Thanks, rhome. I left the layout essentially the same, because the woman before me - bless her - did a really good job of making the kitchen efficient in 1961. She had a lot of the features I duplicated, like the lap board, the spice rack door, the sponge drawer, and the bread drawer.

I only have the one DD and a grown step-DS out-of-town. If I were lucky enough to have 8, like you, this kitchen would be a little tight.

Thanks caminnc! Now that's it's done, I can stop having anxiety dreams involving granite.

Ginnie - it's beautiful and functional :-)
I love all the counterspace, and the little open nook for doggie.

What do you use your lap board pull out for?

Thanks, pawa. It's temporary extra counter space, whenever I need it. I use it a lot at dinner parties for plating food and clearing between courses. When the DR table is unavailable, my DD uses the lap board as a table, with the step stool as a chair.

The drawer under the lap board contains things like keys, scissors, school calendar, and flashlights, things I don't need for cooking.

Lap boards are an idea from the mid-20th century actually. They disappeared as kitchens got bigger, but they can be very functional in a small space.

Tremendous job (as Letterman would say!). :-)

Really lovely! I never, and I mean never, like granite on the walls. But yours? I love it! It's just the perfect color with those cabinets and keeps everything so calm looking in the space.

How deep is your pantry cabinet - the one with the spice rack door?

Ginny, the photos are great but really it looks even better IRL especially in daylight! And I had forgotten what your old kitchen looked like. Seeing it again now highlights what a huge improvement the new kitchen is. Really looks beautiful! I know you're enjoying it, as well you should after all the planning and thought. Congratulations!

That looks great! I've never seen an oven like your original. Was it a French door oven? At first I thought it was a fridge.

I love Winnie's house and the pull out above it. She's a cutie too.

Thanks all for the kind words.

Couldn't have done it without you, sayde.

KathyNY- That cab is 12", like the rest of the uppers. I couldn't bring it out as far as the lowers because that corner goes to the little hall for the door to the garage, and you need the open space. So the shelves inside the cab are 7" and the spice rack shelves - I think they are from Rev-a-shelf - stick out about 4 3/8". As for the granite backsplash, it was DH's suggestion, and having fewer different types of finishes in the room does make it feel calmer, and larger, too.

I liked your kitchen right away. It seems very calming and light filled which I love. Love the window over Winnie's bed. And I like your granite splash. I would have done it to, but my granite had too much going on in the place that would have gone on the wall. I have a Winnie too! She is a Cavalier King Charles. I just liked the name Winnie. Just Winnie. So many ask me is it short for Winnie the Pooh. They have got to be kidding - or maybe not! Forgot to tell you I love how your oven is as well. Best of luck in the beautiful new kitchen.

Thank you!

Marti - Yes, I loved my 1961 Frigidaire french door oven. When you opened just one door, they both opened. I couldn't afford french doors this time.

Maggie- Ours is registered as "Lady Winifred of Chelmsford Hall," (after all, she's English) but that's just the name we made up to go with Winnie, which my DD chose on the way home from the breeder's. We do call her "Winnie the Pooch" sometimes.

Very nice job! Love the stone and the back splash. Lots of great ideas in a small space. Well done!

Ginny - great job. I really like the full granite backsplash. You did a nice job coordinating everything. Hope you enjoy it for years to come.

I love how you stayed with the function but created such a visually pleasing space. Really pretty with the granite running up the backsplash. All the thought you put into it really shines through. ENJOY!

Congratulations - really beautiful space!

I too love the granite backsplash. It's a beautiful stone.

Ginny, beautiful kitchen, and congratulations on finally being done. Your granite is spectacular. I have one of the HD LEDs over my sink and plan to replace all my recessed lights with them. Excellent choice.

My favorite part is Winnie.

Very pretty kitchen! You have lovely, warm and functional looking space.

I especially LOVE your "built in" cutting board. What a great idea.

And your floors, they are very nice, and seem to go perfectly with the granite.

Great job
Congrats!

Lovely! That lap board pull out is so cool - wish I had known about that. Enjoy your beautiful kitchen!

Really nice!

