Silver Fox Benjamin Moore (A garden web image)

Mega Greige by Sherwin Williams

Stone Harbor BM

Gray Breeze Behr

Palladian Blue BM

Plantinum BM

Glass Slipper BM (My favorite with marble)

Smoke Benjamin Moore

Serena and Lily Wall Paint in Oatmeal

Re: the layout. We opened up the wall between the dining room and kitchen, and moved the wall about two feet into the dining room.

BEFORE

The entry into the kitchen was awkward because the path went between the peninsula and the wall with three doors (to basement, pantry closet, and to pantry room/entry to powder room).

AFTER

Dining room into kitchen

Kitchen into dining room

Old 3 door wall, now down to one door

Entry from kitchen to pantry area

Backsplash close up

SPECS
Paint. BM Huntington Beige, kitchen, BM Buttered Yam, dining. Cabinets and kitchen trim, BM Timid White. Dining room trim, BM White Dove. There's a lot of White Dove in the house, as you can see from the dining room, but we elected to use the cabinet color for the trim in the kitchen and it seems to have worked.

Backsplash. Ann Sacks collection, Matte #BB22, ivory, 2x8.

Hood. Modernaire, ORB finish.

Hardware. Alno, Barcelona finish. My pictures are not the best. The finish is an ORB and does not look as dark as appears in the pics. The picture of the charging drawer gives a better idea of the brown tones.

Sinks. Blanco silgranite, black. Prep sink is 12x15.

Faucets. Hansgrohe Talis.

Floor. The kitchen floor was chosen to match the existing dining room floor. Not sure of the wood but there is only a clear finish, no stain.

As far as the charging door, IIRC the cord from the power strip was fairly stiff and so does not move much when the drawer is opened.

I use the prep sink faucet as a pot filler, and use the sink to drain pasta as well as things like canned tomatoes. It is also handy for placement of dripping utensils. So far, I like the functionality.

kitch

Davidrol, I think I'm going to keep this one for a while :) but would be glad to share specs for any aspects you might want to replicate.

Missmuffet, the spice drawer has a 6 inch high drawer face and about 4.5 inches in usable interior height. Most of my spice bottles are the standard Penzey jars, which are 4.25 inches high. If you do end up with less height, there are many options for shorter spice jars.

The charging drawer face is about 12 inches high, about 10 inches or a little less interior height. I had thought about using a 6 inch drawer but am glad I used a deeper drawer to allow more room for all the chargers and cords and also to be able to have items that stand vertically, like the TV remote + charger and the phone. The electrician hard wired the cord for the 6 outlet surge protector to a source in the back of the cabinet. There was much discussion about the best arrangement, because the need to avoid crimping in cords the need to extend and retract as the drawer is opened and closed. So far, no problems.

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER!

A few of my favorite things... all thanks to GW.

Corner drawers

Vertical pan drawers

Spice drawer

Potato and onion storage

Pet station

Charging drawer

Swing out compost

Other favorite things

Induction cooktop. Especially love the ease of clean up.
Tapmaster. How did I live without it?
Fiber optic disposal switch.
Pull out trash and recycling.
Gaggenau steam oven
In cabinet TV
More windows!
Prep sink next to cooktop

Could live without
Servo drive for trash pullout. Kind of nifty, but could do without it

Wish I had paid more attention to GW
Double hung windows. Like the look, but they are very hard to open and close b/c of counter depth.

All in all though we're very happy with how it turned out. It is *so* much more functional than the old kitchen.

kitch

I was the "KD" and GC. Our 1976 kitchen was barely functioning - all drawers were broken as were the ovens and microwave.

The only major changes were relocating the fridge where the old desk was, putting the micro over the wall oven, and having the pantry opening changed and double doors installed (and Elfa shelving inside). It's amazing how much storage we gained by those relatively small changes.

The only regrets are that I didn't have the patience to have hardwoods finished on site and that the backsplash grout turned out way too light...and I should have bought the Kohler Vinnata faucet (but I do love our Moen faucet anyway)! Other than that, we're pleased.

A few details:
Came in right about $20K.
Original cabinets were refaced by local carpenter/craftsman who also repaired, reinforced and rehabbed the cabinet boxes.
Carpenter built custom island and hood, pull out shelving.
Black galaxy granite
Daltile 3x6 white subway tile (Lowe's)
Cabinets, moulding, and door paint: BM White Dove
Wall paint: BM Lancaster Whitewash
Floors: prefinished red oak.
16 recessed lights and undercabinet lights added.

Before:

Before (oven wall & previous built in desk):

Before:

After!

