Helene

This is standing at normal height looking at cabinets.

This is standing in front of cabinet and squatting down to see underneath.

This was taken from the dining room (next room over since we only have island seating in the kitchen). I zoomed in really tight with the camera, but feel is not very noticeable from a seated position in reality.

I love that the backsplash is uninterrupted by outlets. For us, the option of "hiding" the outlets worked well. They boxes are angled and easy to plug into. I hope this helps!
PJ

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!

annz--the tiles are individual arabesque tiles, let me show you a photo of them duct taped to the wall. They were fitted together like a puzzle. This was tricky because each tile is handmade and therefore they are slightly different from each other. So the trick was to get them in tightly to each other and yet keep the vertical line (and horizontal line) in check.

Just duct taped up:

beachbum, the tiles are from Mission Stone & Tile. If and when you do order them, you should let them know you saw them here, Mary Elizabeth would be thrilled. She's the owner. Yes that is the size of mine. We were able to use the 1/2 tiles. The trick is to try and end it so that you have large pieces at the top, you wouldn't want a bunch of nipped off pieces--see photos of right under the hood.

here is another photo that might show it clearly:

I found that 10% waste was not enough for planning. I had ordered enough to take the tile up to the bottom of the crown molding and then added 10%. Well, you can see where we ended it, and I had 8 tiles left over. Luckily I wasn't disappointed in this because before we started I decided to end it there.

Another trick for the installation that was learned, the tiles are installed on an angle, rather than row by row. Hmm, how can I explain that better? They went from the bottom row up towards the right. We started at the far right when doing this, working the tiles toward the corner, and then across the stove wall from right to left.

Once they were all in place, and grouted, they don't look like they are so close at all, because of the bevel in the tile, when actually under that grout, those tiles are touching. Not perfectly interlocking, mind you, but really close.

Also, the tile installer, a very good friend of ours, was shocked by how long this took to install. He arrived at 10 am on Saturday, thought they would all be up by dinner, so we could meet his wife & child at a restaurant, but instead, we kept workign until 1 am (when we thought we should stop the wet saw outside), and the tile wasn't even on all the way. Woke up at 7 on Sunday and finally finished the entire job by 4pm.

palimpest, Mine is from MIssion Stone and Tile, I'm not sure about the flat ones. I have seen this tile in so many places lately, in older settings--bathroom floor at tag sales in older homes, just saw it 2 weeks ago on the landing of the stairs at my dd's apartment.

Try Ken Mason if MIssion doesn't have it. They were very helpful when I was on the hunt:

http://www.kmt-bcia.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=202

adh673, the faucet is stainless

dianalo, thanks! someone once commented it looks like a a patent leather Chanel purse--oh, I love that.

Here are the professional photos that were taken for Mission Stone & Tile's website:

I'll happily post more pictures of my backsplash, and am happy also to share contact info re: the wonderfully talented mosaic artist I found online, named Cynthia Fisher.

My husband and I have always loved a "Tree of Life" - it represents home, family, lifecycle - all good things we have always prioritized and wanted to honor in our kitchen, the "heart of the home".

We both also love intricate mosaics and wanted a creative, artistic backsplash to make our kitchen less of a boiler plate, "classic" white kitchen. This is where our former designer's vision differed from ours. I'll go into those issues in another post below the pictures -

Here is the final sketch Cynthia came up with after many conversations and trials, along with her planned tile colors -

From that sketch, we had many back and forth emails approving the actual mosaic which came to life as she worked on it in her studio in Mass. I'd make suggestions and tiny changes along the way. It is a very difficult thing for an artist to take direction from a non-artist (many simply won't do it!) and Cynthia was wonderfully patient and tolerant to help us arrive at an end product that we would love in our home!

As she worked, she'd send progress pictures for approval to make sure we liked the budding work of art.

- we removed apples from the tree and altered colors a bit. She explained that the grays in the planned grout color would tone down colors at installation. It was a wonderful learning process!

Here is a final "proof" before she put the tiles on backer -

We hired Cindy and her husband to come to our house for the installation. She usually does not do this, but agreed for our project since we were having terrible issues with our GC's tiler and we didn't want these works of art ruined by poor installation. They arrived early one morning, worked all day, stayed one night in a hotel, worked the whole next day and finished. Not inexpensive, but imo we have a true work of art, as the artist intended it to be, as a result!

And, finally, here is the final result for the Tree of Life mosaic installed!

Cindy used tiny pieces of mirror in the Tree mosaic that, along with the blue tree and the Chagall-like birds, lent the mosaic a surreal/fantastical feeling.

