White And Gray Kitchen in the City
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Last month, I showed you guys the before pictures and mood board for my mom’s kitchen. While she didn’t do a complete gut of the space, she did hire a contractor to work on the room and give it lots of cosmetic upgrades…including painted cabinets, new countertops, a backsplash, new sink, new faucet…lots of changes in this small kitchen!
I’m thrilled to reveal her new white and gray kitchen, so let’s not waste any time and get right to all of the gorgeous “after” photos!
Jan’s New White & Gray Kitchen
Isn’t this space absolutely dreamy?! We are so happy with the results because now it really flows so much better with the rest of her home (her bedroom, entryway, and built-ins). My mom is slowly transforming each space in her new condo to put her own mark on it and this kitchen fits in nicely with her other gorgeous rooms!
I don’t want to skimp on any details, so here’s all of the scoop about her new gray kitchen.
Painting the Kitchen Cabinets
Instead of ripping everything out and installing new cabinets, my mom kept her old configuration and cabinets because they were in pretty good shape. She hired a carpenter to paint them a gorgeous gray color, Benjamin Moore’s Chelsea Gray. Her guest room is actually painted this color (that room coming to the blog soon!), and we loved it so much in there that we figured it would work well on her cabinets. 
Because the rest of her space is so light, it was nice to have the dark gray to bring in some color. The darker color also makes the brass hardware pop!
Speaking of which, we ended up going with this brass hardware on all of the gray cabinets and they look amazing. Sleek, contemporary, and a really nice brass color. Highly recommend them!
New Sink & Faucet
Jan’s old sink and faucet had seen much better days and she was thrilled to receive a new sink and faucet from Elkay. If I ever have the chance to redo a kitchen, I’m definitely going with a white sink. The Elkay Quartz Luxe is absolutely stunning and instead of the sink being a dark hole for dirt, the white is so bright and clean!
We ended up going with this quartz sink in the color “Ricotta”. I like that there are 2 sides of the sink and it’s so deep and spacious. Lots of room for doing dishes (which is key since Jan is big on entertaining!).
And if you’re doing a new sink, a new faucet is the icing on the cake. We went with the Avado faucet from Elkay in “Lustrous Steel.” It has 2 spray modes and the pull-down feature is incredibly convenient. 
I think Bridget enjoyed using the nice faucet and sink when prepping the flowers for the photo shoot. She is making herself right at home!
Backsplash & Countertops
We said “bye bye” to the blue backsplash and the dark granite countertops and brightened everything up! 
The countertops are a white quartz that have a similar look to marble. It has a nice subtle gray veining, so it isn’t too busy of a pattern.
My mom then went with this subway tile backsplash in “Bright White Ice.” It is matte, instead of shiny, which ended up looking really gorgeous. A simple and elegant look. We also decided to go all the way up to the top of the windowsill, which was a great call. It makes the ceilings look even taller and gave the open shelving a nice backdrop. Which brings us to…
Open Shelving in the Gray Kitchen
The space between the window and the patio door offered a small spot for some cute open shelves. We were dead set on finding a nice light wood tone for these and I’m so happy we found these ones. This isn’t the longest wall, so I needed to find shelves under 20″. This turned out to be quite the feat since most shelves are at least 2 feet long. Luckily, we scooped these up and they worked out perfectly!
Because they’re not super long, they’re not the most functional shelves in the world. Instead, we opted to display stylish items instead. 
Up top, we have a framed photo from our famous cookie day, along with a little plant for greenery. 
The most special pieces on the bottom are these adorable salt and pepper shakers that were hand painted by my great-grandmother. She was so talented and we each have a few pieces of her handiwork in our homes. I love that these have such a prominent place in my mom’s new kitchen.
Brass Kitchen Pendants
We replaced the lighting over the island with these beauties from Rejuvenation. 
Again, this was another tough find! It was hard to find a good brass fixture that wasn’t overwhelmingly large. These ended up working out beautifully.
New Kitchen Furniture
Because there isn’t a ton of cabinet space in the kitchen, my mom stores a lot of her dishes in this hutch we found at Megmade here in Chicago (the same store where I found my white campaign nightstands). We loved the shape of this vintage piece and had them paint it the color “Raccoon Fur.”
It holds so much and fits on that wall nicely. 
While I liked my mom’s old kitchen stools, the gray blended into the painted island. So at the last-minute we found these wood stools from World Market. Such a great price and they add so much warmth to the room.
Bringing it All Together
Buying kitchen accessories is actually so.much.fun! We loved finding little items to display in her new kitchen like this soap & lotion set (the grapefruit scent is the BEST!). 
This wooden bowl from HomeGoods. 
And this vintage runner. Oh wait, that’s actually Bridget’s runner that we borrowed for the pics (more about this gorgeous piece here).
We have our eyes peeled for something similar for Jan, but as Bridget shared in her post, the hunt can take a while! But we did love how this one looked in her kitchen, it added so much color and life. So now we know that it’s a must to really complete the look in here. If we can’t find vintage, this one is a great runner-up!
I’m head over heels in love with how this turned out. This is the first kitchen makeover we’ve been a part of and Bridget and I had so much fun helping Jan pick everything out for this gray kitchen.
Before & After
But before we go…let’s take a look back at some of the before and after photos…
Gray Kitchen Source List
Wall Paint Color “Balboa Mist” // Cabinet Paint Color “Chelsea Gray” // Tile // Faucet // Sink // Shelves // Soap Set 
Stools // Hutch – Megmade // Brass Pendants // Brass Hardware // Runner – Vintage // Accessories (Mostly HomeGoods)
The more rooms we finish in my mom’s condo, the more and more I want to move in. It feels like a model home every time I walk in there and I never want to leave! I’m afraid when we finish the entire space I’ll be a 30-year-old ready to move back in with her mom #sorryFinn
Casey
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Hey there!
I’m Casey Finn, the voice behind The DIY Playbook. I’m married to Finn & mom to Rory and Ellis. Together we’re creating our dream home in Chicago, one DIY project at a time.