In 2011, Michelle and Rick Morales bought their home in the Evans Valley neighborhood of Helotes because it had the three-car garage Rick wanted. At the time, he promised his wife he’d do whatever was necessary to give her the kind of kitchen she wanted. More than a decade later, that promise has been kept.
“The old kitchen just wasn’t functional,” said Michelle, who works for USAA. “We’re always the hub for family events, and we needed a kitchen that had better traffic flow, modern appliances and other features.”
The long, relatively narrow kitchen has always gotten a workout. During a “normal” family event, for example, when it’s only Michelle’s siblings and their families, as many as 17 people will show up. But for her recent 50th birthday party, they invited more than 70.
The kitchen renovation at the home of Michelle and Rick Morales in Helotes includes new cabinets, island, breakfast bar, appliances and a recessed ceiling with wood detail.
Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff PhotographerThe new, updated kitchen has everything that was on her wish list, including sparkling white cabinets, new appliances and better lighting. And with help from Monica Beyer, a design consultant with San Antonio-based New Generation Kitchen & Bath, it also has several features she didn’t know she wanted.
The couple started work on the kitchen in January 2022 and finished in September. They say they spent about $74,000 on the project, although Rick did much of the work himself, saving them an estimated $90,000 in labor, based on the all-in estimates they received from other contractors.
The most notable feature in the new kitchen are the two islands — one 8 feet long, the other 4 — which run in a line rather than side by side.
While Michelle loves the dual island setup now, she concedes it took some convincing by Beyer before she agreed.
Before the renovation, the tired kitchen was awash in browns
New Generation Kitchen & Bath“Going in, I was stubborn,” Michelle said. “I was like, I don’t want a double island. But now I’m so glad we listened to the expert.”
Beyer had several reasons for recommending separate islands. First, it eases traffic flow, compared to having to navigate one very long island, which only would benefit someone trying to get in their 10,000 daily steps.
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And second, each island has a different function. The longer one is closer to the living area and so is more for entertaining and setting out food. It also has space for four chairs where people can sit and eat, a coming trend in kitchens.
“We’re seeing fewer and fewer eat-in kitchens,” Beyer said. “So this really modernizes the house.”
Meanwhile, the second, shorter island is closer to the stove, so it’s convenient for cooking and food prep. It also houses a drawer microwave, another increasingly popular appliance, that opens like a drawer at the touch of a button.
“The two islands make this a real party kitchen,” Beyer said.
The same kitchen island granite was use as backsplashes on both sides of the long, relatively narrow kitchen.
Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff PhotographerBoth islands are topped with a warm white quartz shot through with thin veins of bronze and gray that waterfall down the sides. The same granite also was used as backsplashes on both sides of the kitchen.
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Homeowners Michelle and Rick Morales stand in their newly renovated kitchen.
Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer
They improved traffic flow further by removing a wall that stood between the kitchen and the large, open living room beyond it.
“There were two doorways between the two rooms, but they still felt separate,” Michelle said. “Removing the wall really makes this into one big room.”
Rick said he especially likes that guests can sit at the larger of the two islands and still watch sports on the large living room TV.
The new kitchen is much brighter than the old one, thanks to the painted white cabinets that replaced dark wood and the LED ceiling lights that replaced the unflattering fluorescent light box.
“I wanted the kitchen to have a light, airy feel,” Michelle said. “That’s why we did everything in white. I think white is more timeless than wood because wood goes in and out of style and white never does.”
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And when it comes to those white cabinets, there are plenty of them, running the length of both sides of the kitchen, even above the stove and below those granite-topped kitchen islands.
Both kitchen islands are topped with a warm white quartz shot through with thin veins of bronze and gray and that waterfalls down the shorter sides
Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer“Since we have all the parties here, I have all the party supplies, the jugs and plates and place mats,” Michelle said. “And I don’t have a walk-in pantry, so I need a lot of cabinets to put it all.”
The couple are fortunate that Rick, whose full-time job is with the post office, also is very handy. He was able to save them a lot of money by doing much of the work himself — from taking the kitchen to the studs, to installing the electric and plumbing works, to replacing the ceiling, lights and walls.
“It’s a little more challenging to do it this way,” Beyer said, “because we have to make sure that everything works, that the electrical plugs are in the right place and stuff. But Rick is very detail-oriented and it worked out well.”
Michelle’s dream kitchen has been a hit with the family, many of whom pitch in to help whenever they entertain.
“When we were planning things, my cousin would say, ‘I want this and this and this,’ ” said Michelle, adding with a laugh, “I’d say, ‘Whatever will make you come over here and cook,’ even though I’m also like, ‘No, we can’t cook because I don’t want everything to get dirty.’ ”
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