New Kitchen!

The kitchen was clean this morning, so I decided to grab some shots before the kids made breakfast.  This house is such a mess, I am embarrassed to take pictures - stuff is just everywhere.  As I get things cleaned up, ie, unpacked, I will take more pictures.

The kitchen is a big one though.  I did not put much thought into the bedrooms.  The focus was the kitchen, master bath and outdoor patio.

Without further ado:

This is the main view of the kitchen.  All ceilings in the house are 10ft tall.  We decided NOT to take the cabinets to the ceiling, because 1) who could reach them and 2) we LOVE over and under cabinet lighting.

I decided on a U-shaped kitchen since usually there are 2-3 people in there at any time - this shape gives lots of space without taking up too much square footage.  Although the picture makes it look small - the island is 7 ft wide.

I did not get the arch in here; even though this is an open floorplan, we added an arch above in oreder to delineate the space. We echoed this arch in the island top.

I love drawers - like I have a very deep-seeded obsession with them.  They are so much more practical than lower cabinets.  I only have 3 lower cabinets (and one of those houses our trash and recycling bins), but I have 27 drawers just in the kitchen.  It is heaven and I do not regret it one bit.

The backsplash - funny story.  For 8 months I stressed about the backsplash.  When we renovated our LARGE home several years, I picked a backsplash and it made the countertop look neon green - it was awful!  Noone saw it but the installer and me because I painted a glaze over the travertine that made it look so much better.  I was nervous about a repeat of that and I did not want to make a bad decision.  

Since we had so much natural stone and wood everywhere, it looked odd to have a porcelain tile as the backsplash.  We thought stone, but it looked too busy, especially with our floors.  It was after all other tile had been installed and the builder said, "You have to make a choice" that I finally figured it out.  DH and I were walking through the house one evening and I noticed there was quite a bit of the tile we put in the kids' bathrooms left over.  I had fallen in love with that tile - a lot of movement - like stone, but it was a well done ceramic tile.  However - it was large - 24" x 12".  Great for a shower stall, not great for a backsplash. After much talking and translating, we decided that this was perfect as a backsplash - natural looking, but not busy and the tiler cut the large tiles down to 6" x 12" and laid them in a brick pattern.  You don't even really notice it - which is what I was going for.

The barstools.  I looked a long time for barstools that would be comfortable and swivel.  They were expensive, but I did buy them at a clearance store for less then 1/2 off - still pricey at $150 each, but these will last a very long time - they are heavy and very sturdy.

We ended up getting black stainless steel appliances at a very deep discount over Labor Day Weekend.  I love the color - it is a deep gray rather than black, but it does not fingerprint up like stainless.  They look sleek.

My jewel of the kitchen - a Farmhouse Copper Sink!  It is gorgeous and not hard to take care of.  Just don't leave dishes or food in the sink.  Only use mild dish soap for cleaning - simple.

This is my Grandfather's ice cream scoop from his restaurant he had in the 40's and 50's.

Ah, granite.  Yes, we ultimately decided on granite.  I think we were talking about soapstone, but I did not want the green coming out and we talked quartz, but I do not like how it looked - too fake to me.  We discussed concrete, but ultimately came back to granite over and over again.

This is Uba Tuba that was leathered with a chiseled edge and it is GORGEOUS!!!!!  It doesn't stain or show water marks, hides a little bit of the mess.  Even my husband, who was very leery and the builder - who fought me all the way, they both loved it.

My floors.  6 years in the wanting.  I found this company - Rustico Tile - years ago.  I ordered samples and carried them around everywhere.  Finally, I got them!  We have these saltillo tiles in the entry, kitchen, bathrooms and laundry room in the hexagonal shape.  Then we have rectangles on the patio.  They are Manganese Satillo Tiles that have been sealed.

I chose simple pendants over the island.  I did not want to spend a lot of money on lighting and we can always change later.

This island is HUGE!  I am completed thrilled that we chose to keep the island at counter height.  It looks expansive and we can do so much there - homeschool, plan, make cookies, paint - it is awesome.   Those that complain that water splashes from the sink - well, wipe it up!  It is not bad though - very little water gets on the countertop because the sink is really deep.

Ah yeah, now we are talking!  No regrets ever on this.  This is my ice machine!  Sonic ice anyone?

We went with simple bronze with copper accent knobs and pulls on the cabinets.  Nothing fancy.

There you have it!  Our new kitchen - dreamy? Absolutely, the best kitchen ever?  To us it is.  Our daughter summed it up pretty nicely - it is a small house with a mansion inside.  We did not want a lot of space, but we wanted what was in it to be nice.  I believe we accomplished that.