Reader Kitchen Remodel

Kitchen Before & After: A Dated 1960s Kitchen Goes Clean and Contemporary

Cambria Bold
Cambria Bold
Cambria Bold is the Executive Editor of Cubby, and one of Apartment Therapy Media’s first full-time editors from way back when. She was The Kitchn's founding Design and Lifestyle Editor as well as Managing Editor of Re-Nest, Apartment Therapy’s late '00s green living site. She now thinks a lot about design, kids, and designy kids' things. She lives with her two daughters and their father in St. Paul, MN.
updated May 2, 2019
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When Kitchn reader Deepthi and her husband bought their 1966 Bay Area home two years ago, they knew a kitchen renovation would be their top priority. As purchased, the kitchen had limited cabinet and counter space, old appliances, and no dishwasher! But with the help of a kitchen designer, the couple now has a sleek new space:

Wow! It’s hardly recognizable. Such a sleek, clean color palette of grey and cream. Here’s what Deepthi tells us about the renovation:

We bought a ’66 built house in the Bay Area two years ago and were up for renovating the spaces based on our priorities. Of course the first reno project we took up was the kitchen since it did not have a dishwasher and lacked counter space with appliances that were pretty antique!

We did have few renovation ideas but also knowing our creative abilities (my husband and I are electrical engineers), we decided to hire a designer which was the best decision we took in the entire process. We ended up swapping the kitchen and family spaces and got a brand new kitchen with tons of pantry and counter space (and of course a dishwasher, too — yay!). Pantry has pull out drawers and organizing supplies has never been so manageable. Spices are just a drawer pull away and organized in the island just below the cooktop. The cooktop island over looks the backyard through a french door and cooking has never been so awesome.

(Image credit: Deepthi G via The Kitchn’s submission form)
(Image credit: Deepthi G. via The Kitchn’s Submission form)

Materials: We went for a contemporary look with a white and grey theme and chose glossy cabinets which has made cleaning so much easier. The island countertop (quartz) incorporates all the colors in the kitchen and also makes any spots invisible (not that we don’t keep it clean but it helps once in a while). The plug sockets are hidden under the cabinet to have a clean backsplash.

The most useful and the most convenient thing in the kitchen is the Delta touch faucet. If you hate to touch the faucet knob with wet hands and leave stains, you should definitely get it. We bundled most of it at IKEA (cabinets, quartz countertops, oven, microwave and cabinet organizers) and got a flat 25% discount and everything was shipped for $59! The island legs are custom made and are from Mockett, the cooktop is Dacor, and the Samsung refrigerator was made at counter depth to get a flushed look.

We also took down part of the old kitchen wall to combine the less used living space with the new family space. The kitchen hosts a media cabinet which houses all the electronics for the TV in the living space. A small IR repeater relays the signals from the remotes to the media cabinet using cables through the crawl space (a perfect idea if you hate those wires hanging off of the TV).

Clean lines, stainless steel appliances, perfect lighting did the trick for us and we absolutely love it.

(Image credit: Deepthi G via The Kitchn’s submission form)

The family room before the renovation, which is now the new kitchen!

(Image credit: Deepthi G via The Kitchn’s submission form)

This was the old kitchen space, which was turned into a family room.

(Image credit: Deepthi G via The Kitchn’s submission form)

A media cabinet in the kitchen hides all the TV wire clutter.

Thanks so much for sharing, Deepthi!

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Before & After
renovating