It started with a pendant... well not really, it's starting with a house. Here goes:

Hello GardenWeb,

I'm considering combining the following elements to create a kitchen where my family (one who is a GardenWeb reader who nudged me to join!) and friends and I will love cooking in and hanging out nearby.

Practical needs: As many drawers and organizational aids as possible

Design wishes: I don't know exactly how to describe what design these elements below create, but these are what I'm drawn to.

Colors I'm drawn to:

Walnut / brown, silver, gold, cream, white

Style I'm drawn to:

In terms of cabinet doors, traditional. From all else I've read, transitional might apply.

Pendant is what I'm most excited about. It will be the smaller version of this picture from the store:

I love how there's both silver and gold in the pendant mesh, and also the geometric nature of the grid you can see when you get close.

Next thing I'm most excited about are the cabinets: Ikea's Liljestad Dark Brown lowers, with the same in with the glass doors mostly in the uppers.

I'm interested in Ikea for the price and the organization possibilities, and they happen to have a color that I like.

Next 2 things I most like about the kitchen are the faucet and the hood. The curve in the front of the Faber Tender hood echo the curve in the Moen Bouquet faucet handle.

I've been undecided about the range, but if I had to order right now I'd order the Sharp Insight KB-4425, the slide-in version with both a microwave drawer and oven in the lower part.

The fridge I'm seriously considering is the Samsung RFG297AARS.

Dishwasher:

Kenmore Pro - seems to be the quietest in its $$ class and read good feedback on its cleaning ability.

Countertop:

From everything I've read and heard, white corian would be a bear to clean longer term, and I've never been crazy about corian.

I'm looking for a granite that has a base of white in it to be high contrast with the dark brown. My guess is the more white the better. After that, ideal would be flecks of silver + gold + brown.

Backsplash:

Either the granite itself

or

Subway tile in a color that matches one of the lightest colors in the slab

or

a very light mosaic

Sink:

Something very big in stainless. Given the entire kitchen and counter is very open to the den, I want a big sink to be able to push all the dishes into that I don't clean before heading out to the porch.

Those are the components. Here is what they are going into. ( I am a beginner w/ the Ikea software. My intent is for there to be a fridge left side panel and a panel on the right of the dishwasher, even though that doesn't show. I just joined IkeaFans (as BrescianLute - same user name).

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Questions:

General feedback?

What to do with the back of the peninsula that is very visible to the den?

Granite suggestions?

What I'd like to have most that this kitchen does not support is a small eat-in table for 2 people.

My idea for that so far is via an elevated "Starbucks table" off the end of the peninsula.

The orientation of the circle is all wrong in my pic below. But the idea is something small and round and elevated with those metal stainless cylinders. What size do you think would be best for that peninsula?

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Planning Photobucket album