Kitchen Remodel – Richboro, PA
This 400-square-foot kitchen in Richboro is the largest kitchen project in the Belmax portfolio. The remodel opened the floor plan through two structural removals — the wall between the kitchen and the dining area, and the pantry closet — then built the kitchen around traditional-style cabinets with black hardware, a mid-size island, and a black farmhouse sink as the focal fixture. Two pendant lights over the island and recessed lighting throughout complete the lighting scope. New appliances and updated electrical outlets finish the project.
Scope of Work
- Wall removal between the kitchen and the dining area
- Pantry closet demolition to expand kitchen footprint
- New traditional-style cabinets with black hardware
- Mid-size kitchen island
- Black farmhouse (apron-front) sink
- New flooring throughout
- Two pendant lights above the island
- Recessed lighting throughout the kitchen
- Updated electrical outlets
- New appliances
Two Removals Before Anything New Goes In
The first phase of this kitchen remodel was removal, not installation. The wall between the kitchen and the dining area came out. The pantry closet was demolished. Both of these removals change what the kitchen footprint is before any cabinet layout is drawn.
The kitchen-to-dining wall removal creates an open floor plan — the kitchen and dining area become one continuous space rather than two rooms separated by a partition. This is the structural change that makes a 400-square-foot combined zone possible from what were previously two smaller rooms. Whether the wall was load-bearing determines how the opening is handled structurally; a load-bearing wall requires a header or beam above the opening to transfer the load to the adjacent structure.
The pantry closet demolition reclaims the floor area the closet occupied — typically 12 to 20 square feet in a residential kitchen pantry. That space becomes part of the kitchen proper, available for additional cabinet runs, the island position, or open floor area. Pantry-style storage can be replicated within the new cabinet layout rather than in a freestanding closet structure.
Traditional Cabinets with Black Hardware and Island
Traditional-style cabinets were selected for this kitchen — raised-panel doors with decorative profiling, as opposed to the flat-slab construction of contemporary cabinet design. Black hardware — pulls and knobs on every door and drawer — provides a defined contrast against the cabinet finish and connects the cabinetry visually to the black farmhouse sink and the black pendant lights. Using one accent finish consistently across the major elements of the kitchen creates cohesion in a room that can be seen all at once from multiple vantage points.
A mid-size island was installed at the center of the combined kitchen and dining space. The island serves three functions: additional prep and counter surface on the kitchen side, casual seating on the dining-facing side, and storage in the base cabinets below. In an open floor plan without a wall to define where the kitchen ends, the island creates a functional boundary between the cooking zone and the seating and dining area.
Black Farmhouse Sink
The farmhouse sink — also called an apron-front sink — is the most architecturally specific fixture in this project. It has a deep single basin and a front face that extends to the edge of the countertop rather than sitting recessed under the countertop edge. The apron front is visible as part of the kitchen’s design, not concealed by cabinetry.
Installing a farmhouse sink requires specific base cabinet construction. The cabinet directly below the sink has no front face panel, because the sink’s apron occupies that space. The base cabinet must be built — or ordered — with an open face at the sink position, and the cabinet must be sized and supported to carry the weight of a deep ceramic or cast-iron sink. This is planned during the cabinet design and ordering phase, not modified after standard cabinets are in place. The black finish ties the sink directly to the hardware and pendant lights.
Two Pendant Lights Over the Island
Two pendant lights were installed above the island on a separate circuit from the recessed lighting. Pendant lights over an island serve a dual purpose: they provide task lighting directed onto the work surface below, and they mark the island as a distinct zone within the open floor plan — a visual anchor that gives the kitchen a center point.
Two pendants balance the island’s width, with each fixture covering one half of the surface. A single pendant over a mid-size island would illuminate one end better than the other. Running the pendants on a separate switch from the recessed lighting allows the island to be lit independently — useful when one person is working at the island while the rest of the kitchen does not need to be fully lit.
Kitchen Remodeling in Richboro
Richboro is a community in Northampton Township, Bucks County, with residential development primarily from the 1960s through the 1980s. Kitchens in homes from that era were typically designed as enclosed rooms — separate from the dining area, with walls defining the cooking space. The shift in preference toward open plans that connect cooking, dining, and living areas is the single most common driver of high-investment kitchen remodels in this housing stock. Belmax Remodeling works throughout Richboro and the broader Bucks County area. For more on our kitchen work, see our kitchen remodeling service page. Homeowners in Richboro can also visit our Richboro kitchen remodeling page for more completed local projects.
Considering a Similar Project?
Kitchen remodels in the 400-square-foot range with a wall removal, full cabinet replacement, island, farmhouse sink, pendant lights, and new appliances typically fall in the $28,000–$38,000 range in Bucks County. This Richboro project came in at $32,000, completed June 2024. To discuss what your kitchen would involve, request a free estimate.