#kitchenshelves Archives

The Oil and Spice Shelf Nook Inside Your Range Hood Surround You Didn’t Know You Needed But You Absolutely Must Have

Posted on December 7, 2021December 15, 2021 by admin

I’ve been getting some questions from concerned readers: “Where have we been???” They’re assuming we’ve been eaten by the half-finished kitchen. Well…. I’ve been sketching kitchen projects and my adorable Rainman has been fishing. It’s my fault that I approved the purchase of a small boat fixer upper (in addition to the larger boat we already have) and that all equates to FISHING and NOT WORKING INSIDE ON MY KITCHEN. But the Dewalt miter saw on the front porch makes it LOOK like we’re working, so that’s cool. “Sips wine.”

*This post may contain affiliate links. Please see full disclosure at the end of the post.

Anyway, that’s not preventing me from forging ahead and obsessively planning every detail, and occasionally threatening to hire a carpenter if he doesn’t get his rumpus back in the house and start throwing some kitchen together. It’s getting to the point where I may ACTUALLY consider a carpenter… or start wielding tools at opportune moments so he will catch me and feel compelled to intervene. So… the current project (that I have ordered materials for and am just WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO INSTALL): A shelf nook for the range surround.

A shelf nook? Yes, it’s absolutely a thing. Think: incredible use of wall space for storing daily use items like olive oils and favorite spices within EASY REACH of your cooking space. We are in the ~~middle~~ beginning of a kitchen renovation and the focal point of the room is a large hood with a surround that encapsulates the entire space (range, hood, and cabinetry). Having looked at ALL of the kitchens on Pinterest and Instagram, I feel well informed and confident that I have planned all of the details well.

Not sure what I’m talking about? Here are two EXCELLENT representations of my idea by professional designers (and let me give a SHOUT OUT to these ladies/gents, because the amount of nit-noid planning that goes into designing these spaces is really next-level):

Gorgeous walnut shelving inside the hood surround by @studiodearborn on Instagram.

Gorgeous wooden shelving inside the hood surround by @christopherpeacock on Instagram.

Are you IN??? Yeah, me too! Imagine wasting all of that space when you could have usable, adorable shelves (and trust me, you need the storage)!

So, here’s my sketch of the front of our range wall:

The Oil and Spice Shelf Nook Inside Your Range Hood Surround You Didn't Know You Needed But You Absolutely Have To Have — The Oil and Spice Shelf Nook Inside Your Range Hood Surround You Didn’t Know You Needed But You Absolutely Have To Have

And here is the sketch of the inside of the right-hand wall:

No fancy design software here! It’s so much easier for me to visualize when I sketch.

One of the most important design elements of this space was functionality: an excellent space to cook where all of the cook’s tools are within easy reach. It’s also important that the space be very easy to clean and hardy. Everything near the stove is a solid surface and non-scorch-able (including the metal upper cabinets). I allowed myself a little leniency with the shelf materials because they are 33 inches from the side of the range and the back of the shelves are still tiled. I briefly considered a shelf OVER the stove (it looks so pretty with the copper pots hanging there) but remembered that I don’t want to clean grease spatter off utensils, pots, and spices every time I cook.

Anyhoo, after I actually threatened my husband with bodily harm for the lack of progress on the kitchen (i.e. fishing/casting on the boat instead of doing interior construction), this is the next project we came to in the build. One of the challenges was that walnut is really hard to find (read: expensive) right now, but since it wasn’t a lot square footage wise, I thought it would be fairly affordable. It was not. Not, to say that little detail changed my mind: I still got my walnut shelves. Just know that the species of wood you choose very much impacts the final cost.

I also wanted some pretty gallery rails to prevent oil bottles from being knocked off and smashing into tiny pieces. Those were also not cheap, but they were necessary both from an aesthetic and functional standpoint. I had already purchased the Carrara marble subway tile for the interior range walls, and I have broken out the relative cost below.

Step one was framing the wall with the size I wanted and thinking about all the 3D things that could affect the functionality of the design.

Since we are doing one wall at a time… it is more difficult. I want to have a functional kitchen for as long as possible through the renovation, so there was an old peninsula with electrical and plumbing in the way on one side.

And then, of course, this little design treasure that I was feeling borderline homicidal about. Don’t worry, I fixed the look, but I’m still pretty torqued the HVAC crew couldn’t reroute the intake anywhere else. The worst part is it robbed me of half of my cabinet space on one side of the stove. NOT COOL. (It currently has a really pretty cover on it, and I ordered a false front for the cabinet so it will be invisible to anyone who doesn’t know).

Step one: Install cement board for all tiled areas.

Step 2: Mortar.

Step 3: Tile.

Step 4: Prefinish the walnut shelves prior to installation. I highly recommend lots of lacquer to prevent warping/staining from spills or drips.