A closer look -

This mosaic was created to compliment the Tree of Life mosaic, without being too similar. It was inspired by an actual Chagall lithograph, with the color of the vase being chosen to coordinate with the "Raven" Caesarstone countertop. The "fantasy" feeling found in the tree is not present in these sunflowers and there is no mirror used. The background mosaic beautifully makes the transition between the different feel of each main mosaic.

Here is the inspiration for the sink mosaic - I love how Cindy translated it into mosaic!

Another view of the sink mosaic -

A funny thing is, we focused so much on the two main mosaics that we didn't really focus on what the general background would look like and really LOVED what she did with the curving waves of neutral whites, grays and iridescent tiles!

Here is a long view of each total backsplash to help give the overall effect in the kitchen

And the stove mosaic is perpendicular to the sink mosaic -

Before:

After:

Another view:

Favorite detail:

I'll post a link to the rest of the gallery for anyone who wants to see more.

Details: The house is an 1895 Tudor Revival with a couple modern additions on it. Hopefully the kitchen bridges the two periods of construction in the house.
Cabinets: Crown Point. Farrow & Ball Shaded White paint, Sapele stained cabinetry. Banquette, open shelves, and tv cabinet by local custom cabinetmaker. Polished nickel hardware.

Counters: honed Virginia Mist granite and Carrara marble

Backsplash: Bejmat tiles in white, 2" x 6", Mosaic House. Antique glass resilvered, Olde Good Things.

Faucets: Wingnut by Sonoma Forge in Rustic Nickel.

Fridges: Subzero, Range: Wolf 48AG with grill (love)

Hood: Modernaire, custom.

Lighting: Salvage

junicb--the transom window in the breakfast nook was one I found down the street at an antique shop and my miracle-working carpenter guys made a neat frame in the wall for it to hang in. It allows light through from the little mudroom area on the other side.
fleur222--the stained cabinetry is knotty alder.
elizpiz--here is a closer pic of the backsplash. (Like everyone, I luuuuurve YOUR kitchen!! I tried to order the same counter stools you have, but they were backordered for ages. I actually have four now-it looks different than in the photos.)

We are finally finished with our kitchen remodel of our 1889 home. I have been a daily (truthfully, sometimes HOURLY) lurker and sporadic poster for almost two years. There is NO WAY I could have planned this remodel without the help of GW--We were living in China for over 5 years and I had to do all of my planning from there. This meant NO MAGAZINES, nor could I visit showrooms and see anything in person. Every time I had a question, I seemed to be able to find a thread about it. Not to mention all of the inspirational photos!!! I was so afraid of missing an important tidbit! (We were 13 hours ahead there, so I could easily miss a thread as it fell off onto pages two, three, four...)

Anyway, many thanks to all of the great TKO people who contribute to this forum.

Photos first! Details at the end. (o:

pass-thru detail

cabinetry--local custom painted in BM Bone White oil-based enamel
walls-- BM Ballet White
counters--Zodiaq quartz Mystic Black (kind of a charcoal color)
pulls--Amerock Revitalize in Burnished Bronze
sink--Ticor zero-radius SS508
faucet--Kohler Vinnata in Vibrant Polished Nickel
range-36" Bertazzoni Heritage Series in Anthracite
hood- Vent-A-Hood NPH9-136
backsplash- 3" hexagonal Calcatta marble
pendants--Hinckley Knickerbocker (these are on clearance all over for a song right now...)
windows--Marvin double-hung cottage style

So details....
Cabinets: custom, antique white. Island is maple stained dark walnut with a dark glaze or something.
Hardware: Polished nickel pulls and knobs, through cab company
Island countertop: statuary marble, honed
Perimeter countertop: aqua grantique (a granitic gneiss, apparently) - brushed finish
Backsplash: statuary 12x12 cut down to subways, statuary herringbone, and cut statuary slab
Floors: Brazilian walnut
Walls: SW Silvermist
Chandeliers: Schonbek New Orleans mini
Appliances: 30" Gaggenau fridge/freezer columns, GE Monogram Advantium 240 oven, GE Monogram Convection single oven, Wolf 36" induction cooktop, Miele La Perla dishwasher, and GE Monogram microwave (in end of island)
Sinks: Rohl 30" and Kohler Irontones for prep
Faucets: Rohl Country in polished nickel (avoid the burgundy felt "protective" bags. They stain when wet - stain things like new white marble. Don't ask how I know. Bags. Are. Evil.)

Hood/cooktop wall:

Sink wall (well, part of it anyway):

Fridge/freezer wall:

Perspective on location of pantry/butler's pantry:

Breakfast room and Family room:

Breakfast room hutch:

Aqua Grantique Close-up:

Countertop and Backsplash:

Cooktop backsplash:

Built-in Pantry (across from butler's pantry cabinets/counter)

Thanks for the continued warm words. Much appreciated.

