The Bowles Group, LLC recently completed this remodeling project at Landmark on the Lake Condominiums in Milwaukee, WI. This luxury sky-rise condominium complex is located in a prominent area of Milwaukee, WI overlooking Lake Michigan. This unit was begging to be remodeled so it could match the luxury label of many of the other recently remodeled units in the building. We transformed the smallest, boxiest kitchen you have ever seen into an updated eat-in kitchen that can comfortably seat 4. Browse the slides below to see how we transformed this Downtown Milwaukee condo.
After many years in the remodeling industry, it is still exciting and oftentimes challenging to transform outdated rooms into wonderful new spaces. A fresh remodel can create a functional space that showcases the homeowner’s true personality and lifestyle. Every space has potential with the right design and a well-executed remodeling plan.
After demolishing the outdated kitchen, the next task was to construct the half wall. Half walls are known by several different terms; short walls, pony walls, knee walls, or Dutch walls; whatever you like to call them. Notice that we added both diagonal blocking and horizontal blocking to reinforce the knee wall studs. Extra reinforcement is essential to support the heavy granite countertops.
This space desperately needed some fresh-looking aesthetics and better functionality. Building a knee wall for the breakfast bar was a superb solution for adding pizzazz with functionality. The breakfast bar opens up the space to the adjacent living room. So now the space is ready for modern living.
Another stylish design feature was adding 3 pennant lights from the ceiling soffit right over the breakfast bar. Lighting is often overlooked during remodeling, but well placed lighting at different levels really make a huge impact.
The granite we used for this kitchen is Blue Pearl which is one of my favorite granite countertops to use in kitchen remodels. The color is amazing and the blue and grey worked great with our color scheme. The curved breakfast bar was added mostly for personality, but it also creates a little more space while maneuvering through the hallway.
We always use under-mount sinks with natural stone countertops. I’m not sure why other contractors are sometimes still top-mounting sinks on high-end granite countertops. The offset soap dispenser and exaggerated faucet adds some practical flair to the remodel.
The knee wall hidden braces that we use for countertop overhangs are the absolute best! We custom fabricate these braces for our remodeling projects and now offer the hidden countertop braces online for everyone to use for their kitchen remodel. Our braces give the illusion of the granite just floating on the knee wall but they actually give the granite much needed support. The hidden support braces create a clean look, but they also add functionality by allowing plenty of leg room while sitting at the breakfast bar. Adding cabinets here would have made the space really uncomfortable to sit, but this layout allows for leg room on both sides of the breakfast bar.
In addition to the kitchen, we installed hardwood flooring and crown molding throughout the condo. The flooring is a bamboo which is stained a dark walnut. The Silent Blue underlayment that we used with the flooring worked amazing. It is the best floor underlayment for the money. When walking through the condo, there is very little sound or movement from the floating floor.
The crown molding added a lot of detail throughout the home. As with all of our trim carpentry work, this crown molding is installed with precision cuts, no visible gaps or nail holes, and a smooth paint finish that matches the white from the new maple cabinets. We use Benjamin Moore paint for our trim. It is a more expensive paint but well worth the cost to achieve professional remodeling results.
The condo owners were very pleased with the renovation results. They were glad they opted to have Bowles Group remodel their new condo versus purchasing another unit that had already been remodeled by another contractor. Visit our kitchen remodeling page to view more of our Milwaukee Area Kitchen Remodels.
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