As I mentioned in the first kitchen saga post, our kitchen came with IKEA cabinets that were no longer available, and we had to replace the upper cabinets in order to add more storage. Now, we could have kept the lower wood, as I’m a fan of a two-tone kitchen, but all the white appliances sort of messed that up. My original plan with the kitchen had been to do a tuxedo kitchen with deep navy or green lower cabinets, and a white top. But, as our appliances were all white, you’d be left with half white, half colour. Not exactly the look I was going for. So, in an effort to make the kitchen feel brighter and larger, we went all white. Does that make any sense to anyone besides me? No? Okaaay…

beautiful navy + white tuxedo kitchen via Apartment Therapy

So, that meant painting our lower cabinets white, but what about the upper ones? I could have colour-matched IKEA’s SÄVEDAL doors, and then painted everything in our kitchen the same, but decided against it. See, every ceiling, door, and trim in our flat is painted All White by Farrow + Ball. If I wanted to use the IKEA white colour, then it would have meant repainting our doors and trim in the kitchen to this different white, and I didn’t want it to look different from the other rooms in the flat. (Richard wishes I had told him about the colour-matching option…)

Am I crazy? Yes. But I also justify it because the finish on the doors was so smooth and machine-made looking, that all the built-in trim with brushstrokes would have looked different. We would have had to paint the doors to make them all look the same, no matter which white we used.

Aaaaanyways. So in addition to painting all the wood doors and trim below, we had to paint all the new upper cabinet doors as well. That meant removing all the hinges and handles, cleaning everything of grease etc. and giving it all a light sanding. For the wood cabinets and trim, we used 3 coats of this primer, and then 2-3 coats of our Valspar paint in All White. For the upper cabinets, it took 2 coats of primer, and then 2 coats of paint. After the doors were up, I did a bit more sanding, and some touch-up paint, as we had been painting on low surfaces and little bits of fluff kept getting caught in the paint.

Now came the fun part – making all the IKEA cabinets look built-in. See, I’ve always been a huge fan of inset cabinetry and wanted to try and give our bank of cabinets a similar look. This meant filling in the gaps all the way around the cabinets with wood and trimming it all out.

inset cabinetry inspiration via Curated Interior

To get the look I wanted, it meant lining up the trim with the cabinet doors, as opposed to the frames. So we added a piece of 21x21mm strip wood all around the cabinets, flush with the face of their frames. To install it, we simply screwed into the piece from inside the cabinets with a couple of wood screws. Not only did this give us a piece we could then attach the trim to, but allowed us to offset our next piece by a few millimetres in order to create a gap between the doors and our trim.

For the left and right side facing trim pieces, all it required was some No More Nails, and then some finish nails into our strip wood. The one on the left was one solid piece, but the one on the right was two separate pieces because of the window. As the side pieces were quite narrow, they didn’t need any other support, but the piece running along the top required more help. If we had only secured it to the strip wood, then it wouldn’t have stayed in place – the long expanse of pine was just too heavy. So we used some scrap wood that we had lying around and built some supports all along the length of the cabinets, to prevent it from leaning, and then screwed the piece into supports on either end as well. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo showing the larger support pieces on the ends, that we screwed the facing trim into. Just imagine them…

As our ceilings aren’t level, we were left with a bit of a gap towards the right side. However, we weren’t too concerned as crown moulding would cover it. See, all the rooms in our flat, except for the hallway and kitchen had some sort of moulding or covering around the ceiling. Even the bathroom has a really simple coving. But for some reason, the kitchen didn’t have any, which always bugged me. I wanted to make the room feel a bit more architecturally interesting, and add some character back in. Not only that, but it would finish off our built-in cabinetry quite nicely.

Now, one thing I have noticed here in England is the lack of available moulding for the average DIYer. You can buy wood coving at trade-only shops, but nothing for the average Joe (me!). The main reason, I discovered, is because coving here is traditionally made of plaster. And after our experience with installing a heavy plaster ceiling medallion, we weren’t about to try that again. Which meant that our only option was to use the stuff readily available to us – polystyrene. Now, I know what you might be thinking – “ew, plastic coving – gross! that’s not adding character at all!” – which is exactly what I thought at first. But, as it was the only option, we went for it.