Island w/trash pullout (possibly my favorite feature)

New pull out drawers/shelves & fridge where old useless desk was:

What I would LOVE input on is

1. Window treatment ideas - for bay by table and over sink (kitchen faces west & we need sunlight control)

2. Where should I put my 15" flat screen TV?? On end of cabinet run nearest to table or in corner where red platter is by cooktop? We eat 90% of meals at the island anymore and barely use our kitchen table (other than for kids' homework), so TV visibility from table, while nice, isn't essential.

2 Pics of BM Baby Turtle (BT):

I also used BM Flowering Herbs which is 1 up from BT. It could go khaki during a sunny day to greyish on a cloudy day. Always warm green at night:

BM Flowering Herbs:

I love BT & plan on using it in my next home.

For the record I think that Redbazel is probably the one who inspired mlraff53 to use BT. She was my inspiration too.

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

She had an amazing kitchen transformation. Painted her dark cabs cream. Click on Kitchen redesign to check it out.

Sweeby, I'm glad you like the herringbone idea. I think I've seen the light and I'm going to keep in classic. Mixing those materials might not be the best thing. This is not our forever house either, so staying classic may be the way to go.

I'm so glad you love your tile. Dh thought the WZ seemed extra shiny, do you feel that way? What color grout did you use?

Here is a link that might be useful: Isabella and Max Rooms Blog

I think there are a few more pictures of the island under the thread I started when we finished it all -just search under bestyears.

Good luck!

Oh, and also the large freezer drawers are pieced as well.

This sink in on a corner. I love it.

glazedcabinets from mykitchenblog.com

Caer Hayes kichen

Pensive Blog

Hookdon House

nahb monday

Curbly

Tumbled backsplash tile

Marble Counters FlickR image

Cream Subway tile google image

Honed Granite Kitchen Artworks

don gardner

Soapstone sink cottage HTOU

Marble counters Flickr image

tumbled back splash tile

1805 Kitchen Farmhouse

SL kitchens

Cheverell Wood Uk Kitchens

Charles Lantz Nova Scotia

CFN Builders

I don't have a good side view, but this gives you the general idea.

Our fridge has tall cabinetry on both sides, so it's a little bit of a different situation than you have. We made the tall cabinets 27" deep instead of the standard 24" to hide the sides of the fridge:

Many here have used the same strategy with deeper panels to create a similar look, many with their fridge located in the same way as yours. Just be sure to pull the over-the-fridge cabinet out to be flush with the front of the panels and you'll be all set.

I initially envisioned my kitchen as white cabs with a matte black counter and white subway tile backsplash. My DH thought that was a little dull. He fell in love with Emerald Pearl granite (almost black, but shiny) and wanted a little more interest in the backsplash so we added a black pencil liner. And you know what? The Emerald Pearl is now one of my favorite things about the kitchen. It is a little outside of the norm, but the whole package of the kitchen feels just like I hoped it would.

Here are a couple of pics just to give you an idea about how sometimes you can get that same "classic" feel you are looking for with different finishes than you initially imagined. Good Luck!

Emerald pearl up close:

Cloud White BM

Mayonaise BM (I love this color in person)

Bone White BM

Calming Cream BM

Rich Cream BM

Ignore the mantle decorations... we are still unpacking and I just keep throwing stuff up there if I have no place to put it :)

We finished it with Waterlox, and have been extremely happy with both its look and performance. Waterlox is supposed to be food safe, but I would not recommend cutting directly on it. It does scratch and ding, so you need to be prepared for a certain amount of patina. Of course, if you are considering butcher block, then you are probably already okay with that.

Good luck!

Meanwhile check out these other sinks below. They all
have counters around them. Not wood but undermount sinks.
~boxerpups

This one is undermount look carefully

When we were remodeling our kitchen in our existing home, I found a picture that became my inspiration photo for how I wanted the inside of my new glass-door cabinets lit. I found this photo online somewhere and I love how it is lit. Here is that picture:

I have glass doors on a low breakfront at the end of my island and also on the uppers in my dry bar. The rest of my kitchen has solid doors. I knew I didn't want glass shelves, so we had the face frame of the glass door cabs routed with a channel to hold lights that illuminate the entire cabinet. I hope it turns out like my inspiration photo! Here are some pics of our cabinets and you can see how on the dry bar the inside of the cabinet seems dark in contrast to the under-cabinet lighting even though we do have one recessed "eye-ball" pointing towards the cabinets. The breakfront on the island is low, so it definitely needs in-cabinet lighting. Can't wait until we get that part done. :)

We are almost done. Just a kitchen table, island stools, desk area chair and accessories to go. Our project started in June and was substantially complete a few days before Christmas.

