This farmhouse-style kitchen is a home chef's dream

Jil Sonia McDonald transformed a small and outdated kitchen into a beautiful and functional space for her client in Maple Ridge, Canada.

The original kitchen, built in the '80s, was small and cramped, but McDonald had a vision to open up the space and create a modern, functional kitchen that would be perfect for the homeowner's love of cooking and entertaining.

"The original kitchen was so small, the first thing I suggested was to remove two walls, one between the original dining room and kitchen and the second between the tiny kitchen and the hallway," McDonald said. "Thankfully our builder allowed us to remove those walls and we were able to create a large open concept kitchen."

One of the key features of the new modern farmhouse style kitchen is the large island with a White Oak countertop. The countertop was specially oiled with food safe oil, providing a beautiful and functional surface for rolling out cookie dough or preparing meals. "I think that island countertop is my favourite part of the design," McDonald said.

The homeowner's love of cooking also led McDonald to include plenty of cabinetry and storage, ensuring that all the drawers pulled out completely so the homeowner could access the very back of them. As a built-in refrigerator would have been too small, McDonald actually built out the cabinetry to be 32" deep, so the refrigerator appears to be nestled within the cabinetry.

The adjoining room was originally a dining room with a fireplace, but the layout of the room only allowed for their dining table to be placed 3 feet away from the fireplace. By removing the wall between these two spaces and refacing the fireplace, McDonald was able to create a unique and beautiful kitchen with a fireplace. The homeowner loves this feature and says "On the cold winter mornings first thing she does is turn on the fireplace while she's making her first cup of coffee! She loves it!"