Before & After: A Dream Kitchen Makeover

I love a good before and after, and this kitchen that we completed for our client in San Antonio is one for the books.

A bit of a backstory:

We worked with this client a few years ago on a new build in Richmond, TX where we furnished every square inch of their over 5500sf home.

Dining Room In Our Richmond Texas Project For This Client Back in 2019

Our client, who lived in Kenya for a few years owned a vast collection of art and furnishings, and we introduced a very textured, earth-toned color palette to incorporate their collections.

Imagine how excited we were when we got the call late last year that they were relocating to San Antonio for a great career advancement move.

Our client located a beautiful 7800+ square foot home in a very private neighborhood that was custom built back in 2005. Although it had great bones and impeccable construction, it was definitely time for an update.

Our clients enlisted the team at Noel Consulting - Clint Noel and Chuck Dues as the GC's to undertake the full gut renovation of every part of the house, while we focused on the full interior design, selection of materials & finishes and fully furnishing the home using as many pieces from the Richmond house as possible.

This is where we started with the kitchen.

You can tell that in its heyday, this kitchen was a showstopper, but unfortunately the layout did not work for us, and it needed an upgrade.

Our client had double islands in the home we furnished in Richmond TX, and I immediately saw the opportunity to create a similar layout in this space.

This would mean removing the peninsula and wall on the left side of the kitchen and moving the fridge to the opposite wall.

After engaging an architect and structural engineer, it was determined that it was best to leave the wall as it was or create a column. Column it is then because that wall had to go!

You can see below in our rendering, that we designed the kitchen without the wall and column. That's where we were going with that. Without the wall, the kitchen would open up to a bar area and pantry across the hallway, making the kitchen just a bit more functional.

Believe it or not, the old kitchen served as the inspiration for the new kitchen......well, kinda!

I imagined that the hood design was quite the focal point 18 years ago when the home was built, and I wanted to keep that same importance to the wall, minus the heaviness.

I have always wanted to incorporate a plaster hood in a kitchen, and this was the perfect opportunity.

I played around with a few different hood styles, and landed on this one incorporating the gracious lines that give a nod to the homes' architecture.

You can see from the rendering that I wanted to add a bit of a playful twist to the seriousness of the hood, and the initial Ann Sacks marble tile selection was definitely going to deliver on that. In the end, we went with the beautiful iridescent zellige subway tile, that still adds a lighter casualness to the hood wall.

Of course, because my client loves textures, we went with these custom site-built reeded cabinets. I mean, you should see them in person.

We kept everything understated and neutral, so they work cohesively yet has the strength and timelessness a kitchen in this caliber of a home deserves.

San Antonio Kitchen Makeover - Casa Vilora Interiors

We went with a quartzite countertop for easy maintenance. The waterfall sides on the front island creates an on-trend look without sacrificing timelessness.

Although our client was a bit hesitant to bring wood flooring into the kitchen, and wanted to do tile, they followed our recommendation for these engineered wood flooring. This creates a much better flow.

Our client wanted a huge refrigerator, so two 36" units were put together to create this gigantic fridge. Lots of food storage for sure.

Casa Vilora Interiors San Antonio Kitchen Makeover

You can see that we changed the finish of the ceiling beams as well. They now work cohesively with the rest of the space and not as heavy-looking as they once were.