I love it! I agree, absolutely stunning!!!!

Cotehele - I must admit I'm jealous....... and your kitchen beats the heck out of my snow kitchen!

Teresa

Oh goodness, Cohetele, that's a beautiful kitchen.

Annie

Thanks everyone.

Teresa, one of my most treasured memories is playing with my son in the snow when he was young. He made snow kitchens more often than anything else. I see he was in good company!

Judy

I've fallen in love with many kitchens on this thread, but Judy you just knocked it out of the park for me no doubt. Only issue, I'd be afraid to drop a crumb. I'd need either a staff or a working kitchen back in the shed! Gorgeous.

Oh my Judy, is your kitchen beautiful. All the kitchens that have been posted are great. Someone said, "you don't need a big beautiful kitchen to turn out great food" but it might make the process more fun.

I took pictures of my kitchen before I left Michigan but haven't downloaded them to this new laptop. There are so many on my camera I'm afraid I'll crash if I download all of them. I don't know how to do it singlely. Anyway, my kitchen is nothing special compared to many.

Karen

FOAS, you would laugh if you saw my kitchen not prepped for pictures!

Karen, I agree, it is making great food that is the joy for me. I loved cooking in the awful old kitchen, too. I enjoy reading about your travels and making new friends. I can't wait to see your kitchen.

Judy

This is where my magic happens. Pretty much the hub of the house. The first picture is old but the kitchen remains the same except for a few decorative changes.

I love my back to back sinks. I can turn around from the stove top and I have water in hand. The larger sink has the dishwasher next to it.

This is a great thread. I love all of your kitchens!!

Here are some of my kitchen...
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Today I started at the bottom of this thread to catchup so I saw RiverRat's kitchen before I saw her name. I knew it was her kitchen as it has been ingrained in my head since I fell in love with in on a visit years ago. She forgot to mention that her butler's pantry is almost as big...I have pictures to prove it!

I haven't told her yet but I've been planning to solicit her ideas for my kitchen makeover when she comes to visit next month.

Karen- your kitchen is as warm and wonder as you are!

Cathy, I can't wait to see you and your kitchen! Remember when Peppi, May, Sherry and you were all cooking in my kitchen. Such good memories. Fa Do Do Camp was fun!

Thank you Ellen. The kitchen really is the hub of the house and we can have at least 4-5 butts in the kitchen! LOL! We try to do that as often as we can.

David, I would love to cook in your kitchen!

You all have lovely kitchens. Wouldn't it be fun to design kitchens for a living?

Wow some truly amazing kitchens...just saw this thread for the first time today.

But it did make me realize something....my late mother lived in the kitchen...it was her favorite place to be and she was an amazing cook....but the kitchen in our 1930's stone house in upstate NY was maybe 10x10 and that's being generous...no fancy appliances...no dishwasher (well except for Dad!), no food processor, I think the fanciest thing she had was a Sunbeam mixer probably from the 50's...used it till she passed away in 2004.

On the contrary, my boss's wife has a kitchen that resembles the one posted by "Cotehele"...but believe me she cannot even boil an egg. Every "event" at their house is professionally catered...even if it's only 15-20 people.

So trust me...the kitchen DOES NOT make the cook....just makes her look better standing in it.

mkroopy - You're right, a nicer kitchen doesn't make you a better cook, any more than a nicer bathroom makes you take a better dump. Can make it more enjoyable though. ;-)

Riverrat, I love your kitchen. Would you show us your butler's pantry, too?

I still love looking at kitchens five years after our remodel. And my kitchen still gives me pleasure every time I walk in. Here are a couple of views:

Yes I will as soon as I get my Hobart back and running.

Here are a few of my new kitchen. I quick took pictures while it was empty. Shortly afterwards, it was filled with 15 people.

country gal - is that green cookie jar a piece of depression glass?

teresa - The green jar in the middle photo is from Miles Kimball - Depression style biscuit jar. The green one in the bottom photo is Anchor Hocking Sandwich Glass.

I can't get over how stunning these kitchens are!!! They are just to die for!
Joann

countrygal............do you have TWO islands????????

Life is so unfair! LOL

Teresa

Shoot, I'm just getting little squares in Countrygal and Riverrat's posts! No pics.

