I wanted to add one more pic of the cabs and benchtop.

Wow! What a transformation! You used your space very efficiently.

Looks great, love that tile!

Thanks for coming back and showing us.

Love the remodel -- especially the oversized subway tiles. We've been considering the same for our upcoming remodel! Thanks for sharing.

Beautiful transformation! I love the clean lines and the large format backsplash tiles, but the wallpaper stole my heart. I Must Have It. Great job!

You have transformed your space into a comfortable and efficient place where you can work and gather. It is beautifully modern and inviting! We have a similar color palate, but in a vastly different style, so seeing your kitchen was a special treat for me (I think I like yours better!).

That is wonderful how you made it so fresh and playful! Love the tiles too and the funky wallpaper ;)
Your new spaces show form and function! Very nice!

I was so excited when I saw your thread pop up! Thanks for the shout-out my friend! I'm sitting here sick (not a good start for a new year), so I'm happy for something cheery t read/see.

GREAT JOB!!!!!!!!!! Everything looks terrific--sleek yet cozy. How's the hood working? Looks very nice in your kitchen and very nice with the Wolf.

Cool wallpaper, I'll bet it makes you smile everyday!

That is a wonderful transformation. You truly had to have a vision to be able to see what you could do with the space you had. I like that it is contemporary in feel, but not out of place in your older home. The wallpaper is fab.

I love your space with the clean, unadorned lines. Were you nervous at all about using slab doors with no embellishments at all? Such a transformation from before. We have the same fridge and I'm pleasantly surprised at how much stuff it can hold.

Beautiful! I love the modern (oversize) take on subway backsplash, and how it references your floor tile as well.

I also love your red chairs, which remind me of a more rounded version of the Cherner chair or the Series 7. Can you post the source?

Thanks for sharing!

Love your cabs and that round table and red chairs made me smile!

I can't believe it's the same space! It's soooo much more efficient and, of course, beautiful! So modern & welcoming! I love your cabs, wallpaper, BS & all those wonderful deep drawers. I bet you have to pinch yourself to see if it's all real! Enjoy!

Meant to also say that I think your old cabs and our old cabs were sisters or cousins or something! LOL

Your kitchen looks so sleek and modern! Love the b/s and floors. Great job!

Is that wallpaper? Very cool.

Ooh, so gorgeous! I love the look of the large BS tile! Cool wallpaper, too!

It looks fabulous! I love the backsplash and the shelf over the window- wish I had thought of that! We are 99.9% done with our kitchen renovation but your bench and table are giving me ideas...my husband is probably going to block GW from my computer soon :)

Enjoy your new kitchen. What a great way to start the year!!

Modern and warm...nice combo. Your storage is awesome, wonderful cabs above the bench...enjoy!

I love it. What a great change. I really love the counters and tile (floors and walls)...also the sink, the wallpaper, the bench and table... :-)

I think we had relatives of your old cabinets in our last house, too.

Very nice! Great choice of colors. I also like the red splashes here and there. I have the same cabs. in two bathrooms. They are beautiful.

Well done, lovely kitchen!

Wow! What a gorgeous space! You pulled all of the details together beautifully, as if you had a professional designer on board. That wallpaper is so cool! I remember several years ago hearing designers say that wallpaper was "out." I've seen some great examples lately so I think done the right way, it can be great. I have a few questions, if you don't mind.

1. Can you tell us about your pulls?

2. Can you post a closer shot of your sink and faucet? I think I remember you picking that faucet. I'd love to see it installed in a real kitchen.

3. Is your bench custom-built? It looks like it matches the cabs perfectly.

4. Is that the same range hood as Cat Mom's? That's the exact sytle I want. Love the look. Are you happy with it? Did you consider any other brands in that style? What made you choose the Faber?

5. Did you design the layout yourself?

TIA!

Your kitchen turned out fantastic. I love the wallpaper and the oversized subways so much. Everything together looks wonderful, good job!

What an awesome transformation!

I really like the modern twist you gave your new kitchen.

Congratulations!

