Kitchen

Same Finishes, Different Kitchen

I just saw a kitchen on HGTV’s Spice Up My Kitchen with the same finishes as mine. I’m sure there are others out there too (I’m not claiming mine is all that unique), and of course there were differences, but it was just sort of funny to see.

Like mine, this kitchen has white cabinets, a white subway tile backsplash, stainless steel appliances, yellow walls, brown quartz countertops, and wood floors. The kitchen also had a red blender and coffee maker, whereas I have a red stand mixer.

hsumk102_after2_w609.jpg
photo from Spice Up My Kitchen

hsumk102_after_w609.jpg
photo from Spice Up My Kitchen

Sometimes I look at my kitchen and wish I had done certain things differently. If we had a bigger budget, I could have done so much more. Our kitchen only cost 1/4 of what the kitchen above did though!

my kitchen

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  • alivicwil
    February 20, 2008 at 1:45 am

    your kitchen is lovely :)

    (though that 2nd shot of the Spice kitchen almost made me catch my breath.)

    Am I correct in thinking that you made your blind yourself?

  • Michelle
    February 20, 2008 at 2:12 am

    I actually like your kitchen better.
    I think the other one is a bit bland. I prefer your stove, the cabinets and the knobs.

    I do love that show, though. I saw a kitchen done with red walls and although it sounds a little scary, it was actually quite lovely.

  • Benita
    February 20, 2008 at 2:25 am

    Oh, but your’s is soooooooo much nicer. Just goes to show you don’t need a lot of money to make a lovely home!!!

  • drey from bijou kaleidoscope
    February 20, 2008 at 4:58 am

    for what you spent on it it looks fab!

  • Joan A.
    February 20, 2008 at 6:46 am

    That’s the only Spice Up My Kitchen kitchen I’ve ever liked. I’ll have to keep an eye out for that episode. (Yours definitely is nicer, though.)

  • Mrslimestone
    February 20, 2008 at 7:37 am

    You really could mistake your kitchen for that one. But your knobs and shade add a lot of personality the other one doesn’t have.

    Out of curiousity, how did your kitchen cost 1/4 of theirs? Were their cabinets or appliances much more expensive than yours?

  • Mandy Ford
    February 20, 2008 at 7:53 am

    I think your kitchen is adorable…and has more character than the one from TV. I love the green knobs on the cabinets. :)

    We just renovated our kitchen and used similar finishes…I have a few pics in my blog if you ever care to take a look :)

  • amy purple
    February 20, 2008 at 8:18 am

    admittedly, anthony decided on how we’re doing our kitchen and it is going to be quite similar to yours as well. We’re doing the same cabinets (plus adding a shelf underneath those just to set our plates on to add more color), the white subway tiles (hence why we tiled our window sill with those), but we’re going to do a dark wood countertop. I’m hoping to find some terra cotta tiles for the floor, but I haven’t yet. We’ll probably just do some travertine instead. We’re doing white appliances though and we’re putting our washer and dryer underneath the counter. And adding a pantry where they are now. No clue on wall color yet.

    I’m in charge of the bathroom and i have like zero ideas.

  • joanna goddard
    February 20, 2008 at 8:56 am

    i love your kitchen. the curtains are so pretty.

  • Jules
    February 20, 2008 at 10:17 am

    I hear you on wanting to do things differently. There’s quite a number of things I would change. AND I haven’t even finished, yet, 2 years later!

  • Making it Lovely
    February 20, 2008 at 11:10 am

    Yep, I made the shades myself. They were my first sewing project! And I do like my handles and knobs better.

    They don’t have the cost on the website, but at the end of the show they showed everything. Their kitchen was $44,000. I forgot the individual prices for everything, but I remember some…

    Cabinets
    Theirs: $14,000
    Ours: $1,700 (IKEA)

    Countertops
    Theirs: $6700
    Ours: $2300

    Labor
    Theirs: $10,000
    Ours: $2000

    Appliances
    Theirs: $6000 (I think)
    Ours: $4000

    Floor
    Theirs: cost something
    Ours: cost nothing

    I think the key to pulling off a design with less money is to inject a little quirk (like my green flower cabinet knobs). With nicer materials, you could afford to be more understated.

  • Alicia P.
    February 20, 2008 at 11:26 am

    Mmmmmm. So pretty. I love white cabinets.

  • jenni s-g
    February 20, 2008 at 12:19 pm

    I like the individual treatments, like the knobs and your own curtains. Gives it personality.

  • Shelley
    February 20, 2008 at 7:11 pm

    Your kitchen is amazing and so well put together. It puts the HGTV kitchen to shame. I LOVE your style, your decisiveness and your blog! Always inspiring and unique. One of my favorite blogs I come back to again and again. Plus you’re funny. Rock on.

  • e-leigh
    February 20, 2008 at 10:29 pm

    your kitchen is awesome! one thing i noticed is that we have the same appliances in the hgtv kitchen. personally, i love the range because it’s a double oven, but i like the finishes in your kitchen because they have a lot of personality. did you guys tile your own backsplash?

  • Jessie Cacciola
    February 21, 2008 at 1:37 pm

    great light!
    – Jessie –

  • londoncalling
    February 21, 2008 at 2:21 pm

    Love your kitchen. May I ask where you found your drawer pulls. I’m looking for some longer than average like yours look to be. Thanks in advance.

  • Julia K
    February 22, 2008 at 9:54 am

    Just stumbled across your website and love it. My kitchen is very similar to yours and the one on “Spice Up Your Kitchen”–white cabinets, black accents, red KitchenAid appliances, etc. I’ve been trying to figure out what type of tile to install on the backsplash, and now you’ve got me leaning toward the white subway. Looks great.

    I’ve Bookmarked you and will be back! -Julia K

  • Jan
    March 7, 2008 at 4:07 pm

    IKEA sells kitchen cabinets? I am in the process of re-doing my kitchen. I also have the old fashioned dark wood cabinets. I am going to paint the cabinet boxes white and buy just the white doors. I didn’t IKEA sold cabinets.

  • mayr
    July 11, 2008 at 10:54 am

    my kitchen is also very similar to yours. But didn’t do the backsplash yet. I was also thinking white subway tiles but am also thinking white subway glass. I can’t decide. I went through a color phase also for the backsplash but think I’m staying with white for that classic look. Any suggestions?

  • Chef Anya
    July 15, 2008 at 11:35 am

    Hello,
    It looks very good.
    My friend is in the process of re-doing her kitchen
    and I’ll advice her to look at yours.

  • bungalowbliss
    January 30, 2009 at 2:10 pm

    Are you pleased with the quality of the IKEA cabinetry? I have considered using them but was unsure of how they’d hold up over time.

    Also, what material did you use for the countertops?

  • Making it Lovely
    February 3, 2009 at 5:13 pm

    The IKEA cabinets are holding up well so far! The counters are quarts (Zodiaq, “saddle brown”).

    Mayr, I think colored backsplashes are gorgeous. We went with white for budget reasons (though white does look nice too). And e-leigh, yes we tiled it ourselves.

    Londoncalling, the knobs were from Anthropologie and the drawer pulls were from Restoration Hardware.

  • HollyP
    March 18, 2009 at 3:14 pm

    Your kitchen is lovely. I’m curious about what you’d change.

    Sadly, my kitchen looks like the before kitchen (even the same vinyl floor, with even older cabinets.) Can’t wait for the re-do!