Grand Kitchen At Last!

Well, it's been worth the wait.  

Worth all the dust and the noise and the $$$ and the worries 

that come with a kitchen remodel.

And it turned out pretty darn nice.  

It's not completely finished, but it's 95% done.  

I just can't wait any longer to share it with you/show it off.

The painters were here yesterday and it's looking much spiffier!

The hardware has not all arrived yet... 

The back ordered pieces should come any day now.

I haven't found the perfect counter stools yet, either.  

Just trying this one from Pier One on for size. (Too low)

But there's still lots to see.

Here's a before shot to show you what we've done.

The wall on the right was removed and the soffits 

and the header across the kitchen are also gone.

That's part of what took sooo long.  

Major structural work has to be done right.

You can see the green tape on the floor showing where the island will be placed.

Here's the same angle today!

The wall is gone, the header was raised up into the ceiling, 

the floors have been stained and refinished and much more has happened.

I love the new cabinets.  I think they're beautiful and the quality is wonderful.

The color is (closest to) Sherwin Williams Roman Column.

Cabinets have come a long way since we last remodelled our kitchen!

New is very, very nice.

Smooth, quiet drawers and self closing everything.

Ahhhhh.

It took a mix of old and new, though, to fit in our house.

After a lot of fooling around with various pendant lights,

I ended up using my vintage chandeliers again! 

I just couldn't find anything that I liked better. 

And I like the mix of metals.

I know pendants are the thing right now, but just not for me.  

This post at Cote de Texas helped me arrive at that conclusion. 

And this one cemented the deal.

I just did not want the obligatory three pendants hanging down in my face 

and even more so, blocking my view of my star mullions!

If you read this post, you may remember my fixation with my star mullions.

And I love them as much as I hoped I would!

They are truly the "star" of the show.

Sorry, couldn't help it.

I added lots of trim and details for a vintage look.

Our house is an 80 year old colonial. 

I hope the kitchen looks appropriate for that.

Inset doors, lots of brackets and V-groove paneling 

and soft white paint seem like they might have been used way back then, too.

Forgive the missing knobs...

I had to spread the ones I have around so I can get each cabinet open!

A side view of the "Hutch"

Details...

I put bin pulls on this cabinet, for a vintage, hutch look.

And bun feet, also salvaged from my old kitchen 

and given a fresh coat of white paint.

Here's the refrigerator, behind those panels.  I love how it turned out.

The kitchen is very open to our family room 

and I didn't want a giant mass of stainless steel staring at me.

This is a Sub-Zero and while it may seem like a splurge, 

our last one was over 28 years old when we finally replaced it!
I think it's a good long term investment.

I found the refrigerator handles at Atlas Homewares 

and decide to use them on all of the large drawers too. 

I put the pulls on the drawers below the cooktop that hold pots and pans.

And on this one that holds baking sheets and muffin tins and broiler pans.  

Love these little luxuries!

Here's another before shot of the wall we removed.

And After...

By taking the wall out, we gained room for an island.

A big island.  

There's room for everyone now.

And after eight weeks of construction and entertaining gentlemen (workers) daily,

it's party time!

Just Grand.


Linking to:
Inspire Me Tuesdays at A Stroll Through Life
Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style
Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
Fabulously Creative Friday at Jennifer Rizzo

Kitchen Progress

We are making Progress.

Slowly but surely.

  

The cabinets are installed, the countertops are in place 

and the faucet was hooked up today! 

I'm not sure what is most exciting to me... 

It's all so beautiful!

It's truly my dream kitchen.

Each step brings us a little bit closer to functioning again.  

It's been six weeks and we are on schedule 

but I am so ready to be done....

The floors have been refinished and they look beautiful. 

I even got to eliminate some squeaky boards that have tormented me for years.

The electric work needs to be completed 

and the trim for the cabinets and doors should be finished this week.

Painting next week.   

Then the appliances can be installed and we'll be back in business!

And I'll have something pretty to show you.

In the meantime, here's a peek at what's been happening
and some thoughts on why I chose what I did.


Cabinets and countertops.....

Love those star mullions....
Here's where I got that idea....

I think the floor color turned out nicely.
A good match to the rest of the floors in the house.

Here's the sink and faucet.
And it works!
Running water is such a wonderful thing.

I chose a Brizo Beliza faucet and matching soap pump for the clean lines. 

A single handled, one hole faucet with a built in pull out spray.
There are some faucets that require three holes in the countertop for the same features!
Not on my gorgeous new Mystery White countertops.
Love that little soap pump. It's so unlike all the others....

I didn't want a lot of fuss on the island.  

It's very open to our family room and I wanted to keep it simple. 

 Plus the stone countertops are sooooo beautiful, I thought less would be more.

The sink is a trusty Elkay.
I had one for 25 years and it still looked like the day they put it in.
It was one of those bowl and a half numbers, which was all the rage in the eighties.
I always liked it, but I got tired of having two sinks and only one disposal.
Having to transfer the muck from the large sink to the small one just to use the disposal
never seemed efficient to me. I did like the large sink, though.

This time, I opted for one large sink, with one disposal.
One large sink is the most popular sink choice right now
and I'm so glad I'm in fashion
because I bucked the other current trend of really deep sinks to go with this one. 

It's only 7" deep, but when you add the thickness of the countertop

 to an undermount sink, it becomes over 8" deep.  

I have a much deeper sink in the laundry room 

where we have been doing dishes for the past six weeks 

and that's what convinced me to go "shallow".  

I'm not tall.  At all.  

And reaching down into the bottom of the deep laundry sink 

to pick up silver ware and other things is a big pain in the back for me.

Glad I've had the experience so I know what I really want.

I had treated myself to an air switch for the garbage disposal a few years ago,
and that little luxury made the move to the new countertop.
No more feeling around under the sink cabinet with wet hands,
looking for the disposal switch!
It's that button on top of the counter, next to the faucet-
so handy!
I wouldn't have it any other way again.

That's all for now!
I think I'll go wash some stuff.
There are plenty of dusty things to choose from....

Linking to:
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
Inspire Me Monday at Sand and Sisal
The Scoop at Cedar Hill Farmhouse
Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Through LIfe