Thinking about a kitchen remodel? I’m sharing our kitchen cabinet design including brand, finishes, and all the extras!
Several of you have told me that you have plans for a future kitchen remodel but don’t even know where to start. I hope that by walking you through my entire kitchen design and renovation process from start to finish, it will make it that much easier for you to plan your own renovation down the road. With our kitchen, everything started with our kitchen cabinet plans so today I’m sharing all of those details with you!
There was a lot of work and thought that went into arriving at our final design plans:
But it was so worth every minute, because our kitchen ended up EXACTLY like the vision I had in my head:
If you haven’t seen it, after reading about my cabinet plan in this post, hop over and check out my kitchen reveal post {here}!
Choosing a Brand of Kitchen Cabinets
Cabinets are a huge chunk of most kitchen remodel budgets and not something that you’re likely to change again for a long, long time so choosing the right brand of cabinets is important. And overwhelming! A good first step before jumping into cabinet shopping is to figure out your cabinet budget and whether that translates to looking at stock cabinets (such as cabinets on the shelves at home improvement stores), semi-custom cabinets, or custom cabinets. Also, make a list of what cabinet features are most important to you.
My main cabinet must-haves were a semi-custom line with the option for all plywood construction (vs. less durable particle board), good interior cabinet organization and storage solutions, and a nice palette of color stains and paints to chose from. My old kitchen rated high on the scale of dysfunctional spaces so features like this paper towel cabinet where I would not only have a pull-out can for my trash but also one for my recycling AND a spot for a paper towel roll had me drooling!
Diamond Cabinets: Base Paper Towel Cabinet
Once I had a good sense of what I was looking for, I asked anyone and everyone in “the know” about cabinet brand recommendations. While the advice of friends is always helpful, reaching out to contractors who frequently remodel kitchens along with interior/kitchen designers who have worked on lots of kitchens is key. I was lucky enough to be attending a conference early last year with several interior design friends so you can bet that I picked their brains not only about cabinets, but countertops and appliances too! I found that several of the brand names recommended to me (KitchenCraft, Decorá, & Diamond) all linked back to the same parent company, MasterBrand Cabinets. I also asked my contractor who recommended that I look at Schrock cabinets because he had a great experience with them and chose them for his own home and I found myself right back on MasterBrand’s website yet again.
So I dove into exploring MasterBrand Cabinet’s different lines and used their tool to select a budget and then compare the features of their different brands. Their Diamond cabinets seemed to be the perfect fit for me since they had all of my must-haves without any expensive extras that I didn’t need. After making my decision to go with Diamond cabinets, I reached out to MasterBrand about partnering with me on my kitchen remodel and was so excited that they loved the idea of working together.
My next step was to get a kitchen designer involved, which often occurs through the store where you’re planning to purchase your cabinets. A few of my friends (and even my husband!) were surprised hearing that I was going to be working with a kitchen designer on my renovation since they thought I would just do it on my own but designing a kitchen is an entirely different thing than decorating a room. Mistakes in a kitchen design can mean lots of extra time and money and I wouldn’t dream of doing a remodel without working with an experienced kitchen designer. It doesn’t mean that they take any design decisions away from you – they just take exactly what you want and translate it into the cabinet design that will work best for your space. I worked directly with one of MasterBrand’s kitchen designers and was sooo excited to share the plans that she came up with!
Choosing Cabinet Colors
Just like when you’re choosing paint colors for your walls, I found that the key to choosing finishes for my cabinets was to get finish samples to view in my own home. For stain finishes, the same stain can look quite different on different types of wood so be sure to keep that in mind (I liked all of the stains on maple and oak the best!). Going into choosing my cabinet finishes, I knew that I wanted to have white cabinets around the perimeter of my kitchen because not only do I love the look but I wanted to make sure I used a color that wasn’t too taste-specific since I have an eye on resale a few years down the road (and who doesn’t love white?!). There are about 1001 different shades of white out there but I didn’t need to go seeking anything custom because Diamond’s white color is perfect – not too cool or too warm.
My decision for the kitchen island was a lot harder because there were so many beautiful options that would have been great choices. I love the look of a wood island and considered going with a wood stain but since our floors are going to be wood I decided that it might be a little bit of wood overkill. I thought that Diamond’s Seal (a gray stain), Morel (a midtone wood stain with just a touch of gray), and Storm (a charcoal gray/black stain) were all gorgeous so if any of you are looking for a beautiful wood cabinet finish, definitely check those out. For paint finishes, I loved Moonstone (a dark, rich gray), Cloud (a beautiful light gray), Egret (a light taupey neutral), and Maritime (a rich dark blue). The winner was… Moonstone! I LOVE this color so much and being the gray loving girl that I am, it will flow beautifully with the colors in the rest of my home.
