WOW and WOW!!! Love that you used your trees for you floor. How special for you special new home. Love how it all came together.

Can you please share what hardware you used and what size?

Enjoy!!!!

Looks beautiful! Great job! Enjoy it in good health!

Just beautiful! Restrained, elegant, warm. Love the library ladder and the rails. Your attention to detail is obvious in the cabinetry. How high are your ceilings?

Would love to see the rest of your new house. Would you share?

Just lovely. I especially like the upper cabinets and the colors are so peaceful. What a great job. Enjoy.

mmmhmmmgood, I love my Kohler stages sink. It is one of my favorite things in the kitchen. I really cook, and it is very functional - a real workhorse. As a surprise bonus, the metal grid for the sink also fits my Ikea sink.

bodhi, here is a photo I took to show the backsplash detail under the windows at the sink.

jentrex, everyone told me it could not be done. I couldn't bear the thought of a stand of white oaks that had grown up straight and tall in a forest setting with the first limb 50 feet off of the ground going to a landfill. No "green building" program gives you "points" for such a thing, but it just ain't right! I contacted the folks at Woodmizer, who make portable sawmills and asked them who their customers were in the Atlanta area. One of those people had a whole business set up to do just what I wanted. He came and marked the trees according to the lengths he wanted, had the logs transported, sawed them up, let them cure, put them through a kiln, and then sent them to a mill to have the tongue and groove put on them. It can be done! I'll add the link to my blog entry going into more detail about the process below. Good luck wih it!

Gardenamy, I used primarily Amerock's weathered nickel knobs and pulls. For the dishwashers and large drawers, I used a 6" pull and 3" for the smaller drawers. On the fridge/freezer/coffee bar, I used antique door handles on the fridge and freezer and nickel cup pulls (not Amerock but the name escapes me - I know they were $30 each retail, and were supposed to be something quite fine). I hope that helps

Here is a link that might be useful: trees to floors - the beginning

Awesome job! Add me to the list of admirers re: your flooring!!!

Sayde, thanks for the kind words. Below is a tour on my blog just before moving day.

Here is a link that might be useful: Take a tour

Whoa, Buckheadhillbilly! Your kitchen is just gorgeous! Of course, the rest of your house is just as beautiful.

Do you mind if I ask your island dimensions? Your stone looks stunning. I've just about given up on finding a slab for our 6ft by 7ft island. Everything I like is too narrow. I even had Dorado ship a soapstone slab to me that they swore on all that's holy was large enough. Once it arrived, a glance showed that they never bothered to put a tape measure to it.

Nutherokie, My island was meant to be 6'x 8' but when I found a slab of Virginia Mist that could do the whole island, we couldn't quite eek out those dimensions. I lost 2" on one side and 4" on the other. We tweaked the island arrangement a bit. I think I lost a cabinet in the process, but it was worth it. A friend of mine advised me that having an island that size was like having a Buick parked in your kitchen. She is right, but I don't mind. I love having all the counter space. Laying out a buffet for 50 is a cinch. Good luck in your slab quest.

Sadye, I didn't answer your question about ceiling height. The ceilings are about 11' 8". If you look at the range wall, you can see the transition from 10' ceilings. It is just attic space above, so there was no reason not to do it, and it's such a big room that the extra height. makes it feel very light and airy. My archtitects have a great feel for proportion. I think they were right on the money with the ceiling height.

"Wow," she wistfully said.
How lovely and serene.

I love your yellow, your floors, your library ladder!

My ceilings are ranch 8' (when I'm lucky) and although I can't reach much towards 7', the ladder idea isn't one that would work in my in-progress kitchen. I just love the cleverness.

Thank you for showing another wonderful, dream kitchen.

It's beautiful!

Just beautiful! Especially love how you did the upper cabinets. Enjoy your gorgeous new kitchen!

Have a question for you. What do you do with your library ladder when it isn't in use?

Love the layout, and was wondering what the bars between the uppers and the stacked cabs were... then I saw it. Your ladder is great! I especially love that it's DIY and the floors came from your trees. We have woodwork and island top from ours... Would've loved to have floors, too!

Is the ladder difficult to move around or a pain to have always in the kitchen, covering up some cabinet or another? I've always wondered that about those types of ladders in kitchens.

Also, how is it to have 2 different dishwashers? We had 2 different brands once, and I hated one while really liking the other, so it was frustrating. Do you end up only using the one you like best?

A wonderful kitchen and very nice job. -- I still just want to come and feel your floors... The simple tung oil finish does them justice nicely.

Everything is beautiful! Your floors look amazing, and so much more special because of the story behind them!

Ooooooh - it is Beautiful! Sunny and warm. Love it! Enjoy your beautiful new kitchen!! :)

buckheadhillbilly, thanks for the link to your house! I love so many things about it -- the wonderful enfilade of rooms (what you called the magazine shot), the library, the grilling deck (BGE fan here too!), the great views out the windows -- and your attention to detail everywhere. Loved seeing your kitchen at work. The scale of your house and the detail suggest that budget was not an issue and you could have chosen anything, and yet you had the good taste and restraint to keep the materials and appliance choices at the right level to enhance the feeling of the house. Congratulations!

