Selections Series: The Kitchen

Timing, as they say, is everything. For us....well, let's just say it's not our forte. We never seem to plan very well. Case in point: the last time I was in my third trimester of pregnancy, we moved everything out of our house and installed hardwoods.

Well here we are again in third trimester with our second baby and THIS time....well, we're looking at another renovation. A renovation, might I add, that makes the last one seem like amateur hour.
This time, we're taking the roof right off and adding another story.
I feel pretty confident that this HAS to be the last baby; because this....we can't top! (literally)
I'll keep you updated along the way....but here's the exterior that we've fallen in love with:

{via Urban Building Group}

No guarantees whatsoever that our home can transform into this...but it sure is fun to have a gorgeous goal like this to reach for.

For now, I thought I'd walk you through the selection process room by room.
Though I thought I'd love this process (finally making selections for my personal home instead of a client's).... it's been much more of a challenge than I had anticipated.

For two reasons I believe:
First, because there is such an over abundance of wonderful sources from which to choose. It nearly drives you batty after the seventh hour of pouring over bathroom fixtures and cabinet hardware.
Secondly, because I've never put my own home together in a matter of weeks. I've always much preferred the "collected over time look" as opposed to a house that appears ordered straight from a magazine.

So in an effort to make your hunting easier {should you be in the renovation habit as well}, I thought I'd share my favorites so far for each room.
For today.... here are my top picks for a classic and elegant kitchen.
Here's our current kitchen before and after the hardwoods:

It's functional for sure; but there's no big WOW factor.

We hope to change all of that by gutting it completely - taking out the back wall of cabinets to open it up to the rest of the house and borrowing quite a bit of space from the adjacent morning room. Most importantly, we hope to add an island that truly becomes the centerpiece of our home. Plenty of room for cooking, studying, and chatting, and chopping - all at once, even.

So after hours of searching for deals and scouring every crevice of the Internet, here are my choices for a more updated look:

Cabinets: Shaker Style White Cabinets win every time in my book:

Source: We will order ours from Aristokraft (Although their Shaker style doesn't officially come on the market until April, this will be perfect timing for us)

I also loved the look of glass uppers without the panes - keeping it simple, fresh, modern and crisp.

Cabinet Hardware: It's Restoration Hardware for the win!

Either of these choices would be beautiful and classic in any kitchen:

Asbury Pull

Source : Restoration Hardware Lugarno Pull

Though I could have found less expensive options, I love the fact that Restoration Hardware offers sizes ranging from 3" to 8". This will allow for a uniform look on all sizes of drawers.

Lighting: Though any of these choices will most likely blow our entire lighting budget, show-stopping pendant lights over a large kitchen island are a MUST in my opinion.

Here are a few of my favorite options: