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The Evolution of our Kitchen
Our kitchen is the product of small changes over 5 years. So let’s take a trip down memory lane and see how we got here.
2021: Our kitchen the day we closed on the house.
2022: The first change we made was removing the 2 cabinets in the corner for some DIY open shelving.
The cabinets were pretty deep and I felt boxed in at the sink at the time.
We also replaced the microwave with vent insert. This was meant to be very temporary until we built a custom hood cover but ended up taking us over 3 years to actually do it!
2023: I was fortunate to make some further upgrades to our kitchen thanks to some partnerships. We upgraded the shelves with Ultra Shelf and then added a beautiful zellige tile backsplash from Riad Tile.
I brought the tile to the ceiling in the corner. I knew that it was not going to look great where it ended on the sides by the cabinets. There is almost 11 inches of drywall that could be seen above the cabinets and it just looked unfinished. But that was a problem for later. In the meantime I put plants, bowls, and baskets above the cabinets to camouflage the drywall.
2025: And that brings us to now. The kitchen has remained the same for the most part (not counting little changes such as lighting and cabinet hardware).
Why not just buy new cabinets?
We chose to extend our existing cabinets instead of replacing them because it was several thousand dollars cheaper. Honestly, we weren’t looking to make that sort of investment on this house. This approach gave us the custom look we wanted without the cost of all new cabinetry.
The total spent on trim and other supplies was roughly $300 to complete this project.
How we extended our cabinets to the ceiling.
Step 1: Create a frame.
After removing the original crown moulding, we created a 2×4 frame and attached it to the existing cabinets using wood screws.
Built the frame for the range hood cover at the same time.
Step 2: Create a Design
Using a nail gun, we started out by attaching a 1×8 piece of primed pine to get mostly to the ceiling. At this time we also installed the new range hood insert.
It took some trial and error to achieve a look that fit my taste. This is the design we settled upon for our gap of 10-3/4″. The basecap was added to the bottom to balance the crown. Get my full SUPPLY LIST.
And this is the range hood design. The space between the cabinets on either side was only about 1-3/4″. Luckily I found this mullion trim that fit perfectly.
Step 3: Caulk & Paint
I filled the nail holes with DryDex and caulked the seams with white paintable caulk.
I took a cabinet door to Sherwin Williams for them to match the paint color and I couldn’t be happier with it.
And here is how it turned out.
Extending the cabinets to the ceiling has made our kitchen feel more custom and elevated. The first thing I noticed was how much taller our 8 foot ceilings felt. It draws the eye upward, gives the cabinetry a more intentional look, and removes the awkward dead space altogether.
Before & After
Supply Lists
All of the materials were purchased from Lowe’s and I have the exact links to everything that we used for this product linked here in MY LOWES STOREFRONT.
Kitchen Sources
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