We ended up purchasing this kit from B&Q as it was the closest in style to the existing moulding in our flat (see above) and came with mitred corners. It was relatively easy to install, except that our not-perfectly-flat walls meant that we had to hold some pieces up for a while so that they held instead of drooping. We probably would have had an easier time if we’d used No More Nails instead of the coving adhesive, which took aeons to dry fully. (We found that out after using it to fill the gap along the ceiling and had to wait until the next day to sand and paint.) The other part that made it so time-consuming was the number of pieces we had to cut. Our room has 5 corners, which meant we had a total of around 13 or so pieces to cut and stick up. That also meant a lot of joins to try and smooth out. I’m a bit meticulous about filling and sanding, as Richard could tell you.

Our final pieces were some quarter-round trim that we added vertically along all the edges that meet the tiles. Once they were up, filled, and sanded, all it took was a few coats of paint. As per usual, we used All White for the trim, and then I cut in again using the wall colour – Barest Hush.

Then, all the cabinets got their matching handles, and the drawers as well. The handles that we chose are these ones from Etsy, in the 14cm length for all the cabinets, and one 23cm long one for the drawer below the oven. The drawer pulls are these ones from the same Etsy seller, in the 7.5cm length. They have a subtle texture, like cast iron, but visually match the smooth handles.

The final touch was filling in the gap along the tiling with silicone caulk. I made sure to tape both edges before filling and then smoothed it with a damp finger before quickly removing the tape and smoothing it again. Once that dried, the whole thing was finished!

We went from basic IKEA cabinetry to something that looked built-in and far more expensive! Not bad for just some simple pine trim, and plastic coving eh? Just don’t count how long it took us to accomplish…

Now we’re just one step closer to a finished kitchen! We can finally put away the paint cans, and start adding those finishing touches. Soon, we’ll have the first properly finished and decorated room in our flat! Yay!

While the kitchen progress is ticking along slowly, I can’t help but look ahead and think about accessories. All the white cabinets and pale walls have me craving warmth and texture. I’m thinking of a funky wood clock, a patterned faux Roman blind, and a vintage rug!

Okay, so the rug may not actually happen. See, Richard isn’t a fan of having a rug in our kitchen. He sees it as a place for crumbs and germs to live, while I see it as much-needed warmth, texture, and style in our all-white kitchen. I have been eyeing this rug on Etsy, but am worried it might be a bit too small for our space.

I’ve debated spraying a rug with some sort of repellant fabric spray, but am not sure if that would help (or convince Richard). For now, I would be content to vacuum it regularly. See, I have always lived with some sort of rug/mat under our kitchen sink areas, while Richard has not. My mom always had flat weave mats to stand on, and I loved the feel underfoot. All soft and cushy…

But enough about how they feel, look at them! Doesn’t a rug just add so much color and interest to these kitchens?

bright pink kilim in a tuxedo kitchen via laurengrant

dark kilim in a pale sage kitchen via Glitterinc

colorful rug in a dark green kitchen via wtf

red Persian rug in a white kitchen via home deco

So where do you stand? Rugs in the kitchen – yay or nay? Gross and crumby, or stylish and awesome?

And so, we continue the kitchen saga! After we got the cabinets up, and the paint on the walls, work stalled. Richard went away to Kenya for a few weeks, and then I joined him for a little 10-day trip (photos coming soon, I promise!). After that, we sort of just got used to the walls the way that they were – all bare plaster and drywall. But, we had plans for them! Richard and I are both big fans of subway tiles and thought that they would suit our 1920s flat. Modern and historic at the same time, no?

However, I didn’t want just white on white, since our cabinets are already going to be white. I wanted to do a contrast grout for a bit of drama in our little space. I looked around at inspiration and settled on a medium grey tone for the grout. I didn’t want to go too dark as I didn’t want it to look busy, but dark enough that you could actually see the grout.

white subway tiles with contrast grout from Patchwork Harmony

Once we had our plan in place, we started shopping around for tiles. We decided to go with Tons of Tiles as they had the best selection of smaller-sized subway tiles and fair prices – plus they did sample tiles! We ordered their beveled mini metro white gloss, mini metro white flat, and Rustico white gloss. Richard was really into the beveled tiles, as they most closely resemble the authentic metro tiles here in the underground. My only concern was that the uneven edges when they’re cut would make the corners and edges of our walls look wonky. I like the idea of using beveled tiles, but only on a single wall.

My personal choice would have been the rustico tiles – I love the wonky edges and handmade look. However, Richard wasn’t as big a fan of them. I still think I’ll use them someday – maybe in a bathroom or other space in the future. I love the way they look in these two spaces that Emily Henderson designed. But with these tiles, I wouldn’t use a contrast grout.

shower with textured tiles

English country kitchen with textured tiles

In the end, however, we decided to go with the simple, flat metro tiles. Classic, and understated – the perfect tiles to go with our grey grout. Now, we just had to tile the kitchen… simple no? Well, after weeks of thinking about doing the tiling, contemplating renting the equipment, and learning how to tile – we decided to just pay someone else to do it.

