I am so used to researching small kitchen cabinets for our old townhouses that I was quite unprepared to plan out a renovation for a large space now that we have finally moved into our forever home. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love this change, it is just so much more involved than all of the other small kitchen remodel ideas that we have tackled in the past. With so much square footage to work with, I feel that I am getting a little bit lost in the details rather than focusing on big picture. I decided to hop on here to make one simple decision -- decide on kitchen cabinet colors and then go from there. This home immediately stood out to me because I liked how they combined the dark wood with the white for a nice mixture of two very popular categories of cabinets.

It is so funny how something as seemingly insignificant as small kitchen cabinets added along a wall of windows on one side of our main living area makes such a huge difference to the look of the entire space. I feel like we have a much larger kitchen design now even though we did not knock down any walls or expand the room in any way. Not only does it feel larger, but there is so much more space for storage (both decorative as well as functional). My biggest takeaway from this project is not to automatically jump to replacing your units with the latest and greatest kitchen cabinet ideas 2020. Rather, brainstorm small changes that may make just as large an impact while at a fraction of the work and cost.

This past year we decided to knock down some walls in order to greatly expand the size of our kitchen and living area. This meant that we were definitely going to have to upgrade from the small kitchen cabinets that we had before to something more fitting of the new size of the space. Over the years I truly believe that I became an expert in small kitchen design, so it is a little bit of a new experience to have so much space to work with. We wanted to go with a simple yet elegant elevated farmhouse style complete with white cabinets that have black accents in the island and range hood. The one thing that I was most excited about was having so many more possibilities for kitchen storage ideas. We really customized these cabinets to make them ultra functional by ensuring that ever single item that we use on a regular basis has a place.

When we first bought this beach villa, I thought the main living area was terribly small and we would never be able to fit everything we needed in the small kitchen cabinets that they had previously installed. We decided to hire a designer to try to make sense of the layout and maximize the space that we did have with a small kitchen remodel. She had a brilliant idea to tear down all of the walls in our long and narrow first floor in order to transform it into an open concept space. In doing so, the square footage remained the same but it felt so much larger. From there we went with a monochromatic and simple kitchen design that flowed effortlessly into the living and dining areas without feeling closed off.

Most people say to avoid darker colors when choosing small kitchen cabinets, and to stick with bright whites and other light shades to keep the space feeling open and as large as possible. I considered that, but ultimately wanted to make the riskier choice and instead installed these deep gray kitchen cabinets. I am a huge fan of modern design, and these units just felt so right not me. White was a natural choice and I am sure would have looked fine in here, it just was not "me." Even though the kitchen may not look as large as it could have with white units, I truly love how it all turned it. Plus, it goes to show you, that you do not have to stick with the small kitchen ideas that everybody else is doing in order for a space to look good.