A Two-Tone Renovation of Their First Home

It was a New England colonial style house that hadn’t been updated since the 1970s. Jeffie and Joe had prepared over a decade for this moment: buying and renovating their first home.

The previous kitchen was not a big space – the kitchens in those days were built to be compact. The sink was small. Beyond that, the flow and layout felt a bit awkward. Not to mention the wallpaper and paint.

Modern, Open Concept Design

The new kitchen was going to be modern, with an open concept design full of natural light. When Jeffie and Joe walked into their house, the kitchen would welcome them in and make them feel at home.

“Our goal was to really brighten up the space,” said project manager Lisa Walczak of Walczak Design + Build. “Because the house is west-facing, the light comes in from the front of the house in the morning and ends in the back. But the kitchen ends up pretty dark, so we wanted to brighten it up with the cabinetry, the colors, and by adding some big new windows.”

The project started in July 2017 and took about 11 months to complete. During the arctic east-coast winter, the pipes burst and caused significant delays. “Of course, the cabinetry still came on time,” Lisa laughed.

two-tone kitchen with white cabinetry and blue kitchen island

Island Seating

In the end, the kitchen came out beautifully. Walls were taken out to open up the kitchen to the dining and living spaces, and a long central island seating up to four was installed. “Since we don’t have many upper cabinets, the island provides an opportunity to store the things you don’t use every day. They’re right there but hidden out of sight and out of mind,” said Lisa.

white shaker cabinet drawers surrounding range with a variety of drawer pull lengths

Decorative Details

“I love how clean it is,” said CliqStudios kitchen designer Ashley Thompson. “The blue and the white, bringing in the touches of the wood looks really nice, and I love that they incorporated decorative doors on all the exposed ends, including the dishwasher. They really paid attention to every detail.”

custom entryway mudroom locker white cabinets shoe cubby beadboard back nickel coat hooks

Custom Coat Rack

The mudroom closet, which had been demolished to add more space to the kitchen, was replaced with a custom coat rack storage unit. “We added this cubby using two of the pantry units to flank each end of a beadboard panel, and then added some beautiful polished nickel hooks,” said Lisa. “We did the top row cabinetry with a beautiful crown, and on the bottom, we used a custom designed base unit without the doors, and ordered some wire-drawers on the secondary market.”

Ultimately, Lisa said, “The clients absolutely loved it.” Bigger, brighter, and designed to each and every detail, this two-toned kitchen is a modern classic that will last a lifetime.