friends

Here are the details.

Cabinetry
Eudora Frameless Cabinets - Painted Maple Shaker doors in Antique White for uppers and Stained Maple Slab doors in Espresso for lowers.

Countertop
Brushed Lite Typhoon Bordeaux granite (also known as White Spring)

Backsplash
Sonoma Star TriBeCa field tile in Butter
Tantrum Slivers tile in Black (crushed glass)
Polyblend Linen Grout

Appliances
Bosch Dishwasher, Convection Oven (27"), Microwave and Induction Cooktop
Samsung Counterdepth French Door Refrigerator

Sink and Faucet
Kraus Sink
Ladylux Cafe Faucet and Grohe soap dispenser
Compact Insinkerator

Kitchen Aid Hood

Flooring
Imolagres Tile (Travertine-look) 20 x 20" in running bond pattern - Mushroom color epoxy grout

Lighting
Ecosmart LED recessed lights
Juno undercabinet LED lights
Juno Track Light
Emerson Fan

Here is a link that might be useful: My Kitchen

This post was edited by jerzeegirl on Mon, Jan 28, 13 at 22:44

All the others are either three or four-drawer banks. We started with assessing what we have in the kitchen and what I use, and I kept coming back to things that could go in deep drawers - tupperware, pyrex bowls and dishes, service pieces, etc.

Right now, all the stuff in our two-door lower cabinets is kind of stacked and jumbled. We're also 5' 11" and 6'1 tall. And, we have a 24" full-size pantry with pull-out shelves in it.

The double door cabinet is to the right of the stovetop (very right of the attached drawing.

Am I right to go that direction or do you think I should switch something to a door cabinet on bottom?

Thanks for your advice!

P.S. Specifically, to the right of the ovens, I changed those from a drawer and two doors to a bank of four drawers. My rationale is that things that would go there include: drawer of non-traditionally sized cutlery, cooking utensils; drawer for saran wrap, aluminum foil etc.; tupperware and other misc sized serving pieces. Does that seem like the better choice?

kitchen: inset, polar white. the inset came with upgraded hardware: full extention and soft close. Love it!

dining room. acorn maple with brown glaze. Wyatt door.

master bath. espresso maple. Wyatt door/ drawers.

For the basement bar, we used their cheaper sequota line since it won't get much use, we got the praline maple which is very pretty. The quality is not as good, but good enough for the basement.

We got thermafoil in the laundry. It's actually very nice- I was surprised by how much I liked it.

Upon closer inspection, I do understand your desire to simplify the room and to remove certain elements. I painted cabinets in my first home and in this one too, and hated repainting and touching up. Hope to never paint another cabinet! The factory finish is so much better.

I very much like the idea of the SS hood, to tie in with your lovely SS cooktop/range.

You could continue the tile all the way up and use a hood like this:

Or, replace with a gorgeous hood like this (I can't find a smaller version, but my point is the rounded front is lovely.

Try incorporating SS into other elements, too. Easy change: swap out the utensil canister with a SS one.

I like the color of the island and the floor very much.

Have you considered getting rid of the soffits? You could buy new upper cabinets fairly reasonably and color match the paint on the lower cabinets and just repaint them. We went with Conestoga's door style and purchased their RTA cabinets. Interiors are lovely and we have the Blumotion softclose hinges on all. We're very happy with the quality. I just checked our quote; if I'm reading it correctly, an upper wall cabinet CSWALL 30x36x18 (we had deeper uppers) was $260 for the cabinet and $180 for the doors. So, consider $500 per cabinet, uninstalled. Perhaps an option?

Our pantry:

Best of luck! oldbat2be

I only handwash a few items and when I do I am a soap-it-up-rinse-it-off gal, not a fill-up-the-sink-and-soak-stuff gal. So the two bowls were not helpful to me in that respect. I also disliked having to clean around the edges (both top mount and undermount), I never felt like I could get them as clean as I wanted.

I second the motion about being able to pile a lot of dirty dishes in there or deal with multiple large items at once. Also, having an old house it does seem to fit with the era more.

In the end, it all comes down to your aesthetic preference. And I certainly have seen many cool double and triple sinks here with built-in drainboards and cutting boards and interesting shapes that I might have considered if my kitchen went another way. Here's my sink:

4 BR, 2.5 bath home. Finished Basement ~800 sq ft, Main level ~ 1000 sq ft, Upper level ~800 sq ft.

Existing system was installed circa 1995 by previous owners.

