I really want to take on a kitchen renovation this spring so that we can make our primary living areas feel more trendy and current. I love the architectural details of our home and our kitchen design in general, but I think that there is definitely room for improvement in things like the flooring, the backsplash and even the fixtures. Replacing things like that are costly, but not anywhere near what it would cost to gut the whole place and start over. My only question is on the kitchen cabinet design -- does it look too dated and should we consider refinishing them? Sometimes I look at them and think that the stained wood look really good with the stucco walls, but other times I think that they look too 1980s.

My husband and have have committed to a kitchen renovation, but that is as far as we have gotten in the planning process. We have done projects like this before, I mean just a few years ago we did an entire small kitchen remodel at our old house on our own. But, for some reason, we are stumped with this one. We can't figure out if we want to paint the cabinets and install new hardware or if we want to tear everything out. They are in pretty good condition, but like new -- does painting freshen them up enough to cover up the wear and tear? I know that ripping out the cabinets and replacing them with all new ones will significantly increase the overall kitchen renovation cost, so we are a little averse to doing that.

I can only dream that our kitchen renovation will turn out looking as good as this but, sadly, I tend to think that it will not haha. Well that is unless said kitchen remodel would suddenly transport our house to Hawaii where this one appears to be located. In all reality though, I did show these photos to my contractor because I am hoping to imitate this look in some capacity in our new design. I really like the warm-toned cabinets and shiny high gloss wood floor, as well as the overall sleek contemporary design of the place. It is definitely a marked difference from the usual all white and marble kitchen makeovers 2020 that you see in all of the galleries on here. But, in my opinion, that is what makes it special and certainly appealing to me.

This is my first kitchen renovation, and I have to say that the process was not nearly as bad as what I thought it was going to be! I am no stranger to home remodeling, but I have never taken on a project of this size on my own before. Not that I did the work all on my own by I acted as the general contractor, planned it all out, hired the tradesmen, and acquired the material. We went with a slight retro theme in order to blend with the mid century modern style that I have going on throughout the rest of the living spaces. I purchased new kitchen cabinets, countertops, and appliances so that basically everything would be fresh and clean. Plus I put up a better barrier between the other spaces to break everything up a little bit better.

I always strive for simplicity in all of my designs, and this kitchen renovation was no different. I was excited to take on this loft project because the architecture and views were so unique. I really wanted to highlight the simplicity of everything and put focus on the gorgeous views outside. This is an ideal situation for small kitchen design because overarching simplicity and lack of clutter always make the more limited floor plans we work on feel so much larger and really open the space. Rather than trying to save extra money by doing a kitchen cabinet remodel that would have refaced or repainted the doors, we decided to just purchase all new. I think that this was an important decision because it allowed us to install these ultra contemporary units that really inspired the streamlined look for the entire design.