Beautiful! Love the ovens.

So what are the new ovens? I know only a few with side-hinged doors, and I don't recognize yours.

Funny, there was just a thread where we also were just discussing french-door ovens and stoves (this old Fridigidaire french-door oven is being auctioned). I posted some modern ovens with the same design.

{{!gwi}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Nutone founder's kitchen for auction

Looks lovely! Well done! Doing something similar to your lap board pull out for where our microwave will be sitting so that it gives me an easy place to stir.

I'm curious about the fiber optic switch you mentioned is by your sink. What is that for? I can't really see it in your photo and I'm super curious! :)

a non-electrical air switch to turn the disposer on and off, but I've never seen a fiber-optic one

Beautiful kitchen, I love the granite. Your post caught my eye, because we're in the Rochester area as well. We've escaped to the finger lakes this week during or first week of demo.

Beautiful kitchen, I love the granite. Your post caught my eye, because we're in the Rochester area as well. We've escaped to the finger lakes this week during or first week of demo.

Beautiful kitchen, I love the granite. Your post caught my eye, because we're in the Rochester area as well. We've escaped to the finger lakes this week during or first week of demo.

Beautiful kitchen, I love the granite. Your post caught my eye, because we're in the Rochester area as well. We've escaped to the finger lakes this week during or first week of demo.

A beautiful kitchen and a lovely dog.

It was interesting to see your full granite back splash. I am planning on it too; we are under construction at the moment. Nobody seems to do it, so I was not sure if there are drawbacks. I love the look of yours and if that is close to what I'll be getting, I'll be very happy.

The fabricator says there are two ways to do it:

1. Cut away the drywall and glue the granite to the studs.
2. Grind the 3cm slab to 2 cm and glue to the drywall.

He prefers the second option, as it affords more insulation. How was yours done?

Thanks to you all for your nice words!

Andrea K - A pull out under the microwave is brilliant. I wish I'd thought of that! It would have worked perfectly for me.

The fiber optic switch is for the garbage disposal. It's like an air switch, but the gasket that you press is totally sealed so no water can go down it, which I understood from an old thread could be a problem. Someone last year (maybe on appliances) raved about fiber optic, so I got one. It was more difficult to install in granite, but it works great. It was more expensive than air switch, but not enough to worry about. I used to have a switch under the counter, and I hated it.

Lee - Last year on GW I sounded like a broken record (dating myself again) about the wonders of french doors on ovens. The oven I have now, Elux, has regular bottom-opening doors. My old Frigidaire oven had french doors. They were hinged to those arms on the bottom that you can see in your post,so you only had to open one door and both opened evenly. I looked for french door ovens last year, and found what you did. They are mainly way too pricey. Frigidaire had the side swing door, but not in stainless. I even wrote and asked if they thought they'd be bringing it out in stainless. The American Range that I lusted for was not only $6500 but it was not self-cleaning. I'm happy now that I have a self-cleaner, and I'm getting used to the doors. I did write to the major companies, though, and request that they make side swing or french doors. Maybe next time...

gardenpixie - mine is just glued to the plaster walls. It's still 3cm. No grinding, no digging. Mine runs wall-to-wall under the cabs, so there's no edge to deal with except around the window trim, where he beveled the edge down to the trim. Is there a reason it has to be 2 cm?

Part of why it isn't so common may be the cost - my backsplash cost more than the counters.

labbie - we're neighbors! demo, how exciting!

labbie - I was going to send you an email, but it's not public.
Who are you using for cabs, counters, construction? If you want, email me on my page and tell me all about it. I'd love to hear.

Ah, now I get it. The curvature of the Electrolux oven doors reflects the light that makes it look like there's handles on the left side. I knew I'd never seen anything like that.

I guess the only inexpensive way to get a cheap double oven with side-hinged doors now is to stack two Fagor units. They are stainless-steel, but are not self cleaning and are 24"w only. Gaggenau has a real 30"w double oven in stainless that is self-cleaning, but it's pricey (if less so than the current french door ovens).