Now, don’t think we’re lazy or anything here. If we had a few rooms that required tiles, then we would invest in the equipment and learn to do it ourselves. But, as we only have one small closet and a shed to store supplies like that, we decided that it wasn’t worth the effort. Someday I will learn to tile (I’ve always wanted to), but today wasn’t going to be that day.

We ended up hiring Jack from Bespoke Plumbing & Tiling Solutions, who we found online. He had great reviews and was super helpful in answering all my questions. After chatting with him about grout, we chose Smoke by BAL, which he sourced from Topps Tiles. It’s a great mid-grey that I think looks perfect once dry.

Once all the details were sorted, we arranged for him to come by on a Saturday when Richard would be around. Unfortunately, I had to work that day and left Richard with detailed instructions on what I wanted. See, I’m really picky about things like how the tiles line up, etc., and wanted to make sure I wouldn’t come home to something that would make me upset.

I could have just gone with a simple brick pattern, but that wouldn’t be my style As I had this idea of the tiles fitting with the 1920s flat, I wanted them to look a bit more historical. That got me thinking about the types of details you find in old brick buildings. They always have those vertical bricks above the windows, either straight or curved. I looked it up, and it’s called a soldier course. But those don’t always happen above windows and are sometimes found at the top of the ceiling line, or along the edges as a trim. For our space, that meant a row of soldier tiles along the one outside corner by the door, and above the window.

I really like the look of them at the top of the wall, but thought it would be a bit much with our crown molding (which we will add later). Doesn’t it look great in this bathroom?

Waterworks showroom bathroom

It’s a subtle addition, but I really like it. What do you guys think? Was it worth the hassle to add the vertical tiles above the window, and along the wall?

Sorry for all the close-up photos, but I don’t want to give too much away until the whole room is complete. As you can see in the photos, we’ve added hardware and started trimming the edges of the cabinets. Soon we’ll paint everything and dress it up a little with accessories.

Not quite finished, but we’re getting there!

As for what we have done since I last blogged about it? Well, we finally have a functioning kitchen again!

After we patched all the holes in the walls and cleaned up from demolition, it was time to paint! We had chosen Barest Hush by Valspar to be the color for our walls. We tested a couple of swatches, but Richard was worried they would be too dark, so we settled on this option. My goal was to have a grey-tinted green that didn’t read too strong either way. As our living room is grey, I didn’t want the whole place to feel the same. But of course, I also didn’t want too bright of a color, as I tend to prefer more muted walls. Let the color come from the furnishings, in my humble opinion.

Valspar’s Barest Hush

For the cabinets and trim, we are sticking with our tried and true All White by Farrow & Ball, color matched to Valspar paint. This time around we went with their premium paint, as it was the most scrubbable option. It also comes with a built-in primer, so win-win! However, due to time, we didn’t get around to painting the cabinets, just yet. That’s a job for another day. Or month… year… sigh. Procrastination is real folks.

After painting the walls, we put the pot racks back up and got to tackling the cabinets. Originally, our kitchen had only three upper cabinets – two on the right of the range hood, and one on the left. As I mentioned before, we had planned to simply add three more cabinets above our original ones, and paint them all to match. Instead, we ordered eight of the METOD cabinets – four of the 60×60 size, three 60×80, and one 60×40. The four 60×60 cabinets were in the top row, with the 60×80 replacing our existing cabinets. In order to add the MAXIMERA drawers, we ordered all 60×60 doors, and the remaining 20cm of the cabinet became the drawer. The final 60×40 cabinet sits above the new LAGAN range hood.

Quite a lot of new storage eh?

Installing the new cabinets was another point where things took much (much!) longer than they should have. The IKEA rails were fairly simple to cut and line up, but then we started having issues.

See, we ended up back in the same place as before, dealing with old walls. We couldn’t seem to find consistent studs in the walls, and our expansion screws weren’t working in the crumbling plaster. This meant that we had to go grab some spring toggle screws from Screwfix… only the first set we brought home was the wrong length for our wall thickness – darn! I think Richard had to make three trips that day just to get the screws we needed. Every time we tried one set, there was something wrong with it.

We ended up putting in more screws than IKEA said to, as every now and then we would hit a stud, or have to move to a new hole. We just put up as many as we could (that were secure). The more the merrier, right?

