Who: Elaine & Jason Ketchum

Where: Columbus, OH

What: Modern suburbam kitchen makeover

Products: All new door and drawer fronts in the Madone style with natural maple lower cabinets and white satin uppers. Calacatta Idillio quartz countertops and backsplash with complementary white travertine LVT flooring. Cabinet interior accessories include pull-out shelving, pull-out trash and recycling, lazy susan, and built-in spice rack. Other kitchen accessories include a new stainless steel sink, matte black kitchen facuet and matching matte black door and drawer pulls.

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Modern Kitchen Remodel Gives ’50s Home a Facelift

The Ketchums ditched their dated design for a modern kitchen remodel that brings their home into the 21st Century

Elaine and Jason Ketchum’s 1959 Columbus home had plenty of charm, but their outdated kitchen was stuck in the past. With dark, aging cabinetry, an inefficient U-shaped layout, and inconvenient traffic flow, the space wasn’t working for the couple’s everyday needs.

That all changed when the Ketchums met Improveit at the 2025 Columbus Building & Renovation Expo. After a friendly chat with a team member in the booth, the couple made an appointment for Improveit design consultant Shelby Henke to visit their home and fully assess their needs. Together, Elaine, Jason, and Shelby completely reimagined the Ketchums’ space into a bright, modern suburban kitchen that fits the home’s mid-century character while bringing it confidently into the 21st century.

Kitchen Peninsula to Island: Before & After

Even before the light and bright new finishes, the biggest design change in Elaine and Jason’s kitchen is the kitchen peninsula-to-island transformation. U-shaped kitchens, while common, have a bad habit of trapping kitchen traffic within the U, creating a space where multiple people in the kitchen can easily get in each other’s way. Additionally, the original layout left peninsula food prep space more than 6 feet away from both the refrigerator and the range.

To Improve the layout and traffic flow, the Improveit team skillfully removed the peninsula and installed new cabinets in an island orientation across from the kitchen sink and adjacent to the refrigerator and range. The new layout makes for a much more efficient use of space without sacrificing any of the kitchen’s counter or storage space.

Modern Kitchen Upgrades Create Better Functionality

In addition to the layout change, the new kitchen design kept the sleek slab-front door and drawer style of the previous design, but introduced a two-tone cabinet colors scheme using the Madone door style. Lower cabinets in a natural maple finish warm the space, while white satin uppers add brightness and contrast. This two-tone look is definitely on-trend with what Improveit designers are seeing in kitchens for 2025, but promises to stay timeless thanks to the neutral finishes.

To complement the new layout, travertine white luxury vinyl tile replaced the existing flooring, providing a cohesive, durable foundation. The countertops and backsplash got a major upgrade too. Calcutta Idillio Quartz is used as the countertop material on both the island and perimeter cabinets where it extends up the wall as a sophisticated backsplash.

The Ketchums didn’t stop at style – functionality was top of mind too. Their new kitchen now includes smart storage solutions like roll-out shelving, a lazy susan, built-in spice rack, and pull-out trash and recycling bins. The matte black hardware and faucet finish provides great contrast to the kitchens lighter tones and the new stainless steel sink.

The Improveit team was thrilled to work with the Ketchums on their new kitchen design, which feels brighter and flows better just like they envisioned.