Christina Haack Turns A Mid-Century Kitchen Into A Modern Masterpiece

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Over the years, Christina Haack has redesigned countless homes in a wide range of styles. While the HGTV star is best-known for her modern-meets-coastal, farmhouse, and bohemian designs, she also knows how to bring a touch of luxury to a space. In Season 2 of "Christina on the Coast," Haack worked on a mid-century modern home for a couple looking for a glamorous makeover in their kitchen and a first floor bathroom. While most of the house looked luxurious, the kitchen was stuck in the past, with dark cabinets, a drop paneled ceiling, white appliances, and pale laminate countertops. Overall, the space was enclosed, dark, and felt cut off from the rest of the home. Her revisions, which included a new floor plan, new windows, quartz countertops, and a snazzy backsplash, updated the space.

One of the challenges for Haack was the narrowness of the existing kitchen. She'd have to utilize both walls in order to maximize the space and forgo a kitchen island altogether. In an effort to bring the room into the modern era, Haack shifted the layout of the space, making storage a focal point. The bulky overhead cabinets that were cutting the room in half came down. Large new windows were installed, and a peninsula with seating was built in place of an island. The homeowners decided that they liked the white quartz countertops Haack picked so much that they wanted to extend the material up the walls. Instead, the designer came up with a stunning kitchen backsplash idea featuring gray-toned, linear tiles that run up to the ceiling.

Want to bring an element of glam into your own kitchen? A few of TV personality Christina Haack's design choices could work in most spaces. Take her stunning feature wall idea that will make a small room look grand as an example. To make it a focal point, she chose to use thin vertical tiles in a mix of white, gray, and mirrored glass. The tiles were installed opposite the windows, reflecting natural light around the kitchen. Other options Haack suggested were a chevron tile (also with mirror glass) or natural stone-look wallpaper. While the client ultimately chose the wall of mixed vertical tiles, wallpaper is a left-of-field choice that adds style for generally less expense or work than tile.

The HGTV star's top choice for cabinet and drawer pulls, as well as the faucet, was gold. You can find a similar MTTCLE Brushed Gold Pull-Out Sprayer Kitchen Faucet for about $39 at Home Depot. The store also has brushed gold Richelieu Hardware Padova Collection drawer and cabinet pulls for a little over $6 each. Another touch of gold came via the light fixture — a spiky gold and crystal chandelier — that Haack had installed in the open-concept dining area in front of the peninsula. It would work just as well over a kitchen island. A few metallic fixtures and finishes will bring warmth and a hint of glamor to a kitchen in lieu of a full renovation.