Kitchen Remodel Regrets | What I'd Do Differently

[Music] hi i'm julie planner from the lifestyle website julie intercom where i share effortless entertaining ideas home decor that blends functioning design and easy recipes today I'm joining friends to share what we do different in our kitchen if we could do it all over again Sarah at chi volts dearly Chloe at boxwood Avenue Lisa a farmhouse on Ben and kami of Tippett's don't forget to click Subscribe because I would love to you again soon it this is your first time here welcome I hope you take some time to enjoy my playlist and learn all about a simple lifestyle at the end of the video you'll find not only the playlist to visit my friends and see what they would do different for their kitchen renovation but you'll also learn about the thing that I am so incredibly thankful I did decide to do stay tuned [Music] [Music] when you're planning a kitchen renovation there are so many decisions to be made it can be really overwhelming so when we were preparing to renovate our kitchen I crowd-sourced I did what any good woman would do I asked friends and family and followers on Instagram what you couldn't live without an inter kitchen and what you wish you did differently so you could learn from our mistakes today and hopefully this will make your kitchen renovation plans so much easier and it's not you can have a good laugh at all the mistakes I made now the first and foremost thing that I wish I would have done different and I just didn't really consider I think about at the time my cabinet maker highly recommended that for aesthetic purposes but they only do three drawers next to our dishwasher rather than four I thought no problem we can make that work I'll just pare down and declutter it's my favorite thing to do anyway well it ended up being a little trouble set I have since organized that space but it would be so much easier if I had a double drawer inside rather than a single to work having those two layers even though it has only one drawer front is a discreet way to get beautiful design that blends function when you open up the drawer there would be a thinner drawer for those smaller items and then the larger bulky items on bottom so I wish I would have done that different and it's on our to-do list eventually we'll get to it but if you've seen a lot my to-do list is you know why it has taken us almost three years now so that's my first and foremost thing I wish I would have considered I highly recommend you consider or pull out for all of your cabinets but also your drawers they can have so much function and additional space especially in a small kitchen now this one might surprise you but the second thing that I wish I would have done different in our kitchen if I wish but I waited and coughed in the winter our kitchen was wrapping up and about May 2018 I think it must've been 2018 our kitchen was wrapping up and I didn't think about it at the time I already looked so clean for seeing and perfect but now each winter we have a lot of cracks where the crab folding meets the ceiling and I've learned after I paid to have it done a second time that even with the best of cost you're much better off when you have extreme temperatures like we choose Karen Missouri to call in the winter because it will be at its smallest point and it can always expand with it as it needs to so that's my second biggest regret now given a never had the opportunity to design the kitchen from scratch before I really leaned on those we hired and this is not their fault at all it's just a personal preference and I think there's a little code involved there too but one of the things I really wanted was for our microwave to be really discreet and hidden away and our cabinet maker insisted that it go cat island up front and really easily accessible and just built into the island well two problems with that first of all I use my microwave pretty much to melt butter we never really reheat anything we always make exactly what we need to consume and I've just never loved leftovers and I go on top of a team in my kitchen fridge but a second there's really nothing that I need to do in the microwave that I can't do in the stovetop I don't know why it's just always been my go-to I rarely use the microwave so even with children that's just the case I mean once and every year twice a year maybe they pop popcorn they're gonna have friends over rather than me doing it on the stovetop but it rarely gets you so I wish we would have you know gone with our gut and McDonough cabinet where it's not seen because for some reason when I'm sitting in the breakfast room and I steer over and see the stainless steel appliance there it's just like a thorn in my side it's one of those small things it's totally not a big deal but for me for some reason it is all of our other appliances aside from our wine fridge our cabinet front and our wine fridge and our microwave or stainless that brings me to the fourth thing in our kitchen that I wish we could have done differently I wish we would have selected a pan already wine fridge I got scared at the last minute and changed my plan because I was reading all these reviews and it seemed that those that were panned already which were very limited in options at the time were noisier and given that it's right next to our living room where we spend a lot of our time I don't know I don't love the background noise so I opted for one that's quieter but it's stainless and I think eventually we might take that one down to our lake cottage and replace it with one that is filled already I don't know I'm sure it seems so silly to others but that's something I wish I would have done differently because it's so peaceful to have all of our other appliances including our refrigerator panel ready so they look really built in and you hardly realize that there they are now the fifth thing I wish we would have done differently it's our kitchen island I can't even on best wine and it's one of those things where at the time I was tired of living without a