Shop the Look: The Mr. Kate Kitchen Renovation

In manifesting their dream, the couple bought a fixer-upper home in Hawaii and are documenting their makeover process through videos. The house came with a very small kitchen area with low ceilings. They pushed out the space a few feet, put in new cabinets and an island, and created their ideal kitchen—which included Café appliances. In the recap video, Kate boasted, “Do you believe that little, small kitchen is now this open, beautiful space? It looks complex and layered but we did it on a budget with gorgeous elements!”

During their kitchen renovation, the day their Café appliances arrived was a day of celebration. “It is such a big day today because our Cafe appliances are arriving… I'm so excited! They're just gorgeous. You guys are going to love this brand—my kitchen dreams are coming true,” said Kate. “Oh my gosh look at the knobs and the handles,” she gushed. Upon checking out the other appliances, Kate beamed, “We're so happy you're here fridge, dishwasher, stove, and microwave.” (at 3:30 in the YouTube video)

“When we bought this house, we knew this small kitchen was begging for a makeover,” said Kate Albrecht, one half of the DIY vlog team known on YouTube as Mr. Kate. The other half of the duo, Joey Zehr, is Kate’s husband and creative partner. They launched their Mr. Kate brand as a DIY blog in 2011, and after expanding to include a YouTube channel, they’ve developed quite a following—they’ve lovingly dubbed their fans the #creativeweirdos who follow their go-with-the-flow mantra, “Because, why not?”

Watch the YouTube video:

Joey and their son, Moon, took the dishwasher for its first spin, placing some of Moon’s small plastic bowls and cups inside along with some kitchen pots and lids.(at 7:30 in the YouTube video) He showed Moon a special feature on their new Café Stainless Steel Interior Dishwasher, added Joey, “Look, I think this one… oh yeah, look it's got a utensil rack on the top.” The third extra rack gives you flexibility and is great for washing utensils, small plates, and more. “Woohoo! Our first dishwashing!” he exclaimed.

“We have this gorgeous stove and oven combo from Café appliances,” said Kate about their Café Smart Slide-In Induction Double Oven Range. “The handles, the finishes— everything is just the luxurious high-end look that we wanted. We went with the white but there are other [finish] colors you can go with and different metal color options for the handles,” she said about Café’s custom hardware options which you can purchase and easily swap out for a totally new look. (at 17:40 in the YouTube video)

“We have this gorgeous stove and oven combo from Café appliances. The handles, the finishes— everything is just the luxurious high-end look that we wanted. We went with the white but there are other [finish] colors you can go with and different metal color options for the handles.”
  – Kate

“This is the induction [range} and we did the two ovens… because we're space saving in here. It is a little bit of a smaller walkway… going with the two ovens means a smaller door to open,” said Kate. The range also features Air Fry mode on the oven, “Which is game changer for me,” Kate added, “because I literally use our air fryer every day but it's separate and on the counter. The fact that this is now in [the oven]—I think I'm going to use this top oven as just an air fryer all day every day,” Kate decided.

Kate and Joey give many money-saving tips for designing a gorgeous kitchen on a budget, including shopping for décor at thrift stores. And using “scrap” granite for an eye-catching island. Said Kate, “We actually went to a countertop fabricator and asked if we could pilfer his remnants and we found this gorgeous granite that was left over from some mega-billionaire project. It was enough to give us a super-discounted, waterfall-edge kitchen island and then we used prefabricated marble countertops for the back L-shaped counter.”

Added Kate, “This granite is such a color palette starter for us in here.” There's just so much color around us here on the island so I really wanted this to be a happy play of color in here, but also grounded in those neutral tones. This island looks so good with the one waterfall edge. [It’s] got like a little overhang here so it's kind of like a leaning counter. I just love a center Island to congregate around,” said Kate.

The granite used for the island features burgundy, cream, and golden veins, which beautifully complement the Brushed Copper and Matte White Café Affetto Automatic Espresso machine as well as the other Café appliances in their kitchen. And the Café Counter Depth French Door refrigerator is a smart design for a smaller kitchen area. “This double door opening really helps in a small space because you don't have a big swinging door to open,” said Kate.

Kate and Joey love their new kitchen. In the video, Kate excitedly exclaims, “I can't wait to cook in here, I can't wait to invite people over, I can't wait to wash my dishes in the dishwasher.” And we love how Café appliances helped bring it all together. Thanks for including us on the journey, Mr. Kate.