Soo many screws

Once we got the rails up (finally), it was a simple matter of hanging the cabinets. Of course, because our walls aren’t perfectly smooth, the cabinets wouldn’t line up perfectly. IKEA recommends that you screw the cabinets together for stability, which we did. It also solved most of our problems with the cabinets not lining up. Just a simple matter of clamping them together, and then two screws in between the holes for the shelves.

The only thing not quite so simple to put up was the range hood. We decided to replace the one we had (even though it worked okay) with an under-cabinet version so that we could add two more cabinets to the mix. It just felt like too much-wasted space in such a tiny kitchen. While the installation was relatively easy for the range hood, it came with a plug, but ours had originally been wired into a fuse box. All it meant was that we cut off the plug, stripped back the wires, and wired it into a new white fuse box. Then we cut a hole in the back of one of the cabinets so that we would have access to the fuse, should we ever need to replace it.

We sort of sandwiched the new fuse box on the back of the cabinet, and then it sits in the original recess that the old one had. Not sure if that makes sense to anyone, but we did it months ago and I am forgetting details… I also forgot to take a photo of it inside the cabinet.

After the cabinets were all screwed together, and the range hood up, it was a simple matter of putting in the shelves and attaching the doors. Of course, IKEA put silly stickers right where the hinges needed to go, and they are the type that is ridiculous to remove! Coconut oil to the rescue! Just rub a bit of that onto the sticker and it comes away so easily.

The hinges for the cabinets were really simple to install, and I only wish that I had got the 90-degree ones. The ones we bought open a bit wider (I think they are 110 or 120 degrees). When we were ordering them, I thought that would be a good thing, however, it means that the doors want to open into the walls and window. Oh well!

We finally have drawers!!! So exciting!

Now this is pretty much where we got to before Richard had to go away for work. We managed to put our kitchen back together and use it for a little while. The next steps are to add some trim around the cabinets in order to make it all built-in, and then paint all the doors and trim to match.

I’ve ordered the tiles and hardware, so the only thing we’re waiting for is for me to get off my lazy butt and trim out these cabinets! But of course, Richard is now back in England, so hopefully he’ll be the motivation I need…

Welcome to demolition!

Okay, so I’ve given you an overview of our plans for this kitchen, and what we’re hoping to accomplish. We thought it would be a relatively straightforward couple of days, but boy… were we wrong! Once we started demolition, we realized we had created quite a mess for ourselves.

Let me try and break down where we went awry.

oh, look! It’s Richard’s hand!

So on our first day of demolition, we removed all of the upper cabinets, which also meant moving everything in those cupboards to our living room. Let me tell you, living in a kitchen/living room for about a week isn’t fun. Bleh. We also had to remove the range hood, IKEA GRUNDTAL pot racks off the wall, as well as anything living on the countertops. We kept stuff in the lower cabinets and didn’t bother removing the fridge etc., as none of that was changing besides paint.

range hood and stainless panels removed

Once everything was out of the room, we contemplated the tiling. Before we could paint or start putting up our new METOD cabinets, we would have to remove all the existing tiles. This was precisely the moment that things went wrong…

See, our building has all this great character because it’s old. Do you know what else it has?

Crumbling plaster walls – that’s what! As soon as we started removing the tiles from the main wall (carefully, I should add) huge tile-sized chunks of plaster were coming away with it. Behind the plaster, all we were left with was the original lath and nice gaping holes. From what we could tell, the original plaster “feet” (where the plaster squeezes in between the lath, creating little anchors) had broken away. Due to the sheer thickness of the tile adhesive that they used (crazy thick!), the plaster just came away with the tiles.

our beautiful lath…

After removing everything, this is what we were left with. One massive hole, and another smaller one.

The two end walls were okay as they were either external brick walls or newly built cement board ones. Minimal damage, with only a bit of filling required to even them out.

We googled how to repair walls, looked at all sorts of products available at our local B&Q, and ultimately decided on two courses of action. For the larger hole, we would fill most of the gap with new cement board, screwed into the studs. Around the edge of the board, we would fill the gap with a plaster repair compound (ours was the same brand, but a different type, can’t find it online). For the smaller hole, we felt confident we could simply patch it with the plaster repair compound. In retrospect, we ended up with some smaller cement board pieces when we cut them down to fit the larger hole. Those would have probably been better to use in the smaller hole, but at the time we didn’t want to buy a large board just to use only like 10% of it.

