Our New Kitchen

Welcome to our new kitchen, we have been eager to share it with you!

Over the last year we have been working on our latest project, a new build hidden in 9 acres in one of our favourite areas of Ontario. This year has been wild, especially for our first personal build. We’ve learned a ton, there have been ups and downs but overall – I am thankful for the experience.

We are so grateful for all of our friends and family for helping this come together, the amazing trades people that worked hard on this project by our side and of course our amazing partners. Without these amazing people, none of this would be possible.

The kitchen is where we spend most of our time and while we have a ton of content coming your way this month, I really wanted to share this space with you first…

Our vision for this home was ‘Old World Charm’ as many of you know, classic colour palettes and finishes and timeless design, a mix of modern and vintage and of course creating elements in the space that were custom while maintaining an antique look. We wanted natural elements, like the look of marble without a stressful upkeep and this is why we picked this Montauk Quartz by Hanstone for our countertops. We fell in love with all of their stone when visiting their showroom and picked stone for the entire house but ultimately chose Montauk for the kitchen and pantry, their quartz is made here in Canada which we love! I really love how it worked out in the kitchen, it has a soft grey base with great veining and it paired so perfectly with our other selections. Hanstone quartz is heat, stain and scratch resistant too so it’s perfect for our family since we love getting messy with the kiddos in the kitchen and entertaining!

As you can see we went with black windows this time, no regrets there. The arched window at the sink has my heart. I wanted an arched window on the kitchen sink wall from the day Craig and I drew out our floorpans – I dreamt of this window. I was told not to do it, that it wouldn’t look right blah, blah, blah and so we had a big rectangle, double hung window there…before I changed it. And I can confidently say that I am SO HAPPY that I convinced Craig to change it, not only did the original window we were told to get block our gorgeous view – it simply wasn’t my vision. It cost us more money, it was more work but ultimately – it was so worth it and thankfully we both agree on that. What are your thoughts on the window? Do you love it too?

We worked with Latitude Countertops again on our entire home because they are simply the best, they’ve always come through for us with amazing results. I had quite a few ideas for the stone in this home, arched backsplashes and more that you will see as we reveal more spaces but Craig actually had them continue our window sink countertops into the sill of the window. He surprised me with it and it is another amazing feature in that space of the kitchen that I love so much. Easier upkeep too!

The custom arched pantries were a must for me and extra work for Bespoke Cabinetry, but boy did they come through. Originally the drawing I made had a double arched pantry next to the fridge & freezer but after some brainstorming with Bespoke Fine Cabinetry when we designed the kitchen – we decided to have two singles frame the fridge/freezer. They turned out exactly how I envisioned them, dark to match the island, looking like a pair of antique finds that we built into the kitchen. They have a plethora of storage space too for all of my more fancy kitchen items and I can put my favourites on display. I found the cremones for those built-ins from a window shop and they truly completed the look. Craig even installed some lighting in there which is a great feature too!

All of our cabinetry is by Bespoke Fine Cabinetry, the island is a custom stain we picked together and the white we chose is White Dove by Benjamin Moore. It is more of a warm white and pairs so nicely with the countertops, warm wood tones and the black and brass accents. When designing the kitchen we made sure there was a ton of storage, it is super important to me. There is storage on both sides of the island and a ton on the range wall too, since we did higher ceilings I made sure we didn’t waste any space. Bespoke Fine Cabinetry works with real wood which was also super important to us. His work is amazing and you will see more of it as we reveal more of our home.

For our wood flooring we went with Pravada Floors for this house, we picked Van Gogh from their artistique collection. They are 9.5″ wide European White Oak planks composed of a mixture of natural beige, brown and blonde with grey undertones. These warm, stunning, modern planks have a softened look as a result of their matte finish and work perfectly with everything in the kitchen. We also love that this flooring is radiant heat approved and has a 35 year warranty!

We went with T&G paneling from Metrie for our ceiling in this home, we used this at our last house and loved it so much that we did it again. This is such a great product, we have used Metrie products for years in our homes for doors, trim & mouldings, crown, and ceiling details and we source it all locally from Barrie Trim & Moulding. We use Metrie shiplap for all of our shiplap products too, rest assured we incorporated our favourite shiplap in this house too!

I went with a black range again, I am such a sucker for a sharp black European range. This time we went with a Bertazzoni range from Italy, it’s slightly larger than our last one and has a self cleaning option. It has 6 brass burners and an electric griddle which is so neat. Did you know that they spray this Heritage range in the Ferrari shops? So cool. But it isn’t just gorgeous, it’s a dream to cook with too. We went with panel ready again for the rest of the appliances, there’s something about that hidden appliance look I love and for my style it keeps the look more clean, and you guys know I am not a big fan of a lot of stainless steel accents

We chose to go with a zellige tile for the backsplash after so much inspiration online, it gave us that brick look we wanted without having a porous stone. It gives a super clean look and works with a variety of styles! These tiles don’t sit flush but their imperfection is what gives it such charm, and a very natural texture and look. We loved this tile so much that we used it in the pantry too but I will share that space another day.

For our lighting in the kitchen, we partnered with Hinkley again. We truly love all of their lighting and they are so wonderful to work with, I have been wanting to use these pendants for so long and couldn’t wait to install them over the island!

I went with all polished brass hardware for the kitchen from Emtek, knobs, cup pulls and cabinet latches. All of the hardware keeps it classic and I know their hardware will last for years in a busy kitchen.

Our sinks are Kohler, for the main sink I went with a large divided farmhouse again, seriously my favourite sinks ever. And our faucets are from Perrin & Rowe/House of Rohl, I wanted very traditional faucets in an unlacquered brass and these came highly recommended. Unlacquered brass (which is also called unfinished, living, or raw brass) patinas almost like a leather and just gets better with age. The pot filler is in the same finish by House of Rohl and I believe they are the same company, we used quite a few of their products in this house.

Thank you so much for checking out our new kitchen, we are always grateful for your support on this little piece of the internet. We hope you love our latest project and can’t wait to share more of it with you!

Design: Roxanne & Craig West

Photography: Jess Denischuck

Countertops: Hanstone Quartz

Countertop Fabrication: Latitude Countertops

Cabinetry: Bespoke Fine Cabinetry

Range: Bertazzoni Heritage Range with a brass kit, sourced from Canadian Appliance Source

Tongue & Groove Ceiling & Pocket Doors: Metrie, sourced from Barrie Trim & Moulding

Hardware: Emtek, everything is in polished brass.

Lighting: Clarke Pendants in Large by Hinkley

Flooring: Pravada Floors

Backsplash: Snow Zellige from RIAD Tile

Sinks: Kohler

Faucets: Perrin & Rowe/House of Rohl

Wall Candle Sconce: Knowlton & Co.

Island Stools: Restoration Hardware