Kitchen Before & After: An Apartment-Sized Kitchen Gets a Quirky Makeover

When Emily and her partner Erica bought their 1900s Greek revival home in Providence, Rhode Island, the house had been divided up into two apartments. Meaning that this small apartment-sized kitchen was in need of a major update. And because they were doing a top-to-bottom renovation to combine the two units into a single-family home, Emily and Erica had to be creative to stay under budget.

Not only did Emily and Erica expand the kitchen, but they combined a lot of styles and textures to make it reflect their tastes. Because they knocked out several walls to create an open floor plan, they had to add a steel support beam, which they decided to leave exposed along with the ceiling joists to create an “industrial cottage” look.

But our favorite part might be their salvaged island counter. Take a better look:

Emily and Erica found the vintage factory cart at an antiques mall along with a marble top for it. They had them combined to make this fabulous island counter. Finding inexpensive solutions was a theme in the couple’s remodel.

Emily writes:

We sourced our professional-grade appliances, including our Zephyr range hood and Thermador gas range, at an amazing scratch-and-dent distributor, and we bought our lacquered white cabinets and butcher-block countertops at Ikea. The stainless steel shelving on the subway tile wall came from a restaurant supply warehouse. Almost everything in the kitchen was found for a steep discount, and it’s all completely us.

We love how resourceful Emily and Erica were in making their dream remodel come to life.

Thanks so much for sharing your before and after with us, Emily!

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