Due to the depth of the original plaster, and modern cement board thicknesses, we ended up using two pieces screwed together. Nothing we could find was the depth that our original walls were.

Here’s where a lot of the excess time of this project started taking place. See, our local B&Q didn’t have the type of cement board we were initially looking for (although we later changed to a different kind, which they did stock) and so we had to wait until the next day before we could get the right stuff. Then, the plaster took aaaages to dry, and we needed to apply it in layers for the large hole, allowing each to dry about 24 hours before applying the second. All in all, it took us 3 days (!) just to patch those two holes.

our drywall patch job

Ouch! Three days of next to no visible progress is quite disheartening. We were feeling quite frustrated at this point, and tired of living surrounded by boxes of kitchen items. At the end of all that time and effort, the result was so minimally changed from what it was before, but it was definitely an improvement!

No more cabinets or ugly tiles, but also nothing else! Hey, at least it’s clean, right?

But that is where I’m going to leave this off! I’ll pick up soon with photos of our new paint colour, and the cabinets in place. For now, I have to finalize which tiles we’re going to use, measure, and order them!

welcome to our tiny kitchen!

When we had just moved in, we discussed how we could make the kitchen space work best for us. First up, would be to add some hanging storage on the wall, for all of our pots and pans. I don’t have any photos of the kitchen before we put them up, but you can see below how we’re currently using it. We installed two rows of IKEA’s GRUNDTAL rail system, using the top row for pots and pans, and the bottom for pantry goods. One basket contains bread, another potatoes and onions, and the third is a fruit basket.

Those three baskets took me ages to find (it’s hard to find an open weave basket that’s fairly flat) and are actually beach bags that IKEA was selling in their limited HEMTRAKT collection (I just cut off the handles). And yes, we bought waaay more hooks than we needed, but we still have to buy more pots.

After adding some hanging storage, we needed to address the cupboard situation. The ceilings are high enough to accommodate another row of cabinetry, so we thought – why not double our storage?

look at all that height above the cabinets!

Speaking of storage, before we had moved in, I pointed out to Richard that there were no drawers in the kitchen. I mean, sure… it’s a tiny kitchen, but no drawers?! Where am I supposed to put my cutlery? Who designed this space?!?

We thought about adding some drawers under the cabinets, as the trim below meant we had the space and false fronts to use. I even bought some fully-extending hardware for them! But that was back when we thought we were going to leave the existing cabinets, and simply add three more above. Oh, how those plans have changed…

our dream kitchen includes hiding the microwave in a cabinet

Basically, the cabinets that are here are from IKEA. I measured them and found that IKEA still carried 60cm wide cabinets, and assumed we could simply add another row above. IKEA doesn’t make the same doors anymore, but that worked in my favor. I wanted to paint the cabinets white anyway, so this was a great excuse. We could get flat cabinet fronts, and add trim to make them match our existing shaker style. I’m pretty sure you can guess where this is going…

When I measured the cabinets initially, I had measured their width and height, but not the depth. It wasn’t until I was properly planning all this that I bothered to find the depth – which is when I realized the ones that IKEA currently stocked were too deep! IKEA had replaced the set that we had, with their new METOD line a few years back, and the new ones were a couple centimeters too deep.

This meant we couldn’t simply add three more above our current set.

soooo much ceiling height wasted

This left us with a few options:

1. We could just get a new kitchen
2. We could custom build new upper cabinets to match the old ones (proper depth)
3. We could replace all the upper cabinets but leave the lowers, and paint them to match

I liked Option 1 (obviously) but the old wallet didn’t. Richard liked it too, but it just wouldn’t bring any return in resale which meant it wasn’t going to happen. Option 2 wasn’t really something we felt up to DIYing without the proper tools (although I look back now and laugh at that… we will end up doing more work in the end now).

Which left Option 3, the one we have gone with! IKEA has some cabinet fronts just like ours but with a slightly different-sized trim around. We’re thinking that if we paint the uppers and lowers white, they will be close enough to trick the eye. As they aren’t side by side, you probably won’t notice the difference in trim.

IKEA’s SÄVEDAL cabinet fronts

Now, with the new METOD system, we will be able to have drawers (!) in the lower set of cabinets. This means we no longer have to build them (yay!). We can also get slightly taller cabinets as well and still have room at the top for a bit of trim. Unlike the rest of this flat, the kitchen currently has no crown molding, so we’ll add that all the way around the room. I’m also going to add wood pieces on either side of the cabinets to make it all look built-in, hopefully, flush with the doors to create an inset door appearance.