Step 5: Install wooden shelf surround (if you’re using gallery rails, I highly recommend attaching them to the shelves prior to installation). I recommend leaving the shelves unattached until you have completed the grouting process (it’s much easier to grout without the shelves in).

Step 6: Install remaining tile surrounding shelves.

The Oil and Spice Shelf Nook Inside Your Range Hood Surround You Didn't Know You Needed But You Absolutely Need To Have — The Oil and Spice Shelf Nook Inside Your Range Hood Surround You Didn’t Know You Needed But You Absolutely Need To Have

Step 7: Grout and caulk (don’t skip the caulk, it prevents fluids from getting behind the shelves and warping them).

The Oil and Spice Shelf Nook Inside Your Range Hood Surround You Didn't Know You Needed But You Absolutely Must Have — The Oil and Spice Shelf Nook Inside Your Range Hood Surround You Didn’t Know You Needed But You Absolutely Must Have: Carrara Marble backed walnut shelves with antique brass gallery rails in the kitchen

Step 8: Style: Like everything else in the kitchen, this shelf should be both beautiful and functional. Keep your favorite oils, vinegars, Worcestershire sauce, etc. within reach.

The Oil and Spice Shelf Nook Inside Your Range Hood Surround You Didn't Know You Needed But You Absolutely Must Have: Styled shelfie all ready to go with a small preserved boxwood, oils from High Country Olive Oil, a carrara marble mortar and pestle, a vintage landscape oil painting, oil carafes/dispensers, and a tiny votif of roses from our last bloom of the season — The Oil and Spice Shelf Nook Inside Your Range Hood Surround You Didn’t Know You Needed But You Absolutely Must Have: Styled shelfie all ready to go with a small preserved boxwood, oils from High Country Olive Oil, a Carrara marble mortar and pestle, a vintage landscape oil painting, oil carafes/dispensers, and a tiny votive of roses from our last bloom of the season

I don’t know if I mentioned this… but I LOVE my shelves!

Price breakdown:

Walnut shelves and lining: From Rockler $199.43

Double brass gallery rails: Vintage Hardware: $250.70

Carrara marble subway tiles behind shelves: Stone Center Online: About $100

Supplies for installing tile and shelves (mortar, grout, nails, stain, and lacquer): About $100

Total: $650.13

If you’re planning your dream kitchen, I highly recommend these!

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Mashup Monday: 16 Inspired Kitchen Rangehood Vent Surrounds That Will Make You Swoon

Posted on January 28, 2021February 2, 2021 by admin

We are in the middle of a kitchen renovation, which is sure to last through the next century (the renovation part, I mean). However, the pace of said renovation gives me the time to make sure that EVERY detail is correct. As I have been researching the perfect forever kitchen for the last five years (who am I kidding, it’s been more like forty) I absolutely fell in love with the concept of rangehood surrounds.

Since I have smoked the house out searing steak on a weekly basis for the last decade, I already knew that we needed a kitchen exhaust fan, or more specifically, a rangehood. Having a kitchen hood vent is imperative for people who actually cook. We were living in a kitchen with AN UNVENTED microwave over the stove. Also see: “why bother” in the dictionary. That is the worst ever possible solution to sucking smoky air out of your house and is honestly something builders like because it’s cheap and easy. Well, I’ve got their number.

*This post may contain affiliate links. Please see full disclosure at the end of the post.

Anyway, have you seen all of those delicious British kitchens? Well, they’ve had this figured out for… well, I think forever. Duh, if you’re cooking, you need a hood. Even if theirs are a bit more understated than their more extravagant American counterparts, the idea is the same:

A command post, at the center of the kitchen, from which you rule your house: where you sing to obnoxiously loud mom music and shout back at kids from across the house “I can’t hear you” as you prepare something you weren’t sure what it was going to be until you started adding ingredients (or on rare occasions, trying to follow a recipe). Read: the maternal-Zen-zone from which location you create foods made of pure love and chubby mom sweat.

These spaces must be both beautiful and functional, so I have a few rules:

I absolutely must have counterspace on either side of the range. Seriously, the enclosures I see where it’s only the stove would in no way be conducive to actual cooking (but they sure are pretty). I recommend AT LEAST 24 inches of countertop on either side of the surround- we’re going with 30 a side.
Use materials that can’t get scorched. If you’re cooking so professionally that you need one of those gigantic hoods that you have to keep the cat away from (lest they are sucked into the intake like a runaway tornado) don’t you think you might risk some cabinet scorching? What about grease splatter? There shouldn’t be ANYTHING THAT CAN GET BURNED within the surround. (We are doing a mix of copper sheet backsplash with sealed marble tile, METAL UPPER CABINETS, and a copper hood. Everything will be safe from harm.)
It must be able to do whatever I want it to do. If I want to cook hibachi and make three-foot high flames, the hood better be able to handle it. Even though adding a hood that is anything over 400 CBMs requires an air exchange system, it is absolutely worth it. I usually get the most powerful ANYTHING that is offered, just to be sure.

