Taking a look back at our award, Remodelista 2018 Considered Design Awards Best Kitchen Organization, one year later, in hopes to provide you with a little more inspiration and resource of our kitchen. (I’ll share the resources at the bottom of this post.)

Every year, during the beginning of summer, Remodelista kicks off their summer-long Considered Design Awards. Rather you are a DIYer, homeowner or renter, architect, interior designer, contractor, professional or amateur, all are invited to submit for three categories. Then finalists are selected by a panel of judges, and off to voting it goes by the public, who ultimately decides on the winner by the most votes.

In 2018, Remodelista added a new category that was sponsored by their newest site, The Organized Home. This category was called Best Kitchen Organization Project which was the category that we, Whitetail Farmhouse, won the award for! I will be sharing some parts of our interview here, but you can read the full story here.

It was such a great experience for me, one that I will always remember. So many of our friends and family and YOU (maybe) voted for us! I’m so grateful for each person who took the time to vote or to share our contest with others. Your support helped greatly with this win! It was because of you, so BIG THANK YOU!

I submitted our project because I thought it would be so fun just to be apart of this contest. Then I was chosen as a finalist by The Organized Home editor, Fan Winston, who said: “I really admire how considered the storage details were—the plate rack for her ironstone collection, the miniature barn doors integrated into her pantry design, the crate under the microwave shelf. They really bring the kitchen together in a cohesive but not tacky way.”

My goals when designing our kitchen was to create a kitchen that stayed true to the farmhouse kitchens of the past, yet with modern amenities included for function and ease. When I designed our kitchen, I studied the farmhouse kitchens of yesteryear for inspiration. I kept seeing the same elements creep up again and again—beadboard, Shaker cabinets, farmhouse sinks (with a skirted curtain underneath), oversize plate racks, cabinet doors with window panes and brackets. So I took all of the above elements, updated the look, and added in my favorite combination of wood tones, white, and neutrals.

In any phase of design, my advice, is to be patient with the process and not to rush through it or you may have a few regrets by the end. Be intentional and personal with every detail to help your kitchen look collected and curated—as though it has evolved over time. This can be achieved by avoiding the “matchy-matchy” look. For example, on one side of the kitchen I have upper cabinets, but on the other side I installed open shelving with a plate rack above the sink. I encourage you to think outside the box and create a space that will carry you beyond the design trends—one that is built on the time-tested classics and will last just as long.

The kitchen is the heartbeat of a home; it’s a great place to find nourishment as well as gathering. Our kitchen feels cozy and comfortable. What I love most about our kitchen is the blend of textures from the wood tones, the contrast of the marble countertops against the butcher block on the antique island, the chicken wire on the cabinet doors, the DIY basket light fixture, the shiplap on the wall (that my husband installed), to the French skirted curtains that were made by my mom. It is a lot to take in! Even now, it takes my breath away to see the finished result.