Kitchen Before & After: Cecelia’s ‘Making Better Use of the Space’ Kitchen Renovation

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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Kitchn reader Cecelia and her family live in a 1918 stucco Mediterranean Revival raised-basement home in the Broadmoor neighborhood of New Orleans. Since 1918, it has undergone two significant renovations, the second of which occurred after Hurricane Katrina. The renovations weren’t terrible, but they didn’t make good use of the space — the setup didn’t even have room for a kitchen table! So after she bought the home, Cecelia did a complete renovation of the space to open it up and bring out its true potential. See her ‘After’ photos below:

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

Here’s what Cecelia says about her kitchen remodel: 

When we bought our house, the kitchen was not terrible, but not our style at all and did not make good use of the available space. There was a hall linen closet on the other side of the kitchen, which created a big bump-out and interrupted the countertop, for one thing. There was also the back wall, which was doing absolutely nothing. And not enough room for a kitchen table, which was very important to me. 

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)
(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

The first thing we did after closing was rip out the floor, which had been grey bricks that were badly cracked and breaking off. Then we removed the hall closet and sealed off the opening, and widened the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room. We put the cabinets back and installed Carrera marble countertops to replace the old granite ones, which had looked like leopard-print. We got built-in cutting boards made, which form part of the countertop but are removable for cleaning. We installed a backsplash of white subway tile with dark grey grout, and added hood vent because I tend to smoke up the kitchen. 

On the back wall, we put in a piece of crown molding about 3 feet up from the floor, and painted the wall below it with magnetic chalkboard paint in a shade that matches the grout. We put in a TV so I can watch the Saints games while I cook, and two pot racks for all my cast-iron skillets (one huge one came with the house!). We painted the cabinets white and the walls lavender-grey, and put glass fronts on several of the cabinets, with mirrors in the back. 

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

Underneath the window, we built a banquette with storage drawers. I really wanted a large rectangular kitchen table, and my husband wanted a tiny folding tray-table, so we compromised on a very slender black sofa-back table from CB2. Also, we splurged on a new faucet with a powerful sprayer, and the fridge that came with the house broke after living there for about 10 days, so the fridge is new too (new to us, that is. We got it open-box from Best Buy with only a few dents, covered up with magnets). The kitchen is still a project in the works, but I’m proud of what we’ve done. 

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

Thanks for sharing, Cecelia!

(Images: Cecelia via The Kitchn’s submission form)

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Before & After
renovating