The Akule Kitchen Reveal
The Akule Kitchen Reveal
Below you’ll find some links, and some of them are affiliate links. That means if you make a purchase after you click on one of them, I get a teensie commission at absolutely no extra cost to you, of course.
B E F O R E
Oooooh boy. This is the most dramatic transformation YET (Bachelor Nation, where you at?) My fingers are sticky from eating the jam off of the charcuterie board I used as a prop for these photos , and I don’t. even. care. because that’s how excited I am to get this blog post into your hands because I know, I know, you’ve been losing sleep wondering how transforming a kitchen in 6 weeks was going to go. Ok, spoiler alert, it took us about 7 weeks just to put this kitchen back together (I started the clock for this One Room Challenge after the demo because 6 weeks for an entire kitchen is cray). If you MUST get technical, we demo’d mid July, which makes this a 4 month kitchen renovation from start to finish (but it sat demo’d for over a month and a half while we worked on other projects), and mind you we did most of this work ourselves after work and on the weekends.
Okay enough gabbing and back to the nitty gritty, juicy, what you came here for stuff. This is what we saw when we stepped into our, at the time, future home for the first time ever. This show stopping view (I’ll spare you the details of what we found underneath those 90’s original cabinets) didn’t deter us from buying the house, but it sure did speed up the demo process. And yes, that upper cabinet door just fell off one day, I swear I didn’t give it a hangry slam.
A F T E R
V E L U X
The biggest (and by far the best) change in our kitchen was the addition of two VELUX Solar Powered “Fresh Air” Skylights. Thank you to Velux for partnering with us and helping with the cost of these skylights. The addition of natural light to our kitchen enhanced every detail of the design and allowed the kitchen to reach its fullest “bright and airy” potential. I struggled with the dark, albeit beautiful, ceilings from the get go. I debated on painting them or adding drywall over them, and thank the kitchen renovation gods that I did neither of those things. These skylights have built in rain sensors (a must- have for Hawaii’s passing showers) and are smart home compatible. You can read more about their incredible features here. Our skylights were installed by On Top Roofing and they did an excellent job.
Z E L L I G E T I L E
Imperfect, handmade beautiful-ness. Oh boy am I glad I didn’t skimp on this one. This timeless, Moroccan Zellige tile is from Riad Tile (huge thank you for helping sponsor this project) based out of Dallas, Texas. This tile really elevated the entire feel of the space. We chose the “Snow” 2'x6 Zellige, and used Mapei Grout in “Avalanche.” We mitered two finished pieces of tile together to create a finished edge along the border.
W A S H
P O K O L O K O
If you were here during the Akule Master Bathroom Project, you know how much I love my artisan-made Turkish towels from Pokoloko. The tassels are eeeeeverything and you can get 20% off with ‘SACHI20’. A design staple, for sure. I think you’ll be hard pressed from here on out to find a photo of my kitchen or bathroom without one in sight.
Ok, is it me or does that sink look big enough to bathe a baby elephant? And no, I am not calling my baby an elephant but in all reality I can probably bathe him in there until he is 12. That Blanco sink is a behemoth of a sink at 36” wide. As a result, we had to shorten the doors beneath the sink because it was so deep. You can read about how we easily made those modifications here after I had a mini, ok- kinda big, “first world problems” meltdown. The Heritage Bridge Faucet is from Kingston Brass and it’s a polished nickel finish and I just adore it against the Zellige tile. We also choose the Kingston Brass Restoration pot filler also in polished nickel. You know how I’m a big fan of mixed metals. The refrigerator, oven and dishwasher are the GE Cafe Appliance brand in matte white and bronze.
P L A S T E R R A N G E H O O D
I’m proud to say Mike and I made this one all by ourselves and you can read all about it here. The 30” ductless range hood insert is from Ekon. We used Venetian Plaster from Firmolux in Sherwin Williams Pure White. The piece of the design that I am most pleasantly surprised about? Hands down the white oak shelves. We purchased the lumber and plywood from our favorite local spot, Architectural Woods Hawaii. I worried about the wood competing with the ceiling, but because I kept the lower palate very light and neutral, they really do complement each other nicely, right? I think so too.
W A T E R F A L L
The countertops are the Opera Dekton by Silestone. We went with a 2.25” face for a thicker look to match the large scale of the room.
C A B I N E T S
The cabinets were “ready to assemble” cabinets and we painted them in Sherwin Williams “Gracious Greige.” The color is absolutely stunning when paired with the Brass Ball Knobs from Rejuvenation. It is subtle enough to not compete with any one design element, and at same time, gives the space a warmth and sense of comfort. We used Sherwin Williams’ Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel, and our Nylox Purdy brushes. Thank you to both Sherwin Williams and Purdy for helping sponsor this project. Oh and by the way, stay tuned for step - by - step instructions on how we painted our cabinets.
*Our Rejuvenation Cup Pulls have not arrived yet due to Covid delays, this post will be updated upon install.
L A N B O W I N E C O O L E R
Mike rarely has design requests, but one of his was to have a separate beverage fridge, particularly because we chose a counter-depth fridge (low key regret that move). Lanbo graciously gifted us this 24” wine and beverage refrigerator combo, and it’s one of my favorite things about the kitchen. Not only is it super quiet, but it has both a wine cooler side, and a beverage center side, each with their own temperature controls- this just tripled my fancy pants game. Anyone have a discount code to a wine subscription box? Just kidding. Kind of.
Lanbo Wine and Beverage Refrigerator & Sharp Microwave Drawer
L I G H T I N G
The wall sconces are from Shades of Light, and the Cabinet Makers picture light is from Circa Lighting. The large brass dome pendant is from Restoration Hardware and is called the “Morrison Pendant.” This large pendant was one of my bigger design gambles, but I listened to my gut (sorry Instagram poll-ers who voted against it) and went for it and I happily report that Mike emphatically agrees that it helps pull the entire design together. He even may have said that we could have gone bigger.
S E A T I N G
Can you believe these beauties are from Tarjay? Yep. I snagged these Ceylon Woven Counterheight Barstools and they really pull the richness of the ceiling in nicely.
Also, did you notice we had cabinets on the back of the island? That was one of my non-negotiables - more storage. Given that we opted for open shelves and no upper cabinets, I needed to make up for it somewhere. And who can complain about more storage space for the mini-boss?
There you have it, friends. The biggest project reveal that we’ve done to date. Besides the skylight install and the countertop install, we did everything ourselves. Tiling, framing, drywalling, flooring- you name it, we did it. I hope you feel empowered, inspired and ready to crush your own renovation DIY dreams. I know it is so cliche to say “if we can do it, so can you” but really, we had no home renovation experience a few years ago. But with grit, determination, YouTube and LiquidIV (the one with caffeine of course) you can grow and improve your skills one project at a time just like we did. As Marie Forleo says, “everything is figureoutable.” Alright, I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to check out the other participants of the One Room Challenge. Till next time! xoxo.