Kitchen Bar Removed, Cabinets Painted White

The starting point

A bar at two heights sat between the kitchen and the dining room, with the sink on the low side and a ledge on the high side. The backsplash was a busy glass mosaic and the counters were a plain light quartz. The cabinets were in good shape and worth keeping. What the homeowners wanted was one long, level surface to cook and sit at, and a calmer look.

Before: the kitchen with its glass mosaic backsplash, plain light counters and a small island, seen from the living room — Before. The raised bar is on the right, out of frame; the mosaic and the old counters are what you see first.

Before, from the living room: the raised bar with its tile face, and the dark laminate floor that was replaced with gray plank tile — Before, from the living room. The raised bar with its tile face, and the dark floor that came out. The gray plank tile in the finished photos went in first.

What had to change behind the scenes

Leveling a bar isn't a countertop job. It's a framing, electrical and plumbing job with a countertop on top.

Framing: the raised section came down to the studs and the knee wall was rebuilt at counter height, straight and solid enough to carry stone.
Electrical: the outlets and wiring in the old bar were moved into the new wall by our electrician, so the island has power where you'd expect it.
Plumbing: a licensed plumber redid the sink drain for the new sink.
Backsplash: the mosaic came off down to the board.

The bar opened to the framing with the old wiring exposed — Bar opened up

The rebuilt knee wall with new drywall, at a single counter height — Knee wall rebuilt

Counters removed from the perimeter cabinets and island, cement board on the backsplash wall — Tops off

Inside the sink cabinet with the new drain and supply lines, the new sink waiting on top — New drain, new sink

The stone

A Taj Mahal-look quartz: the warm white and soft veining people know from the quartzite of that name, in a quartz that never needs sealing. One long run across the island and the sink, the same stone on the perimeter, and a full-height slab behind the range instead of tile, so there's no grout to scrub over the stove. The small island got a waterfall edge. New linear pendant over the big island.

The Taj Mahal-look quartz up close, with the pop-up outlet in the island — The stone up close. The pop-up outlet keeps the island top clean.

Before: the range wall with its glass mosaic backsplash and light counters — Before: mosaic backsplash, plain light counters.

After: the same range wall with a slab backsplash, new stone counters and the long island in front — After: slab backsplash, new stone, one long island.

Then the cabinets

The boxes and doors were solid, so replacing them would have been money spent on the wrong thing. Instead, once the stone was in, we sprayed them in place: booths built around the cabinets, the rest of the house sealed off with plastic, every opening masked, then primer and two coats of ILVA 2K. Espresso went to a warm white, and the dark-to-light change is exactly why the primer step matters.

The espresso upper cabinets before painting — Before: espresso

The kitchen masked and in primer inside the spray booth — Booths up, primer on

Another angle of the masked kitchen with paper on the floor — Every opening masked

Masked doors with the dark finish showing at the edges under primer — Dark under, light over

The kitchen sealed off from the living room with a wall of plastic sheeting during spraying — The living-room side while we sprayed. Nothing gets out.

Before painting: espresso cabinets with the new stone and pendant — Before painting. Stone in, cabinets still espresso.

After painting: the same kitchen with the cabinets sprayed a warm white — After. Same doors, same hardware holes, same kitchen.

A two-level bar turned into one long island, and espresso cabinets turned white

The starting point

What had to change behind the scenes

The stone

Then the cabinets

Want one level surface instead of two?