Our Tucson Home build: Kitchen Design Plans

Can’t believe I’m just now sitting down to write the very first design post for the Tucson build. Figured I would start with one of the best: the kitchen! The heart of the house, right? We are keeping things very open concept with the main living area: kitchen, dining room, and living room all open with a vaulted ceiling to the second floor. I wanted the house as a whole to feel airy, with some other spaces to escape off to if you wanted privacy (more on that later), but for the most part we focused on light and bright, with lots of texture.

Designing A Southwest Modern Kitchen

As mentioned previously in this initial home announcement post, we started the design work with our team Joel Contreras and Amy Williamson back in early 2020. Something that I realized I gravitated towards were a lot of windows, neutral tones, and texture, which allowed us to bring the natural beauty of the desert indoors. I’m calling the style of the home southwest modern. There are a few southwest touches and textures, along with the color palette that remind me of the beauty of the southwest, but a lot of the lines and finishes will give the home a modern and clean feel. Our design team, with the help of our draftsman, Brock O’Neill,  helped us stay on track and true to our initial vision.

Southwest Kitchen Color Palette: Natural Tile + Texture

I’ve always been a fan of Emily Henderson and have followed her story from way back in the Design Star days. (Did anyone else love that show?) Although our design styles are a bit different, I have always admired how she put rooms together and designed a space that is reflective of the owner’s style. I always keep that in mind. For the most part, my closet is full of neutrals, whites, creams and rich textures, with some classic pieces thrown in. I wanted the kitchen to feel just like that. I fell in love with Bespoke Studio’s natural square zellige tile. The texture and edges are a little imperfect, which creates a very natural/not so perfect look when installing, along with a bit of variation in hue from tile to tile.

Custom Windows in the Kitchen

Brock O’Neill designed these amazing custom towering steel windows that are sure to be a main focal point in the kitchen. We reached out to local metalsmith, Keith Horn from Keith Horn Metal Craft to create these two story half arched windows. They will also mimic the main entry doors which have yet to share, but I promise you they’re something special. We’re excited to bring in as many local Arizona artists as possible on this project to have a hand in the home build. They will begin at countertop height and extend all the way up 15 feet, which you will be able to see from the second floor catwalk. The light that will pour in is going to just illuminate the whole space. I’ll dive more into doors and windows in a separate post. 

GE Café Appliances 

One of the first elements we knew we wanted to include in this new kitchen were appliances from Café. We worked with them many years ago when the first launched their Café line, but we had just finished renovating our kitchen at the Tudor house, so we didn’t get a chance to use their appliances in our that space. We cannot wait to see their 36″ commercial style range, dishwasher and refrigerator in the new Tucson home. The amount that you can customize with Café is unmatched, with custom knob and handle finishes, along with the option for matte black or matte white on the appliances…what more could you ask for? They really take designing a kitchen to the next level and they’re going to fit so seamlessly into the earthy neutral design, while elevating the whole space. 

Choosing the Perfect Faucet + Other Design Elements 

Speaking of elevating a space, we are beyond excited to be installing Kohler finishes in the kitchen and bathrooms, as well as our laundry room. Kohler has some amazing new faucets and accents in store, which I’ll be sharing more about in a later post, but I can’t wait to show you the brushed gold finishes we selected each space. Kohler always has an elegance about them that feels so classic while keeping on top of the trends and reinventing how we see kitchens and bathrooms. You all helped me by voting on the bathroom faucets in a past IG story poll, and I think you’re going to like what we decided on.

The kitchen will have an 11ft island, with a concrete waterfall countertop. This is where the Riverby sink from Kohler will be. Their option to choose sink finishes is what really drew me to the sink, as we are going to be installing a creamy white concrete countertop and I wanted it to blend in pretty seamlessly. I think the brushed gold faucet against the creamy white countertops and warm light oak cabinetry is going to create a really inviting and warm space. 

There’s so much more I can share – I didn’t even get into cabinetry or details on lighting yet, so stayed tuned. There’s so much floating around in my head for this space, and I’ve been dreaming up the dining room which will be adjacent to the kitchen island as well, so I’ll have to make a part 2 post soon. 

**For more on the home build, click here for all of our posts on planning, the land + more!