Choosing Cabinet Door Style
Next step… door style! There are a ton of different door styles to choose from which can be kind of overwhelming but this is where my kitchen designer was another huge help – I told her what I had in mind and she quickly narrowed it down to four or five that she thought I would like best. There is an online visualizer for Diamond cabinets {here} that I used to look at the final contenders and figure out which cabinet style I liked best. I wanted a simple Shaker design that would stand the test of time and the Montgomery door style was perfect:
The Kitchen Design / Layout
So now that you have the whole backstory of my cabinet choices, let’s get to the good stuff… my kitchen design plans! First off, the cabinet design plan for the long wall that my sink and dishwasher were on:
looked like this:
The space where the double wall oven used to be was turned into pantry space (the current pantry across the room will be demoed), my new range was planned for the current location of the sink, and the cabinetry extended all of the way down to the far wall of the kitchen since we’ve removed the fireplace. Up top we planned a combination of closed storage cabinets and open shelving (Diamond has open shelving options that match their cabinet colors and stains which is so nice!).
I was ridiculously excited about the new layout and how much more space I would have to work with since the kitchen fireplace was gone but what I was REALLY dying over is all of the cool features hidden inside of cabinets. In the drawer to the left of the stove, we planned to add a tiered wood cutlery divider to give me double the amount of storage for silverware. Then the base cabinet to the right of the range was slated to have tray dividers to hold baking sheets and cutting boards.
At the corner of our kitchen, we added base cabinets with {these pull-out corner drawers} – how clever is that?! So quick and easy compared to a typical difficult to access corner lazy Susan!
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Diamond cabinets: Three Drawer Corner Cabinet
Then along the window wall that previously looked like this and had no cabinetry other than the narrow row of cabinets to the right,
the cabinets were designed wrap around and run the entire length of the wall with my sink centered on a newly installed window:
I can’t tell you how thrilled I was that my view while doing dishes was changing from looking at a wall to a beautiful one looking out our front window. And like the other side of my kitchen, my Diamond cabinets have some super cool features including the built-in paper towel holder above the pull-out trash cans that I shared earlier, {this outlet in the drawer} to the right of my dishwasher that’s perfect for setting up our new family charging station for our phones and iPads:
Diamond Cabinets: PowerGlide Cabinet Drawer Outlet
a protective Cabmat that covers the bottom of the cabinet under the sink to protect it from spills and leaks, and battery sensor lighting that illuminate the interior of my cabinet when the doors are opened. No more reaching into a dark hole for cleaning supplies!
And talk about black holes… in our old island island I had pots and pans precariously stacked Jenga style in the front while others were in the dark reaches of the back where I had to pull out half of what’s in front to get anything out:
My new kitchen island was designed to be ALL drawers (thanks for that advice you guys!) and it is heavenly being able to pull out a drawer and easily grab what I need!
And while I was originally worried about losing the long shallow top drawer that I always used as a sort of desk drawer to hold paper, coupons, pens, etc., Diamond had the perfect solution – {this two drawer base cabinet} has a shallow roll tray nested within the top drawer:
Diamond cabinets: Two Drawer Base Cabinet with Roll Tray
I also loved that I’ wase to put pretty much every square inch of my island to work by adding some cool features to the toekick of it. Under the middle stack of drawers, we added {this toekick drawer} that opens with the tap of your food and is perfect for holding some long, shallow trays:
Diamond cabinets: Toekick drawer
And under the stack of drawers on the right, we added {this Toekick Vacuum}! You simply use your foot to turn it on and then you can sweep anything on your kitchen floor right into it!
Diamond cabinets: Toekick Vacuum Cabinet
And it doesn’t require a central vac system or anything special other than a power source. How sweet is that?
I hope you’ve found this helpful! If you want details on some of our other choices for our kitchen, check out these posts:
Our Kitchen Flooring – Hallmark Engineered Hardwoods
And if you want to make sure you don’t miss any blog posts during the course of my remodel, be sure that you’re subscribed to my emails! It’s only about 2 posts per week and you can unsubscribe at any time – CLICK {HERE} TO SUBSCRIBE!
Thanks as always for stopping by!
Anonymous says
You’re design looks like it’s going to be awesome!
Kris Jarrett says
Thank you so much!
Katy Beacher says
Thanks for sharing. My fave is that kickl vacuum. Just grab the broom, sweep and you’re done. No carrying a dust pan, then scooping the dirt into it and dumping into the trash can. Your colors are great, too.
Kris Jarrett says
Thanks Katy – I think that’s going to be my favorite thing too, especially since the space we have for our vacuum storage is upstairs, making sweeping much easier than hauling that sucker out!
Sharon C says
Kris, your kitchen design and all the features are fabulous to say the least and I love the colors you have chosen. One concern I have on the charging station/power point drawer though is, the drawer has to be open for those functions to operate. You can get power stations that are like a tube, that go into your countertop and pop up when you need to use them. Just a thought, as I think it would drive me crazy to have the drawer open to use the power point. It’s going to be exciting following your kitchen reno!
Kris Jarrett says
Thanks Sharon! I double checked and the outlet actually does stay active whether the drawer is open or closed – thank goodness because that would drive me nuts too!
Siiri says
Love the vacuum!
Kris Jarrett says
It’s pretty cool, isn’t it?!
Toni says
Your kitchen will be amazing…..can’t wait to follow the progress.
Kris Jarrett says
Thank you so much Toni!