Furnace: Lennox G23Q3/4-125-1, 125k in, 100k out.
A/C on slab: Lennox HS29-461-1P (3.5 ton?) & C23-46-1
2-zone damper system: Honeywell Troll-A-Temp (one for basement/lower one for upper level)

Current system generally works OK. Basement is generally warmer than needed in the winter and rather cold in the summer, perhaps due to ductwork issues. Main level is generally fine. Upper level is fine in the MBR, where the thermostat is located, but the other bedrooms farther down the duct are progressively worse. The last one needs help with a small space heater and ceiling fan.

We seem to have an increasing number of repairs in the last few years, most recently the startup cap for the fan motor needed to be replaced as the fan would not start.

Will likely get a few quotes. The two companies we have used seem to suggest Trane and Carrier. I might be able to get a reasonable price for those brands and some others through a relative as well. Looking for reliable models and to improve to a high efficiency furnace and A/C. Perhaps a 3 .5 ton or 4 ton 16-18 SEER for AC (current is 10-11 SEER?) and 95-97% furnace (80% now I think?) This is in the Chicago area. Windows and doors were replaced 2 years ago with added insulation.

Any suggestions on brands or models we should consider for quotes? Should we bite the bullet and do both now, or perhaps put in the furnace and maybe the coil this fall before winter and new A/C condenser next spring? Thanks in advance!

Here is a link that gives some good tips on room planning, scale of furniture, minimum space requirements, etc.
http://www.myspacedesigners.com/dining-room-furniture.php

Hope this helps.

http://www.mgbwhome.com/nadia_rdin.asp
http://www.mgbwhome.com/cedric_dnt.asp
http://www.bernhardt.com/itemDetail.php?itemid=312-272,%20312-273
http://www.bernhardt.com/itemDetail.php?itemid=317-272,%20317-273
http://www.ethanallen.com/product?productId=1005&categoryId=8336
http://www.bernhardt.com/marthastewartfurniture/item.php?COL=Lily%20Pond&ITEM=2040&CAT=Dining%20Room&SUBCAT=Tables&CATABR=DR&VIEW=nocol

Also, feel free to reminisce about your first impression of your backsplash un-grouted or grouted.
Thanks in advance for sharing!

If money was no object Lavastone, or full fabricated stainless depending upon the setting.

I think things are going to skew toward plain stones/quartzes with an occasional showstopper in granite, quartz or Concetta et al., and move away from the granitey-looking granite, which is becoming the Formica of the 2000s

I like formica too, I never rule it out.

"To save money, we decided to keep almost the same layout, we extended the peninsula by few inches so we could add a garbage pull out."

"We had a mix of black and stainless steel appliances, we decided to make them all stainless. The fridge door could not be open without the the fridge handles hitting the peninsula, so we decided to switch the pantry position with fridge(best decision)!"

"I do a lot of cooking and counter space was very important to me, so could we put the microwave over range and got rid of this wall that was making the kitchen very small, the pocket door was also very outdated so we remove and build a arch on its place, unfortunatelly we could not afford a vent, but the microwave above range is working just great for me!

"This the old pantry, now we have the fridge on its place"

"The wall beside the fridge is now gone and the wall by the pantry is gone too, and since we were doing all that "removal" we decided to replace the laundry room door for a nice one, and the awfull lighting is now gone"

"This is our peninsula... we enlarge it a little and the soffit is gone (never like it!), now we have nice recessed lighting!

"My new fridge placement, this is one of our best decisions, we had a little space that we didn't know how to use, so we added this small spice drawers that we can remove and place wine bottles, and the drawers are 30" and I LOVE THEM! The crown molding was a challenge but our contractor did such a great job."

"The soffit is now gone, and we put cabinets up the ceiling, they 36 inches tall."

"George boy also loves the kitchen"

"Garbage pull out is right beside the dish washer"

"The back splash is tumbled travertine, country deige without space between the tiles, once you grout the the space between the tiles really shows and we are pleased with the results"

I hope someone will find this pictures helpfull. Thanks you all sooooooooooo much!

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