Open shelving isn’t always an option, especially when you’re planning on housing myriad baby accoutrements in the upcoming year. That’s precisely the dilemma Julia and Caleb, of Thorpe, faced when designing their very own kitchen. Interiors by Young Glass captured the results of their compromise in the photos below, a modern yet traditional space with just the right amount of style and storage.

From the designer… This project is very close to home for us, as it is our own home! Soon after discovering Julia was pregnant with our first child we bought this small bungalow which needed to be completely gutted and redone. We titled this project our small flip but we could have called it our slow flip because that is sure how it felt. Caleb worked through evenings and weekends after long days working on our clients’ homes. Thankfully, just 21 days before our son Blaze was born we finally moved in.

As kitchen designers, we were wanting to do something different so we decided to go with a few riskier elements like the large black reeded range hood and the thin European style countertops. We knew we wanted framed cabinetry and slab doors for a simple look. For the colour, we wanted to do something different than we had ever done before, landing on this muted grey/beige tone.

When it came to uppers we had a bit of a disagreement – Julia wanted to forgo uppers altogether while Caleb, always the pragmatist, just didn’t think that was practical. We landed on the compromise of “special” upper cabinets with an arched profile and smokey, reeded glass. We love the warm feel that the light wood uppers add and the wrap-around component of the stone shelf ended up creating one of our very favourite corners in the house.

The best part of designing your kitchen while awaiting your first child is that you can plan with your baby in mind, which is a big part of the reason we designed all of the corners in the space to have a rounded profile. Apart from the practical side of this, it also helped soften the feel of the kitchen at large.

We tied in the oak into the powder room that is just down the hall from the kitchen. This, paired with black/bronze accents, made for a warm space with a hint of moodiness.

Overall, being in the design world, it is very easy to move on and evolve in your design preferences, and there are probably a million things we’d do differently now, however, we are proud of this project and everything it represents. It will always be our first home.

Like what you see? Take a peek at the talent behind the story… Interior Design: Thorpe · Photography: Interiors by Young Glass · Cabinetry: Thorpe