Lee - Yeah, my pictures sucked, which is a word that apparently can be used in polite company now, since it was in the NYTimes syndicated crossword puzzle today. I used our ancient digital camera. Should have used DD's cell phone, if only I knew how. There are tons of reflections and the color is nothing like IRL. You all are being very kind to look through the photo problems and see the kitchen.

But yes, I even wrote Fagor and asked for the inside dimensions to see if I could use their 24" oven. I really, really tried, but I finally had to give up. I took advice from Appliances forum, and I do love my Elux.

Ginny, thanks so much for the info on the fiber optic GD switch - I've been planning on the air switch, but I need to check your idea out. I haven't head of that option before.

Just beautiful! Not normally a big fan of the granite BS but yours is so soft and lovely and perfect. Great job!

Hooray for the galley kitchen!

It looks like you have created an amazing - and functional - space. Great kitchens come in small packages!

Love the granite BS and Winnie's area! Everything is just gorgeous!

Wow, your spice storage really has me thinking. I hadn't thought of putting all my spices on the inside of a cabinet door, but I have sooo many, and that might be one way to do it and still be able to see them all!

How do you like the sink? I love our double and still want to get a double (I know, not popular here), and really think the aqua divide makes for a nice compromise. Can you lay a pan down flat in there?

Beautiful job!

Despite common use of the term "wall oven", I almost never see them installed in an actual wall (as opposed to a cabinet). I like when they are.

The Electrolux ovens don't have side-opening doors, but the glide-out racks (either 1 or 2 per oven depending on model) help alleviate that to some extent - you can pull out the rack to more easily reach food. Electrolux is also one of only a few manufacturers that still offer open-door broiling. I used a Kitchenaid oven that made you leave the door closed, and instead of getting the top of the food crispy, it cooks the whole way through, making it more like baking than broiling.

I had one of those Frigidaire 27" single ovens with the side-opening door, which I bought at half price (tiny dent in the metal frame at the bottom). I never got to use it - it broke loose from the hand truck bringing it up some stairs and the inner and outer door glass shattered. Replacement parts were too expensive, so the oven was junked before it was ever used. I had the black one. Except for the side-opening door, it wasn't a great design. The control panel took up much more space than necessary, leaving less space inside the oven. The inner width was also much smaller than Frigidaire's other 27" ovens. The convection fan didn't have a heating element; it just air around that was heated by the convention top and bottom heaters. The door couldn't be opened much past 90 degrees.

Stop, stop, you're making me blush! :-)

olivertwist - I love my spice door. I can just open it while I'm at the cooktop and grab things. I keep them in alphabetical order so I can find them easily.

I love the sink, too. Aquadivide was perfect for me. With most saucepans, the handle fits over the divide while the bottom rests flat in the sink. My 12qt pot fits comfortably within one side. The handles of large skillets, large baking pans and cookie sheets can rest diagonally across the divide and still be within the sink walls. You could fill both sides past the divide if you wanted to immerse entire large pans or skillets. One company I found at Ferguson - I think it was called Mirabelle - made a 16 gauge stainless low divide sink that came in 60/40 so you could get even bigger pans in there. I wanted 50/50, so I got the Elkay.

Also, the low divide lets me wash the dog in the sink with two legs on each side. I wanted a double sink, but a full divide would have come right up to her belly. Sounds silly, but it's a job made easier with the right sink.

Lee - You really know your ovens! My old Frigidaire doors opened really far, so they were right out of your way. I was so worried about how I'd get hot pans in and out of a drop-door oven that I went to stores and measured how far out the gliding racks came. There was more variation than you'd think. The Elux does come far out. The installation height is important, too, so you don't have to reach up too high to get to the pans. My GC was going to install it too high, but fortunately I caught it in time and had him fix it.

