Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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A Modern Kitchen With Blonde Wood Cabinets

Karin is a pet photographer from Minneapolis and apparently when she’s not snapping pretty pictures of pooches, she’s busy creating a pretty darned awesome kitchen. We know you guys like to a see non-white kitchens when those come in, and this one is actually an all wood one. Check out her letter below, which I’ve peppered with some of Karin’s awesome before & afters. Well, and one demo-tastic during shot.

Hi Sherry and John! You’ve been an inspiration for my husband and I as we purchased our first home last summer and immediately started tearing it apart. After years of renting, we finally took the plunge and purchased our first home. We wanted something open and modern with lots of natural light. Thanks to our HGTV-watching experience, we had a good handle on what to look for versus things we could change ourselves. When we came across a semi-neglected house, it had all the “must-haves” for us and we went for it. This house was actually by far the least expensive of the ones we saw, allowing us to make some pretty big changes.

Karin Before After Main

Although the before images don’t convey this too well, the kitchen/dining area was dirty, tired, and needed a lot of help. Cola (I think?) was spattered on the walls, the carpet was had a minor flea infestation, and most of the tiles in the kitchen were cracked.

  Karin During After

Jeff and I salvaged and donated what we could and took a sledgehammer to the rest. We did as much as we could ourselves (and with the help of family) and called in the pros when it was truly necessary (installing 600 pounds of structural beams, running a gas line to the stove, etc.). We have learned so much… and more! And to save some money we shopped around for discounts (the dining chairs are from Overstock and we actually DIYed the dining table with legs from Ikea).

Karin Before After Second

I frequently referenced many how-to’s on YHL (hello backsplash!) and you two helped instill a sense of fearlessness to tackle many “scary” projects with no previous experience. Thank you and take care! – Karin

Karin Backsplash

We love how light and airy this kitchen feels (proving that wood cabinets can still add up to a nice bright kitchen). Karin has tons of extra pictures on her photography blog along with a source list. Oh, and since we’d be remiss not to end with a shot with dogs in it – here goes nothing!

Karin Dogs

What’s your favorite part? The dogs? Me too. Although those dining chairs, stools, and pretty island lights have Sherry oohing and ahhing, and I love the sleek cabinet hardware and that cool waterfall edge on the island’s countertop.

Comments

  1. jennW-M says

    Favorite redesign by far! That before and after is mind-blowing. Way to go, not really a huge fan of wood cabinets but that is just perfect. LOVE the dog photo, now I could never have one with all my animals in chairs calm. They would have been all over the table or fighting with one another.

    Reply

  4. Dani says

    Holy cow, thats fantastic!

    Love the dog in the first shot hehe.

    The pendants are awesome, the same as what I’m putting in to our kitchen. The big hexagons look great too. Well done!!

    Reply

  5. Lee Ann says

    Wow! What a beautiful light-filled kitchen! I’m a white kitchen person, too, but I have to admit that these light color cabinets with other white areas show that you don’t have to go all-white to be light and airy. And, I can NEVER resist pics with dogs in them. <3

    Reply

  7. Susie says

    Awesome! We’re slowly renovating our kitchen, and it’s inspiring to see a completed project. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  9. Shannon says

    Oh my goodness! I’m in love with this kitchen! Ive been debating for months on whether or not to do hex tile or penny tile and I think these pics just made my decision even harder!I’ve been in love with that light fixture from West Elm for a long time! Love seeing it here.

    Reply

  10. monika says

    the kitchen is wonderful, but the dos steal the show. Man, I wanna have them over at my house for a week! They’re simply the perfect compliment to that peaceful space.

    Reply

  11. Anthony S says

    HEeey, Minneapolis huh? Looks exactly like our split level house, we have one up here in Brooklyn Park … any chance you could email me some photo’s of how that wall looks torn down now next to the living room? I feel like it would make the space less about the living room, and more about the kitchen if that entire wall came down like you guys did!

    Gracias :-D

    Reply

  13. Kristin M says

    I thought for sure your answer to the “favorites” game was going to be the hex/honeycomb tile backsplash, what with you two and your bee fondness! :)

    Reply

  15. Hollis says

    Any idea what the wall paint color is? We’re about to pull the trigger on a white for our whole house (I’m trying to convince my fiance white trim and white walls are the way forward).