Thanks so much to everyone for your kind words and observations and questions!! I want to mention how annoyed I am that I wrote my post originally in MS Word and copied/pasted here into the gw comment box... and that didn't translate well, so there are funky characters in my OP. Sorry about that! Can we edit here? I don't think so.

mikomum: Thanks! Yeah, the most important thing to me in planning this kitchen reno was to make the most out of every inch of space. The kitchen size is approx 16.8 x 8.5 feet, and we had to keep the eat in nook in there as we do not have a formal dining room.

steph_1: Oh I couldn't wait to come back and show the kitchen! Seriously, I would have made SO many "mistakes" had I not hung around here as much as I did. I learned so much and I wanted to share with you all.

ZacsDaddy: Thanks, glad you like the big subway tiles! I've known for ever that I wanted a glass backsplash. Actually, in my planning, the first thing I found that I was drawn to was the backsplash tile. I bought a sample and carried it around everywhere. We picked the Silestone in Gedatsu in part because we thought it looked great with the BS color. We we going to go with 3x6 all around... but then I saw the 6x12 in the showroom and thought that it would go so much better with all the straight lines. That the 3x6 would be a tad too traditional for the space. I talked husband into the 6x12 in the working area and we went 3x6 over the bench for the smaller space and we're *really* happy with the outcome.

laxsupermom: Glad you like the transformation! It's a dream come true! I found this wallpaper in a magazine. I already knew I wanted to have a focal wall as we decided not to hang any pendant lights and felt the space might be a little bare. Originally I wanted to go with the same design wallpaper but in a completely different color. Here's a pic of my original "design board"

I thought we were going to go with the orange for a while in the planning, then decided against it, then for a second decided against wallpaper all together. Once we made up our minds to do the wallpaper the time came to order it, and I ordered the wrong color, which is what we have hanging! But I'm glad because although I do love the orange and it would have brought a dramatic touch of color to the kitchen, I fear I may have tired of it quickly.
BTW, you can't really see it in the picture of my kitchen but the wallpaper we went with is shiny, or better put, iridescent. I put the info on where the wallpaper is from in my OP, if anybody is interested!

nancy_in_mich: Aw thanks! I'd love to see your finished kitchen! is it in the FKB? Can you send me a link?

dianalo: I'm so glad you like it! I'm a fella Long Islander. I wanted to make the style something we'd love but not too crazy for the old 1926 Capecod in a somewhat conservative neighborhood. And although form is very important to me, we desperately needed function in this somewhat small space. I'm glad we were able to achieve both!

cat_mom: HAHA, omg, the old cabs... I didn't post a pic of this yesterday but I will now:

The undersink cab was totally rotting. We moved into this house 12.5 years ago and these cabs literally smelled bad back then. They stunk! Isn't that weird? And all we had in the base cabs were doors with shelves that were only half the size of the cabs. it was a nightmare. So glad it's over! Thank you cat_mom, again, for the great emails, and for your insight. And yes, the wallpaper makes me smile every day!

jakeabedy: I'm happy you feel the contemporary style doesn't feel out of place in the old 1926 cape, which doesn't really have any major architectural details but is still old feeling on the inside. This is something I tried really hard to make sure would be the case! I went for pulls on the drawers but knobs on the upper cabs in part for this very reason. I thought the knobs would bring in an old time homey kind of feel to the room that would compliment the house, but I choose knobs that I think would fit in quite well in a MCM kitchen design and look good with the slab cabs. And the glass fronted cabs are reeded, (which you can't really see well in my OP), and I think they kinda make sense with the home too... let me post a pic now...

And I'm glad you like the wallpaper!

blfenton: Thank you, yes, clean lines is what I absolutely insisted on in every detail I chose. I screwed up a tiny bit with the microwave kit. I didn't realize the kit style has changed. It used to be straight and had vent slats in the top... and I don't know how I didn't realize in the appliance store it was a new style, but I did not see it. Anyway, the top of the new kit is slightly rounded on the top. No biggie. It's fine. The few times my husband went out shopping with me were fun/interesting times, because whenever a saleperson tried to show me something that was not straight I wasn't having it. "Oh no, sorry, it has to be straight." "Ohhh, I like it! BUT, the corners are curved, sorry!" etc. DH was like, "Honey, you're being silly"! But I know I want everything straight! That's what I want!! Is that so wrong? :)
As for the slab doors, no, I wasn't nervous. We did the glass doors over the bench and on the 3 stacked flip up doors to break up the slab in the room a little. We really love the slab! And, the fridge is great! If we didn't insist on storing so many different kinds of beers in there we'd have way more room, haha!