Teresa, to add insult to injury...RiverRat also has 2 islands.

Country gal, I like those side by side islands and your baking center a lot.

Adoptedbygreyhounds, I really like that counter top too, the white stuff.

See, I'm just keeping all these ideas for the time when we really do build our own house...

Annie

Thanks for pointing that out mustangs. Now life seems twice as unfair!

Just kidding of course! I have a small kitchen - zero islands - but I have really be blessed in my life. I learned today that I am about to be a great aunt for the NINTH time!

But really - if the greats came over who's kitchen do you think they would want to play in........the one with two islands or the one built of snow? :-)

annie - my old kitchen had orange countertop just like yours.

I forgot to add, I've been in my kitchen about 10 months and it is wonderful to work in. I have 5 children, 3 married and 6 grandkids. There is only 4 of us living here, but it is filled with people frequently. Not only two islands, but 3 sinks (actually 4 because one is a double), but we used them all during canning season when the daughters and daughters-in-laws and I were all in the kitchen. My kitchen was VERY small before and we couldn't work in the kitchen together. This has been wonderful. Oh and did I mention baking with the grandkids (Yes, I thoroughly enjoy my new kitchen) :)

Well my kitchen is small and impractical so I won't post any pictures. OH well these kitchens cost more than my whole house cost me...HAHAHA! I guess I'll just be laughing all the way to the bank as my Mom always said! Smart lady she was!

Cohehele, Thank you for asking to see my BP. I have an old picture of the butlers pantry (daugther has my camera and they are in Colorado) so...this picture is not what my BP look like today. Notice the Pink Flamingos on the shelf...that no longer exists. Ya know when you think something is cute and everyone hears that...well, let's just say everyone sent me a pink flamingo that year. LOL! Lot's of decorative things have changed in this room. When I took this picture we had just finished the remodel and had not finished the wood in this room. This was my old kitchen, that I cooked some really good meals in, and I just loved the kitchen so much that I couldn't stand to get rid of it. So it is now the Butlers Pantry/ Mud Room/ Planting Room/Junk Room. Let's just agree that this BP is an all round easy access from the back of the house!

David (Lakeguy) may kill me for saying this but..I'm thinking about painting this room out. It just doesn't go with the rest of the house any longer...sigh...I do love the wood though! This kitchen had hardwood ceilings and we reused the wood in the new addition. The wood from the ceiling is now the annex into our new bedroom. Pic #2 is the annex. We are so happy that we reused any and all materials from the old house into the new addition

Wow. Some of your kitchens are bigger than my garage!

Sue (cookingrvc), the first time you posted pictures of your beautiful white kitchen, about 12 years ago (and having always wished for a white kitchen myself), I instantly fell in love with it. But your new kitchen looks even more breathtaking! How that's even possible, I don't know.

And Cotehele, if my kitchen looked like yours, I'd probably camp in it during off hours. Masterpiece.

Sol

Cathy, can I have your old kitchen if you redo?

Riverrat, I like your old kitchen, too!! Work room access at the back of the house is very convenient-no traipsing through the house with plants and dirt. I am converting my old kitchen for similar uses. Planning is fun, but I have not settled on one yet. Did you make any changes to the room such as more storage or cubbies for boots and coats?

Sol, thanks. We spend a lot of time in those rooms. We were planning on shutting the rooms off from the rest of the house and dragging a mattress in there during the storm a couple of weeks ago if the power went out. I am sorta sorry it didn't. :-P

Cotehele, we did make lots of changes to the old kitchen. We knocked out the wall between the old kitchen and the dining room to make this room larger. We added two storage closets where the old dining room was, added crown molding and new floor. Then put all the old cabinets back up. Lots of storage for ridiculous things...I have 5 junk drawers in this room ~sigh~. One entire upper double cabinet contains all the different light bulbs we use in the house ~another sigh~. Right next to the BP we converted a bedroom into the laundry room with lots of shelving and workspace for wrapping gifts, holding rarely used cookbooks, plastic ware for large parties, extra paper towel...I had the carpenters measure exactly how much space a large roll of paper towels, trash bags and laundry detergent would take up then had the shelves built accordingly.

