Not all remodeling jobs involve tearing down to the studs or ditching every appliance.

Mosby Building Arts, an award-winning remodeling firm, recently worked with homeowners in Ladue looking for a kitchen refresh, not a major gut job. Their vision was to create a brighter kitchen with new cabinets, and they wanted dining room built-ins, more pantry space.

The kitchen had a nice layout, but the look was less than ideal: very old cabinets, black countertops and black backsplash. “It was really dark in there,” says Laura Powderly, Mosby’s senior designer for the project.

“When you reface a kitchen, it’s not a full remodel; you are giving it a slight refresh,” says Mosby senior designer and home consultant Jake Spurgeon. “In this case, it was definitely time to change up the look.”

The enhanced kitchen now has frameless cabinets that modernize the look of the kitchen. For contrast, the bottom cabinets are walnut and the upper cabinets are creamy white.

“We actually widened the doorway from the kitchen to the dining room, but still ended up adding more cabinets,” Powderly says.

Some of the kitchen appliances, including a wine cooler, were in good shape and stayed put, along with the wood floor. A lighting and electric plug system was attached to the bottom of the cabinets to reduce appliance cord clutter and provide dramatic counter lighting.

The view to the living room was improved by reducing the height of the counter and recessed lighting was installed into the ceiling, opening up the space.

The dining room had a freestanding china cabinet. Mosby freshened the look by building wall-to-wall cabinets, which provided more storage space.

Hooks and a bench were added to the mudroom. The owners wanted space for a dog crate and Mosby obliged.

The front sidewalk was expanded and a sitting room window was replaced with French doors to create a new entrance. The existing front entrance had two steps, but this one slopes up to create a level entry. This ADA-type of approach fits in with “aging in place” interior-design concepts.

And the sitting room that had gone mostly unused before now has new life and purpose – it has been transformed into a gym with workout equipment that was in the basement. It could also be used as a bedroom.

Mosby brings high-quality craftsmanship into every design. For all of your remodeling needs, turn to the experts at Mosby Building Arts.

Mosby Building Arts, 115 W. Argonne Ave., Kirkwood, 314-909-1800, callmosby.com

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