BrittanyMakes

Our kitchen is nearly 2 years old! It’s kind of hard to believe. Not a whole lot has changed, everything has held up perfectly – the hardware still looks brand new, the faucet looks sparkling as ever, the marble counters are gently used (as expected with marble counters), the flush mount is still off-center, haha. Now you’ll never unsee it. Originally it was placed center, after some drama with our corner cabinet, they had to move the window to center above the sink, leaving the flush mount slightly off center. Oh well.

Two years have passed, and there are only two changes I’d make to the kitchen. First, I wouldn’t have opted for a microwave shelf. It takes up prime pantry real estate, is slightly an eyesore, but I have to admit we do use the microwave daily and it beats having it sit on the counter. If only we had a pantry… Second, this is something we might fix in the future, just super low on the priority list, is the open space between the fridge and the cabinet above the fridge. I kinda think our contractors dodged finishing this space off when they should have, with a filler piece or something. I’ve been on the hunt for a fridge grill, but I haven’t found anything that fits our fridge.  No one is dying over that open space, but I can’t say it doesn’t bother me when I look at it.

I’ve been working super hard to keep our counters clutter free. It’s tough when you need to house daily drivers like your coffee maker or your SodaStream, both of which I removed from the counter before taking these pics.  I’ve been asked a few times if I’ve had to touch up the paint on our lower cabinets. I’ve only had to do a couple touch ups on the garbage door (left one under the sink) since it’s possibly the most used door, and the toe-kick, as our dogs love to scrape their nails against it trying to grab fallen crumbs. Other than that the paint has held up beautifully. I probably wipe the cabinets clean every other month or so, just with a Clorox wipe – nothing fancy.

BUT. There is one change I’ve been thinking a lot about lately and I just can’t shake… before I share, let me back up a second. We’ve had many a contractor come into our home for bids on other projects and whatnot. Most of the comments I get from them, besides the “nice work!” on our kitchen, is the question – “why didn’t you put cabinets on the window wall?” or a flat out statement “you should have added more cabinets to that back wall”.  I understand not everyone is design driven. And sure, it’s a legitimate question to wonder why someone would opt for LESS cabinet space rather than more. I, personally, wanted my kitchen to feel open. Adding cabinetry to the window wall would make the space feel claustrophobic. Our kitchen is small, more cabinets would only make it feel smaller. But now I have this idea in my head that I should do something with the blank space between the window and the range hood.  I’ve tried art, a minimal clock, both of which felt out of place. But what about a single floating shelf? Hmmm…….

I borrowed a shelf from my favorite design team Studo McGee and photoshopped it into my kitchen.

I’m kind of loving the idea, and it looks pretty good in the rendering. Would it look this good in real life?

Help! I need your thoughts!