(Speaking of which) Quick story: When I was researching hoods, I had the most appalling experience with an HVAC tradesman. I called him to get a quote on installing ducting in our kitchen for a range hood. He asked me how many CBMs my hood was going to have. I told him it was 1200 CBMs and he said, “Oh, you don’t need one with that many CBMs.” Please play that back in your head with the most absolutely misogynistic Eastern North Carolina accent you can conjure.

I took a deep breath, and said, “I’m listening.”

He proceeded to explain to me, in the most demeaning manner possible, how EVEN HE only had a 600 CBM hood and he had a big house made for entertaining, unlike mine, which he had never seen.

Now, I have strict rules about phone etiquette. I have taught my children by example that it’s very important (and almost ALWAYS works in your favor) to be kind to anyone on the phone. This applies to calling ANY CUSTOMER SERVICE ever. They deal with complaints all day, right? So, when you call them be the most patient customer they’ve ever had and be the one little bright shining light in their day! I have literally had customer service folks send me free stuff and thank me profusely for being nice to people whose fault it WASN’T that whatever problem it was happened. Catch my drift? Now here’s this guy, who I am about to ask to do a job for me, and I know that griping at him or complaining is not going to get me anywhere.

Well, I can tell you, I was two more condescending comments away from breaking my own phone rules. If I could’ve reached through the phone and grabbed him by the neck, I would’ve been unmoved by him choking on the gum he was loudly smacking in my ear between patronizing tidbits of advice.

He ACTUALLY said to me: “your husband’s going to be pissed at you if you’re running that fan in the kitchen and he can’t hear his football game.” I almost fell over.

So, after this man had given me his dissertation on why women like me don’t know jack or dog-poo about ducting or machines in general, I politely asked him, “So, say I wanted you to install this AND an air exchange system. Could you do it?”

“Well yeah, but it would be more money.”

“Okay that’s fine.” After he complained for a few more minutes about me wanting something I clearly didn’t need, he stopped short and told me if I was getting a rangehood it absolutely HAD to be a Wolf and nothing else would do (and I was being cheap if I decided to go with anything else), and pointed me toward “his” appliance salesman buddy in the next town.

By the time I got off the phone I was bewildered and… well…. I was PISSED (which is a relatively unnatural state of being for me). My husband got home from work and got a half an hour recount of the conversation I had with this… well I’ll leave out what I called him.

So Rainman politely asked me, “So, why don’t you call someone else?”

To be honest, this thought had not occurred to me. I was so wrapped around the axle I wanted to meet this guy so I could beat him at his game.

But I slowly deflated… and used a lifeline. I called my friend next door that had just had a beautiful new house built, and she gave me the number of their HVAC contractor- who came to the house, asked what I wanted done, devised a plan, and gave me a price. Oh, and he didn’t treat me like I had recently come to our world from another planet. They will have my business until I die.

Pro tip: The one thing that kept coming up over and over again during this discussion is that anything over 400 CBMs empties your house of air very quickly and that air is replaced by OUTSIDE air via the air exchange system (you know, the one Captain-pompous-pants didn’t want to install). I was warned that if that happened my home would be suddenly muggy in the summer or suddenly freezing in the winter. That is true, and it’s a concern. But it is also true that every time I sear meat it smokes my house out and we have to open all the doors and windows (and wrangle cats and a dog). You know what this does? You got it! Muggy and hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter. I hope you can see me rolling my eyes from here.

But I digress. Here are a few neat ideas for rangehood surrounds I think you’ll enjoy:

Via @edwarddeeganarchitects and @karenloffing on Instagram

Via @thebrittanyhouseatoakhill on Instagram

What do you think? Could you see your space with a rangehood surround? I’m dying to show you ours!!!

Check out more of our design inspiration and high-end DIYs over on the blog!

Cheers!

*Legal stuff:

I am honest about my experiences with different products and write because I enjoy it. I do however, have the opportunity to earn money for my writing, also.

This site also contains affiliate links through //Commerce/Sovrn. //Commerce or our Publishers may be compensated when you click through links on our site.

Before and After: Grandma’s New Vermont Cottage Kitchen

Posted on September 27, 2020October 5, 2020 by admin

Who doesn’t love a good before and after reveal??? We teamed up with Lily Ann Cabinets to do this awesome project for my mother’s forever home and I’m super happy with how it turned out. We used their RTA Cabinets, Lily Ann’s Grey Shaker Elite (and you’re going to love them!).