    Thanks!!!!

    Reply

  16. KarenH. says

    Oh, what an awesome update! And what a huge change to a typical ubiquitous split foyer (raised rancher).

    My favorite is the cute pic with the dogs. That island is HUGE! :)

    Reply

  18. Melinda says

    This is a really great kitchen!

    I have to agree with Karin where I too get a sense of fearlessness because of something I learned on your blog. Every weekend project I take on has something to do with what I learned from you guys. Thanks :)

    Reply

  19. laura says

    Wow that is a great transformation!!! I love the natural color on the cabinets. Its very unique and clean looking! And I am dying over the pets lined up!! You can tell they are professionals! LOL

    Laura
    House Envy

    Reply

  21. Kaycee says

    Love! Not usually a fan of the light wood cabinets but they’re growing on me. It seems like they did a good job at building a timeless look. Very inspiring, thank you for sharing!

    Reply

  23. Kimberly says

    It’s true, you all are very inspiring! And oh, those dogs – too cute for words! (Burger needs a 4-legged buddy, don’t you think?)

    Reply

  27. Jenna says

    I am wondering if Karin would mind sharing what they actually spent on this project? We are interviewing contractors now for almost the exact same renovation and estimated costs are coming in over $100k!!!! I am in shock and debating whether we can manage this ourselves / DIY some things. For example, do I spy IKEA cabinets? Are you happy with them?

    Reply

    • Karin says

      The reno for the kitchen/dining area came to be around $18-19K, including new flooring, window, patio door, appliances, plumbing/electrical/carpentry, etc… As a first time homeowner, that seems like a huge amount, but this house was the least expensive of all the ones we saw and over $50K less than a different house we put an offer in on before we saw this one. We saved wherever we could – did the general contracting ourselves, assisted the carpenter to save him time, hung and finished the cabinets, backsplash, etc.

      The cabinets are made by http://www.countrysidecabinets.net/ and we are very happy with them. I hear a lot of great things about Ikea cabinets, too, but since we finished these ourselves they came in about the same or even a little bit less than Ikea cabs would have.

  29. Kates says

    I am interested into the type of house this is, it looks like the layout of a split level? I only ask because my hubs and I are in the house hunting process and there are a lot of split levels to choose from and I really love the layout of this kitchen.

    Reply

    • Karin Newstrom says

      Yes, it is a split – this layout gave us a lot of room to work with for the kitchen/dining/living space. We were kind of looking for a split or layout where my clients could go directly downstairs to my studio without having to walk through the rest of the house, so it’s perfect for us. :)

  30. Momcat says

    Good thing you didn’t lead with the dog shot… I would have stopped reading!

    Besides those adorable dogs, I love the backsplash and the open concept. What an amazing transformation! And that island is verrry sexy….

    Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  31. Erin says

    I really love how light and airy the kitchen is now. I love that the bulkheads are now gone and in their place are taller cupboards BUT, my most Fav. Photo is of the three Terriers! (especially the 2 Scotties, as I grew up with Scotties, they are the best!).

    Reply

    • Karin says

      In order, Henry (wheaten Scottie), Ajax (Cairn), and Barney (Scottie, of course). They are all adopted and all-around awesome dogs. If you look on the pet beds and Halloween costumes at Target, you might see Ajax and Henry on some of the packaging. ;)

  34. Julia says

    Have you thought about going back to your old houses for a special redesign feature? It would be so interesting to see how new owners have transformed your old spaces.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Yes, we’d love to house crash them! We think we’re going to be able to see our first one now that there’s a new owner and she reads the blog! So excited about that!

      xo
      s

  35. Melissa says

    Wow! This really is incredible. I still have a hard time believing that people are able to be so courageous and do this themselves. We did a major remodel in our home also and it is such a big big job!

    Reply

    • Erin says

      Thankyou for sharing Karin :) . Your Scotties and Cairn are adorable.
      My parents currently have Muffin (also a wheaten scottie) & Molly (black scottie), and previous scotties have been MacGregor, Daisy and Angus. We used to know a cute little cairn named “Fast Eddie”.
      I totally saw those dog costumes at Target and was trying to come up with an excuse to buy them!

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