Rhome, take a bow. If memory serves, it was you who tweaked my layout two years ago, convincing me to move the fridge across the kitchen to be closer to the range and to put a sink in the corner of the island. I had to (as my country builder says) "kindly digest" that for a while, but I saw the wisdom in it. I must say I just love it.

Regarding the dishwashers, it was happenstance that I ended up with two different brands. I happened upon a Miele display from an appliance store at the local Habitat Restore. It was a little out of place there, and I was dubious, but I took my builder down and he pointed out that the dishwasher had never been used. I nabbed it and the warming drawer for about 30% of the retail price. I hadn't intended to get anything quite so fine, but I love it. The Miele actually holds more that the kitchen aid, which surprised me. The kitchen aid isn't as thoughtfully laid out: there is more space between the tines on the lower rack and the cutlery tray at the top sacrifices function at the altar of form: the cute curves and swishes make the slots for my knives and forks too short and I have to place them at an angle. But it cleans the dishes really well. I hadn't intended to get the top of the line kitchen aid, but my builder had it and it didn't work in his kitchen. He had inset cabinets and the kitchen aid was 2" too deep for them. Since I have a bumpout, it's not a problem for me. He was delighted to sell it to me, but I really beat him up on the price!

For those who asked about the library ladder, it normally lives in the living room. It was a design feaure there, and along the process of adapting the plan I had to idea to put rails in the kitchen so that I could bring the ladder in when I needed to access the display cabinets above. Here's a shot I took before the ladder was finished showing where it normally lives.

Thanks to everyone for the good wishes and kind words. The kitchen is very well thought out, thanks to all the wisdom gleaned here. It functions beautifully!

Beautifully done! I have island envy...would love to have a giant island like that.

Cabinetry is stunning. I like that you did NOT do any pendant lights. Nothing obstructing the lofty, light-filled space.

Enjoy!

Wow, I clipped your post! It is magnificent. I LOVE the cabinets. I love the brackets under them, as well.
I was drawn right to your library ladder; I am in love with libraries and it is awesome that you can use it in your library AND kitchen...great thinking.

The whole kitchen is so peaceful and pretty. But I have to say, the most wonderful part, for me, is the floors and the story behind them. It is so awesome that I want to go tell people about it! Such creative thinking; such a wonderful way to honor the land you are now living on! Did you do the whole house in that wood?

I like it very much. That is a pretty shade of yellow on the walls.

I love the style and the white shade you chose for your kitchen cabinets. I love your floors! I love the crown molding and the island. You now have a beautiful kitchen that you will enjoy for years. Thanks for sharing.

Wow. So beautiful. I am just starting out and I really need to ask about your sink in the island. What is it? Is that a cutting board that slides over the sink? what is on the other side when it is covering the sink? I feel out of touch really asking this question, but I am so intrigued. I love that it is built in. thank you for any explanations. I appreciate it.

Lovely kitchen! Love the library ladder and the honed countertops are beautiful. I'm so impressed with the lengths you went to to find someone to salvage the trees into your flooring, they are beautiful and even more beautiful in that they are from your property and weren't scrapped :)

Enjoy!

Lovely, lovely, lovely! You did a wonderful job. Your floors are superb. It is a space that would be a pleasure to cook in. Enjoy!

amazing!

Oh, it turned out so lovely! You must be so happy! Your cabinets are absolutely gorgeous...what great detail. I also think it is so special that your floorboards are from your land. Details like that make a house a home. Enjoy!

Wow! Wow, wow, wow!

As I was looking at each picture in turn I saw something I loved, only to be replaced by something else in the next pic (the range with backguard and pot filler; gorgeous sink, the corbels below your uppers, etc, etc, etc) ... then it got too hard to remember everything because it ALL so stunning.

Congratulations on such a lovely space, it turned out amazing!

Buckhead:
Thank you for the info about milling trees.
Your home is gorgeous. I've bookmarked your blog.

Lovely! Love the small touches that make it seem so cozy and comfy!

Beautiful!! If a white kitchen was practical for me (unfortunately it's not), THIS is the look I would be trying to get!

Do you know what the size of your island is?

Very, very beautiful and special kitchen! Where are the counter stools from?

I love your kitchen, and everything else about your beautiful house. Quick question - when choosing your kitchen paint, how did you know to remove the black, and what does it do to the color? I guess I wouldn't have thought of it. Thanks!

your kitchen is so bright and beautiful! the island is huge and gorgeous! love the window

eileen1217, the sink is a Kohler stages sink. It does, indeed, have a cutting board that slides over it. It has all sorts of neat accessories. I absolutely love it!

nikkidan, the island is just shy of 6'x 8'.

dmlinparadise, the stools are from the kitchen of the house I grew up in. My dad made them as prototypes for a furniture factory he owned. I'd give my eye teeth for two more just like them.

