One Room Challenge: Week Two Kitchen Design Plans

Hello! Welcome to Week to of One Room Challenge, today I’m sharing my design plans for my kitchen makeover. My kitchen has good bones, but I’m ready for a change. After having an all-white kitchen for over a decade I’m ready to infuse some color into the space and switch out some design elements, without picking up a sledgehammer. Let’s get into it!

My Current Kitchen View

Kitchen Design Plans

Cabinet Paint Color // The biggest change in our kitchen is going from all white to color. I’ve loved the look of two-tone kitchens for years and think my small kitchen will look great in two shades! I’m keeping the upper kitchen cabinets a creamy white, giving everything a good cleaning, sanding, and then fresh coats of paint. For the lower kitchen, I want to go with a beautiful deep teal color, I love this color and selected it for its warmth and color variation throughout the day + the color will be good at hiding stains. Keeping our bottom cabinets a crisp clean warm white over the years has been a huge challenge (hands and kneed challenge) I’m keeping the classic white subway tiles, I love this look, and 10+ years later, I haven’t tired of them!

Our quartz counters still look good, there’s a few knicks I’ve noticed over on the counters, but I found a quartz countertop repair kit, that has good reviews! I’m going to give it a go and report back.

Kitchen Lighting // I’m swapping out our existing lighting above our sink and opting for a light fixture that leans more mid-century modern. In addition, we’ll replace our under cabinet lighting with new lighting boxes, its almost been impossible to find the replacement bulbs. I’m going to visit a lighting store this weekend in hopes of finding them, wish me luck! Below is our kitchen design plan, plus more deets below.

Kitchen Focal Points and Design Elements // I want elements in our kitchen to feel more organic, I’m taking down our DIY rabic roman shade and installing a simple woven rattan shade, it is a timeless element I’m excited to add.

Panel Ready Dishwasher // We’re replacing our existing dishwasher which works perfectly fine, with a panel-ready dishwasher. A panel-ready appliance helps give a seamless look to existing cabinetry in our small kitchen. The new dishwasher design will make a huge visual difference to help disguise the appliance, see the inspirational picture below.

I’m going to be visiting the cabinet store we went to for cabinets and fingers crossed I can buy one cabinet panel from them! If not, I found a few options online for custom panels for fridges, our cabinet style is pretty straightforward so I don’t think it will be an issue! I’m super excited about this update!

Week Two Project Goals // I have lots of homework!

  • Visit the cabinet dealer and order the dishwasher cabinet door

  • Order the new dishwasher!

  • Nail down the paint color selection, get the current cabinet color, and color-matched (for upper cabinets!)

  • Order cabinet hardware samples, this has been a challenge! The ones I love have been out of stock, ugh

  • Kitchen Cabinet cleanout, purge the kitchen of duplicates and items not being used! Donate to Good will

I should have lots of progress on my kitchen makover this weekend, with big things check off my list! #1 priority is cleaning my kitchen out and ordering the dishwasher + cabinet panel!

My Review Nespresso Creatista

For my birthday I treated myself to my dream coffee maker. For me, it was one of those close-your-eyes order purchases, because this is an investment type purchase. I personally love enjoying lattes while out with my hubby or friends and I especially love making them at home!

There’s an art form to making a really good latte and of course making latte art! I’m a Nespresso girl, I love the ease of using coffee pods that make incredible coffee, lattes, and espresso to name a few. I also love that the Nespresso pods are recyclable! I always add the Nespresso recycling bag to my pod orders.

My previous Nespresso U (a gift from a good friend for ages, it recently moved to my backyard cottage), and I was ready for Nespresso with more bells and whistles and the ability to stream milk with a wand. I don’t drink dairy, I’m lactose intolerant, and do my best to avoid adding extra milk products to my diet. For that reason, I switched to Almond milk and then finally landed on oat milk, it just works better with my system. I love the following Barista blend oat milk: Oatly Oatmilk Barista, Califia Farms Oatmilk Barista, and Good & Gather Oatmilk Barista (this one is a new fav at a really good price!)

The Nespresso Creatista is a dream, the machine is beautiful and easy to use! Now that I’ve had it for almost two years, I thought I’d give a review. The water tank holds lots of water and takes a little to get used to in terms of placing it back on the machine for a refill.

Nespresso Creatista

Beautiful and easy to make lattes, flat whites, cappuccinos, espresso and more and steams milk! Nespresso Creatista

I love being able to make a variety of drinks, with the touch of a button. Cleaning the steam wand is also easy, I wipe it after each use and the machine notifies me and walks me through the process of cleaning the wand. The pods are very easy to place inside and they drop down in a hidden compartment, which is easy to clean.

My coffee station set up in my kitchen just feels good, I recently added a beautiful acacia wood cutting board to bring some warmth into my kitchen and help define my coffee station. I’m so in love with my coffee station! Below are a few of my favorite coffee must-haves!

Gold Tea Spoons

Perfect for elevated your everyday at home latte experience

Double Wall Glass Coffee Mug

These are beautiful and add to the experience of making a latte at home

Nespresso Peets Coffee Pods

Peet’s Nespresso Pods

I’m in love the Medium roast Peet’s Nespresso pods! They’re so good and pair with milk.

Let me know if you have any additional questions about my Nespresso Creatista, I love using it every single day! It looks beautiful on my counter and makes amazing lattes!