- Hey, guys.
For a long time, you all have been asking me
for a kitchen tour.
And there was always one more thing I wanted to do
before I was ready to share it.
And now I'm happy to say, after many months of work,
I'm finally ready to give you a tour.
So this video is part of a two-part series
that has been sponsored by KitchenAid,
that has generally donated all of the appliances
you're about to see.
I've admired the KitchenAid appliances for years.
I've even taught cooking classes in kitchens with them.
And now it's so great to have the full suite
of KitchenAid appliances installed in my own home.
It was the perfect fit.
As we go through,
I'll point out my favorite features of these appliances.
Each one is unique,
and some of these features are truly awesome.
So we bought this house 10 years ago as a foreclosure.
And what really sold me on it,
aside from the large yard, was the kitchen.
This was even before I had a YouTube channel
or even really knew what YouTube was to be honest.
But I always dreamt of having a kitchen
with a large window out to a vegetable garden,
where I could just step outside my back door
and pick fresh vegetables.
Even though the house was a bit of a mess
and the yard was totally overgrown,
I knew with a little bit of work
that this house and kitchen could totally be transformed
to what it is today.
It would just take a few years to get it that way.
So the kitchen had this really strange
lime-green-colored walls, mixed with these dark cabinets.
And we couldn't afford to replace the cabinets
because that is really expensive.
So we just painted them.
We painted them all white and changed the hardware,
and it made a dramatic difference.
And then we added the stainless steel appliances.
It just made everything pop and brought the look together,
and it looks so clean and fresh.
For the oven, I knew I always wanted a double oven,
because one of the big dreams for us in home ownership
was being able to host the holidays.
And when we all get together,
we're at least 15 to 20 people.
So I knew a double oven would be a great thing to have
when we're having a lot of people over.
I'm in love with the new KitchenAid Smart Oven+
with powered attachments.
It's the latest from KitchenAid,
and it is truly incredible.
The oven comes with interchangeable attachments.
There's a grill attachment, a glazed ceramic baking stone,
and a steamer attachment.
They all fit seamlessly, with the help of a base pan,
which holds the heating element powered by the oven.
I love the grill attachment for grilling meats,
no matter the weather.
The ceramic baking stone for homemade scones
and the steamer is wonderful for steaming fish
and vegetables, all at the same time.
These attachments have really expanded my horizons
in the kitchen, and it's also lessened the need
for additional tools and gadgets for cooking and baking.
Now one thing to note when purchasing this oven
is that the grill attachment, base pan, and heating element
are shipped with it.
And then you need to register your oven
in order to receive the baking stone and the steamer.
They'll be shipped separately, at no cost to you.
And then we decided to keep the original kitchen island.
I love kitchen islands because I think they're so social,
especially for someone like me
that's always cooking and entertaining at the same time.
You can be stirring something on the stove
and still be talking to people that are at the table,
and you don't have to have your back to anybody.
The original countertops to this kitchen
were this really dark granite, which I didn't really love.
I lived with it for a few years,
and in fact, if you see some of my earlier videos,
it's still there, but I wanted something lighter.
I really wanted marble,
but I didn't want the maintenance of marble
because marble can stain so easily.
So instead, we went with a quartz marble,
which is actually a manufactured stone.
So you can put hot things on it.
If you spill, it's easy to clean up.
It's a great way to get the look of marble
without all the maintenance.
And then we just installed a thick edge
around the countertop so it looked like a large slab,
but that's really just a veneer along the side,
and it's a lot more cost-effective
to do it that way too.
Then for the cooktop,
I chose KitchenAid's 5-Burner Cooktop.
There is just something so fabulous
about having one more burner at your disposal,
especially the way I cook in this kitchen.
There's always one or two things simmering
and one thing boiling, and to be able to have five burners
is just such a great luxury.
The center burner is a 17,000 BTU professional
dual-flame burner.
I know, that is a mouthful.
But what it means is actually something pretty awesome.
It means that you can have a very small flame
for precise simmering.
This is really great if you're just simmering a sauce
or something where you just don't want a lot of heat
but you just want constant precise heat,
and then you can turn it up to a dual-flame,
which means you still have the precise flame,
but then you also have a ring around the exterior.
And this is really great for boiling,
all on the same burner.
How great is that?
I also really love the sleekness
of KitchenAid's downdraft ventilation.
So it's in view when you need it,
and then disappears when you don't.
The downdraft ventilation was really important to me
because I didn't want to put in a big hood
that would obstruct the view of the garden.
That's one of the best features of this kitchen.
And that way, just from my kitchen,
I can look out to my garden, see what's in season,
what might be ready to be picked,
and what I could cook up for dinner.
Then to soften the look of this very white kitchen,
I wanted to add some vintage accents,
just to give it sort of a homey, cottagey charm.
So on the countertops,
I like to store all of my fresh produce
in vintage baskets that I've picked up
during our travels in France.
Then you'll notice in the corner,
I have all of my wooden spoons, spatulas, and whisks,
separated into crocks.
