muscat, it's beautiful! Man, there's a lot of cabinets in there - your Dad had a big job to do! Aren't you just the luckiest, cause they are gorgeous. I love the way your tile backsplash turned out. I've been following your posts on that - I did my backsplash too, and I'd never done it before either (finished in Dec. and STILL haven't grouted/caulked/sealed, so I will be on the look-out for any future grouting posts you might make!). Love the pattern and color and it goes great with your wall paint color too. What a change from that ugly, old tile! Lovelovelove the pot rack. Your floor tile is the perfect choice - oh, you did that too, didn't you? Sheesh, you've been busy. Congratulations on all the hard work. What an accomplishment!

Beautiful!!!! Nice peaceful feeling for sure. Love the tile as well. Enjoy your new space.

Stunning! A marvelous example of DIY work - both yours and your father's! There is so much storage space and it looks so peaceful and tranquil! Well done!

You did a great job! Congrats!

So impressive! good for you for getting rid of those soffits! Congrats!

AWESOME!!! What a gorgeous transformation! And your tiling job is incredible. I LOVE that backsplash.

Congratulations!
Robin

That is such an amazing transformation. That old kitchen was a doozy! I love the tile layout and the way you angled the cabinet to the right of the stove. Nice!

Congrats!

Wow! Your kitchen looks fantastic! Perfect backsplash. You did a great job "balancing" the major elements of your kitchen. Your father is evidently a talented woodworker, and you did a great job with the finish on those gorgeous cabinets. Congratulations!

Love it!!! I especially love how you did the splash over the range--just enough pizazz to make it even more special!

I remember seeing pics of the in-progress cabs and was impressed then, but now I'm even more impressed seeing them finished. Your dad must be a true craftsman.

Beautiful job!

Wow!!

I love it! Great job.

That's one of the most amazing transformations I've seen. I keep scrolling up and down to see the before and after. Your choices are perfect. It's always hard to thank a family member for their hard work, but you and your Dad are quite a team. You should be very proud.

Beautiful job! I'm soooo impressed that you could DIY that!

I love the paint color and the backsplash. The stone is rich and warm and the accent tiles add energy and work wonderfully with the paint color. I also love the way you stepped up the backsplash to the opening of your hood. Very graceful and stylish. In all, a well-integrated plan with panache. And it looks like a highly functional space as well.

Bet you LOVE it as well you should!

Forgot to say the lighting is also wonderful and shows everything off to advantage.

really nice. what a difference it makes in how the room feels.

I really like this transformation very much, Muscat. Your "before," looked like a functional kitchen work space but your "after" looks like a functional kitchen work space that really sings! I'm loving the relational symphony you've created with all the new color and surface changes. And I agree -- high five to you and your dad on the cabs. Many, many congratulations to you on this excellent job!

What an incredible job! Very well done :-)

Would you mind giving us more details on the tile you used for your floor and backsplash?

OMG, your Dad (& You) did a wonderful job on those cabs! Those cabinet pulls are perfect with the appliances and hood . . . which is so cool, BTW! So is your tile/backsplash. What a huge difference! Congrats on an awesome remodel.

Great job muscat I like your BS. I hope I do as nice a job on ours. I will probably be hitting you up for help if you are still around when I get started on it. My busy season is approaching so won't have as much time to hang out on GW.

ENJOY your lovely new space.

oh, i don't know. i liked the old one ...psych!
it looks beautiful, really. you should be very proud of your accomplishment. it's LOVELY!

I think you did an amazing job. The kitchen is wonderful.

Just a quick question: we are thinking of using the same kind of cabinet pulls, do you ever catch your clothes on them?

Just *wonderful*, huge standing ovation for your Dad!

In addition to the backsplash, which I completely love (including the contrast of tumbled and glass), all the colors work so well together--they're one of my favorite palettes. Grey-blue-green and reddish brown. Yummy :) The counter and the floor are just great. Love the angles of the backsplash going up to the hood as well. Everything adds up to way more than the sum of its parts.

A tip re tilt up hinges,if I'm understanding you correctly: Ikea has Ferrari hinges for one of their wall cabinets (horizontal tilt up) that you can sometimes buy in AS-IS. Usually it comes only with the cabinet--I bought the whole cabinet (someone had returned it) for a very wonderful price, and I'm just going to use the hinge for a cabinet we'll put over the commode in the master bath.

