Wow, thank you egganddart. My kitchen design came about with a lot of help from our wonderful Crown Point designer. I had set ideas about the general layout since I had lived in the space for 15 years and could picture what I thought would be the best flow for our family---i.e. I wanted the fridge out of the work triangle so that it would be close to the table (and easy access from the living room) and I wanted the dw placed in the walkway through the kitchen next to the prep sink.

That cupboard is actually a peninsula with a hutch top on it. I wanted something that looked like a cupboard from the diningroom side but was a functional part of the kitchen on the other side. I wanted it to block the view into the kitchen when seated at the table (I'm a hopelessly messy cook) but would leave as open a feeling as possible. I wanted a pass through incorporated.

The cabinet is 4 feet wide. There is 6" of counter in front of the hutch (on the table side.) The counter is 39" deep and sits over 12" and 24" deep base cabinets back to back (with 1 1/2" overhang on each side.) The 12" side faces the kitchen and much of it holds cookbooks. The top hutch portion is 18" deep which I really enjoy having. There is 15" of counter in front of the hutch on the kitchen side.

Our ceilings are 100" which ended up being perfect for 36" high base cabinets, 18" space between lowers and uppers, 42" uppers and 4" molding. The hutch was made with these proportions--the countertop doors and drawers span the 18" height that would normally be left between the uppers and lowers. Here are pictures with the pass through open and the kitchen side of the cabinet. We have doors we could mount on the kitchen side (in the pass through area) which would probably look better but I like having the open area.

{{!gwi}} {{!gwi}}

Here is a picture of the space before reno. The hutch is now situated where the fridge was. The cupboard on the back wall (with tea kettles on top) was the inspiration for the kitchen.

{{!gwi}}

Zelmar,

Oh, now I see about the pass through! In the other post the cupboard doors were closed, and I assumed it was a "garage". I noticed the similarity of this cabinet with the other side of it (which I thought was a separate cabinet) but didn't think it through. That's a great idea.

My kitchen doesn't get much light, so when we finish remodeling I'm going to paint our cabinets a light color. But I appreciate the authentic appearance of your dark wood (is it mahogany? rift sawn oak?), the construction details, hardware, black counter (soapstone or granite?)--- it's a piece of perfection.

Just curious -- is your house old? I'm guessing by the 8' ceilings that it's fairly modern, ie., built sometime since the '50s. (That's my idea of, if not a new house, at least not an old house!) Do the other rooms have a similar vintage feel?

Thanks! And, enjoy!

Our house is a farmhouse (part of a dairy farm that operated til soon before our purchase) built in 1911. The kitchen is a bit fancy for it but one of the things we loved about the house was the unpainted doors and woodwork that have naturally darkened (at least I assume it was a natural process) to approximately the same tone as the kitchen cabinets. The picture of the table area is not a good indicator of the rest of the house (including the light woodwork around the archway---dh had to replace an essential wall torn out by previous owners.) The table area looks cavelike in the photo but the fridge is blocking the big picture window (overlooking an apple orchard) by the table.

The cabinets are mahogany and the counters are Ashfield schist quarried in Western Mass. (near where we live.) I feel fortunate to have had access to a really great stone---it seems like a cross between soapstone and granite in its characteristics.

Thank you again for your positive words. Good luck with your kitchen! I love painted kitchen cabinets but the woodwork in our house pretty much dictated our direction.

I just want to chime in and also say thank you for posting pictures, both here and on the other thread.(that I hi-jacked without thinking!) I really love your kitchen and it has inspired me for my kitchen. Can't wait to show DH your pictures.

Mmmm, apple orchards ... what a wonderful thing to look out on from your kitchen! It sounds like a wonderful place. Is there open space remaining, or did the farm get developed? We love farmhouses, and that part of New England. Somehow we got sidetracked on our way to putting down roots in western MA or VT, and ended up in NYS instead. Maybe when we retire.... Meanwhile, DD is hoping to go to Williams College ... she's waiting to hear from them soon!

As far as the kitchen being a little fancy for the house, it's period appropriate, so I'm sure it fits in. And it's cool to be able to use the local schist.

Thanks for taking the time to answer all my questions!

Beautiful cabinets!

mary lu--thank you! Good luck with your kitchen---I loved the design process and thinking about the infinite possibilities (it wouldn't have taken much to vastly improve our old kitchen.) If your request for additional pictures was a hi-jack then it was a very minor hi-jack since it was just going into greater detail of one of the posts. I've rarely seen people actually mind even real hi-jack because they're usually for just a few posts and they usually bring in new ideas.

egganddart, good luck to your dd! We went through that process a few years ago. My dd is now a junior. I love New York state (dd almost ended up there.) I grew up on Long Island.

I grew up on LI too, went to HS in Levittown. Now we're not far from MA and CT and, while it's very pretty, it lacks the culture of MA and the Vermontness of Vermont! (I'm hoping DD goes to school there so I'll have an excuse to visit it more often!)

I wasn't terribly far away, Sayville.