The kitchen is it’s original state.

A view of the adjoining living area.

Overall, this basement suite had pretty good bones, equipped with a large bathroom that had recently been updated, multiple storage closets and a good sized bedroom.

While the majority of the work, focus and budget, was put towards the kitchen, we did freshen up the rest of the suite with new carpet in driftwood tones complimented by new paint throughout. The entire area was brightened up in a soft neutral grey called Balboa Mist by Benjamin Moore.

Now for that kitchen!

Floors, Blonde Maple Laminate, still in good condition so we decided to work with them. Kitchen island, sideboard and appliances would also be staying. One additional appliance would be a microwave hood range.

For a little refresher of where we started, here is a before pic of the kitchen.

Things we needed to consider (everyplace has them);

The bulkhead above the cupboards on the far wall.

Luckily for us, upon investigation, we were able to cut further into the bulkhead, adjust the hight of the duct work and expand the length of our cupboards. By doing this, we were able to incorporate the fridge into the cabinetry making that old gal feel a little more connected plus add more storage. We then added crown moulding along the upper cabinets to completely conceal the bulkhead. Worked like a hot darn!

Moving the kitchen sink out of the corner of the room. 

Nobody loves doing dishes, and standing in the darkest corner of a room and working under upper cabinets makes this job down right nasty. Solution! Expand the kitchen cupboards and counter space so the sink could sit under the window. Easy right?? Haha, well not so fast. The window was sitting just a little lower than the existing counter so we needed to do some nifty thinking. Instead of moving the entire window up to accommodate the change, we opted to incorporated the countertop into the window sill. A bay window of sorts. To do this, we had to use a thinner quartz of 3/4″ thickness instead of the standard 1and 1/4″. Also, rather than butting the cupboards up to the outside wall, we built them out to line up where the existing base cupboards sat. By doing all this, we created a huge amount of space around the kitchen sink and well, in my opinion, it looks down right fantastic!

We decided on a light coloured quartz countertop called Seleno by Silestone. This countertop reflects the honey colour of the Maple flooring, the greyish/green tones of the island and the reddish/brown tones of rubbed bronze cabinet pulls.

Moving the dishwasher out of the laundry room closet.

We were already going to be playing with the plumbing when we moved the kitchen sink, so why not have a little more fun and move the dishwasher out of the laundry room closet and put her right next to the sink where she always functions best.

Creating much needed storage space.

We created oodles of more storage space by expanding the overall length of the cabinetry at both ends and incorporating far more drawers instead of cupboards. The old cabinetry was in good shape so once removed it was donated to Habitat for Humanity.

Brightening up the entire area.

The whole area was brightened up with a fresh coat of paint (Balboa Mist), white shaker style cabinetry, a reflective counter surface and of course, under cabinet lighting. Remember that dark corner of the room? Gone! This kitchen is now flooded in light and a high functioning layout.

Gorgeous suite that any tenant would love…even when they were doing dishes.