And to conclude: VIVA MUSCAT'S DAD!! :)

I know you had so much concern over materials matching, etc., but I have to say you selected everything perfectly. It looks GREAT together and certainly not boring. I especially love the way the splash tile is installed under the hood. It makes my eye go directly to that area; like the highlight of the kitchen.

Beautiful. You did good, girl. Enjoy.

Thank you all very much!

marthavila- yes, the old kitchen was *mostly* functional, except that the fridge door could not open all the way (it hit the cabinet) and the wall oven was only about 18" wide, and the peninsula's upper cabinets looked ghastly from the dining area, and blocked traffic flow. I was really lucky not to have to move major elements though (ie, sink) and since the gas line was brought in from the main, the only real structural change was moving the vent/hood hole.

akrogirl- the floor is actually laminate! It is made by Alloc, and called "vermont slate". It was mid to high range price for laminate, but I LOVE it, and it was something I knew I could do on my own. I didn't want cold hard tile to walk on. The backsplash tile is a natural stone, I think limestone, and it is called "seagrass". I got it from Arizona Tile, and they were GREAT to work with. The glass accents are Sonoma Tantrum tiles in "teekee green" and "tazo."

jtalb- yes, I do sometimes catch on the handles, but so far it has only been the waist-cord on a pair of sweatpants. I think if I make the loop smaller, or tuck them it, that'll do it. Pockets, etc- not a problem at all.

flyleft- thanks for the tip on hinges. I'll check that out. I'm getting a little tired of seeing the insides of those cabinets :)

Very nice. Congrats!

Your dad did an amazing job on the cabinets - the kitchen looks great!

I forgot to say- I'll pass on your comments to my dad! He's quite the perfectionist and artist when it comes to wood, and I was super lucky to have his craftsmanship. He hadn't done any woodworking for YEARS, but I'm hoping that he has the bug again. Or will, in a few months, after getting over this big job!!!!!

Well first...what's dad up to this summer? We have a project for him (and you too....heh heh...but I do worry we'll have to lock up the wine if you show up) ;oP

And secondly...wow it's so nice! I love the stack on the backsplash tile highlighting the range, and the flow of colors is fabulous. The cabinets..sheesh what a bargain your dad is!!! It's wonderful...now just two or three bathrooms to go? :oP

Awesome, awesome job!! Love the color scheme. We're going for the same look. You mentioned above details on the flooring and backsplash. Tell me more about your granite.

What an awesome transformation! It turned out just beautiful! Give yourself and your Dad a million pats on the back!

Patti

love your pot rack! that's so cool :) and outta the way!

Are you sure those pictures are from the same space? What a remarkable (and unbelievable) transformation! I am (practically) rendered speechless.

I am so glad you didn't wait for those niggling things but instead posted your pictures TODAY. What a wonderful way to start the week!

Muscat - no wonder I like your backsplash, lol. We bought a larger version of that tile for our master bathroom. It is one of my very favorites :-)

Your floor looks wonderful. I am still trying to decide on the best option for our kitchen floor - whenever I can actually get DH to start on our kitchen, grr. We need something practical for animals and it seems as if none of the options are 100% perfect. I was considering using tile again, but recently ran into a problem with an ailing dog who could not get a grip on our existing tile.

Now, if you could just get your father to pop over and build a few more cabinets........ ;-)

Thanks! I am just so happy to be close to done that I had to post pics, as it'll probably be another month before all the little stuff is done. And I'm off on mondays, and NOT WORKING ON THE KITCHEN today!!!! :) (This is a weird feeling)

lucky 32- my brother built the potrack with a picture that I showed him. He's a civil engineer, but is starting a small business on the side, doing metal work, so I'm encouraging him to add potracks to his offerings, but I dont know how marketable that sort of thing is, except to the TKO.

kortez 15- the granite is volga blue, and here it is closer-up:
{{!gwi}}

Wow! What a beautiful kitchen! You did an excellent job -- outstanding -- insert superlatives galore here. I am very impressed.

Excellent!! I'm going to show these pictures to my tile and granite guys in hopes that can duplicate it. Again, wonderful job and thanks for sharing the info. Enjoy!

Unbelievable job!!! I remember your posts on how you should do the backsplash and questions about the height and placement of the pot rack. I have to say it all looks great!!! I love the way your kitchen is not all symmetrical with cabinets, yet you have all the right elements to make it look balanced. Again, it looks fantastic!! Congratualations.

VERY nice!

