A full gut in La Jolla and one of the more involved kitchens on this list: every appliance moved, a purpose-built pantry, two cabinet finishes, and two different backsplash materials used deliberately on different walls.
Relocating every appliance
Nothing stayed where it was. Moving every appliance means rerouting gas, water, waste and power to suit a plan built from scratch rather than inheriting the one the house came with.
It is the least visible work in any kitchen and usually what decides whether the finished room actually functions — whether there is landing space beside the oven, whether the refrigerator door blocks the walkway, whether two people can work without reaching across each other.
Two-tone cabinetry and a custom pantry
Custom throughout, in two finishes. Two-tone gives a kitchen depth without introducing a second material, and it lets the working level of the room carry colour while the upper half stays light.
The pantry was built for the space rather than bought as a unit. A purpose-built pantry is one of the highest-return pieces of joinery in a kitchen: it takes the clutter that would otherwise live on the counter, and because it is built to the room it uses the full depth and height rather than leaving dead space above and behind.
Two backsplashes, on purpose
One wall is tile; another is quartzite run up from the counter. Using two materials in one room sounds like indecision and is the opposite when it is planned.
A full-height stone backsplash behind the range makes that wall the focal point — the veining continues from the counter up, so the two read as one piece. Tile on the second run keeps the rest of the room lighter and adds texture where a continuous slab would have been heavy. Each material is doing a job the other could not.
Counters and flooring
Quartzite throughout. Quarried stone, so every slab is unique, and it handles heat in a way engineered surfaces do not — a pan straight off the burner will mark quartz but not this.
Luxury vinyl plank on the floor: fully waterproof, warmer and quieter underfoot than tile, and forgiving over a slab.
New sliding doors
Replacing the sliders brought in more daylight and sealed the opening properly. Door replacement is exterior detailing as much as anything else — the opening has to be re-flashed and sealed, or a draught is simply traded for a leak.
The result
A kitchen rebuilt from the services out, with the joinery and stone doing genuinely different jobs in different parts of the room. Nine weeks from demolition to final walkthrough.