sharonite: Thank you! It's funny, the one thing I sometimes wondered/worried about before the backsplash went in was, will the 12x24 subway floor and 6x12 backsplash be TOO much large format subway design in the room? Should one be different than the other? But it turned out great and we're really happy with it. The table and chairs are leftovers from the old kitchen. We're looking around for a new table and chairs but the oldies actually fit in well with the space. They're from Crate and Barrel. The set came with 4 chairs: green, natural wood, red and orange. The 2 in the pic are red and orange. I do not know if C&B has them anymore, we got them several years ago.

javachick, flowrs n co, abananie, gsciencechick: thanks for the kind words!

njmamma: Thanks! The shelf was a great idea the cabinet designer came up with. We have 2 "soffitts" on either side of the window. The left one we were able to cover with a piece of thin board that matches the cabs. The right side is still exposed. The shelf was created as a way to perhaps showcase vases and such, as a way to take the eyes away from the remaining soffit. I kinda wish we tiled all the way up above the shelf, but, that BS tile was crazy expensive so we had to say no to that idea. I want to put bigger pieces up on the shelf, and maybe a nice spider plant or something.

dar5, rhomr410, rockybird, petra66: Very nice of you to take a look and well I'm just so pleased everyone is loving the same things I love about the new kitchen! Thank you!
rockybird... my old dream was a red kitchen. Red cabs, or a red Bluestar, or something really RED. But as the years went on I decided I may just want to do a neutral color scheme w/ SS appliances that can be changed from time to time with random bursts of colors via accessories or perhaps paint. So that's the main reason I kept the kitchen so neutral but currently am punching it up with the red stuff. :)

breezygirl: WOW, your words are very nice to read. I didn't have a professional designer. We did use an amazing company for the cabinets and cabinet design, but everything else planned myself. We picked out the cabinets first. Then I found the backsplash tile. Then we picked Gedatsu as the counter color, then I went and found the floor. And the wallpaper came last. That was the order in which I picked everything out. As for the wallpaper, I see a lot of it in contemporary design, and I know there are many independent designers out there making amazing, organic designs. That is what I had in mind when I was searching for my wallpaper. I really wanted that back wall in the nook to have something... a texture, or a design. Not just be a plain painted wall. THE PULLS are from topknobs. I believe the pulls and knobs are both from the Nouveau2 collection. I can't seem to find the paperwork for them... but if you search on topknobs you will find them. I've seen a couple of other kitchens here on gw with the same pulls! SINK AND FAUCET: You're right, I did post about the faucet while I was trying to pick one out! It was the very first faucet that I felt I really liked and my husband concurred, so we went with it! My camera battery is charging now, I will take a pic of sink and faucet when it is ready! BENCH: I guess you can say it it custom built. Woodmode is a custom cabinet co. Brookhaven is their semi-custom offshoot. So they did bring the bench in in many pieces and build it on site at my house! I remember being very impressed with Dennis, the cabinet installer, the day he built that bench. The bench is 90" long, has 3 30" base drawers and 3 30" upper cabinets. RANGE HOOD: I don't think cat_mom has a Farber, but the style is the same. I had already picked out most of my stuff before I discovered cat_moms kitchen. We have a lot of the same ideas! The range hood was something I did not want to spend a ton of time obsessing over. One very important thing I learned here at GW is to go 6 inches bigger than the size of the range, if at all possible. I was all set to get a 30" hood to match the 30" wolf simply because the sales lady at the appliance store said that is the way to go. I did some research here and found most people recommended going 6 inches bigger with the hood. I'm sure it is fine to match the sizes, but the Wolf does put off a lot of heat and smoke so a bigger capture area is important. Also, i do like the way it looks with the hood being bigger than the range. So I didn't want to totally stress out about the hood itself and I told the sales woman what style I was thinking about. She brought out a couple of different brochures and Farber was one of them. I saw the STILO and said that's the one. It's plain but chunky and stylish. And I thought it'd go great with the Wolf. Instead of the island vent on the Wolf I went with the 5" riser, and I like how the vents in the riser compliment the vents (slats?) in the bottom of the hood. I love the hood, we've never had ventilation! Used to smell dinner for 3 days! Now, we don't smell a thing. The hood is relatively quiet on 1, starts getting a little loud on 2 and is really loud on 3. We never use 3 and rarely use 2 so it's all good. I hear that may have to do with the duct size and installation so we can't blame Farber. Anyway, it is a gorgeous hood and we're very pleased with it. I didn't really consider any other brands. Some were cheaper, some were more expensive. I liked the STILO and the specs were what we thought we'd need for the Wolf. LAYOUT: I did not design the original layout myself. I used KEN KELLY KITCHEN DESIGNS in Williston Park, NY to purchase the cabinets and design. Mario was my designer. I went in there with a bad sketch and measurements and told him my design tastes and some of my wants and he whipped up a rough idea in about 10 minutes. I already knew I wanted to move everything around and change the order of the room but my husband was not yet onboard with my vision. When Mario came up with the same idea DH was like WOW, you were right, this is a great idea, I'm down! So we stuck with Mario and the basic original plan, tweaking things along the way as I decided what I really wanted. I highly recommend Ken Kelly Kitchen Designs and Mario. Also would like to give special thanks to Eddie (The expediter), Dennis (the cabinet installer) and Geri (Eddies assistant). They're a wonderful team to work with. They make themselves totally available to you, return calls, answer all questions and are just very nice people to work with. And, they're extremely talented individuals!