*This post may contain affiliate links. Please see full disclosure at the end of the post.

The kitchen turned out beautifully and the carpenter was super impressed by the quality of the RTA cabinets. That helps a LOT when the carpenter happens to be your brother AND he’s a meticulous and dyed-in-the-wool wood snob.

Quick story:

My family has been playing musical houses for almost my whole life (I’m an army brat). So, when my mom finally decided to pick a house and stay in it, my sister reached out to me to help with the kitchen design (they were really busy renovating the whole rest of the house). The place had great bones, but was really ugly. One little problem: I am in North Carolina and they are in Vermont. To any lesser team this would’ve been a problem (working with family and from a different state… what could go wrong???).

I sent my initial design which was nixed by my incredible carpenter brother who wanted to knock down walls and move stairs (who am I to argue with that?). So, I worked up a moodboard and completely new design and sent it to my sister and brother.

Before and After Pictures of Grandma's New Vermont Cottage Kitchen: Sponsored by Lily Ann Cabinets and designed by @callsigndesign on Instagram and @slavetodiy on Pinterest. — Before and After Pictures of Grandma’s New Vermont Cottage Kitchen: Sponsored by Lily Ann Cabinets and designed by @callsigndesign on Instagram and @slavetodiy on Pinterest.

Then there was the issue of finding a cabinet company that wasn’t going to break the bank. I looked and looked, but everything I liked was super expensive! And since I had added a huge island, the cabinet total had about doubled. Then I stumbled across RTA (ready to assemble) cabinets. I found them on sale (even though they were already significantly cheaper than the other cabinets I had found before the sale), and I sent the company my design. My brother said, “that’s fine, but you guys are putting those cabinets together.”

Almost ALL of this was carried out without me physically at the property because suddenly there was a pandemic. Yup. Perfect timing. I corresponded with a Lily Ann kitchen designer in Michigan that was working from home and had the details and 3d renderings in just a few weeks. A skeleton warehouse crew got our order out and it was delivered about a month and a half after we first contacted them.

Back to the house: imagine my delight when my brother (who had said NO WAY was he assembling RTA cabinets) called me to say he had assembled and installed them and the quality was amazing. Oh, and they went together super fast. I was in shock. I will save the rest of that story for another post. This is a simple before and after, remember?

If you love this look, you can find these cabinets from Lily Ann Cabinets. My readers can get a 5% discount by using the offer code: SDIY2018 at checkout!

Grandma got to see her almost finished kitchen on her birthday in July and I think you’ll appreciate the video (it still makes me cry every time):

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYK1UD7tQXY&w=560&h=315]

All that was left (after the first reveal) for install when we arrived in Vermont (two months later and on re-scheduled trip number three) was hardware, the backsplash, the shelves, and crown molding. Still, five full days of install while trying to persuade my six year old to do her virtual school independently was a bit challenging. And, to be perfectly honest, my brother had told me the quality was good, but the cabinets were even better in person. The finish was beautiful and I quickly realized there was nothing “discount” about these cabinets other than the price.

The after photos were all taken by @loganbspring on Instagram, so give him a follow! I think you’ll love his work as much as we do!

Drumroll please!!!!

This is looking through the front door at the door that went down to the basement:

Before and After Pictures of Grandma's New Vermont Cottage Kitchen — Before and After Pictures of Grandma’s New Vermont Cottage Kitchen: Sponsored by Lily Ann Cabinets and designed by @callsigndesign on Instagram and @slavetodiy on Pinterest.

Here is the front door now:

This is looking from the corner of the kitchen back at the front door:

We couldn’t REALLY get this “before” shot because of the wall, but you can see where the new front door is now (the wall started roughly where the island begins):

This is standing by the front door, looking at the kitchen.

And here is the after:

This is a shot of the space after the walls came down, but before the staircase was moved:

And after:

And just for fun, here are some more detailed shots of the kitchen we took during staging:

This was quite the journey, but it was all worth it to see how happy my mom was at the end. What do you think of our design and renovation? What is your favorite part? Please let us know in the comments below!

Once again: If you love this look, and want to pay less for awesome cabinets, you can find these cabinets from Lily Ann Cabinets. My readers can get a 5% discount by using the offer code: SDIY2018 at checkout!

Special thanks to my brother and sister for all of the hard work and making it so easy for us to look good!

Thanks for joining us on our adventures! Cheers!

*Legal stuff:

I am honest about my experiences with different products and write because I enjoy it. I do however, have the opportunity to earn money for my writing, also.

Slavetodiy.com is a paid affiliate for Lily Ann Cabinets and received discounted products to provide this review. As always, our opinions are honest and we promote only quality products that we use ourselves.

Slavetodiy.com is also a VigLink affiliate advertiser which works similarly.