Wow. Looks really nice, so far.

It looks great!

Nice gray! We just refreshed our kitchen and I know how tricky it is to choose just the right gray paint.

Some more progress pictures! Countertops get template tomorrow.

Looking good!

A few more. Countertops go in next week and I'll do an update then.

Awesome progress

Looking spectacular!

Amazing progress

wow! you must be so relieved to have the work done. and it looks fantastic. thanks for the progress photos!

I am very new to this and would like to say I love your tastes. My wife and I are getting ready to buy a house and there are a lot of split levels here in middle Illinois. What was the budget on this? Also what happened between the temp supports and not? Did a beam get put up? Was it not a structural wall?

@Todd - thanks for the comments. So, the budget for the whole kitchen was 40k. We ended up a little above that due to a few minor bumps in the road. That was a load bearing wall, but we were given ghd option to either remove it and go fully flush or have a little of the beam show. We went flush so above the ceiling is a 17 foot lvl.

Another update. Tile is in and vent is up. Still need a few pieces for the vent before it's complete and then hooking electrical up so appliances can go back in.

Looks amazing so far! I like the cabinets with the subway tile!

Appreciate it! I wasn't sure on glass subway at first and went back and forth between a ton of different shades of gray and if I do a design over the stove, but I am really happy with how it came out.

Looks really great!

Last picture! I'll post the final pictures when hardware is on and electrical is finished early next week. Floors get final coat of poly today. Excited to move in next week.

Awesome transformation!

so beautiful

Gorgeous!

Great job !

Final pictures! The project is finally done :)

What an incredible transformation!! Super inspirational; really looks fantastic! Great work, enjoy it!

Thanks Angie! Appreciate the kind words. It was such a long project, but we can finally move in. :)

beautiful!

So gorgeous! Enjoy!

I LOVE all the varying grays! That backsplash is to die for!!

Beautiful! You are very kind to share photos of the process. It helps those of us who are about to embark on a similar project.

Thanks everyone. It was a long process, but very happy with the results. Please use these as inspiration. We came here to look for what we liked tons and tons of times and my wife and I are probably the two most indecisive people ever haha

Wonderful transformation. It came out terrific.

This was truly a before and after thread! The transformation looks incredible!

What a difference! Thank you for sharing your journey with the Houzz community! So often we see only the before and after pictures of projects like this and never see the journey it undertook! Something like this takes a decent amount of time, and if you are living in the home during construction it feels like an eternity! Good job overall and I hope you have many wonderful years of use in your new space!

It looks amazing! I'm updating my split level kitchen, but didn't take down that wall. Can you tell me, how much room is there between the top of the staircase adn teh corner of the island? I had a hard time visualizing an island there, as I felt one would walk up the stair case and right into the stools! But it looks like maybe your space is larger and can easily accomodate the island without it feeling crunched. I wish I had mores space!

Super duper make over! Thanks so much for sharing. =0)

Eileen, so it's interesting that you say that my in laws have the same exact house setup and when you get to the top of their stairs there's decent space you don't feel confined at any point, however, my house I am not sure why, but when you get the top of the stairs there is a ton of space before the island. I would be guessing if I told you the amount, but it's not restricted at all....I also feel when you walk up with it being open it just feels less confined without a wall there. My contractor was funny he was telling me whenever he goes to an appointment now with a split he shows them pictures and suggests they take down the walls.

We seriously considered it! For us, there's maybe 5 feet from the top of the stairs to the kitchen door way. So if we had removed the wall and put in the giant island of my dreams either 1) the space from back of island to outside wall would have been restrictive, or 2) the island would have protruded close to the stair. But man, when I see your pictures I see the potential! Oh well, another house, another lifetime. I'll be posting pictures of mine when done. Not as open as yours, but super modern....

Yeah, we said when we bought the house we're opening it up regardless haha. I can't wait to see your pictures!!

Nick,

Your kitchen is absolutely beautiful.

Do you mind sharing the name, material and brand of counter tops, backsplash and wall paint + trim paint?

Are your backsplash tiles made of glass?

Thank you in advance.

Mindy

Hi Mindy - So, we ended up going with Dura Supreme brand cabinets and the style is called Lancaster. The countertops is a quartz Stratus White by DuPont. The backsplash was picked up from a local company called The Tile Shop and Lasalle glass tile. Yup, the backsplash is all long subway glass tile and it's grouted with a dove grey grout. Appreciate all the kind words! Let me know if you have any other questions.

Nick,

Thank you for a quick response.

Do you mind sharing the wall paint and trim paint?

Mindy

Light French Gray by Sherwin Williams is what I wanted, but my painter said he only uses Benjamin Moore but would find the identical color with them but I don't know what it is. Same with the white...its from BM but not sure on what share of white.

Hey Nick

Great job on your kitchen. Most clients never really know how much work a kitchen remodel can be and how long it takes, but what matters in the end is how awesome the finished product looks. Did you have any 3D design prior to doing the kitchen before you moved forward?

Thanks for the kitchen journey...Enjoy your new kitchen

Hey - So I had no 3D designs to see what it really looked like. I just had the kitchen layout on the paper that basically showed 2D what it would look like, but I knew anything would look better than what was there and we always knew we wanted an island and we wanted white and gray mixture so that kind of helped. The rest of it we just worked on it with our kitchen designer, but it was all done in 2D on paper.

Looks good

Wow, beautiful kitchen! Tougher to pull off with only a 2D drawing, but this looks awesome. And thanks for sharing the progression, very interesting!

Can I ask what stain you used on your floors? Is it an oil-based polyurethane or water-based? We're about to embark on a similar re-do.

Nick,

Is that HVAC register under sink cabinet? What is the appliance left to the sink cabinet?

Mindy

Carol, it was a dark walnut stain and then a bona oil based poly. The floor guy was really good because he did 2 coats of poly then let us finish the kitchen then came back and did the last final coat so it was spotless.

Mindy, it is under the sink. Here's a good picture. He has it hidden by cutting out a piece of the cabinet. You now have easy access if you ever need to fix anything. To the left is a sharp microwave drawer. It's amazing and was the only place we wanted to put a microwave.

Thanks Nick. All this information is really helpful!

Seriously an amazing transformation. I always love seeing other people's progress pics, it's inspiring!