but for now, the flooring we have works great and is so easy to take care of.
Each step of the way our kitchen came closer to what we wanted it to be. While it was a long process, I did my best to remain thankful along the way. Each step made me love it more.
Three Final Thoughts
As I said earlier, this post is so much more than just about a modern farmhouse kitchen makeover. God can teach us lessons in all aspects of life.
I waited THREE WHOLE YEARS to paint my cabinets when I wanted to do them from the day we moved in. Truth be told, I feared what people would say because they REALLY were beautiful wood cabinets. I also feared they wouldn’t look good or look cheap. I was also afraid to paint my backsplash but was so pleased after I did it.
Never Let Fear Stop You
First, don’t let fear stop you from trying something a little different. This truth is relevant in all aspects of your life. As for your home style, it is about what you like, not what you think others will like. My post, How to be Confident in Your Home Decor Style speaks to this and is one of my favorite blog posts.
Be Bold & Confident
Second, don’t be afraid to do something no one else has done. It wasn’t common practice to take a paintbrush to ceramic tile but after a few months of hating the orangish color, I just did it one night!
No joke, it was 8:00 at night and I just grabbed my paint and paintbrush and started. No plan and it took a total of two hours. It looked so much better and made the space more visually pleasing for the interim two years until we were able to afford to replace it with subway tile. I say, own what you want to do and do it!
As you scroll through these pictures, you might notice that the decor is different in almost all of them! That is me. I like to switch things up and move them around and make the area seem fresh and new. It brings me joy and hopefully brings joy to those who enter in.
This is my dream kitchen. I am so very grateful for it. It is important for me to be thankful and to remember that nothing I have is mine. It is all God’s and I want to use it to serve him.
Give Thanks
Thankfulness is an attitude. It is confessing that all you HAVE and all you ARE comes from God. Giving thanks is a confession that God is good, and He takes care of His children.
My prayer is I will use our home to bless my family and friends and love them well. I want to feed them a good meal and have fun while making it.
What a blessing it is to share Jesus, our hearts, and our lives while eating together or standing around the island. Even more importantly, to make memories for a lifetime and to make deposits into the memory banks of our children and grandchildren.
Well, my sweet friends, thank you for hanging in there with me on this one, and thanks for letting me share my modern farmhouse kitchen makeover.
Much Love~Kim 💗
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