maggie and doonie, thank you. And thanks to everyone here on gw! I learned so much and it is so nice to have a group of TKOs to hang out with in cyber space! Now that my kitchen is complete I still find myself here every day. xoxo, E

To answer the ques re: our hood, it is a Pando, not a Farber like hellonasty's. We've heard via another GW'er that Pando hoods are no longer available in the US.

Ours looks nice, and is pretty quiet, esp on lower speeds, but were we to do it again (DH says someday we will) we wouldn't choose this one again. It was expensive, it's not as powerful/effective as it could or should be for our range, and in hindsight, we probably should have gone wider as well (though I'd miss the cab space).

Glad your Farber keeps your house smelling fresh and clean (unlike your old cabs apparently!).

Outstanding job hellonasty!

We are about 95% complete ourselves, and were just discussing 6 x 12 glass subways as an option for a large expanse of backsplash above the cooktop and surrounding the vent hood. Your backsplash looks awesome! Is there a website where we can find color choices from CANCOS tile? I couldn't find the 6 x 12's on their homepage.

Also, we abandoned a plan to do a feature wall in wallpaper... your beautiful kitchen has inspired us to reconsider!

Thanks, Thynes.

I don't know about a CANCOS website. I know they have the tile I bought in the showrooms in Rockville Centre and Merrick. Are you on Long Island, too?

Thanks for responding hellonasty. We are in eastern Canada, where very few showrooms have cool tiles on display. Again, your kitchen confirms that large glass subways make a gorgeous backsplash!

I love what you did with your kitchen - I really like the light on light coloor combination and love your backsplash choice. I imagine the space feels very open, soothing and fresh to be in. Great job!

hi hellonasty...

Love your choices...especially your counters and backsplash. Very NICE!

KA:)

Beautiful!!! I love the backsplash and how it all came together so well!!

LOL Cat Mom, it was me who sought out your Pando hood! I knew I knew something about Hello's hood when I asked about it! It wasn't Cat Moms. Anyway, thanks for all the details and info. I thought I had seen those bar pulls before. I'd love a pic of your faucet if you get the chance. Thanks again!

breezygirl, here are the pics of the JADO Coriander Pulldown faucet. And a shot of the kitchen.

thynes,

I just called Cancos for you and asked them if they have a website that shows the Mirage 6x12 glass tiles and they said no, they don't. I asked if they ship to Canada and they said they can arrange for shipment via an outside freighting company.

My guess is that it would probably be better for you to find a Canadian company, or an American co that doesn't have a problem shipping to Canada. With a 10% discount, I paid $28US per sq. foot for the tile, so I can only imagine the outside freighting company would add a significant charge to the order.

If you, however, are still interested, I found a picture on my cellphone of the tile board in the shop (I was obsessed with this kitchen Reno planning!!!). She said you can buy samples of the tile if you like them and want to see them.

