Chocolate and Vanilla kitchen remodel by MJC Kitchen and Bath
Chocolate and Vanilla kitchen remodel by MJC Kitchen and Bath

I would like to do a “Small Business Saturday” shout-out to a local, family-owned business: MJC Kitchen and Bath. If you are out and about on Saturday, stop by their showroom at the Antique Depot in Duncansville.

We worked with Harry Duey, his wife Mary, and their son Joe on a bathroom remodel a few years ago and the workmanship (and the price!) was stellar. When we decided to go for a kitchen remodel this past summer, we knew that we wanted to work with them again.

Our previous kitchen was cute, but it suffered a serious lack of functionality. We tried a band-aid approach to add more storage with a peninsula when we first moved into the house. While it gave us some much needed counter space, it created wasted space between the peninsula and the refrigerator. We couldn’t have any cabinets on that wall, and the peninsula prevented a full-size refrigerator door from opening. We had to go with a scaled-down, counter-depth split door model with a tiny freezer space.

Kitchen Before and After
Kitchen Remodel Before and After

This time around we decided go with a new layout. Joe created a design for U-shaped traffic pattern that fixed the flow problem. We were able to save most of the existing cabinets by rearranging and refacing them which saved us a lot of money. To replace the storage that we were loosing in removing the peninsula, they built an island on the other side of the room complete with a custom wine rack.

Harry and his wife Mary helped us pick a durable, yet beautiful cabinet finish in “chocolate pear.” I accented the rich brown with a creamy paint color from Clark & Kensington called “vanilla skies.”

"Chocolate Pear" dark brown kitchen cabinets with "Vanilla Skies" wallcolor
“Chocolate Pear” dark brown kitchen cabinets with “Vanilla Skies” wall color

I love working with MJC! They completed the work (which included completely gutting the kitchen and moving electrical and plumbing features) in two-weeks as promised. I also had a functioning cook station the whole time! I like the fact that MJC has a handy showroom where you can pick cabinet and counter top materials as well as hardware. They also worked with other great local businesses to help us order flooring, cabinet glass, and appliances.

We have been using the kitchen for almost 6 months now and everything is holding up wonderfully. You can see more photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/young_creative/sets/72157649469161745/