These crocks are actually pickling crocks.
So you'll notice they have the numbers on them.
It'll say one.
That's how you know how many gallons
these pickling crocks are.
So I actually made the mistake, the first time I ordered it,
and got the two size, which is way too big.
So if you're looking for something that's similar,
always get the one-gallon, because it's the perfect size
to hold all kinds of utensils.
And my husband is always like,
"Do you really need all of these?"
And I'm like, "Yeah, I kinda do,
"because when you're shooting,
"and we're doing like four to five recipes a day,
"we might go through all of those spatulas.
"You'd be surprised at the end of the day.
"Those crocks are empty."
And then I have this sweet little vintage painting
that I found in France
that I hang above a vintage bread bin,
and there's just something really charming and nice I think
about incorporating art into a kitchen
because it makes it feel less institutional
and more kind of like a room.
And I love this painting
because there's something really sweet about it.
If you look at it, there's this old French woman
who's gathering up mussels all by herself
on the rocky shores of probably Brittany.
And I always laugh at my husband, and I say,
"This is gonna be me as an old lady.
"That's what I'm gonna be doing."
And he says, "Where's me?"
And I said, "Oh, you're there. Don't worry."
Then you see to the side
there's this other little man figure
that's kind of hard to make out,
but he's also gathering mussels.
For the refrigerator, we went with an armoire-style design.
I love this style of refrigerator
because I think there's something so clean
and sleek about it.
The doors completely open on each side like an armoire,
so that's how it gets its name.
And the best part is the water dispenser
is actually inside the unit,
which creates a really clean, uncluttered design
on the exterior.
I also really love the way
that this refrigerator is organized.
You can pack so many things in it.
So the shelves on the doors are large enough
to hold milk and juice cartons.
Then there's smaller shelves for all the condiments,
a little compartment for the butter.
On the two crisper drawers,
the temperature and moisture levels
can be customized for either fruit or veggies.
But my favorite feature of this refrigerator
has to be the party tray.
It is so perfect for me.
So at the bottom of the fridge,
there is a drawer that pulls out,
and during the week, I have it separated.
So I keep basically all the cheese on one side
and then meats on the other side,
separated by that divider.
But on the weekend, you can pull that divider out,
and then I can use this for my party trays.
This is great for when I'm putting together a cheese tray.
I can have everything ready to go, pop it in that drawer,
and then when guests arrive,
all I have to do is pull it out.
How great is that?
And then the freezer is below,
and it's just the perfect size for us.
I love the built-in ice machine, which is super convenient.
And then it has two roomy bins below.
Another reason why we chose to keep the existing cabinetry
and just paint them
is they actually had some pretty good features.
So most of the drawers pull out,
which is a really great feature
if you're designing a kitchen.
But my favorite little cabinet has to be the spice caddy.
When I saw that, I was totally sold.
I was like, "That's the cutest thing ever."
It pulls out, and you can put a ton of spices in it.
So when we first moved into the house
and I loaded it up with spices,
I thought, "Oh, I'm gonna get really organized
"and I'm gonna organize them alphabetically."
So I'll put the allspice, followed by the basil, and so on.
Not only was that really hard to maintain,
but I also found that that wasn't how I cooked.
I wasn't using allspice and basil together.
So instead, I started to organize them by cuisine.
So I put all of the Italian spices together,
all the Mexican spices together, Indian spices, and so on,
because when I'm making those types of dishes,
I usually just take all the spices
and bring them to the counter
'cause that's usually what I'm using.
Then to continue the cottagey feel of this kitchen,
we replaced what was a stainless steel sink
with an undercounter-mount farmhouse sink.
I love these sinks because they're really deep
and you can put a lot in it.
And then for the faucet,
we went with a vintage gooseneck faucet
in a rubbed-oil bronze finish,
which I think also adds a nice vintage charm to this area.
We did get a faucet that had a removable nozzle,
which is a really great feature
anytime you want to clean out your sink
or if you have something in a colander
that you just want to rinse.
So my husband was really pretty hands-off
with this kitchen design.
He knew that it was like my special place,
and he was like, "Okay, do what you want.
"Just stay with this budget."
So it's like okay, I can do that.
But the one thing he was not going for were hardwood floors.
I really wanted hardwood floors in the kitchen,
even though I know that is like completely impractical.
So we did a compromise.
We went for ceramic hardwood-looking floors,
which was really a great idea.
When I think of all the times that we spent
shooting in this kitchen
and the mess that is made at the end of the day,
if I had real hardwood,
that probably would not have been a good idea.
But this floor really looks like hardwood,
but it's ceramic, and it's great,
because at the end of the day, all you do is mop it up.
And then to soften the look of the hardwood floors,
I added a little runner in front of the sink,
which I think gives the kitchen a cozy vibe.
And then this kitchen doesn't have a lot of
undercounter space under the sink,
so I was a little bit challenged of
where to put the trash and the recycling.
