Here’s a remarkable transformation of a kitchen and main floor into a minimalist-inspired living space. This renovation project embodies the principles of simplicity and functionality, resulting in a space that is both aesthetically pleasing and efficient. The transformation reflects a careful balance of clean lines, neutral tones, and uncluttered design elements. Thoughtful design choices, from tile to cabinetry to layout to appliances, have come together to breathe new life into these living areas, embracing minimalist vibes while maintaining a practical approach.
A New Fresh and Open Look for This Kitchen/Main Floor
Check out the full reveal of this kitchen/main floor transformation below, or read on to learn more:
For this project, the client asked for a more open concept and a far more modern design for this kitchen and main floor area. To achieve this vision, we put a lot of thought into the layout. First, we took out a wall that divided the kitchen from the dining room. This was a challenge because we had to work around the plumbing stack that was housed in that wall! But now there is an easy flow from the dining room to the kitchen.
There are many things to think about when considering the layout of your kitchen. One thing you might not have considered the location of a bar area. In this kitchen, we added a bar area at the end, close to the dining area and close to the living room. That’s a practical location to be able to service those areas without having everyone to come running into the kitchen to get into the fridge. So give some thought to that.
To keep the kitchen looking clean and minimal we kept the cabinetry simple and the colours subtle. But there are a few design details. For example, we incorporated a great wine rack. This is a nice practical feature, but it also looks great in the design.
The range hood was custom made to match the millwork, and we went with an accenting colour here. We tied the accent colour the wine rack as well as the floating shelves in the little office area at the end of the kitchen. It’s a nice way to add some interesting detail to the kitchen without having to have two-tone cabinetry within the space.
And here we have a nice little office area at the back, very tastefully appointed. We have some lighting, along with some floating shelves for display and for storage. It’s a great way to incorporate a workspace at home without having to take over the footprint of your area.
And lastly, throughout the home, we replaced the hardwood with new engineered hardwood flooring. We redid the mudroom, and the design was based on making it a practical space to use as well as to store items.
Overall, the end result is a space that is nice and modern, with a lot of great little details.
Tips for Getting That Minimalist Aesthetic
Here’s some tips for getting a minimalist vibe in your kitchen.
Here are a few ways to achieve a clean, minimalist design.
First off, consider your choice of cabinet doors. Here we’ve gone with a modern twist on the Shaker door. It has a bit of a bevel edge on there, which softens the edge a bit while still keeping the look clean and simple.
Next, we kept the colouring throughout the kitchen consistent. We did go with an accent colour on the range hood but again, the design of the range hood itself isn’t to make it jump out.
The backsplash tile is a nice subtle colour, which provides some depth, but again, not overbearing within its colouring. It ties in nicely to the tones of the kitchen.
Another thing to consider is you want to avoid jamming too many appliances in, or things that pop out. So in this case, we’ve opted to go with a built-in fridge. This has nice cabinet doors on the fridge itself, so it blends in. It’s a nice, very large fridge which gives tons of storage, but it also doesn’t take away from the minimalist look we’re going for within the kitchen.
We’ve also gone with simple hardware on the cabinets. It’s beautiful, but yet not ornate and doesn’t necessarily draw your eye.
Overall, we’ve gone with some little accent details to add some interesting focal points, but we kept it subtle. If this look is something you want to achieve, remember to let the kitchen as a whole pop out as a remarkable space!
Removing a Bearing Wall
To open up this kitchen, we had to remove a bearing wall—here’s some tips on how we made this work.
Maybe you want to remove a wall in your home? We did in this project! We had a wall that divided the kitchen from the dining room, which really made for a small, kind of cramped kitchen. It didn’t allow for much light to flow through.
But this wall ended up having a plumbing stack that was in the way. This meant we had to relocate it. So my number one tip for you is this, before you go too far down the road of planning your new design and assuming that you can accomplish your design, you should check out the wall you want to remove.
You can either open up the wall or get a cable camera. Drill a small hole, get the camera in there, and look to see what’s inside that wall.
You need to confirm, first, is it load bearing? Are there any HVAC utilities in there? Are there plumbing or electrical lines?
Find out first, otherwise you can end up with a big problem later. You don’t want to be trying to adapt your design to fit some sort of a plumbing stack or whatnot, which can be catastrophic in the overall finish.
In this case, we had some time to plan because we checked out the wall first. We designed a bulkhead that looked great within the kitchen and still contains a stack. Otherwise this design would’ve been prohibitive when going for an open concept.
Tips for a Kitchen Bar
A great way to elevate your kitchen is with a unique bar area.
Here we have a little bar area tied into the end of the kitchen. One tip to help you, if you’re planning the location of your bar, is to be specific about what areas it needs to service.
For example, we’ve located this bar area very close to the dining room, as well as to the living room, and this gives people a chance to easily get in, grab a drink, and get back to their lounging, relaxing or eating or whatever they might be doing.
Also, think about the design of your wine rack. This wine rack is very practical, but also a great focal point in the kitchen.
Another nice detail here is we have some glass doors on the upper cabinetry. This is a great way to display any collection you might have, whether it’s stemware or other things of that nature. We added some lighting to give nice ambient lighting into the room as well as to showcase the content. So you can give some thought to how you’re going to incorporate that into your design and where you might want light!
So, when you think about your bar area, be smart about where it’s located and make it pop out as something remarkable in your home.
Next - Level Up Your Mudroom
There are a few tips and things to consider when planning your mudroom.
First, think about optimizing storage. In this project, we have a nice bench area on both sides to allow for easy access to putting on your winter boots or other footwear. But within that we also have some nice storage in the form of drawers. With drawers, it provides you full access to the full depth of the storage space as opposed to a cubby, which would be pretty tough to get to the back.
We also added some nice hooks to store the current season’s jackets and things you need easy access to. We have a little bead board detail on there to provide some texture and depth. And then we have some overhead cubbies, which are great to store those accessories that you need quick access to.
Lastly, we added ample storage in these large cabinets to put away those seasonal items. It can also double as some additional pantry space.
Overall, the way you plan to use the storage in this space is critical to the design of the mudroom. But don’t forget to add little touches to make the space look nice. Here the wood bench tops tie in with the kitchen and our new flooring product. It creates a nice, clean aesthetic that extends throughout the home.
Overall, a well-executed renovation of a kitchen and main floor can enhance a home’s functionality and aesthetics. We hope this transformation provides you with ideas for your own projects, and we’re here to assist you in bringing your vision to life.
You can see the project portfolio for this project here.
Looking for more tips like this that maybe you haven’t thought of yourself? Talk to your contractor to see what they suggest! They might have great ideas to get the design aesthetic you dream of. Reach out to us here at Contact Renovations at (780)455-4446 or info@contactrenovations.ca for all your questions about your renovation project.
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About Contact Renovations & Custom Homes
At Contact Renovations and Custom Homes, our client-first philosophy has made us a top Edmonton Design Build Contractor for over ten years. We pride ourselves on high quality renovations that speaks for itself.
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