Your stairstep tiling up to the hood is very creative. Reminds me of a Mayan pyramid. Did you plan it that way? Or were just trying to avoid cutting the tiles? :-)

paul ma- LOL! No, it was on purpose, and planned, though it went through a lot of permutations before I came up with the "slope" I liked best. The edges of the tile are tumbled, so I did sort of have to plan around how to make sure all the edges that "show" are the original edge, and not cut edge.

kortez- If you go with a natural stone tile with some variation, and you want to do a random pattern like I did, I suggest you spend a bit of time yourself laying out the tile how you like it. I'm sure you can leave it to your tile guys to do a professional job, but I'd not neccesarily expect them to spend a ton of time on layout, at least not as much as you might do yourself. I measured the area needed, then did all the tile on the floor, then moved them around until the prettiest ones were where I wanted them, and the dark and light tiles were well distributed. I only mention this because it took A LOT longer than I expected, but made a huge difference. But it was fun! Good luck!!!!!

It looks beautiful> I love the potrack and the hood wall.

What the heck was going on with your older stove area? Did you totally drop food down that hole? What are all those switches on the wall? Was that grout on all those old tiles???

Wow. An amazing transformation altogether. The cabinets and counters are beautiful.

Love it!

AND I'm so jealous that you're almost finished!

You got a pretty good deal on the granite... Out of curiosity, how much did the installation cost?

Things are coming together here, I may be able to post my own 99% finished pics by the end of the Month...(fingers crossed). WE have three bathrooms and another kitchen to do, DH is thinking he might attempt building the vanity for the basement BR...I'll show him these pics to encourage him!(What kind of wood did he use?)

Cleo- the original stovetop fit in a bigger hole than the "new" one, so that piece of stainless was jammed in there to cover the hole. Needless to say, it did not stay very well! The tile backplash and counter were original to the home, built in the early 50's, and those switches on the wall were the controls! That is not grout- that was how the tile was glazed or painted or whatever. Heheheh, so many people used to comment on the "retro" decorating, and liked to play with the switches.

raehelen- yes, I got a great deal on the granite. The slabs were discounted from 20/sf to 4.99/SF because there were irregular areas in them that limited the useful squarefootage, and they'd been sitting around for a while. There was a stack of reduced slabs, and I asked to see some of the ones hidden in the back of the stack, and low and behold, there were three slabs hidden back there that were gorgeous....... Even the granite guy said something about how that stack had not been touched for a while. I had even been to that granite yard twice before, and not thought to ask to look deep in that stack. I bought 2 slabs, for $464, and there was a bit of waste, but I still have enough left to make a bathroom vanity countertop! The fabrication was $2285. I was quoted between $1800-4500 by other fabricators.

Oh, and the cabinets are santos and santa maria mahogany, no stain.

I call dibs on Muscat's dad! Let me know where to send the plane ticket!
Awesome, awesome job to you both. You must just grin from ear to ear.

I sent my dad a link to this thread, and he said, "so who are these people offering travel plans?" When I mentioned Alaska, he was all over it! :)

I want to thank you guys again for all of the help and support through this project. I realized last night that I have been bugging ya'll for opinions and advice since June of last year! yikes!

raehelen- I know it probably doesn't matter, but I was wrong about the type of mahogany. I got the names confused. Almost everything was made from Honduran mahogany (supposed to be certified renewable- hope that is true.) We used the santa maria mahogany only for a few less prominent things like toekicks, which are not installed yet.

:)

How did I miss this?!?!?!?

muscat, your kitchen is a masterpiece--real artistry! Between your dad's incredible woodworking and your fabulous randomosity with your backsplash, you have created something truly unique but universally appealing. Who could look at that kitchen and not love it?? Congrats on a job well done!

Thanks holligator! You are the one who helped me take blinders off and consider a random pattern for the tile 'splash, so I'm super grateful. I could not have put this kitchen together without the collective opinions of this forum!!!!!!!

Beautiful job! I, too, love the whole kitchen - a beautiful transformation!! If your brother decides to 'sell' his potracks, be sure to let us know here!! It looks really great! Enjoy!

Absolutely gorgeous!! I love everything - your cabinets, backsplash and flooring. The colors are very soothing.

"I sent my dad a link to this thread, and he said, "so who are these people offering travel plans?" When I mentioned Alaska, he was all over it! :)"

Does your Dad have any interest in Arizona in winter? ;-) Those cabinets are to die for.