See the transformation of a Scottsdale Kitchen Remodel

A 2025 Greater Phoenix NARI RotY Gold Place Winner!

These empty nesters wanted to adapt their kitchen for a stay-at-home work environment as well as having the ability to entertain for family and friends.  Their dream was to have their kitchen be a brighter and more uplifting space. They also wanted to  have more user friendly pull-out  storage and plenty of counter space for their needs.  They envisioned the new kitchen coordinating with the rest of their home, keeping their existing floors and still being able to easily  transition  between working, cooking and entertaining for family and friends.

Before

These Scottsdale homeowners called TraVek to their home to look at several projects, including a kitchen.  The kitchen is the center of their home, and was in use a lot. One of the homeowners worked from home, but the work station along the wall wasn’t a great spot to work. Her back was turned to everything and her spot was in the way of anyone going for coffee; it just didn’t feel good.  It was not a good option to work from the island either because there was no electricity in it, and a cord always needed to be draped across the floor.

As you can see from the photo above, there is a lot of blank space because of the curved island. If they would put in a larger rectangular island, they would have a lot more storage and sitting space, and there would no longer be the large blank space on the edge of the kitchen.

After an initial consultation, TraVek’s certified designer Kathy and the homeowners put together a list of needs and wants. Our designer was put to task to help them create a realistic budget to the wish list as follows:

DESIGN WISHLIST

• Update the aesthetics to a more modern look, open and uncluttered
• Make it functional yet beautiful
• Design it so that others can be in the kitchen while the homeowner is at her work station and they’d still have space to do their own “kitchen tasks” while the homeowner works.
• Improve the layout so that her desk is not right in the path of and next to the coffee station
• Make it blend in with the rest of the home so that everything flows
• Design the new island to include the best use of storage and include electrical outlets
• Allow for more seating at the island
• Design so that the entire flooring throughout the home doesn’t need to be changed out. The homeowners had a few matching pieces from when they installed the flooring, and so we would have to be very careful with the rest of the floor.
• The hood vent will need to be relocated, moved to the side a bit, in order to get the cabinetry they’d like. 
• Make better use of the space by having a much larger island
• Create a space for a wine bar and cabinets to display beautiful dishes
• Stay within the budget of $100k or less

DESIGN PHASE

Here at TraVek, our expert designers use a sophisticated design program that will give a very realistic idea as to how the final design will look so that homeowners can know how it will lay out before the first nail is pounded. Our customers love it! By using this we can adjust the design to the customer’s liking before the installation of the new kitchen or bathroom instead of finding out after that it’s not quite what they wanted after the installation.

Notice the vent above the microwave compared to the Before photo. The new hood vent would require some reconfiguring of the ducts above it.  Also, there was no electrical to the island, and given that they had only a few pieces of tile and did not want to replace the flooring that went throughout the house, we had to be very careful not to break any as we were removing the island and bringing in electric. It was tedious, but we managed well.

KITCHEN REMODEL AFTER

What a transformation! Electricity was brought to the oversized island that will allow for more seating and storage, the homeowner has a safe spot out of the traffic, and she got her display cabinet over the wine/coffee bar. In addition to that, it’s light and airy. Notice the touches of natural wood on each side to balance the room.

BEFORE

AFTER

In order to help balance separate work areas in the kitchen, we designed a distinct bar/coffee area that showcased the client’s special glassware, wine and coffee. This  enabled an improved and safer work flow that allowed more room for the client to work at the island and move about other areas with ease and distinct purpose.

CHALLENGES

The existing small island did not have electrical or meet code. It was a dangerous cord hazard when the client was working and her computer was being plugged into a perimeter wall outlet. The client also wanted to keep their existing flooring. By laying out the island to fit over most of the existing tiles, we were able to save their tiles and keep the costs down. The few tiles we used were to cover the saw cut in the floor to provide the necessary electrical to the island.

COLORS

The new large island is in a beautiful slate wood stain that complements the white perimeter cabinets, white quartz counters and white/natural marble chevron backsplash. The undercabinet lighting and whites used throughout the materials reflect and brighten the once dark kitchen. To offset all the whites and give some warmth, a balance of accent color was integrated on the 3 walls with the cherry wood hood at center back and matching thick cherry wood floating shelves at both side walls.

THE VENT: A BIGGER CHALLENGE THAN ANTICIPATED

The previous microwave hood had a recirculating vent and when we added the new hood/vent, we needed to relocate the HVAC above so we could vent out the roof

A TOTAL TRANSFORMATION

The new hood vent is a statement piece, gives a real touch of class, and really makes the kitchen pop. It was definitely worth it in order to get the homeowner the look and feel of what they wanted. The natural wood ties in so nicely with the open shelves.

Our clients were very pleased with the new beauty of their home that was continuous throughout the house.

Together, Building Dreams.