After two months the kitchen renovation has been completed. The plan was for a six week project but the two additional weeks were needed for finishing touches. We replaced the carpet in the dining room with a laminate flooring that coordinated with the kitchen space. We chose not to extend the hardwood floor from the kitchen into the formal dining room area. We did this because we wanted to a lighter floor finish to provide contrast to our mahogany dining room furntiture.
We like the new laminate floor since it provides an easy-to-maintain hard-surface floor. With the previous carpet floor, there were always stains to deal with and occasional steam cleaning. At the same time we removed the old crown molding and upgraded the baseboards to an 8" wide profile to anchor the space.
Removing the wall between the kitchen and dining was a good decision. Our new kitchen is a lot more functional with the island being the focal point for kitchen conversations and food preparation. There is a better flow in and around the island and two or more people can co-exist in the space without bumping into each other, which was a problem with our old kitchen design.
One of the clear benefits is how much brighter the kitchen is with natural sunlight streaming in from the kitchen and dining room windows. The recessed lighting and island lighting had task lighting that makes the kitchen a joy to be in.
We achieved a brighter open kitchen which was our primary goal.
A fun kitchen accessory from TrendingHomeDecor.ca that was used in our kitchen renovation were the over-sized Decadent kitchen utensils.
Product Description: Decadent - STA222
This is our official "After" kitchen image
Here's the "Before" kitchen image from the same vantage point.
