Kitchen Remodel Before and After : Pictures of Our 1987 Kitchen

The kitchen truly is the heart of the home.  When it came to designing the 1987 fixer upper kitchen remodel it really needed to be the center of everything in this formerly 1980’s style house.  It had been a very nice, functional kitchen, but one that was also a bit cut-off from the family spaces in the house.  It was also a bit dark.  We needed to remove a wall between the kitchen and living room and open things up.  I have shared many kitchen remodel after pictures, but today I am finally ready to share the entire kitchen remodel before and after pictures with the wall removal and everything.  The navy blue kitchen island is really the star of this kitchen remodel.  You won’t believe the transformation!

Kitchen Remodel Before and After Pictures

Boy did the 1980’s love oak.  And light boxes.  As I’ve said before, this house was impeccably maintained and super clean.  It just needed a little facelift.  Don’t we all after a few decades? 😉  The shape of the kitchen stayed the same because it made sense, but everything and I mean everything had to go…

I was so excited to remove the dated cabinets and make way for a light, bright, functional family kitchen with a happy navy blue kitchen island.

As I mentioned, we needed to remove a wall between the kitchen and living room.  I can’t imagine having a kitchen cut off from the rest of the house.  Between the kitchen and family room, it’s where we spend 95% of our time, so it needed to be opened up and one big space.  Fortunately, the wall we needed to remove was not load bearing and was an easy fix.  The solid steel door leading out to the backyard was traded out for a single french door to add more light to the room.  More light is what it’s all about.

When I first saw this kitchen online, I knew immediately what I wanted to do with it.  After walking through with my realtor on day one, I sketched this drawing of the kitchen design (or course with the large navy blue kitchen island taking center stage) both before and after so I could take it home and show my uncle what I wanted to do.  I’m not a professional artist obviously, 😉 but I do like to sketch EVERYTHING out.

Even looking at this 1980s kitchen now, I have a hard time believing it used to look like this.  It just seems SO much brighter and bigger now, after the kitchen remodel. 

I knew that the existing desk in the kitchen would only become a catch-all for clutter in our family, and I needed a bigger pantry…so I pulled the desk wall out and incorporated that entire wall into the new, walk-in pantry design.

Kitchen Remodel Pictures During Construction

I’m not going to lie…I look at these pictures and feel some serious PTSD.  It’s hard to believe we began the journey with this #1987FixerUpper a year ago, and to see just how far it has come is really incredible.  (You can catch up on all of the before and after posts here to see the transformation)  This is how I spent most of my time from May-November of last year.  These are the days I was flying up to Utah, every week for 48-72 hours to oversee construction and trying to manage prepping for a cross country move and everything back at home in OC…plus, no one wanted to move so that in and of itself was a major stressor!  It was lots of LONG nights and airplane rides to come and sit in a construction zone while missing my family and feeling like I was burning money.  Just a bit stressful. 😉  I can’t say that everyone is happy to be here, but at least the house is looking a bit better these days. 😉 This was three weeks after we closed on the house. Removing that wall between the kitchen and living room made SUCH a difference!  You can see just how much of a visual designer I am.  I sucked more spray paint fumes during this project than any other.  I had to see everything…and know it was going to be just right.  My uncle Dave and I went over and over and over the size of that navy blue kitchen island about 100 times.  And the table placement as well.  In the end it was time well spent!

You can see the last bits of the wall and steel door here as well as an after shot once we removed the wall between the kitchen and living room. Wow! What a difference!

I was concerned about the walking distance and ease of movement around the new navy blue kitchen island, so we hammered a 2×4 into the corner where the kitchen island would sit, so I could get used to walking around that space.  It was a great way to confirm that the enlarged kitchen island would not make the remodeled kitchen feel too cramped. 

You can see the enlarged pantry and enlarged entrance into the dining room taking shape here.

What a difference some new drywall and a freshly skimmed ceiling makes!

Once those white kitchen cabinets and navy blue kitchen island base went in, it was love at first sight. 

The new much larger pantry. I’ll do a separate post all about this, so I won’t share it all now. 😉

The light fixtures are like jewelry in any space.  I had to have beautiful ones to dress this kitchen remodel up.  This chandelier from Restoration Hardware Baby was a must buy!

I was all about mixing metals in this kitchen.  I’m not convinced that I am going to love brass forever…well, I will, but I’m more concerned about the people we may sell the house to in the future, so I wanted to use brass in places that were easy to switch out if needs be.  These pendant lights and these sconces were a fun way to bring in the brass.  I used these satin pulls and knobs, and the kitchen faucet and pot filler are both chrome.

Kitchen Remodel After Pictures and the Navy Blue Kitchen Island Reveal

I fell in love with this Bella Statuario slab as soon as I saw it at Arizona Tile.  It is quartz and I love that it’s low maintenance!  We use our kitchen hard and I need things to be very user friendly. (and how amazing does it look on that navy blue kitchen island?!) 😉  This rug is the pop of color that every room needs.  I am SO happy with it and it is SO affordable!!

This pretty light over the nook is one of my favorites in the house.  It is from Restoration Hardware Baby.  I ordered this table and these chairs for the nook and I am so happy with how it turned out!

These counter stools make sitting at enjoying my navy blue kitchen island all day long comfortable, since they have backs on them. The price is great on them and they are super cute.

I am completely OCD about protecting the wood floors…we have them in our CA house too and I insist that everything is covered so they stay in good shape.  These little covers for the chair legs are my best friend.  They are barely noticeable on your chairs since they are clear, and they save the floors from getting scratched to pieces.  And, they are super inexpensive an important investment in keeping things looking their best while you stay sane.

I consider navy to be a neutral, so choosing to do a navy blue kitchen island in this kitchen remodel was not a scary thing for me.  I don’t see it as being a bold choice, I see it as simply adding a little personality to a room that otherwise might be lacking some interest.  It is a safe color that you can mix and match with just about anything to create a look that you want.  I mix things up frequently in this kitchen.  You can see it dressed up for fall here, in pretty neutrals, and here, all ready for Christmas with pops of red and pink. 

A pretty remarkable kitchen remodel transformation, right? I love nothing more that seeing the potential in an older home and remodeling it and bringing new life and memories into it.   So, what did we do?  What products did we use?  What are the paint colors?  I know…you want to know all the important stuff.  So here you go:

You can shop all of the items from our kitchen here:

PRODUCT SOURCES

Wood: Oasis Hardwood Carmel Collection Marina

Trim and Doors  – FJP Building Supply

Cabinets – Better Craft Cabinets

Appliances – Mountainland Design

PAINT COLORS

Walls: Repose Gray by Sherwin Williams at 25%

Trim and Cabinets: High Reflective White by Sherwin WIlliams

Island and Pantry Wainscoting: Salty Dog by Sherwin Williams

WHAT WE DID

New Electrical (wiring, switches and plates, added can lights, pendants and chandeliers throughout)

New Plumbing

New HVAC

New Drywall Throughout

Skimmed Ceilings to Remove Texture

New Insulation

Added all New Trim

New Paint

New Flooring

New Lights

New Windows

New Cabinets

New Countertops

New Hardware

New Pantry

New Tile Backsplash

New Appliances

New Windows

Thanks for visiting the blog!  You can find our most up to date home tour here, and all the posts on our remodel here.  Have you signed up for our newsletter?  Don’t miss out on getting all of the latest from Pink Peppermint Design delivered right to your inbox.  Click here to subscribe to our newsletter and get access to our entire library of over 50 free printables.  And, if you’re on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest come join me there too.  I love to share tons of daily inspiration.

Happy Designing!