Beautifully Balanced Black and White Kitchen

What’s not to love about a timeless“tuxedo style” done using CliqStudios cabinets in both White and Black finishes? Homeowner Nilda shared with us not only about her design experience with CliqStudios, but also her venture using Sweeten, a company that puts homeowners in contact with reliable contractors.

Nilda and her husband purchased the house in a historic district back in the summer of 2015, knowing that this would be their forever home. It wasn’t until their first winter and the kitchen was consistently 15 degrees colder than the rest of the house that they knew there was a problem in the kitchen that needed to be addressed.

The original cabinets were problematic. Sawdust made from opening and closing the drawers would leak into the cabinets below, leaving dust all over the pots and pans. After attending to a roof remodel, they decided the kitchen would be their next project to tackle. [What is a quality kitchen cabinet?]

“First and foremost, we brought the kitchen down its skeleton to fix the uneven floors and cold temperature. The advantage of being in the house two years before we remodeled was that I knew how I cooked and how I needed the flow to be. My main goals were function, flow, and opening the room up,” said Nilda.

The family also wanted to preserve the historic character of the home while bringing the design into a new era.

We asked Nilda if they ran into any challenges with the project along the way.

“It wouldn’t be a good renovation unless we did! We knew the floor was uneven by three inches. But it wasn’t just uneven in one spot. It was a rollercoaster of three inches. We also encountered that the back half of the kitchen by the table had the joists laid on the soil directly. The joists were of course rotten. So, we dug in.”

But they overcame those issues to create a kitchen that is a total wow!

“The first thing that comes to me when I think about what I like is it’s so open,” said Nilda. “You can see three-quarters of the kitchen and that has a big wow factor.”

Additionally, their choice of cabinetry is memorable [Where do I get the best design ideas?]

“I love our color scheme and the length of our cabinets. People walk in and think we added on. We didn’t! We just opened the room up. The dark colors grounds it with the light cabinets up top and makes everything look spacious.”

The final result is a timeless styled kitchen.

“It’s like one of the black and white filters for photos. It stays in line with the house being older while being modern. I wasn’t trying to make a kitchen that looked built with the house, but respected a timeless elegance.”

The choice of two-tone cabinets is a modern spin on a traditional look.

“I know having two colors for cabinets is trendy, but I think of this like a tuxedo, it’s not going to go out of style!”

In comparing the new space to the old, Nilda noted that it’s a world of a difference both physically and emotionally for her family.

“There are no words to describe the difference. For my husband and I, using this kitchen brings joy to our lives in a way you didn’t think a kitchen could.”

As for her experience with CliqStudios, they were happy to work with us. “I was and still am very satisfied with the quality. My contractors said the same thing. The service is as advertised. Everything from design to shipping.”