So instead of having kind of like ugly trash bins
that you might be looking at,
I went with clothing hampers instead, these two baskets.
So they're actually made to put laundry in,
but I lined them with trash bags,
and then I have one for my recycling and one for the trash.
And then the dishwasher is also from KitchenAid,
and as you can imagine,
we do a lot of dishes in this kitchen.
And there are three things that I absolutely love
about this dishwasher.
So first, all of the controls are at the top,
and when you close the dishwasher, they're actually hidden.
So it creates, again, a really nice clean look
on the exterior.
And another thing that I love about this dishwasher
is the third rack.
You feel like you just get that much more space
out of your dishwasher.
So the third rack is my go-to place for spatulas,
pastry bags, or serving pieces.
You can just put a lot of stuff up here,
and it's like you have all of this extra room.
And then lastly, my favorite thing about this dishwasher
is how quite it is.
Like, you can't even tell when it is on when it's running.
In fact, this is the thing my husband will constantly do.
He'll come into the kitchen and open the dishwasher,
not knowing that it's on because it's so quiet.
Now this house doesn't actually have a dining room.
In fact, that was another big motivation
for building the vegetable garden
is that's really our big dining room.
It's where we hold Easter, Thanksgiving,
but in the winter months, when you cannot eat outside,
we have to actually eat in the kitchen.
So I wanted to create a dining-room situation
that wouldn't feel that we were actually
dining in the kitchen.
So I replaced the original stainless-steel light fixture
with a vintage chandelier that I found online,
and that simple little swap
instantly created the feeling of a dining room
in our kitchen.
I also sure that the chandelier was on a dimmer,
so that when I was cooking, I could have enough light,
but that when we sat down to dinner,
I could lower the lights
and it would just have a nice, better glow to it.
The dining table is actually a table designed by my dad,
who has a furniture collection.
So I love the sleek design of it
because it was really neutral and I knew that it would go
with a lot of different furniture
that we may have over the years.
But I wanted to pair this kind of modern table
with something a bit more traditional.
I love mixing and matching furniture styles like that.
I think if you have a modern table,
you don't necessarily have to have modern chairs.
I think it just creates a more acquired look.
So I found these chairs actually at a flea market.
And we just stripped them of their paint
down to the natural wood,
and then I replaced the seat covers
with just a faux leather.
So it probably would have been really expensive
to use real leather, but the faux leather is great
because people can spill on it,
and you just wipe it up with a sponge.
And then to continue the feeling of a dining room,
I hung some white plates on either side of a window.
There were just plates that I actually found at a yard sale.
But I loved their shapes,
and I felt that it just looked kind of nice,
the white against the white.
Hanging something that gives you interest
but doesn't compete so much with the other things
in the room.
And then in between the plates
are these funky little pictures
that I had actually had in my bedroom as a child.
And these are actually pages from a vintage children's book,
and they define what a noun is and what a pronoun is.
And I think there's something fun
about bringing in things from your past
or from your childhood into your new house.
It just creates a nice feeling of connectivity I guess
to your past.
And then in the original kitchen,
there was this funky plant window that was really strange.
I don't know.
I tried to make it look cute over the years.
I would put little baskets in it,
and different pieces of china that I collected,
and it still was just like this big eyesore.
So a few months ago, we just had it ripped out,
patched up the wall, and in its place,
hung a picture that was done by a family friend, of Paris.
I love this picture because it reminds me of the first time
my husband and I traveled to Paris to meet his family
when we were first dating.
We spent the whole day discovering the city,
walking along the banks of the Seine,
and every time I look at that, I think of our early history,
that first time that we spent exploring the sights of Paris.
And then the last thing in this kitchen that had to go
was the little back door.
So we lived with this back door for many years.
It was kind of this weird hybrid between wood
and maybe plastic.
And it was just something that just bugged me,
that I just had to get of.
And instead, I wanted a Dutch door,
because I think there's something so charming
about a Dutch door that splits in two,
where you can have the door fully open,
you can have the top open, and just the bottom open.
It just creates a another piece of charming architecture
in this kitchen that makes it feel a little bit more
cottagey and country-like.
And it's actually very practical too.
So ever since we got our puppy George,
he has figured out a way to let himself out
of the screen door.
He just jumps up and out he goes.
So if there are birds out there or the postman,
he will just go charging after them.
So now we can leave the top of the door open
and George can't get out when the bottom is shut.
All right, you guys.
I hope you've enjoyed my kitchen renovation story.
I hope it has given you some inspiration
for your own kitchen.
And a very special thanks to KitchenAid
for sponsoring and collaborating with me on this video.
And you can tune in next week
to see how I make a delicious dinner salad.
In this video, I'm gonna show you how to use
the grill attachment in the KitchenAid Smart Oven+.
And for more information on the appliances
you saw in my kitchen today,
you can check the links in the description,
or you can browse the full collection of appliances
at KitchenAid.com.
All right, you guys.
I'll see you back here next time.
Until then, bye!