This beautiful home built in 1817 in a charming Westside Cleveland neighborhood has it all: original woodwork, fabulous built-ins and loads of character. But the cramped, old-school kitchen needed more functional, usable space for practical everyday living.
The homeowner partnered with Dover Home Remodelers to update her kitchen. Her vision was a lighter and brighter kitchen with more storage and prep space, room for comfortable seating and a traditional aesthetic that honors the home’s rich heritage.
The Kitchen: Before & After
While the kitchen had been updated from its original build, it still needed a major remodel. Despite its white cabinetry, the kitchen was dark. The drop ceiling and soffits above the cabinets could have been a better use of space and dampened the room visually. The lack of counter space and storage created clutter, making the room seem smaller than it actually was. The new layout changed everything, expanding the kitchen and dining room threshold, creating more natural light, adding a much-needed pantry and extra storage and providing counter seating.
After – View Project
The Kitchen: Before
The doorway between the dining room and kitchen created a narrow entryway into the room, and once inside the kitchen, the space was cramped. Counters lined the room’s perimeter, and the dropped soffits above the cabinets made the ceilings seem lower than their full 10-ft. height. Additionally, storage space was an issue: the upper cabinets were short, and the unorganized lower cabinets were difficult to access. An old radiator entirely consumed one of the lower cabinets. Plus, there was no pantry.
Because the counters had to be used for everyday storage, there needed to be more room for prepping food. Finally, the kitchen needed more adequate lighting, with only a window above the sink and one overhead fixture. This made the small room feel even more confined.
The Kitchen: Design
The updated kitchen layout included a few significant changes. The first was creating a large passthrough between the dining room and kitchen that dramatically opens the living space, produces a seamless flow between the two rooms and affords room for a peninsula with seating. Eliminating the drop ceiling and soffits in the kitchen allows full-size upper cabinets to reach the ceiling, using the prime space to maximize storage. Moving the entrance of the half bathroom in the adjacent hallway off the kitchen creates extra space that is turned into a large pantry.
The Kitchen: During
We demoed the kitchen down to the studs to create the new space, removing all flooring, cabinets and surfaces. Installing a new electric panel and plumbing—including moving the existing plumbing stack—ensures safe and proper function long-term. Finally, expanding the doorway between the kitchen and dining room involved installing a new beam to carry the load. By building a dropped header using 2x10s, we could create separation without the bulk of a steel beam for a seamless visual flow between the two living areas.
The Kitchen: After
The new kitchen features stock cabinets (Waypoint, painted sage green) with a semi-custom installation that includes a countertop cabinet built to keep the homeowner’s mixer and other necessities at arm’s reach. During the demo, we uncovered an old milk shoot, which we kept in place, creating a unique display nook.
The new peninsula between the kitchen and dining room provides lower cabinetry storage on both sides and counter-height seating on the dining side. Our craftsmen custom-built the frameless oak cabinetry on the backside using Reliable Cabinetry components (facing the dining room) to match the home’s original woodwork for a cohesive finish.
By relocating the kitchen air vents to the toe kick, we created more function: Where the old radiator previously consumed an entire lower cabinet, it is now a fully usable cabinet. All cabinets and drawers include rollouts and clever inserts customized for the homeowner’s everyday use. By borrowing space from a back hallway near the powder room, we gained square footage to build a floor-to-ceiling custom pantry for even more easy-access storage.
Creating contrast with the kitchen’s light green-grey cabinets and existing oak millwork, the homeowner chose Corian Quartz countertops in London Sky with a clean waterfall edge on the peninsula. We used high-gloss hexagon tiles—Wow Zellige, Hexa White, 4×5, from Virginia Tile—for the backsplash to keep the space light and bright. The homeowner chose the Blanco Undermount Sink, Super Single Bowl with a sleek faucet: Brizo Luxe Gold Litze with a knurled handle.
To tie in the home’s history, classic tile (Form Sand Compass Deco, 8×8, Virginia Tile) adds pop to the updated kitchen floor. The same tile was run down that back hallway for continuity. Finally, undercabinet lighting, a vintage-inspired overhead fan and recessed can lights finish the room.
Half Bathroom: Before
The old, outdated powder room in the hallway adjacent to the kitchen needed a major facelift to bring the space up to par with the rest of the well-appointed home. While our team was at work on the kitchen renovation, the homeowner decided to have us update the small bathroom simultaneously.
Half Bathroom: During
The project included demoing the small room, removing all existing bathroom fixtures and flooring, rewiring the electricity, and exposing the original brick. As part of the kitchen remodel, we also moved the doorway between the kitchen and the back hallway to borrow space for the new kitchen pantry. This realignment created a new hallway configuration leading to the bathroom.
Half Bathroom: After
Drawing inspiration from Houzz and the original penny tile in her foyer, the homeowner’s vision for the new space was a cleaner, more contemporary bathroom with a warm, historic feel.
The centerpiece of the new bathroom is a custom tile flooring installation. Our craftsman created the mosaic tile design to mimic the foyer, creating one-of-a-kind floor art by sourcing tile from the Dover Floor & Tile Center:
Outside Border: (6″-12″) Soho Canvas White Hexagon Mosaic 1-Inch Matte
Middle Section: Soho White/Soft Sage Hexagon Mosaic with Dot 1-Inch Matte
Solid Border: (4″-6″) Soho Soft Sage Hexagon Mosaic – 1″ or 2″
Additional powder room updates feature all custom woodwork, including wainscoting, a cabinet door installed flush with the wall to cover the existing alcove above the toilet and trim to match the home’s generous millwork profile. We also installed the new sink, faucet and heated toilet seat. The homeowner chose a rich, deep green paint for the walls to connect the two newly remodeled spaces visually. The result is a beautifully updated living space that we think the home’s original builders would be thrilled to see.
Need to remodel your NE Ohio kitchen or bathroom?
If you’re looking for a local home remodeler in the Cleveland area to manage your kitchen, bathroom or other home-refresh project, we can help. Reach out to our team at Dover to start sharing your vision. We’d love to work with you.
Patti Saracusa