kitchen we had one hiccup after another with our cabinet maker and I just said alright fine I give our kitchen island was supposed to be white oak I absolutely love white oak I love the way it naturally weathers when it's unfinished or with just a little bit of protection like modern masters dead flat or flat out flat or even a wax I just think it's just so graceful and beautiful and I love wood in all its natural beauty well I realized I love white oak which I had selected yeah when our kitchen island aright unfortunately he made it in red alder I think he had so many kitchens going at the time he got it confused with someone else's kitchen and he also said well that's just what I always use well I'm really picky and I didn't like the red undertones in the wood but I understood as a small business owner that was so significant expense for him that he would be out if you had to remake the entire island especially since our island is six feet by four feet so I decided to give in on this one and we stained it I think we went through over 30 stain samples to see how it would look with red alder with these particular stain colors and of course everything red run we ended up settling on one it's never been my favorite but it's not awful it's totally tolerable but the problem is is that stain and modern masters dead flat do not mix because they're oil-based and water-based we knew that that was a risk but at the same time I wanted to tone down the redness and the color so we decided to go for it if something that no one would ever notice if they were in our kitchen but it drives me insane it's just like one of those little things I think especially since you spend so much money on your kitchen that it's always again been a thorn in my side but it's just because it was a labor of love and I've learned to love it I can live with it it's totally fine life goes on whether it's white oak or red alder now finally this is one that I'm still not sure if it's a regret or not I can't decide and I wouldn't know unless we did it differently and that is not making our island bigger you know we join around forever with the size of our island and I love hanging out there and it's where everybody gravitates to when we're hosting friends it's where the kids love to hang out they eat their breakfast in the morning it's really become a focal point not only in our kitchen but in our home given that it would be really nice if all five of us gets up there it's not necessary it's not required but gosh some days it would be nice and we do have the space but the problem that we faced is that our kitchen is in an older home I believe our home was built in 79 so we have a lot of existing wall to deal with we have a nice wide opening where the breakfast nook Hills and we have been able to expand the opening between the living room and the kitchen although only an additional three feet so we have I believe like five and a half feet there now well we also have the bedroom so as you can imagine it kind of creates a little triangle and I didn't want to put anything in the middle of that triangle because those are natural walking paths through our home I do kind of wish that we would have gone a few extra feet every now and then so that more people could gather around the kitchen island and I think it would make our kitchen feel less disconnected where the bar and the refrigerator are versus where the rest of the kitchen is however again it's one of those things it's not that big of a deal but it's something to consider as you're renovating your kitchen never before you click subscribe and visit my friends following the playlist in the description below I'll tell you a few things I'm really happy I chose to do in our kitchen first of all I'm really happy that I chose unlocker grass it automatically adds a layer of warmth to our kitchen so it feels timeless and it was really inexpensive a link to this in the description below but I'm really happy that I chose an lacquered brass next I'm totally totally absolutely in love with our marble I'm so glad that not only did I decide to go with marble again despite everyone saying that I should go with words I am also happy that I splurged and went with the olympia marble it is whiter marble and has less painting in it and you can read all about that in the description below I'm really happy with that decision even though it costs double what the marble did in our previous kitchen finally I bet you're going to think that my favorite decision in our kitchen was our rage but it's actually the color we painted our kitchen and if you watched my paint colors video you'll know my color makes such a big difference of how a room feels and in our kitchen we are north facing so it reads really blue especially in the winter so this color wouldn't work for everyone but I actually had our cabinets painted in the same color as our range and that is my absolute favorite decision I made because winter spring summer fall it feels warm and welcoming and so that is my very favorite decision that I made and it was one that I really struggled with because I had to get it just right I couldn't paint these cabinets twice and fortunately I feel like I nailed let me know what your biggest kitchen regret is in the description below I would absolutely love to hear thank you so much for watching and don't forget to subscribe and click on the play list below to see my friends biggest regrets

Channel: Julie Blanner

Views: 171,042

Keywords: kitchen makeover, diy kitchen, kitchen cabinets, farmhouse kitchen, how to update kitchen cabinets, home decor, kitchen makeover ideas, kitchen makeover diy, kitchen makeovers before and after, kitchen renovation diy, kitchen renovation on a budget, kitchen renovation ideas, kitchen renovation tips, renovation home, diy kitchen remodel, kitchen remodeling ideas, kitchen remodel on a budget, kitchen remodel diy, kitchen remodel before and after, kitchen remodel tips

Id: Nrlol5M_91Q

Length: 14min 27sec (867 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 07 2020