Project Overview

This project was a major remodel and room addition in which we removed a 26 foot long section of the back of the home to add 12 feet of space to the family room and a breakfast area. Wanting the kitchen open to this addition created one limitation for the kitchen: there was very little wall space to put wall cabinets over work counters. Our solution was to have as many tall pantry cabinets as possible in the center section on either side of the refrigerator, so that storage was only one step away from a counter. This helped make the freestanding refrigerator look more built-in, and the kitchen wide open to the large great room. We also supplemented storage by putting cabinets on the back side of the large L open to the family room in an effort to make up for the lack of wall cabinets.

They fell in love with their Tunas Green Granite material, so the choice of a simple white cabinet was easy and really makes these countertops stand out as a focal point for the entire room.

Notice the placement of the recessed down lights over the counter tops as you look around the kitchen, they are not in the typical brain-dead architectural geometric pattern seen in most magazines. These kitchen lights are placed where they are needed over work spaces, in front of cabinets so the cabinets are highlighted and you are not standing and working in your own shadow like you would if the lights were behind you in a geometric pattern in the ceiling. We also supplemented the lighting with under cabinet florescent lights.

The solid vinyl tile (SVT) flooring we used helped a great deal in keeping the project within the client’s budget. It is a commercial grade product that has been used in high end department stores for decades and was a precursor to the newer Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) available today. It looks just like a maple hardwood floor run. Even up close, on your hands and knees it is hard to tell this floor from the real thing. At my recommendation, the client had us install the floor planks at a diagonal to draw focus to the kitchen and make room elements such as the furniture stand out more and visually connects TV area with the kitchen. I have always thought this diagonal flooring placement makes all the elements of a room stand out more because those elements are not at the diagonal.

The installed cost of the flooring was significantly less than real hardwood. Plus, it is easy to clean and wears much better than real wood. Solid Vinyl Tiles were the precursor to today’s (LVT) products. If you do a web search on Solid Vinyl Tiles, you can still find very old complaints about the product — namely, customers complaining that they could not keep it clean.

As a professional, those complaints were misplaced in that whoever sold them on choosing Solid Vinyl Tile in the first place, a salesman, designer, architect, or contractor obviously did not tell them how to make it keep looking good. It is a commercial grade product, that has been used instead of wood or natural stone in high end department stores like Nordstroms, Neiman Marcus, Sachs, etc for decades. Solid Vinyl Tiles wear better than the natural products they are mimicking, but to keep them looking good the maintenance staff in the dept store use buffing machines on the floors each day after the store closes.

When used in a home under much less foot traffic, you do need a very small electrical buffing machine, but instead of nightly, a weekly or monthly (depending on your foot traffic) buff will keep it looking great. I am pretty sure this client’s solid vinyl floor still looks great today.

The good news is today’s LVT products are just as durable, come in even more colors and textures, and the surfaces no longer need buffing to keep them looking good. They have been reformulated to be very easy to maintain. I highly recommended SVT back when this job was done, and LVT is even better today. So any place you are considering using wood, stone, or tile, take a good look at LVT as there are now thousands of options available to meet any need.

The only thing these rooms need to update them to today’s standards are new LED lights to replace the existing Halogen ceiling can & track light bulbs, and fluorescent under cabinet lights.