Bedding We Like: Gray and White and Marble Kitchen Reveal

Gray and White and Marble Kitchen Reveal

Two-toned gray and white cabinets, marble subway tile, Carrara countertops, a big farmhouse sink, and brass hardware give this marble kitchen a classic yet modern look.

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A special thanks to Wayfair and Moen for providing products for this space!

As a mom of three littles ones who recently celebrated Christmas, trust me when I say that I know the meaning of anticipation. They would have counted down the seconds to the big day starting in October if they could have counted that high! And while I rolled my eyes at least a million times at the question, “How many more days until…”, I have to honestly confess that I kind of feel the same way about today. A year after I first mentioned on the blog that we were forming kitchen renovation plans, I have a full reveal for you!

Two-toned gray and white cabinets, marble subway tile, Carrara countertops, a big farmhouse sink, and brass hardware give this kitchen a classic yet modern look.

You may have seen it spruced up for Christmas or shared from time to time on my Instagram feed (and I’d love for you to follow along here if you don’t already!), but today I’m spilling all the details: sources, victories, setbacks, and more. Note: all sources are listed at the bottom of the post!

It all started when I was about 5 years old….

Wait, what?!

But really, my parents renovated their kitchen at our little 1950’s home that had belonged to my great grandparents. At the time, white kitchens were not in style. Gray and white marble was not in style. I think green marble and maroon accents may have been creeping into the design market.

But my mom knew exactly what she wanted: light, bright, and lots of pretty marble. So my dad and grandfather took a trip down to Mexico and loaded a pick up with tons and tons of 4″x8″ gray and white marble tile. A few months later, my mom had an all-white kitchen with marble floors, counters, and backsplash.

Do you think it’s hereditary?

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But seriously, I adore my mother’s classic style, and I think it fits perfectly in our fairly traditional home in the Texas hill country (you can tour the rest of our home here). When we bought the home, it had a very yellowy cream and brown vibe, with lots of faux Tuscan accents. Not only is that not really my style, I don’t feel it was true to the home’s architecture. Thankfully, the previous owners took great care and used high quality materials, so we had a good base to start with. The kitchen, though, felt especially dark with the brown cabinets and indirect sunlight.

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Gray and white is much more my style. We also found the marble tile at an amazingly affordable price, which certainly helped us make the decision.

Additionally, after lots of research on marble-look quartz countertops, I decided that real Carrara marble was what I wanted: it was more affordable than most of the quartz options and had a natural, organic veining that simply couldn’t be mimicked. I promise another post soon with more details, but suffice it to say that we landed on honed Carrara and I couldn’t be happier.

The two completely new elements for me (you’ve got to give me credit for a little originality, mkay? ) are the two-toned cabinets and the gorgeous white farmhouse sink that was generously provided by Wayfair.

Oh, and the brass hardware.

Speaking of the brass, I’m especially smitten with the new light above my sink (also from Wayfair). Between the snazzy light, the big beautiful sink, and my new faucets (generously provided by Moen), it almost makes washing dishes actually enjoyable… Almost.

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The giant, single basin sink really is so incredibly easy to use, though, and I think the Glenshire pull down faucet and the Sip traditional beverage faucet (both from Moen) are the perfect blend of modern and traditional for the space. I love how the lower access to the apron front sink allows my kids to reach it more easily but the deep bowl keeps messes, dirty dishes, and water spray well-contained. This is my first apron front sink and my first single basin (expect for a one-year rental almost 15 years ago!), so it was a bit of a gamble on my part.

But I can honestly say that I don’t ever want to go back. I. love. it.

I really wanted a little modern flair in this space, and I decided gold cabinet hardware and light fixtures were the best places to do that. Since I already had this antique brass chandelier (it was hanging in the master bedroom of the first home we ever bought, and I have taken it with me each time we’ve moved!), using brass accents also allowed me to bring in some of that vintage elegance I love so much. The brass sconce was then an easy choice for a modern touch and centerpiece for our marble tile wall.

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The cabinet pulls took some time-intensive research. I shared some of my favorite ones a few months ago (seriously, there are some really great ones out there), but once I brought home some options to hold up in my space, these were a no brainer. They were solid and substantial, yet much more affordable than lots of the brass/gold options I had found; they had the same hues as the lights I had already chosen; they were available on Amazon, and they even came in these amazing long lengths at reasonable prices (I’ve seen long bars like this for upwards of $60… $11 is such a bargain!).

I just wish we had more long drawers to use them on! I love bringing in accents like hardware in a bold color because it’s not a terribly expensive fix later if something goes out of style or a future buyer is not a fan, especially if you choose handles that have a standard width.

I did, however, choose to keep our faucets in stainless for the same reason: replacing faucets is much more expensive and time-consuming. Our appliances were all stainless anyway, and I actually really like the look of mixed metals.

Speaking of our faucets, I splurged a bit and added this gorgeous Traditional pot filler from Moen to the kitchen. Is it necessary? Absolutely not. Especially since our sink is a few mere steps from our stove. But do I use it all the time? Yes! It’s so much easier to fill a big pot for pasta right there on the stove. And I definitely prefer using it to top off an already warm pan rather than moving a hot pan to the sink and back. Plus, I think it’s a beautiful centerpiece for our little nook above the stove.

We were originally planning to simply paint the maple cabinets, but you observant folks have probably already noticed that we ended up replacing our more elaborate decorative doors with simply shaker style fronts.

That was a total lucky breakthrough.

We happened upon a huge Kraftmaid sale just before our kitchen renovation was scheduled to start, and the installed kitchen cabinetry happened to be Kraftmaid. Since paying a professional to paint kitchen cabinets the right way is simply not cheap (and I was not interested in doing it myself again this time), a huge sale on doors that actually fit our cabinets was such a blessing! For not much more than we were going to pay to have it all painted, we were basically able to simply reface our cabinets: they painted the frames, and we were able to install factory-painted (which are much more durable) doors in a style I prefer that fit our cabinets perfectly.

We went with Dove White on the top and Greyloft on the bottom and simply paint matched each for the cabinet frames. I knew I wanted this look of white above and a medium to dark gray below ever since I made over our half bath (the very first room I tackled in this house!), and I couldn’t be happier with how it ended up.