We really don't have snow or bad bad weather so I didn't do cubbies. But I do use the lower cabinet, as you walk in from the back door, to store old towels, umbrellas and my outdoor hats and shoes.

I so love your kitchen and if you need any ideas (because I have lot's of them)LOL, I would be glad to give you input if you need it! As soon as I get my camera back, or buy a new one, I'll take more pictures of this space for you.

My bad, it's RiverRat's ginormous laundry room that I have pictures of!

countrygirl, I can't BELIEVE you'd give up those orange counters, LOL. Mine pretty much match.....nothing at all. Sort of like my assortment of appliances. (grin)

Arkansas girl, it didn't stop me from posting. Yeah, I know my kitchen would fit in some of these 4 or 5 times over, but it's all good. It's still a kitchen. And now when I say I don't have storage for one more thing, people will believe me!

RR, I love that ceiling too. I just like wood anyway, better than paint, better than wall paper, better than plaster or drywall or whatever. I like wood the best. Second comes white paint, LOL, I don't really like many colors, especially bright colors, so you know how I feel about those counters...

Annie

LOL Cathy! I reused the space that was already there! It is a nice large space but sometimes that's not so good. I have a real mess in there right now from Christmas...gotta get busy picking that room up.

Annie, So what do you think if I painted that old kitchen out to a nice creamy white? LOL!

annie - Those orange counters got a lot of use for 30 years and mine matched the avocado, orange and gold flowered walls. Just for fun--here are a couple of pictures just before we tore it out.

Riverrat, I'd love your input, thanks! I like your style. Sadly, I have one 13.5'' x 13.5'' room for all you have in your larger (DR-K) space. I have some pieces I want to fit in. I am fairly certain it will end up as two smaller rooms because there would be no style in one large room with stuff lined around the wall. It doesn't all fit and we are looking to keep the cost down anyway. :-) Looking forward to pictures.

Living someplace warm would be heavenly right now. I am envious.

I got here very late and wanted to comment so many times but felt overwhelmed by so many beautiful and interesting kitchens. I loved seeing all of them and did have a couple of favorites.

Here's the entrance to mine, from the dining room:

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen album

Wow... everyones' kitchens are so nice and neat looking. So, instead of showing mine at the current state, I'll share with you when it was just refinished a little over 3 years ago. This was when the countertops have not been overfilled and had a 'clean' look ;o)

First, some history... After living in this home for a few years, I was ready to modify the small kitchen in order to accomodate a wheelchair cook, me. My budget was small so I kept all appliances the same. Besides, they were still in good condition.

I needed more floor cabinets. So, we added a couple cabinets over the breakfast room which enlarged the countertops around the cooktop. All the shelves were modified to pull out. All cabinet doors were replaced to accomodate plexiglasses at 1/2 bottom of floor cabinet doors. The plexiglasses serve as wheelchair bumpers. Besides for look, the granite countertop was done so I could drag hot pots & pans between the sink and cooktop (weak arms). The overall colors was chosen to match with the existing saltillo floor, and to give the kitchen a more cozy look and feel. The old kitchen was all white and brrrr.... cold!

See more of the Before & After photos at Kitchen forum, the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Before and After Pics of Refaced Kitchen

Ntt, I love the picture you have with the caption "This is what happens when you drink 'n drive in the house ;o)" and I was very interested in how you make your kitchen wheelchair compatible. When I was studying interior design, I interviewed a woman who had taught me in high school who had had a special house built for her that was wheelchair friendly - and it was across the street from the school. I noticed that you still have a lot of upper cabinets, which surprised me because I have seen many kitchens that are not made for wheelchair access that have removed most of the upper cabinets in order to open up the space. Personally, I prefer upper cabinets to lower ones and have trouble accessing the lower ones unless they have drawers or pullouts. To make up for my lack of upper cabinets I installed a hanging rack, which I thought would make quite an interesting noise during earthquakes, but during the last one we had (that I could feel), it just swayed and did not make noise. The light fixture in the dining room was more dramatic.

I liked your old wallpaper, even though I'm not much of a wallpaper person. The plexiglass is an interesting touch - does it go over the dishwasher as well?

