This is my FAVORITE FAVORITE GW kitchen. It has soul and personality. I look at your pictures and just want to wander in there and linger, feeling the coziness and healing properties of that welcoming and nurturing space. It feels like a li'l ol' soft grandma with arms outstretched waiting to hug me. It does NOT remind me of so many cold, hard casket like fancy kitchens in the pictures. This one has a warm heartbeat throughout. Fantastic job, and I'm sure with the elbow grease/blood/sweat/tears you put into her you'll love her all the more over the years!!

Yikes! Sorry I missed these responses! Starpooh - Thanks for asking! I'll get over to do that soon! Megpie - We LOVE our soapstone. Now, having said that, I will tell you that we have a softer variety of soapstone that is easier to scratch. We have scratched it but covering it will oil makes the scratches disappear. There are several spots in our kitchen that get heavy use and are more prone to scratching, but it doesn't bother us. I only mention it because if you think that scratches might bother you... this may not be the best material for you. There are also harder varieties of soapstone, so you might want to pick up some samples and try them out. Oh... and a big soapstone surprise for us was it's wonderful defrosting quality! Nice! Steff - Thanks for your kind words. Ripping out the first backsplash was a terribly difficult decision, but looking back, it was the right one. :)

Thanks so much Sandra! I'm sorry I haven't replied until now. My work schedule this past week and just life in general was hectic... I really like the last one of the 3 black stools. They work well with the table in the morning room. I wonder if they would stay clean though, with kids (and adults--b/c we make messes too!). I looked a little bit today in real life, but couldn't find anything that stood out. Thank you to the others as well, for your kind compliments! I did find drawer pulls today for the island and to replace on the other cabinets! And they were 1/2 off b/c The Great Indoors is closing near us! I haven't made a decision on pendants yet either. I still need to look at backsplash too...but now I'm realizing that the tumbled marble I was envisioning probably won't work with the granite...it will be too hard to match. We'll see...

What do you people cook in your ovens? Bowling balls? Heh heh. You must be pulling out 30lb turkeys daily if the weight of your pans is that huge of a concern. I only cook turkeys once a year (for which my family thanks me) and only on the big green egg, so we decided on a range with two ovens and a warming cabinet because of the space we gained as well as the look. Our ovens have drawers below them so they aren't on the floor and when I do use them I am able to safely open and check the food without being in danger of burning my nose. We had wall ovens in the old house and hated them, as well as the gas cook top, which IMO is just a horrific waste of space. Now in our new house we have that same crappy set up and will be yanking it out as soon as possible. But we will still only cook turkeys rarely. As a pure ergonomics issue though, it is always better to lift up verses lift from chest level so for me....I just don't get why people put the stove up on the wall. Much like the drawer microwave...it just feels unsafe. And ummm they are ugly. Ok IMO but really, I hate big electronics and plastic in the middle of a wall. (I feel the same way about big screen tvs).