Niffy~Good memory on the range/hood height dilemma. My dh & I took the feet off the range (Lucy & Ethel episode) and gained half an inch. Still haven't managed to get the feet back on...

Pluckymama~ Thanks so much!

Robynkf~ Wow-flattered. I will definitely post pics of those rooms when they are acceptable for viewing :)

The blueish paint color in the kitchen above the sink & adjoining family room is BM Wickham Grey. The greyish color on the wall leading to mudroom, the playroom & the foyer is all BM Edgecomb Grey.

Thanks again for looking!
Katie

Wow-thank you for your wonderful feedback! It means a lot. We acted as our own GC on this build & had no kitchen designer, so I was really flying by the seat of my pants. We did find an amazing cabinetmaker and I couldn't be happier with his work. I'll reiterate it-this forum was amazingly helpful.

Here are the details below. I will post some more photos of the adjoining rooms and half walls (drjoann) during the week as I unpack & organize. The room with the baskets is the playroom and our carpenter built the built in based on a Pottery Barn Kids picture. Rhome, the area behind the range wall is a mudroom with lockers & cubbies. We moved from a 2 bedroom in the city so I often just wander into the mudroom and stare. LOVE IT.

Any questions or details I miss, please just ask. I'm happy to answer anything.

Ceiling height is 9 and a half feet

Floors: 8 inch heart pine, tung oil & satin finish

Cabinets: Local cabinetmaker. Inset, shaker style with single bead in Ben Moore White Dove

Perimeter Counter: Soapstone (Green Mountain Original)
Island Counter: Calacatta Marble (Honed, 5cm)

Backsplash: Horus Art Tiffany (crackle, bianco)

Pendants: Restoration Hardware Benson (smallest size)

Hardware: Cup pulls are RH Gilmore, pulls are RH Aubrey, latches are Rejuvenation, and ice box latches are Clifside Brass. All are polished nickel.

Stools: Holsag Bulldog in Heritage Walnut (online through cymax.com)

Hood: Modernaire PS 26 (42 inches, 18 inches height)
Contact person was Pat Hartman

Range: Thermador Pro Harmony 36

Microwave: Sharp Drawer

Refrigerator: Sub Zero 42 inch Side by Side

Dishwasher: Fisher & Paykel double drawers

Sink: Shaw's 30 inch

Faucet: Rohl (modern architectural series)

Potfiller: Perrin & Rowe Country series

Thanks for looking!
Katie

A huge thank you to everybody on this forum who helped graciously with advice, photos, experience & info. What an incredible resource this is. Shout outs to Erikanh & marthavila for hood help, willowdecor for tile, all the stoners, and many more.

We moved in last week-bottom trim on fridge & dw are still missing, excuse the messy bottoms.

I'll be happy to provide details if anyone wants them.

Thanks for looking!

Marble Close Up

Soapstone Close Up

Details
Cabinets - custom. Painted using Cabinet Coat colored in White Dove by BM
Floors - red oak stained medium brown
Countertops - Absolute black granite on the perimeter, Monte Bello granite on the island
Backsplash - Walker Zanger Newport Seaweed subway
Door hardware - ORB cup pulls on the drawers, and ORB egg shaped knobs on the doors
Faucet - Kohler Vinnata...the smaller one (I can't remember the dimensions, but I believe its about 2" shorter than the large one)
Lighting - the 2 lights over the island are mini-chandeliers I got from Lighting Universe online
Fridge - Jenn Air counter depth
Range - 6 burner Viking
Oven - 30" GE Profile
Microwave - LG
Dishwasher - Asko

Thanks to everyone who shared their information. Overall, we are very pleased with it. There are a few things I'd do differently but they are pretty minor. If it wasn't for this site, I'm not sure it would have turned out as nice as it did.

MARTHAVILA, Thank you, thank you. My main objective with this kitchen was to make it look like it could have always been here, without crossing into vintage kistch....

SIXMAGNOLIALANE, The floors were finished to match the rest of the house and it ended up being a random cocktail. There are at least 15 test patches under the cabinetry! Something I did end up with, though, (that I hadn't planned on) was doing semi-gloss, rather than the usual satin finish. It is much more forgiving of dirt and doggie toenail gouges. (The opposite of what you might think.)