LakeGirl, paint colors are so tricky! The windows in the kitchen face north which makes for gray light and my quartzite is pretty gray. So, I knew that I wanted to bring a little sunshine in the room with a buttery yellow. I was setting myself up for tought paint choices. I had thought I wanted stark white cabinets, but the softer cream had a much nicer feel. The SW Creamy White was the best with both granite and yellow wall, but it read a little dark and dingy. So, I saw that there was black in the formula, realized that removing the black wouldn't change the color, so I ordered a gallon with the black removed and voila! It was a winner. I used it for the trim throughout the house.

Knew those stools were special!

Thanks for the color tip, great advice! Do the cabinets read white (or more cream), even though they are not stark white? (I'm in the Atlanta area, so I'll just be moving the family in, if that's ok :)

How Fabulous!

It is so bright and sunny and just a happy, happy space! Love all the thoughtful details--the library ladder is so cool! Your floors are just beautiful!

Congratulations and happy cooking!

Beautiful & functional kitchen. You did really good, enjoy!

Very pretty! I love the floor story. The paint colors are so nice and warm. Great job! Enjoy the new house!

Very interesting that you had the quartzite honed! It looks identical to our quartzite (which we LOVE) and doesn't etch, mark or have any problems at all.
How does it hold up honed? Equally as impervious to everything?

Love the floors and that you had them made from your own wood. What a fabulous feature!! Also jealous of the huge island - lovely!

Well, I knew I liked your layout! ;-D I'm glad you're happy with the changes. I'm always afraid someone will be gritting their teeth and hating the things I 'insisted' they'd love.

I wish I'd seen your ladder and it's original shelves before we built our new bookshelf units. I may have to get my dh onto a retrofit...

Here is a link that might be useful: My too tall to reach the top bookshelves

Beautiful, absolutely beautiful! I am loving your library ladder. My husband said that we need to get one fitted for our kitchen since I'm a shorty and he isn't always home to help me "reach" items in our uppers :)

LakeGirl, the cabinets read ~soft~? Look at the picture with the library ladder. The sink and the fish platter are stark white. You can definitely see the difference between the cabinet color and the sink color. Can you see how the sink makes the counter look really gray and the wall look really yellow? The Creamy White just sort of softens the hues. So, I'm not sure how to answer your question. Yes, but no, not really. They mainly just look old in a well cared for sort of way.

Another thing I will say about the creamy white as a trim color is that it seems to work with antiques and oriental rugs better than a stark white would.

Hobokenkitchen, I love the honed quartzite. It is absolutely bulletproof. I didn't want any shiny surfaces, and to me the whites in the stone came out more when it ws honed. The honed Virginia Mist on the island is a little more tempermental. If you lay a stick of butter on it to soften, you will have a darker spot the shape of the stick of butter. It sops up oil. However, having had a few big parties over the holidays, with gravy, flaming baked alaskas, and whiskey sours christening it, all stains just become part of the story. A good scrub with a dishsoap and a scrubby sponge mellows the marks.

For those hankering after a library ladder.My cabinet maker (Gary Luke at The Town Carpenter) made the ladder for me. He bought the hardware kit from the outfit linked below and used my flooring. He made sure to get an adjustable roller connection at the top, because the height needed for the bookshelf was different than the height neeeded to clear the counters on the lower cabinet.

Here is a link that might be useful: rolling library ladder

Anyway you could give me a ballpark on what you paid per square foot for the counter tops? I love love love them!! I am planning on doing the honed jet mist on the perimeter and hopefully I can find some quartzite like yours for our island. We are building in NW FL so prices should be close. I have looked at your blog over and over as we have been building and you have a stunning home!

Thank you

dhuston, thanks for the compliments. I'm afraid that the price I paid for the granite and quartzite aren't representative. I was building right on the steepest part of the economic decline. Most suppliers had excess inventory and were trying to liquidate it. Some folks were buying out other folks and we were able to cut some real deals. By the end of the build, suppliers had sold off the excess inventory and we had to wait on materials, because they didn't keep much in stock. I think I paid between $30 and $40 per square foot. Of course my job was pretty easy. I don't have any seams except for one tiny seam at the back of my wash up sink. Below is a link to my blog post on the templating process.

Here is a link that might be useful: granite templating

farmhouse girl just asked about my floors which made me realize that I probably didn't put the best link. Or at least I should have posted part 2. So here it is:

Here is a link that might be useful: trees to floors part 2

And the process by which the trees need to be felled without bruising the wood might also be of interest. I need to go back and put tags on the blog entries!

Here is a link that might be useful: trees to floors part 0

I love your house. Your architect must be really good., because your house is stunning.

buckheadhillbilly - did you use the SW creamy white (w/o black) on all the trim in the house, and what sheen is it (semi, high, satin)? Thanks!

Lake Girl, Sorry for the delay. I just now saw your post. Yes, I used SW creamy white on the trim throughout the house in semi gloss. I did, however, use another white in the black and white bathrooms and the master bathroom where the creamy didn't work as well. The walls are eggshell.