Jenny says
Congrats on having a PLAN – So exciting!! We did toe kick drawers in our current kitchen and I just LOVE them. And I know you will enjoy all the drawer storage as it’s SO MUCH easier to access everything. Have fun!!! 🙂
Kris Jarrett says
So great to hear that you love the toe kick drawers – I don’t know anyone else who has them! And yes, I’m super excited for my drawer filled island!
Mary A says
Beautiful! And I absolutely love the toekick vacuum!
Regarding floors….stay away from bamboo. We were told that it was “the most durable” of engineered hardwood. We used it in our kitchen/family room. And like yours, part of our kitchen was over a slab. The engineered wood expanded and contracted with the seasons in Connecticut so much that we had to have it “fixed” at least four times (though it never ended up being perfect). A very costly and frustrating design defect.
Kris Jarrett says
That’s so good to know Mary – thanks for your input!
Catherine G says
Wow! I can not believe all the modern conveniences now available for homeowners. I’m excited to see your ideas and how you are incorporating all these new and convenient drawers, cabinets, etc. I will be planning a kitchen remodel of my own in a couple of years (once my 2 boys graduate college) so I’m pinning away :). Good luck with your project!
Kris Jarrett says
Thank you so much! It actually took me so much longer to plan than I expected that it’s never to early to start pinning and planning!
Kelley Nan says
Kris, I am so so pumped now for your remodel!! Your plans are amazing and I am shocked at how many features there are now- the corner pull out drawers are brilliant and I have never seen a toe-kick vacuum (and now have to have one haha!) This is going to be amazing!!
Kris Jarrett says
Kelley I was shocked too – I honestly had no expectations going into this remodel other than maybe having drawers instead of cabinets. I’m loving all of the options!
Patty says
We recently completed a kitchen reno – ours was a 30-yr old with builder grade oak cabinets. We knocked out walls and eliminated our dining room. We now have a beautiful upgraded, fully-functional kitchen that will last us another 30 years 🙂
Kris Jarrett says
You must love it! And how awesome that you were able to make it so much bigger by taking over your dining room space!
Amy K says
This is so exciting. I would love to do a complete gut on my kitchen and start over, but alas that is not in the plans for us. So I’ll enjoy following along with your remodel. Love the new layout already especially the windows!!!
Kris Jarrett says
Thanks so much Amy! Hopefully your time to renovate will come! I wanted to gut the kitchen on our two previous homes so badly but it wasn’t in the cards (so I hear you!) but it makes it that much more fun when it finally happens 🙂
Karen B. says
Kris,
This looks terrific! I can’t wait to follow along and watch as the plan comes to life. It’s going to be beautiful. I love the paper towel holder and have had a picture of one of these in my files for years. It makes so much sense and will be convenient without taking up counter space. (It truly is the little things, isn’t it?! :-))
Thanks for sharing, this is great information for anyone embarking on what can be a daunting remodel journey, I’m sure there are lots of readers breathing a sigh of relief that they have a reasonable, and well thought out, template to consider.
xo,
Karen
Kris Jarrett says
Thanks Karen! And yes, it’s totally the little things that I’m most excited about in this new space!
Deborah says
I hope you do better with Diamond Cabinets than we did. We purchased them for our new house with less than desirable results. The two most glaring were the large pantry we ordered arrived damaged and one of the cabinets had three different stain colors on just that one cabinet. We priced a local cabinet maker with a very good reputation afterwards and found out that for about the same price, he could have made us custom cabinets of a better quality. Next time I will definitely shop around more and not just depend on the “quality” of a namebrand.
Sally says
Just lovely!
Kris Jarrett says
Thank you Sally!
Vel says
When I redid my kitchen 4 years ago, working with a kitchen designer was just heaven, the general idea will always be yours but the KD knows the intricacies of measurements and making sure your kitchen function and actual space is maximized! Are you going with painted finish inside the cabinets? I didn’t know that it was an additional option that would cost me so much more so I didn’t, my finish inside is smooth oak, but since your blogging has taken off so well, you should opt for painted finish inside so you can show off the insides as well. I’m sure you also took an inventory of your essentials which is necessary too in planning the kitchen, I had almost alll drawer bottoms and just a few door cabinets at the bottom for large pots etc. I’m excited about the toe kick vacuum!!!! Hmmm, I wonder if I can get that installed ?! So very excited for you kris! Will surely follow along!
Kris Jarrett says
Vel, I’m right there with you! At first I thought maybe I could do this myself but once I started working with my kitchen designer I realized what a mistake that would have been – she made the process so much easier and the end result will be so much better than if I had designed it myself. And thanks for sharing the painted interior option – I had no idea such a thing existed!
Haneen says
KRIS!! Every feature is amazing! For my kitchen, I just planned to have my cabinets professionally painted since they’re in good shape, but MAN! This makes me want to tear it all out and start fresh! So many amazing options they offer! I want it all! Love the style and colors you chose! Can’t WAIT to follow along! You’re rocking it so far, friend!
Kris Jarrett says
Thank you Haneen! I was clueless about how many cabinet features there are when I first started into this renovation planning but now that I’ve got all of these goodies in the works, it makes me ridiculously excited about seeing this whole thing come together!