Better Than Pam Coating

1/2 cup corn, canola or vegetable oil
1/2 cup shortening, room temperature
1/2 cup flour

Beat all ingredients with an electric mixer until it has increased in volume slightly and resembles marshmallow cream.
Store in a covered container in the cupboard. If it separates upon sitting, just stir before using. You can spread it with a brush, but I just scoop it up with my fingers.

I got them at a place called Brooks Custom in Mt Kisco, NY (link below). I didnt go direct, it was thru my GC. In this area of the country we don't find many bargains, and of course my GC earns a mark up, too ... so this may not be representative, but Ive given zinc and pewter pricing below. (not including templating and install)

Note that I only need 12" wide because my uppers sit on the counter --- that reduced my costs. I needed about 17.25 linear feet.

14 Gauge ZINC Countertop $4,811.00
� Matte Finish
� 1 1/2" Thick, Bonded to MDF Core
� L Shape: 12" x 84" x 122 3/4" OAD
� Eased Square Edge
� Joints/Seams as Required
� No Cutouts
� No Backsplash
1 seam
18 Gauge PEWTER Countertop $5,204.00
� Matte Finish
� 1 1/2" Thick, Bonded to MDF Core
� L Shape: 12" x 96" x 110 3/4" OAD
� Eased Square Edge
� Joints/Seams as Required
� No Cutouts
� No Backsplash
2 seams

Here is a link that might be useful: pewter countertop fabricator

Well, we've finally got a (mostly) finished kitchen! This kitchen's been in the planning stages for 8 years and I've been in and out of this forum for just about that long-- wow, time flies! Whether I've posted or just lurked, the information I've gotten here has been INVALUABLE.

I can unequivocally say that my kitchen would not look anything like what it does without this Forum, and for that I offer my profound gratitude-- there is, quite literally, no way I could have done it without all of you, past and present.

So, here are the photos of the finished result:

From 2010-0818

From 2010-0818

From 2010-0818

From 2010-0818

From 2010-0818

From 2010-0818

From 2010-0818

For the entire album with detailed photos, just click on the link below any of the photos above!

Here are the details:

Cabinetry: IKEA Lidingo White (with glass uppers) for the perimeter, Tidaholm Brown/Black for the island
Island Knobs & Pulls: Anne at Home Farm Collection and Lewis Dolin Glass Cup Pulls (from Myknobs.com)
Perimeter Knobs and Pulls: Anne at Home Horse Collection, generic polished chrome knobs, cup pulls, and bar pulls (from Myknobs.com)
Wall Paint: BM Revere Pewter
Trim, Hood, and Fireplace Paint: Valspar Bright White (from Lowe’s)
Perimeter Counters: IKEA Butcher Block, stained Black with India Ink and sealed with Waterlox
Island Counter: IKEA Butcher Block, sealed with Watco food safe butcher block sealer
Main Sink: Whitehaus 36" farm sink (from Vintagetub.com)
Island Sink: IKEA single Domsjo, undermounted instead of the usual overmount installation
Faucets: IKEA Hjuvik
Refrigerator: Because we grow a lot of what we eat (so we don't need to store much) and have a large fridge in an adjacent laundry room, we chose a generic small undercounter fridge (Home Depot, off the shelf)
Wine chiller: Sunbeam (Home Depot, off the shelf)
Dishwashers: Kenmore and Hotpoint, both existing and 5-7 years old
Microwaves: 8 year old Kenmores
Island Oven: IKEA Datid 30"
Hood: ProLine 36" range hood (from eBay)
Range: IKEA Praktfull Pro A50
Backsplash Behind Range: Handthrown Williamsburg brick (local brickyard, left over from another project)
Flooring: Lumber Liquidators, Hand Scraped Teak
Island and Sink Pendants: IKEA Ottava
Cabinet lights: IKEA Grundtal single puck lights
Chandelier over the Table: Progress lighting, black 5-light chandelier (Home Depot, off the shelf)
Fireplace: Style Selections 36" Vent Free LP fireplace (Lowe’s, off the shelf)

A few notes about the remodel, just to hit some discussion points I see come up a lot in this Forum:

Our kitchen lives in a big old 1840 farmhouse, which has been part of a working farm since the day it was built. Originally it was soybeans, but now it's part of a gentleman's farm (horses, heritage gardens and poultry), so everything has to be hard wearing and practical. It needs to stand up to heavy traffic, mud, hay, tools, and the occasional chicken (though usually when they wander in, they don't go much further than the family room, because they like the television). That definitely informed our choices for surfaces-- they needed to be hard cleanable, and ultimately easily refinished or replaced down the line.

Because the entire house already has strong architectural elements (huge moldings and built-ins), we worked within the style we already had-- all the kitchen moldings, mantels, panels and cabinets match (or are closely styled after) what already exists in the house. We definitely didn't do a period kitchen (we wanted a 2010 layout with all the conveniences), but we wanted the kitchen to look like it belonged in the house.

The big thing for us was budget-- believe it or not, the entire kitchen was done for UNDER $20K. Four big things contributed to that:

1/ We DIY'ed the ENTIRE project, start to finish. The only thing we hired out was the gas line install for the fireplace and range, because state law requires it. Other than that, all planning, demo, sourcing, and construction was on us. Might be why it took us 8 years. . .