Unfortunately, I don't have before photos handy and used my iphone to snap these shots. Sorry for the quality. Our old kitchen was L shaped as well, a galley style with eating area. We had white 80's cabinets (solid door) with soffits. Counters were white square tile. Our worst feature was the powder room in the kitchen space and window that faced into our neighbors house (current range wall.) We expanded our kitchen by pushing out the range wall. Other than that we had to work within the space. Our main goals were moving the powder room out of the kitchen, storage, fitting in an island and eating area and respecting the age of our home (1906).

I am happy to share any details if anyone is interested.

Thanks again to all esp. those who helped me through a mini-marble crisis.

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Buehl, I love the glass in my pantry door. When planning my kitchen, I told the KD that my pantry would end up messy. Her comment was "It's a pantry, let it look like a pantry".. So, I went with the glass in the door. It is antique glass, so is not perfectly clear. When I turn the light off, you really don't see that much in there.. But, I do like the light on.

I've never heard of the tea bag solution before..

Pegkip, if you are going to put a microwave and toaster in your pantry, I would definitly ventilate. I keep my toaster in my pantry and we use it maybe 2 or 3 times a week, but I notice the smell lingers for a long time after. If my children were still home and it was being used more often, I would have to keep the toaster in the kitchen.

Bayareafrancy, the paint color on the walls of the pantry is Desert Tan by Benjamin Moore. If you look it up on the BM website, it does not look yellow at all, but in person is quite yellow. I used Rich Cream on the kitchen walls and wanted a little more color in the pantry. The rich cream is quite yellow also, which can be a surprise... It doesn't look that yellow on the card. It worked well with my cabinets and I couldn't decide on a contrasting color, but I can see myself changing the wall color in the kitchen in the future when I think of a contrasting color that would look good with the cabinets. It was just too big of a decision for me at the time, so I went "safe". Also, if I change the kitchen color, that means the LR, hall, upstairs, etc., etc., woule be changed too.

I love my pantry and the only thing I would do different, if I could, is make it bigger. But, I can't. I store my large pots and kitchen appliances in there, which take up quite a bit of space.

SharB

cabinets

Thanks everyone for the information and for your wonderful support. I'm okay now : )

I measured the lip at the bottom of our cabinets and it is actually almost one inch! It's 5/8".

So I think if I go with the Kichler Design Pro LED's, which are only 1/2" deep, the narrowest I have found, I'll be okay without a light rail. I'm so glad to hear that those of you that see the light when sitting at the table don't mind them. If I do, I can always apply a 1/2" rail later on I suppose.

The Kichler Design Pro LEDs are 3000 K and 90 CRI

THANKS AGAIN . . . this forum rocks!!

One: Go through what you have now and give away or throw out the stuff you never use. How many coffee mugs do you have that you never use? How many cheapo spatulas that you'd only use if pigs flew? How many freebie koozies in the back of the drawer? How many mismatched plastic cups and plates you'd never use? How much lidless Tupperware? How many grody pots & pans leftover from your college days or Hubby's bachelor pad? Get that junk out of your soon-to-be-beautiful space! Use the 'Would I buy it at a garage sale?" test if you're not sure.

Two: Once you've thrown out the junk, inventory the stuff you have, and classify it by function and frequency of use. For example:
- One 36" drawer of daily use pots & pans,
- One 36" drawer of weekly/monthly use cookware,
- Two 24" shelves of every day china dishes,
- One 24" shelf of every day glassware,
- Two 36" shelves of fancy (Holiday) china and glassware.

Having this inventory is invaluable for planning your new space. Without it, you just won't know how much of what type of space you need, and you could end up with too little storage, or else sacrificing something you'd really like for storage space you didn't need. The security of knowing that 40% of your storage could actually go into a back room pantry (turkey roaster, lobster pot, espresso maker...) with hardly any loss of functionality gives you a huge amount of design flexibility.

Three: Prioritize lifestyle choices and preferences. Things like:
- One seat near the prep area so I can help Sonny with his homework while I cook dinner,
- Buffet zone for casual entertaining,
- Cozy seating area for two for morning coffee with Hubby,
- Open sight lines to the TV-watching area or PC so I can supervise the kids,
- Closed sight lines to the dining area so I don't have to see the mess while I eat!

This may sound crazy, but make a list of how your ideal kitchen will function, then rate the items on that list for how important they are to you. Which are deal-killers and which are 'nice to haves'? Also include what activities are daily and what are annual. There's an old adage in real estate: "Don't build the church for Easter Sunday." Apply that to your kitchen plan; plan for your maximum regular use, not for your maximum ever use.

You may not be able to get everything on your list (who can?), but at least you'll be able to choose wisely. By having my inventory and lifestyle choices, I was able to confidently choose the design that met 95% of my lifestyle wants and all of my storage needs over a design that offered much more storage and counter-top space but only 80% of my lifestyle list. Knowing that I didn't need more storage space got me a much better kitchen!

