Before and After: A Granite-Heavy Kitchen Gets Made Over with Marble

What’s the best remedy for two competing patterns of speckled stone in a kitchen? Sometimes the answer is a third, completely different material.

Can you believe this is the same kitchen? It’s so pretty! And those cabinets — is that middle upper cabinet an ingeniously disguised range hood? The marble walls are pure luxury, and that wonderful blue brings out such interesting hues in the stone. Also, that stove is classic and covetable. Sigh. This kitchen belongs to the lucky Royale Ziegler of But First Party and was featured on Inspired By This.

Here’s a before shot of the entire room, including the oddly tiered island that I do not understand at all. (It’s like a spoiler from a sports car!) This is one of the many kitchens we see that are perfectly fine, and definitely nicer than many kitchens I’ve had, but perhaps not very lovable.

The cabinets appear to be very nice (although that small gap between the uppers and the ceiling is one of my pet peeves), with the windowed ones adding variety. But the red floor does not work at all with the honey cupboards, stainless accessories, and two different stone materials. With all those intense materials going on, the white wall above the sink seems unfinished.

Now, that white wall is so wonderful! And the gold hardware adds so much glitz; overall, it’s impressive that all that gold and marble can combine into a fairly low-key whole. Like, it’s obviously very nice, but it’s not like an over-the-top glitz fest, which can be hard to pull off.

Ah, so much better — a single-level island, as nature intended. I would never, ever have thought to add black and leather stools to this blue and white kitchen, but I think they totally work. They add a bit of grounding and a more earthy luxuriousness.

I included this photo so you could see the brilliant placement of the microwave (microwaves get my vote for Ugliest Kitchen Appliance) in the island. It’s completely accessible without taking up any precious counter space or demanding constant visual attention. This picture also gives us a chance to ogle those floors a little more closely, too.

Thank you, Inspired by This (check out lots more photos there) and But First Party!

This post originally ran on Apartment Therapy. See it there: Before and After: A Perfectly Pretty Kitchen Is Now Pretty Perfect