FINALLY - It’s 99% Done!
Before ➡️ After
📍Bucks County, PA, US
All details provided below! 👇
Do you remember when I was a complete noob and came on here with soo many questions? I basically just had the design pictures and thought I’d be back here much sooner… My goal with this post is to give back to a community that has helped me so much throughout the design and renovation process. And to help you avoid mistakes I made along the way.
Before: The original 1995 Toll Brothers kitchen complete with a desk, cheap and dilapidated pickled pink cabinets that were falling off the walls, corian countertops (which honestly were still in perfect shape), a very slippery and shiny tile floor (also in excellent shape for its age), and a dangerous gas range on the island 1” from the edge with no vent to the outside. 😬
After & Details:
Renovation: 0/10. It was supposed to take 4-6 weeks. It took 1.5 YEARS (Dec 2024) from when we signed the contract and 7.5 months (Oct 2025) from breaking ground. It turns out we hired conmen for contractors whose idea of communication and project management was nonexistent… Who haven’t shown their face more than a handful of times, ditching their crew with me, who is NOT a kitchen expert, to problem solve on the fly without any safety net. The beverage station (tall wooden furniture-looking piece) may never be finished at this rate because one of the head honchos is the only one who can install pocket doors. There was no movement at all for months until we threatened legal action. They stopped working the day I went into labor at the hospital because we weren’t there to stay on top of them. They made the crew do dangerous things like move our refrigerator with straps, and hoist that gargantuan garden window to install it on one of the coldest days of the year. On top of the stress of the noise and dust, I was heavily pregnant and went into labor 1 month in. 😣 It was a nightmare and added to my traumatic early postpartum experience.
Please learn from our mistake: if you choose this kind of shit company, with no designer on staff and no accountability, you’re screwed! We had no leverage. They get 50% of the money up front and got all of it 5 months before finishing the jobs. We do enjoy it now, due to my hard work and choices, and try not to associate my and the crew’s hard work with the owner’s despicable treatment of us. Thank goodness they finally hired a designer to work with me - she is a fairy godmother who stayed true to my wishes for the design, and is someone I’d recommend to anyone! They wouldn’t pay her so it came out of my pocket and I’d happily do it again. Her software was outstanding for visualizing every detail.
By the way, the dust? It all comes from the electricians cutting into the drywall to install wafer lights. They were the only crew that didn’t keep our plastic drapes up while they did their work and we learned the hard way just how disruptive dust can be when it settles onto every surface in the entire downstairs. Unfortunately it was avoidable and they just didn’t care enough to help us out and secure some tape.
Dog station: 10/10
The dog bowl filler was hard to figure out but we finally went with the following setup that is just far enough out that it doesn’t spill or splash yet won’t poke the dog in the face (she’s tall). The handle is on the other side of the island due to their mis-measuring lol it’s quirky but it works fine. I specifically got the filler and handle separate because I didn’t want the dog or baby having access to the tap and accidentally flooding the kitchen.
Index Bath - Folding Spout Faucet in brushed gold. https://indexbath.com/products/folding-spout-basin-faucet-wall-mounted-bathroom-tap-concealed-faucet
• Upper Cabinets & Pantries: 8/10 J&K B5 in color Pure (white) - they kinda scratch easily, but they were so inexpensive and they are painted and can be touched up so it doesn’t matter. Soft close works beautifully and they were able to do a custom size hood (NOTE: a 36” hood will not fit a 36” insert!). The tall pantries are cabinets on top, all pull outs on bottom. Basically tripled the amount of storage we used to have.
• Lower Cabinets, Island, & Beverage station: 10/10 Cabinet Joint/Conestoga Cabinets, Cherry, Saddle Stain, RutlandMT reverse G-cove/beveled shaker door style
Only went with drawers on the bottom except for the kitchen sink cabinet, a couple by the ovens, and on the far side of the island. Obsessed with how easy drawers are compared to cabinets.
Cabinet Joint was a Reddit find!! Thanks, everyone! They were a delight to work with from start to finish and we are in love with the cabinets. The cabinets feel substantial and we had zero issues with any missing or damaged pieces, felt like a miracle compared to the debacle that was the renovation process.
• Quartzite: 11/10 Onur Marble & Granite, “Calacatta Boheme.” Natural stone will always be worth it for me - I am stunned by its beauty every day. In order to have enough slabs for the project we opted for honed backsplash and dog station, and polished countertops. The honed is reminiscent of marble, and I love cleaning the polished countertops, personal preference. They go great together!! Has movement, depth, and crystallization that we love!! We applied Bulletproof sealer from StoneTech once so far and will be reapplying annually. We also baby it just in case, using trivets and being sure not to leave oil or water rings.
• Garden Window: 100/10 Ventana. Not having a screen on the largest pane facing my backyard makes birdwatching and enjoying my garden so easy, a dream come true. 🤩 Plus it fits my husband’s orchid collection, and lets a ton of natural light into the kitchen where it was pretty dark before.
• Sink: 11/10 Kohler Whitehaven 36” cast iron farmhouse sink, bought for a steal brand new/open box from Facebook Marketplace. The single bowl size, the offset drain, and the sloped profile with custom grates on bottom is a delight. I’m seriously lucky that I get to be the one to do the dishes.
• Floor Tile: 9.5/10 Edward Martin matte porcelain 24x24 in Amani Bronze & Calacatta. I am a fan of tile in kitchens, especially because it doesn’t compete with the wood lower cabinets. Besides how it looks, we get compliments about how soft it feels to walk on and the dog no longer slips on it. Docked 0.5 points because we have a lived-in home, and the white ones show dust and paw prints.
• Grout (thin lines): 10/10 Mapei Sahara Beige (5011) perfect match for the Amani Bronze tiles, almost unnoticeable.
• New Appliances: 11/10 Signature Kitchen Suite.
Couldn’t be happier with all of them!! The microwave is insanely large and easy for both me and my husband to use at 5’2” and 6’. We host pizza parties now and bake the best cookies on our pizza and baking stones from Pampered Chef. Highly recommend the Misen nitrided ‘nonstick’ carbon steel pans for the induction range. Le Crueset pots work on it as well as my Our Place pot.
[x] 36” Hood insert (SKSHI3601S).
[x] 36” Induction Cooktop (SKSIT3601GE).
[x] 30” Speed Oven Wall Oven combo with 5-in-1 Advantium Oven (SKSCV3002S).
• Faucet: 9.5/10 Brizo Artesso SmartTouch articulating with finished hose. A splurge and LONG lead times, but so worth it! I liked the look of it but the touch to activate feature and the fact that it keeps the water warm are both surprisingly convenient. Docked 0.5 point because the gold color is a bit odd and shows every water drop and stain.
• Hardware: 10/10 the jewelry of the kitchen.
TopKnobs (purchased through Wayfair) - Honey Bronze color Kara Knobs, Bar Pulls, and Somerset Cup Pulls ; Rejuvenation Classic Large Cabinet latches in Heritage Brass ; Delta air switch, perfect match for the Brizo faucet because they’re the same company (Amazon)
• Pendant Lights: 10/10 Hinkley Oliver Transitional Style w/ etched opal glass in Heritage Brass ; Rejuvenation drum from Marketplace. Will never have a problem with harsh lighting or cleaning/maintenance due to the frosted glass and drum filter.