Here are a few others that come to mind.

verditer blue Sherwin Williams

Aqua Chiffon by Olympic paints

Palladian Blue Ben Moore

Buxton Blue Ben Moore

Mystical Blue BM glazed with Faded Denim BM

Vintage Map by Martha Stewart paints

Comfort Gray Sherwin Williams
This has less aqua and more gray but in the right light
it has a touch of soft blue.

Here's a pic showing my pull-out trash/recycling, my warming drawer (much prefer it here rather than under my wall oven!) and other storage drawers. Note the tall, narrow door which I had made deeper than it looks so it can store all my cutting boards, including the one we use to carve a turkey! It's next to the garbage pull-out. There is a small shelf on top for small cutting boards, and the larger ones fit on the bottom. The bottom section is about 5 inches deeper than it appears to be. You can sort of see what I'm talking about in the next picture showing the inside of the cabinets where the stools go.

Here's a pic showing storage space for rarely used items in cabinets behind stool area.

Cabinets: Custom White Shaker
Paint: Cabinets - Benjamin Moore Simply White
Wall - Benjamin Moore Piedmont Gray
Faucet: Kraus
Counters: Black Pearl Granite
Fridge: GE Profile
Stove: JennAir
Backsplash: Carrara Random

low angle of kitchen sink

family room side of sink "wall" -- it's hard to see, but the faucet is poking up in front of the oven

the top of the narrow ledge which separates the kitchen from the family room

We'd thought about doing the ledge deep enough to have bar stools, but realized it would eat up precious family room space, so instead chose to do 13" -- deep enough to hold the various crap we put there, but not enough to impinge walking through the family room.

Cabinets- custom built, inset. Color- SW8180, almond white
Counters- Antiqued Nordic Black

I spontaneously decided to just post the near-finished photos tonight. I'll post finished/finished-finished/no-really-finished photos on my website once all of the above happens, so feel free to visit it again in a couple of weeks. But for now, enjoy!

This forum has some of the most generous and spirited people I have ever encountered. I loved and still love coming to a place where people are as enamoured with design and details as much as I am, and dedicate so much time into making their house into a home. I love reading your stories and helping out whenever I can. I wanted to celebrate the success of our kitchen with all of you, and thank you as deeply as one can in the online world, because I can honestly say that our kitchen would never have turned out this way if I didn't "find" all of you on GW. So, thank you.

Click on the link to my website below for more photos and all the details.

Redroze's White and Espresso Kitchen

Before pics: we moved the kitchen into the family room, the dining room into the kitchen, and the breakfast area into the dining room. (The living room turned into the family room, and the office will soon turn into the living room ... more to do around here.)So these photos are not exactly classic before/afters. (And it's a snowy day, so bright outside, not the best for pics. Oh well.)

Old kitchen

Corresponding view

Old family room:

Corresponding view

Old dining room (both visible walls are now gone)

Corresponding view

I was previously opposed to knocking out both walls, but I am glad we did. For the way we live, it works much better. Entertaining is a cinch now. Because the kitchen is vaulted but the other ceilings are low, it doesn't feel like a huge empty space (that's what I was worried about). And I liked my "other" house, just not the kitchen. It was awful.

I'll post details here, and more specific photos in a subsequent post.

-Cabinets-
Aspen Leaf Kitchens in Denver/Berthoud, CO; proprietary Primer White, BM Taos Taupe on island and butler's pantry, and custom-stained antique pine on breakfast hutch

-Appliances-
SubZero BI-36U fridge, pro handle
Wolf 48 DF range with 4 burners and double griddle
Viking 54 in. hood liner with heat lamps
Thermador DWHD64EP dishwashers
KitchenAid KBCO24RSBX three-zone beverage center
SubZero 700BCI refrigerator/freezer drawers
Sharp 0.8 cu ft microwave

-Counters-
Minas soapstone on perimeter cabinets and hutch
Calacatta gold marble on island and butler's pantry

-Hardware-
Restoration Hardware Gilmore cup pulls, Aubrey knobs and handle pulls, Clear Glass knobs in antique brass, and Season knobs and Hanson pulls in ORB

-Sinks-
Main: soapstone farm sink crafted by Terra Bella/Denver CO
Prep: Ticor S3650

-Faucets-
Main sink: Kohler HiRise bridge with sidespray
Prep sink: Kohler HiRise bar faucet

-Lighting-
Wilmette Clark pendants in ORB (breakfast nook)
Wilmette LaSalle wall sconces in antique brass (later photos)
Visual Comfort Classic Ring chandelier in AB (dining room)
Visual Comfort Four-Light Siena pendant in AB (butler's)

-Island stools-
Ballard Designs Dorchester counter stools in rubbed black (all other furniture and rugs previously owned)