You must have been sick about the broken oven. I saw that you plan to get a Fagor swing-door. What do you have now?

a circa-1965 Sears Kenmore 30" gas range with the usual drop-down door, copper brown, in a kitchen with no dishwasher, disposer, or microwave. I'm gutting the whole kitchen and starting over. Wanted to have a 30"w oven cabinet with a side-swing Gaggenau 27" or 30"w single oven with a 30" GE Advantium 240v wall oven above it, but space considerations will probably rule that out. I'll probably use the Advantium much more than the regular oven, so I'll probably go with a Fagor 24"w oven under the countertop, with a drawer below it. I'm hoping the side-swing door combined with the ball-bearing glide-out shelves will combine to make it easy to insert and remove oven trays without leaning down very much. I still want the Advantium, but that needs a wall cabinet if I go with the built-in model. There's also an over-the-range version, but since it has to fit between 12" deep wall cabinets, you lose several inches of interior depth; a large pizza won't fit. Also, the exhaust-fan function on over-the-cooktop ovens is always weak, a problem since I would have liked an indoor grill which needs a high-CFM exhaust fan. I'll either use a 24"w Gaggenau electric cooktop or a 12" cooktop (only two burners) next to a 12" grill. It's a small house so two burners should do, especially since I'll have an instant hot water dispenser so you don't need a water kettle. I'll keep a portable 3rd burner in one of the drawers for emergencies.

I have back trouble so I pay close attention to these things.

and yes, it was sad seeing my oven go tumbling down the stairs. Fortunately I only paid about $350 for it, but besides losing that, it took days cleaning little pieces of glass out of the carpet and elsewhere.

Another discontinued oven design I'd like to see again: the Frigidaire Flair range, with an oven door that goes UP and completely out of your way:

That drawer in the middle by the way is a pull-out cooktop! Four burners are hidden inside; when you're done using them, just slide them back in. Do a Google image search on "Frigidaire Flair" and you see loads of them, in single and double widths.

I guess the Gaggenau BL 253 Lift Oven is kind of, sort of along the same lines - the oven tray lowers out of, and down from, the wall-mounted oven when you want to get at your food. It's even more expensive than Gaggenau's regular ovens though. It sure looks cool though and will amaze your friends and baffle your enemies every time you use it...

How cool is that Gaggenau! Oh, to be in the 1%.

When I was doing my kitchen last year there were discussions of the Frigidaire Flair, which was a wonderful creation, also from the time when Frigidaire was owned by GM. Someone posted a picture of Samantha Stevens using one in her TV kitchen, and I think a working one was available for sale. It's a shame that these interesting - and sometimes better - ideas all disappear in favor of the pedestrian. Although the Gaggenau does look like it might be a repair waiting to happen. It would be my luck the little elevator would break on Thanksgiving.

I've seen two Flairs in real life, and they show up on CL and eBay frequently. They were built to last. I own a GM-era Frigidaire window A/C made around 1960, still works great and looks like a car dashboard from that era. My xgf had a mid-60s Frigidaire washing machine that I helped repair - wow the whole thing seemed to be forged from steel. Their laundry machines and (of course) refrigerators were just as innovative as their cooking appliances.

brooklyn - Hurray for small kitchens, indeed! Part of why I wanted to reveal was that it seems that not as many small kitchens get shown on GW (it is a lot harder to take pictures). While, of course, I'd love more storage space, I do appreciate the efficiency of my small kitchen. Less distance to cover and less to clean!

From time to time, people put out a call for pictures of small kitchens. Maybe it's time for another.

What a great kitchen! Love the ovens in the wall, your spice rack, lap board (glad to see them make a comeback!), and Winnie's house. She is adorable!

Regarding the Frigidaire Flair, I recall someone on GW posting a complete FF outfitted kitchen, with even the built-in the counter mixers and blenders, that was in near-pristine condition. It was in a house they were buying, but they were going to have it removed--carefully to save it for someone else who might want it. It was sooo cool! IIRC, it was a metallic brown color.

Thanks, Shelayne!

Wow - if you had a MCM house, wouldn't you be tempted? I would, if I thought I could get things repaired as needed. You'd need to live near someone like lee676, who seems to be a retro appliance guru.

Ginny, what kind of reveal on your sink?

Ginny I missed your kitchen reveal last summer. Love the countertop and same granite as backsplash. Really looks good in your space.
I grew up with a copper colored Flair. Somewhere I have a picture of me - age 10- vacuuming the carpet in the kitchen (yes!!!!)
with that great old range in the background.