French Country Kitchen Restoration – This French country inspired kitchen remodel is finally complete! (List of sources of materials at the bottom of the page).
Of all the rooms we dream of remodeling, the kitchen has to be at the top of most people’s wish list. It’s been my top since we moved into our house thirteen years ago.
French Country Kitchen Restoration
Over the years, we’ve made some minor updates, but avoided anything really expensive. I didn’t want to waste time, money, and materials on something I knew we’d end up tearing up.
The Final Reveal Of Our Historic Kitchen Renovation
We removed the ugly tile and instead of replacing it, I painted the concrete. It lasted for almost 10 years!
Over the past thirteen years, most of the other rooms in the house have had their turn at make-overs, but the kitchen … it’s the big one, so it had to wait.
And then finally, a few months ago, we were able to start remodeling the kitchen. But I spent it before starting the construction work
I’ve compiled a checklist of the decisions I had to make when designing and planning our kitchen. If you’d like a copy of my master checklist of kitchen remodeling decisions, be sure and sign up below and I’ll send it right to you.
From ’70s Disaster To French Country Masterpiece
If you are already a member of the French Blue Cottage community and would like the checklist, visit the FBC Resource Library to download it.
I just knew that eventually we would be able to rebuild and change the layout. If your layout is good, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to make small changes at a time. For us, this was not an option.
The blue cabinets are painted with Dunn-Edwards Paint “Taliesin Blue”. Light-colored cabinets may look white, but they’re actually a very light neutral called “Modern Gray” by Sherwin Williams.
We also chose to do some open shelving around the window. I keep decorative items on the top shelf. The bowls, glasses and small plates we use every day are on the bottom shelf.
French Provincial Kitchens
Another furniture detail we added was a hutch with a plate rack. This is probably my favorite cabinet in the new kitchen.
For these French country inspired kitchen countertops, we chose to go with marble. In the planning phase, I was just positive that I wanted quartz. I looked at probably five different stone yards and asked them to show me quartz. The only problem was, I kept gravitating to the marble. It means like a magnet. The white marble just attracted me.
We ended up going with a marble called Shadow. We had the fabricator give it a textured (matte) finish and a simple, easy edge.
I am aware of the challenges of marble, but I chose a textured finish to minimize etching. Also, I always use a trivet or hot pad and I never cut vegetables and things directly on the counter (always use a cutting board). Marble has been used both indoors and outdoors in Europe for thousands of years so it must be good, right? Also, I really love the charm and patina of natural materials, and marble fits perfectly with French country kitchen design.
Classic French Country Kitchen Ideas
The new sink is a Kohler farmhouse sink. This is a white, cast iron, 33-inch apron front sink. I am very happy with the single bowl.
I choose a bridge call and especially one that has only two posts. Many of them have a third post in the center, but for ease of cleaning, I really want one with two. We went with this call and are very pleased with it. It is very heavy duty and does not show water stains easily. However, if someone in your family drops the sprayer directly down the drain….. while the disposal is in progress….., it will show a scratch or nick. Don’t ask me how I know it.
Also, if you haven’t seen the calls in a while, you might notice the button next to it. This is called an air switch and is used for disposal so you don’t have to operate a light switch with wet hands.
It is a Thermador gas range with an electric griddle in the center. I have never had a gas stove before and I love how it works and how easy it is to clean.
Elements Of Style
We opted for a pro-style cooktop with knobs on the front. These front knobs are definitely not kid-friendly, though, and if I had a kid, I might make a different choice. But for our family, this oven is awesome! It is very powerful and the griddle feature is great.
Since there is some distance between the stove and the sink, we went ahead and added a pot filler.
The backsplash can be the most unique part of our kitchen remodel. I chose brick pavers for the body of the backsplash and small 2 x 2’s for the inset pieces.
For the feature tile behind the stove, we went with Pratt & Larson’s Hand Painted Crackle Tile. It was an expensive one, so it’s only in a small section! ?
French Country Home
On a side note, the price of this runner was amazing, the quality was great, and the shipping was so fast! Unfortunately, the specific Etsy shop where I purchased this rug is no longer listed. There are many other nice runners, though, at different price points.
The floor is a travertine tile laid in a French pattern. Sometimes tile stores call this the Versailles pattern.
Obviously, I like this look on the floor because it looks an awful lot like my painted floor that was here before. ?
We turned this second entry/exit door into a pantry. It’s been so nice to have an actual pantry instead of storing our food in different places throughout the kitchen. It has made our life much easier.
Best French Country Kitchen Decor Ideas In 2022 (with Pictures)
This post is getting a little long, so I’ll feature more pantries at a later date.
I spent months planning and designing every detail of this kitchen. And then our awesome contractor, Lynch Construction, built it for us.
I didn’t want a completely open kitchen but without knocking out the center wall, we didn’t have enough room for an island. We plan to build a narrow, mobile table to give us some more storage and landing space, as well as some interest in the center of the room.
This post is too long, so I’ll write about some of the built-in storage components and some more design details next.
Dream Home Tour: French Country House With A Modern Twist In Oregon
In the meantime, if you’re interested in remodeling your kitchen and want a checklist of the decisions you’ll need to make during the process, be sure and grab this….
Let me know if you have any questions about it and I’ll be happy to try and answer them.
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Modern Farmhouse Kitchens Ideas
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