Now, as if all that wasn’t enough, I found myself looking at our range hood. It’s always bugged me that the stainless backsplash thing doesn’t go all the way up, and by adding cabinets on either side, this would only look worse. So what if we replaced it?!

IKEA makes some range hoods that can go under a cabinet. Since ours doesn’t actually vent outside (and can’t) it mostly just acts as a light and fan. But the one at IKEA can either be vented outside, or you can use a charcoal filter and recirculate the air. With that in the middle (as opposed to our current one), we could add cabinets all the way up to the ceiling!

We could go from having only 3 upper cabinets to having 8 cabinets, and 3 drawers!! Talk about storage! But by replacing the range hood, we would have to replace rather than repaint the tile. Which is terribly sad. I mean, who wouldn’t want to keep this gorgeous stuff right?

I’m obviously kidding – this stuff offends me. I’ve always wanted to try tiling and both Richard and I are big fans of classic subway tile. So once we decided to replace the range hood, it meant we had to replace the tile – yay! I’m thinking of a classic white subway tile with contrasting light grey grout. We’ll probably end up using either a flat or beveled tile, but if Richard would agree to it, I would looove to get a textured handmade-looking tile. I love all the ones Emily Henderson keeps using from Cle tiles. But of course, Richard really doesn’t like them… bah! So instead, it’ll be more like the image below.

subway tile photo via Nest of Posies

Finally, to complete this space, we need to paint the walls, and I’ve found a pretty great color to use. I had wanted a green-tinged grey and had quite a struggle finding something that still read as green, without being too minty or brown. This is actually a bit more green on the walls than I had been searching for, but pretty darn close. It’s Barest Hush by Valspar (what a name – right?), and we’re using their premium paint which has a built-in primer, and is apparently very scrubbable. Perfect for the wall where our pots and pans will constantly be banging and scraping.

Okay, was that all straightforward? Feeling lost and confused amidst a sea of bland before photos? How about a recap, eh? Here’s our plan as it stands, for updating and increasing the storage in our wee English kitchen.

1. Remove the 3 upper cabinets, range hood, and all the tiles
2. Paint all walls that won’t be tiled with Valspar’s Barest Hush
3. Install 8 cabinets (with 3 built-in drawers) using IKEA’s METOD system
4. Install the new range hood
5. Paint new IKEA SÄVEDAL doors and all existing ones to match
6. Tile backsplash
7. Add contrasting black hardware
8. Decorate with fun accessories

And that’s that! Simple right?

black marble sink via Savvy Home Blog

With the Easter holidays approaching (we’re both getting some time off together – yay!) we’ve started thinking about updating the kitchen. It’s been a project we have long discussed but haven’t had the time to accomplish. I’ll write a full post soon, with before photos and plans, I promise!

But for now, I want to explore some of the things I am being inspired by for the kitchen. One of the things I know for sure is that the cupboards will be white, and the tile too! It’ll mean that a good portion of the kitchen will be light and bright, and for that, I think it needs some contrast!

I’ve loved all things black lately, especially in contrast to white. It’s classic looking, and yet can also be quite modern. So for this kitchen, I am hoping to add lots of black accents for a little punch of style.

black window trim via Boston Globe

My jumping-off point was these black cabinet handles that were used on an episode of Fixer Upper (man, I miss that show – I can’t get it in the UK on any channel). I have tried really hard to find something just like it, but so far it has been coming up empty or wildly expensive. The closest I have come- in style are these handles from Etsy. They aren’t quite as sleek as the ones Joanna Gaines used but are less traditional than many on the market. I think they will probably be the ones I end up with.

the Fixer Upper cabinet handles via HGTV

To go with them (on the drawers we are hoping to add), I am thinking of using cabinet edge pulls. Something really simple like this! I don’t think it would look good to use the same handles horizontally, as it would be too busy, so I want something visually lighter. So far these ones are the only ones I have found, but I’m still on the hunt.

Now, in my dream kitchen I would add a black faucet to go with all this… wouldn’t that look sharp? But at the moment, replacing the faucet or sink is probably out of the budget. I have to keep reminding myself that this isn’t my forever home, so let’s not get too crazy with the unnecessary improvements.

black faucet via Becki Owens on Instagram

Okay, but enough of these tentative plans, I will save the proper ones for later, in their own post. For now, enjoy all these photos of kitchens that are looking sharp with all that white and black contrast.

Cool-toned kitchen with black accents via Remodelista

black accents in a laundry room via Instagram

iron shelf brackets via Jen Loves Ken

black sconces via Remodelista