Marble- 2 inch thick Premium Carrara from Italy. Yes, 2 inch is available , NY metro area it is housed in most marble/granite yards. The slabs are quite small ( typically 60x120) so if you have a large kitchen you may have to purchase 2 slabs. If you live elsewhere you can probably special request it. The premium is just how they upcharge you for the slab being very white and clean and not a lot of dark busy veining . Rookie 2010...I LOVE the marble. I am not concerned about stains since the sealer seems to really work.. but when you sit at my table in that lighting you can see spill etches everywhere.. big and small.... I can see why rumor has it that meg ryan took tomatoes and lemons and rubbed them all over to make it all etched. I will let mine get all etched over time so that it is 100 etched and maybe you wont see dots and spills anymore.. but it doesnt bother me at all.. what does bother me is some scratches I created when I moved a nice ceramic serving dish on top... beware of the rough bottoms of vases and dishes.. I also have a nice chip on the marble around the sink and I expect more over time..once of the reasons I really wanted a thick marble... but I still prefer it over any granite in a white kitchen. If I did wood color I would not choose marble. I am finding the butcher block to be more work to maintain then the marble but worth it!

Walnut END grain Butcher Block and Walnut Edge grain desktop- www.theboardsmith.com David is awesome to work with! His work is quality and his BB is what most people when they came LOVE the most. He is making me a custom walnut knife block for my counter soon too! I totally planned to cut on it.. and this man really makes table top bb for cutting on... he typically doesnt make countertops.. but it is soooo beautiful I dont have the heart to cut on it as I thought I would.. so I keep a table top one from crateandbarrell on my counter that I also love and have had for several years and still looks great!

Hood- Modernaire. I had a very good experience dealing with them , as for I made a terrible error and signed off on the wrong size hood. They took it back and sent a new one. I LOVE it! It is the exact hood that katieob has. It is 36x24x18 between 12 inch deep cabinets. I was looking at Rangecraft a competitor on the east coast but for many design reasons I preferred the rod and rivet size of the MA

Pendants- Hudson Valley Lighting ( Pelham Pendant) . They have sooo many amazing options.. It was hard to choose.

Wall Color- Benjamin Moore Camouflage

Hardware – Pulls are Restoration hardware, Knobs are Top Knobs and latches are Rejuvenation.. all Polished Nickel

Sink – 30 inch Shaws

Faucet. Is Rohl Country Line in PN and the Instant Hot is also PN from Insinkerator

Stainless Steel Floating Shelf on backsplash is from www.danver.com

Appliances:
Wolf Double Oven
Dacor Warming Drawer—LOVE IT.. the Wolf was WD was $1500 more, so I went with Dacor since it doesn’t have a handle it looks good under any oven. I was afraid to put a wood panel on it since it is controversial as to whether or not you loose the crisping feature of the drawer when you put a wood panel
Wolf 36 inch Induction cooktop, I have had this for 2 years.. LOVE it soooo much and didn’t expect to, but gas was not an option here
Dishwashers:
Miele DW.. this I am bitter about since I had a 2 year old GE monogram that I liked a lot but my KD forgot to consider the handle and I cant open the drawer perpendiculer to it so I had to get a new DW without a handle
Fisher Paytel single DW drawer with wood panel.. this has been awesome too ! We entertain a lot so this has already in s short time to be a great option .. and the drawer for storage under it is still SUPER deep!!
GE Monogram 42 inch refrigerator

Undercabinet lighting is xenon and we added all new low voltage high hats
New window treatments are woven woods from Hunter Douglas in a walnut color

Floors are original but I had them refinished and stained a darker color to match with the walnut. I think it was min wax provence

Tiles are some Italian handmade ones, they are uneven edges.. I can look it up if anyone wants to know. The grout is white.. this is one regret.. I should have spent a bit more time on the grout color, possibly gone with something besides white...

The only 2 regrets I have is that the garbage is under a drawer next to the sink. I think I should have elminated the drawer possibly and had a shelf under it for the box of garbage bags.. but I didnt want to give up storage at the time. not sure on this one and lastly.. the faucet is set back from the sink edge a bit too far.. wish it was closer so when I washed things less water would be on the counter around the faucet base.

DID I leave anything out???? I hope I answered everyones questions!!!

jeri...did you start your kitchen???

And today, after faucet install, with the accessories in place:

Putting it in the middle of the basin still give us ample room to move the spray over the shallower part of the sink.

Remember to post pictures!

I'm not a member of ikeafans but I do have these pictures courtesy of dianalo:

Our cabinetmaker has made one for us and I believe it's six inches wide (I think because he gave me the "okay" to purchase a five inch pull for it). It will sit in between our freezer and pantry and he's kitted it with stainless peg board so we'll be able to hang all sorts of doo-dads. I believe part of it is sitting in our raw kitchen right now (out of the way of the drywallers) but won't be installed until next week at the earliest. I'll be happy to post pictures of it once it's in.

I'm so grateful to dianalo for posting these photos last summer -- ours is not an enormous kitchen and this should be a clean-up godsend!