2/ We reused what we could, and scrounged a lot, especially construction materials (which could have been buckets of money, considering all the custom work we did in the space), and kept what appliances we could. It was also a great way to be environmentally responsible on a project that, let's face it, has a lot of non-necessities involved.

3/ IKEA, IKEA, IKEA. If you're anywhere reasonably close to an IKEA, and you're on anything approaching a budget, go check it out. The cabinet quality for the price can't be beat (except for a few pockets of custom cabinet makers), and there are a lot of great accessories, appliances, lighting and other things to be had for a terrific price. As always, you have to pick and choose your items for quality and value, but at least in our experience, it is definitely there to be had for the buyer with a good eye.

4/ We didn't go for major appliance upgrades. Our whole family LOVES to cook (and eat!), and we wanted a great looking, functional space to do it all in, but we just weren't convinced that we needed more than the basics right now. If we want to upgrade down the line, it's easy enough to do, but right now our Wolf budget is standing in our barn eating hay, and our LaCanche budget is steered towards this Show Hunter prospect I have my eye on . . .

So there's our formula for a great kitchen that works for us considering the (kind of odd!) parameters we had. Hope you all can take at least something useful away from our experience.

I've submitted the kitchen to the FKB, and I'll answer whatever questions you've got. . .

Thanks again, everyone!

I love my red oak floors -- even though my designer friend told me that "no one does them anymore".

My favorite Minnesota designers/architects, Todd Hansen and Christine Albertsson,
used oak cabinets in their own kitchen (bottom photo)
and in this lovely two-tone kitchen:

It is hard for us all to post pictures of our kitchen --
go ahead and give it a try and you will be amazed by the help you recieve.

Here is a link that might be useful: several shown here - all the same instructions

The "dinginess" often associated with fluorescent lights is caused by a low "color rendering index" (CRI), not by their "color temperature" (i.e. 3500K). The former is an industry-standard measure of how well a light source disinguishes between different colors (or different shades of the same color), whilst the latter is a measure of the relative warmth or coolness of the light. The two do not correlate.

Sunlight provides the color-rendering standard by which artificial light sources are judged by. That is, natural sunlight has a CRI of 100, the best possible score. Incandescent and halogen light bulbs also have a CRI of 100. Have you ever been outside at night under a street lamp or outdoor security lamp that was plenty bright, but gave off a yellow/golden or pink/orange cast to everything it lit up, so you could barely tell what color your clothes were? Those are examples of lamps with a very low CRI (about 20). Fluorescents are somewhere in between. Traditional fluorescent tubes, the kind that used to be found in every office building and many kitchens and basements, had a rather low CRI of about 60, which accounts for the "dingy" light you speak of. I have some socks that are dark blue, dark brown, and dark charcoal/black, and under fluorescent light it's difficult to tell which color is which. I place the same socks under my halogen desk lamp and the colors become easier to differentiate.

The good news is that higher-quality fluorescent tubes can have better color rendering - Philips makes a warm-colored 95 CRI bulb I use frequently (3000K) as well as a 98 CRI, 5000K bulb that has a cooler, more daylight-like color. Both make colors stand out nearly as well as incandescent lamps or natural sunlight. They aren't quite as bright as most fluorescent bulbs (a good thing in your case, it sounds like). Or there's Sylvania's 86 CRI, 2700K flourescent tube that matches the yellowish incandescent glow, is very bright, and still has decent color differentiation. All of those will require T8 ballasts, the ones that accept the newer-style, thinner tubes (1" diameter). If you have the old-style T12 ballasts (with thicker, 1 1/2" diameter tubes) your bulb choices are more limited, but 3000K, 3500K, and 4100K bulbs with about 85 CRI are readily available from several brands, with somewhat dimmer 5000-6500K daylight-simulating bulbs with 89 to 94 CRI sold by Westinghouse and others.

Confusing, I know, but I deal with lighting specification frequently, so when asked which 4-foot fluorescent tube gives off the most "natural" light, it depends on what you mean by natural - there's color rendering/differentiaion (higher CRI number is better), and there's color temperature (generally from warm 2700K to cool 6500K, with 3500 being neutral). Generally, the cooler-colored bulbs, say 5000K, look best with pure white environments such as a kitchen with white cabinets, as well as garages and basements, or any room with skylights and/or large windows where blending in with natural daylight is important. If you're after a warm glow like you get from traditional table lamps, you still want the highest CRI available (to avoid dingy colors), but probably want a 2700K to 3500K bulb, which I find work best in rooms with earth tones, wood floors/cabinets/paneling, or ivory/beige carpets, such as most living rooms.

More than you ever wanted to know about light bulbs....

so glad the suggestion of black is interesting. How about these possibilities:

1) black island, everything else stays oak; mullioned (oak) doors flanking sink and above microwave

2) black upper cabs ONLY, w/ mullioned (black) doors as above: island and bottoms stay oak

And I was thinking of a rubbed/aged finish on whatever you do paint, kind of like the piece in this link. (sorry, am technologically challenged, cannot figure out how to get pics into links for the life of me!)

Here is a link that might be useful: this is the kind of finish I was envisioning...

This one is in a corner in the living room...if I were entertaining, I'd take the tea tray off and put the coasters out...

Another small antique table perfect for one person's use.

This is what is on the other side of the couch - the round table and small coffee table work well as places to put food/drinks and again, not your usual end tables.

I have several of these drop-leaf small tables that are great to use for drinks, etc.