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A White Kitchen Makeover With White Tile & A Butcher Block Island

If you send us an email with the words “1950s ranch,” “knock down walls” and “kitchen makeover” you’ve officially piqued our interest. And when you attach before & after photos as stunning as Jessica’s, well, end of story. I’ll need a moment to pick my jaw up off of the floor. Here’s her letter:

Hey guys! I know how you love a good before and after and thought you might be interested in ours. We bought our 1950’s ranch just over two months ago and have been working around the clock to get her in tip top shape. We recently wrapped up the kitchen remodel and DIYed everything but the countertops.

Cap27 Before 1

Since moving into our house we’ve knocked down major walls separating the kitchen from the rest of the home, updated the electric and plumbing, installed new hardwood flooring, replaced all of the upper and lower cabinets, and added a butcher block island. We updated to stainless steel appliances, soapstone countertops, and installed a subway tile backsplash. We also added recessed lighting, pendants, and under-cabinet lighting throughout. Oh, and there was a new addition (baby Lizzy) to the family just days before moving in. Whew. It’s been a wild ride.

Cape27 After 1

There’s just something special about walking into a room that you’ve literally re-built from the ground up. The industrial vibe streaming from the pendants and metal stools makes me a little weak in the knees.

Cape27 After Straight On

Hope you enjoy this space as much as we do! – Jessica

Enjoy is one word for it, Jessica. Envy might be another. Amazing job! Thanks so much for sharing your makeover with us. Jessica’s also got more pics on her blog, plus a full budget breakdown and source list for you too. In the meantime let’s play the favorite part game. I’m really into those great pendants and the butcher block on the island. Meanwhile, Sherry loves the cabinet hardware and wants to pet the subway tile (who’s surprised?).

Psst- We announced this week’s giveaway winner, so click here to see if it’s you.

Comments

  2. Kelly says

    LOVE everything about this! We’re considering how we will change our kitchen layout when we remodel, so I’m all over these kinds of posts. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  4. sophie says

    everything feels so much lighter, airier and relaxing when the walls come down – looks fabulous!

    We tore down three walls last summer, uniting our living room, (former) formal dining room, and (former) dark and dreary kitchen. Best decision we ever made. That whole floor of the hosue is completely transformed and also, far more useful to us as a family.

    We barely lived to tell the tale, however.

    Reply

  7. Flaca says

    Thank you for sharing… we are remodeling our 60’s ranch and we knocked down a wall too. But have yet to take on the kitchen. Our concept is very much like this – so the source list is WONDERFUL! Thanks YHL and Cape 27!

    Reply

  8. Emily says

    Aw I went to school with this girl! I was totally confused when I opened this page because I thought I was on Cape 27 on accident :). Your blog and her blog are the two that I check every day for inspiration!

    Reply

  9. Scott says

    I receive an error message when trying to visit her site. Did you guys crash another blog’s site again? I guess everyone is trained with your 10 & 2 posting times.

    I hope to submit our house to your read redesign by next year. We have updated 3 bedrooms, a rec room, an office and tore down a wall between our kitchen and family room so far. Up next is a limited budget kitchen update.

    Reply

  12. Stephanie says

    My first though when looking at the new kitchen was “I want to pet the tile.” Then I scrolled down. I knew you’d get me, Sherdog.

    Kitchen is gorg. I love the whole thing. Off to their blog to read more. :)

    Reply

  15. Gabriella @ Our Life In Action says

    Very pretty – I love how open it is now. I would love to submit my kitchen and get some ideas…..I am at a loss. It is so small (I mean UBER SMALL!), awkward shape, and so on. Maybe you could have a post on Reader Redesign Suggestions – If so, I have dibs on the first post. :-)

    Reply

  19. Danielle says

    Thanks for sharing! We just moved into our 1950s colonial and I’m dying to update the original kitchen. Thanks for the inspiration!

    Reply

  21. Allyn says

    I used to actively dislike ranch style houses (having grown up in an ancient craftsman style home that I adored), but posts like this and so much of what you guys do have made me want to search around for a nice, woodpaneled dark cave house of my own to transform. That’s pretty impressive.
    Oh, and just preordered the book! Hooray!

    Reply

  26. Emily says

    That’s amazeballs. And almost exactly the layout of our house. Only ours is a rental, so I don’t think they’d approve of us knocking down a wall or 2. Hopefully someday :)

    Reply

  28. Nicole says

    Wow, nice work, especially with a new addition to the family. I have a six month old and can barely keep my house clean!

    Reply

  29. lauren says

    WHAT?! That is awesome!! I moved into a 1950s ranch style house with a little enclosed kitchen 6 whole months ago and haven’t done 5% of what they’ve accomplished. Maybe in 10 years I can submit mine too…

    Reply

  30. jennT says

    ooh–I love that island. but my favorite part is showing it to my tends-to-not-care-for-too-many-updates boyfriend how much they did in only two months!! awesome! :)

    Reply

  32. Karen says

    I think another blog just crashed. LOL

    I love that subway tile and would love to know what the name of the fabric used on the roman shade is.

    Reply

  35. Patti says

    oh.my.word. That is some transformation, it looks straight out of a magazine! I love the glass doors on the upper cabinets.

    Reply

  40. Carrie B says

    Thank you thank you thank you! I just spent the last hour redesigning my future kitchen remodel because of this post. I’m so excited! This is so inspiring! Thank you! Too many !!!’s? Never!

    Reply

  44. Susan says

    Hmmm. Interesting. It looks nice, but they’ve tried to clone your website. From the format right down to the tutorials, to the yellow door even!

    Reply

    • Larisa says

      My sentiments exactly… Very nice ‘before and after’s, you can see tons of work behind it all. But nevertheless going to Cape27 blog was a HUGE deja vu after YHL… the site layout and even the language. You guys (YHL) seem to be quite contagious.

  48. Jessie @ Cape 27 says

    Thank you so much for the feature guys! You have no idea how ecstatic we are over here :)

    Apologies to any viewers having trouble with the page loading. It seems the traffic has temporarily crashed the site. We’re working to get it fixed ASAP! Refreshing the page usually works for now. So sorry!

    Reply

  49. Margaret says

    Is that a Traveling Wilburys ref in the title? I hope so! If not, don’t think me uncool for liking the Traveling Wilburys, haha. Love this kitchen!

    Reply

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