Lars

Lars, accessibility is pretty much catered to the individual disabled cook. You will find this is true when you talk to different people with disability.

I had lived in this home & kitchen for 4 years. By the time I had the money to modify it, I knew exactly what I needed more and what I needed less. ie: A kitchen designer advised me to take some floor cabinets out to yield feet area. It would have been nice but my kitchen was so small that I needed cabinets more than I needed room for my feet.

If I modified this kitchen right when I moved in, I would have done it all wrong. I wouldn't have had enough time to learn its unique spaces and surroundings (location of appliances, cooktop, sink, etc.).

A full wheelchair accessible kitchen can be very expensive! I had looked into moveable wall cabinets or hardware and they were very pricey. I had so much kitchenwares that I needed to keep all the cabinets. Since I could kneel on my power wheelchair to give me height, I could reach the lower and middle shelves of the wall cabinets. As for the upper shelf, I put items that I use a few times a year. To reach that top shelf, I use a drafting chair. For everyday items, they're all stored in the floor cabinets and in the dishwasher. Yes, the DW makes a good cabinet too. I do use the DW daily but instead of taking all the clean dishes out and put them away every day, I just leave them in there. Take them out when use them and put them in the sink after usage. At the end of the day, they go back in the DW for a good shower. If there are still clean dishes in the DW, then, they get to be cleaned again.

The plexiglass did not go over the DW. The lines you saw were scratches from the old wheelchair. I have since replaced the front panel of the DW and replaced the wheelchair. Since it's inexpensive to replace the panel, I figured it didn't need plexiglass.

With the pullout shelves, kitchenwares became more accessible. However, the pullout were only done to the center shelves. We couldn't do much with the bottom/floor shelves. So, I store my items in rectangular shape baskets with handles. I can pull the baskets out and push them in like pullout shelves. That's something you may want to try.

When talking to kitchen designers, one tip I give that I know can be very useful to all wheelchair cooks is to have 180-degree (or more) hinges on all floor cabinet doors. When the door is opened all the way, the door does not take any hallway spacing for wheelchair to move back and forth. My house was built in the mid 70's. At the time, these were the type of hinges installed on kitchen cabinets. Unfortunately, these useful hinges are no longer used in today new built homes. Or at least, in the new homes that I've seen around here.

That wallpaper was not bad but it was too busy looking. It made the small kitchen and the small breakfast area looking even smaller. Decorating was even hard. The wallpaper was very intact after 30+ years. So, my handiman texturized it with plaster (to match with the rest of the house) and painted over with a neutral color. It was inexpensive to do and made a whole lot of difference.

In the end, money dictated which modifications I could live with and which I couldn't live without.

I'm so glad this thread is active again. So many ideas and tastes. I've seen and learned things I've never even thought of.

Ntt your kitchen is a knock-out, one would never know it was designed for a wheelchair bound cook!

CountryGal, I see you've got one of the LC brasiers. I've seen a lot of cooks use them lately on the cooking show.

I was feeling nostalgic this morning and wanted to re-visit everyone in their kitchens.

At the time of this thread Wizardnm was renovating. Does she or anyone else want to post pics of their kitchens?

This is my kitchen. Recently repainted after the guys convinced me to paint it peach. Like this a whole lot better!

View from the opposite wall, the hobart is ready for holiday cooking!

I forgot all about this thread. I'm glad to share some pictures. I still have some details to finish, the backsplash is the big thing I cannot decide on.

My seasonings pullout is on the right and spices on the left.

I love the Karbon faucet and the huge sink.

Nancy

I am resurrecting this thread for a couple of reasons. It was such a fun read and the pictures are wonderful. And my kitchen is in need of some drastic changes. I saved up and had planned to remodel in 2009. I was laid off my job, out of work and attending school for 19 months. I started temping in late 2010 and was hired full time in March of last year. I started a new job (same company) this past week. I am ready for some change and I am comfortable spending my kitchen fund finally.

So many choices and possibilities!

Teresa

Teresa, look forward to your kitchen transformation.

dcarch

For anyone contemplating a kitchen update I recommend spending some time on the Kitchen Forum. I learned so much about everything there. Ask questions, everyone is really helpful. Kitchens are a major investment that you want to do right.

Nancy