My BS tile is the whitish 3x6 sample in the middle on the left of the board. If I'm correct, you can have any color on this board made into any size they offer. They're special order tiles, they can't be returned once ordered and received. I guess that's partly why they're expensive. Anyway, I hope this helps you!! ~E

bumping for breezygirl and thynes

Wow - what a great transformation! Everything goes together so well. Enjoy.

If it is possible to describe a kitchen as a calm, serene, and soothing space, this is it. I love the colors, the textures, the lighting, the layout, etc. Great job!

hellonasty--can't find your email address, didn't want to hijack, but wanted to let you know that I finally posted the finished bathrooms over in the Bathroom forum.

Thanks for following up with Cancos hellonasty, and for bumping this thread! How very thoughtful of you. I have since been speaking with a Canadian dealer of Walker Zanger tiles and will definitely look into their selection of oversized glass subways. If our backsplash works out half as well as yours, I'll be ecstatic!

Glad to help, thynes. I'm sure you'll find something closer to home, just keep looking and don't give up! Can't wait to see your finished kitchen!

cat_mom, will take a look!

thanks bostonpam and louisianapurchase! I do love being in the new kitchen, much better than the old one :)

It looks FAB! Love your counters, floor, and backsplash to single out a few. You did a wonderful job! It is open and airy, yet sleek and stylish!

Great job! I bet you are totally enjoying THIS transformation!

We had original matching kitchens although your cabs were a bit worse than mine. A BIT. And I was happy to see another wallpaper fan. It can do so much but hardly anyone here will even consider it.

I especially like that bench with the shelf and cabs above it. Our layouts and sizes are very similar. I had space for either a booth or a nearly floor to ceiling space for micro/toaster oven/cookie sheet/roaster/cookbook storage. I chose the storage. Now that I've seen your bench........

Thnx shelayne! We are enjoying it so very much!

pinch_me: We do not miss that old kitchen one bit! hehe.
As for the eat in nook, I would have love to use the space for more storage, a wet bar, a baking area, etc... but we have no formal dining room in the house, at all. I get tired of eating on TV trays in the living room. And the wallpaper, I love it! It's very calming, and doesn't stand out much.

Hi, been a way a while and I just saw your response. I am the one with a similar color palate. Here is my kitchen. My cabs are 23 years old. We got them at Green Demolitions in Connecticut. I sanded, re-stained and DH polyurethaned them all. Our contractor put new veneer on where the cabs were grungy. But our cab colors are very similar. My counter color is Wilsonart Luna Crest laminate. It is a taupe/brown color, but darker than yours. Again, similar color but very different look than your solid surface. My backsplash has to wait until spring. There is no way I am going to learn to use a wet saw outside in the dead of winter! We will have a matte ceramic tile color called "fawn" with a deco tile pattern in granite 2/3rds of the way up the wall. My field tile leans more toward the beige of the cabinets, where yours leans more toward the taupe of the counter.

Here, I will plop you down at the end of my photo album, where the kitchen is all coming together. Just keep going forward and you will see it all. You will notice one cupboard door missing. It turns out that the contractor had it at his shop. I cannot stain it until it gets warm outside, so it has not been refinished yet.

Here is a link that might be useful: My new kitchen with used cabs we refinished.

Thanks, Nancy!

Our colors are very similar, yes. So you are going with the ceramic tile, and not the glass? In your pics, the glass tiles are brighter on the edges just like mine were before installation. I guess it's because light comes in thru the front and back and shoots out the sides, for lack of a better way to explain it. Once installed, the glass backsplash looked a tad different than I thought it would. I thought it was going to be closer to white or off white, like the individual uninstalled tiles appeared. Instead, it looks almost grey. But also, I guess I have to consider the fact that the wall of glass tiles is picking up the reflections of the dark countertop and floor? I don't know what it is and it was never cause for any upset feelings, we love it! And think it works just beautifully. Just thought it'd be a tad lighter/off white. Just goes to show you, you never know what all the individual elements you picked out are going to look like until they're all up together!

Good thinking on waiting to try and tackle the wet saw project. I'm always envious and proud of DIY folks. I'd love to try a project one day. Learning how to use the wet saw must be a lil scary. Also, those tiles can be pricey.

Your cabinets are so cool! And we have the same reeded glass!! Thanks again for posting the link :) ~E