Sneak peak of walnut and glossy white kitchen

11 years ago

The cabinets went in this week and still need quite a few tweaks, but it's nice to see the kitchen part of our renovation finally taking shape.

The perimeter cabinets are all Ikea. The shallow island cabinets and the cabinet in the niche outside the kitchen are from Sherr's, including the walnut drawers. The rest of the walnut drawers and panels are from SemiHandMade.

We'll have Caesarstone Arctic White on the sink/stove counters, Calacatta Oro on the the island with overhang for seating, and walnut butcherblock under the microwave.

The blue film will come off the doors once the dust has settled.

Doors for the sink are reversed, this will be fixed:

Sherr's cabinets:

Niche cabinet

The island will be the top right, with a waterfall edge. The bottom right corner will be used for the niche. We've considered using the bottom left corner for the stove backsplash but haven't decided what to do there yet. No backsplash anywhere else is planned.

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annkathryn
Original Author

11 years ago

Ooops, peek, not peak. This is far from the peak of the fabulous kitchens here on gardenweb, but DH and I are downsizing and are looking forward to a smaller house and yard. We're hoping to move in within the next 3 weeks.

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Comments (44)

mamasheshe
11 years ago
Wow! It's going to be so beautiful. You must be excited.
breezygirl
11 years ago
Whoa nelly! You've got something extra special shaping up there!
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User
11 years ago
It's going to be so pretty. I love that walnut and your marble.
localeater
11 years ago
Wow- I love your walnut. I am getting walnut slab front too and seeing yours made me so eager. I showed your kitchen pictures to my husband and he said "are those ours?" I think it was the first time he got excited!
I love everything about your kitchen. I am incredibly jealous of your waterfall edge. My house lends itself more to modern farmhouse and I felt that was too over the top to work. Please tell me about your hardware, I am also doing tab pulls. Which did you choose, what is your finish- looks awesome. Are you using the same finish on the pulls on the walnut and the white? It looks different.
Please tell me about your lighting plans. What style and finish will you be going with there?
Your kitchen is amazing.
sochi
11 years ago
Just beautiful! I can't wait to see the finished space. It looks fantastic so far.
nycbluedevil
11 years ago
Gorgeous! Those cabinets are stunning and so is the island top.I am doing walnut and calacatta marble too--cabinets arrive today. Looking at yours is getting us even more excited too.

Can't wait to see your finished kitchen!

Localeater--in case it helps, in our kitchen we are using polished nickel hardware (D pulls and latches) and clear glass pendants trimmed with polished nickel.
localeater
11 years ago
Thanks NYCbluedevil. We are having sconces that combine satin nickel and polished nickel and an island light with white glass and one of those two metal finishes-can't decide, which is why I am polling, I guess.
For the pulls I really feel like I might want to go with a warmer finish, like ORB but then it will be the only place that I use that finish in the kitchen. Now that I think about it though the adjoining entry has ORB light, and the adjoining DR has ORB metal trestle table and ORB light fixture(though light will be replaced, eventually), and the attached sunroom has ORB sconces. Maybe subconsciously that is why I feel like my pulls need to be ORB, to integrate the spaces?
williamsem
11 years ago
So excited for you! Looks great! Now I want walnut again, it's just so beautiful.
nycbluedevil
11 years ago
Localeater (AnnKathryn, sorry for the hijack)--ing

We have the same situation. Our kitchen is open to the dining room and the foyer where we have aged brass chandeliers. We are mixing finishes because I see the kitchen as a separate space even though it is visible from other rooms. I think that people mix finishes all the time, so I would recommend that you go with what you like best. Personally, I like the way the polished nickel pops, but then again, I love bling!
CEFreeman
11 years ago
I am so impressed by how well the grain is matched!
What lovely, lovely cabinets. Your marble compliments it all and brings it together.

How absolutely lovely.
(Yeah, go Bling!)
pricklypearcactus
11 years ago
Wow!! Your cabinets and marble are stunning!
muskokascp
11 years ago
Your kitchen is beautiful and the marble slab stunning! Can't wait to see it all finished.

Can you tell me why you used 2 different companies for the walnut cabinets? I want a small walnut cabinet made - just need to decide with who.
annkathryn
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks for all the nice feedback. Those of us who love walnut are a nice group, and sochi's gorgeous kitchen has long been an inspiration to me.

The cabinet pulls are Mockett 3-inch in satin chrome. They're the same everywhere - I bought 50 of them.

For the lighting, we're using LED cans which you can see in the picture on the ceiling and will have LED undercabinet lights under every cabinet. We're also in the throes of deciding on the pendant lights. We'd like 2 mini-pendants above the island. We've seen the stunning dichroic lights from Bruck like this:

but the bright orange color might be too much. We also like this from Besa:

{{!gwi}}

Our dining room adjoins the kitchen (it's the yellow wall to the left of the first cabinet) and our furniture there is an Arts and Crafts style. I don't want to replace all the furniture with something more contemporary because I like what I have, but it's pretty different from the kitchen. For the chandelier in the dining room I bought a simple oil-rubbed bronze fixture with glass shades.

We used 2 different companies for the cabinets because of the limitations of the Ikea sizes. If Ikea had made a shallower drawer box then we might have been able to make it work. But the island cabinets are 18" deep and the niche cabinet is 17" deep, while the standard depth of Ikea drawer base cabinets is 24". We considered cutting down Ikea cabinets and using doors rather than drawers, but for not a lot more $$s and a lot less hassle we got these beautiful cabinets from Sherr's

Here is a link that might be useful: Mockett
localeater
11 years ago
It's really gorgeous. Thank you for sharing your sneak peek with us and providing me with the information on your pulls. I can't wait to see the whole thing finished. Both of your pendant choices are lovely, and you have great taste so your final choice whether one of these or something yet to be discovered will be perfect.
sw_in_austin
11 years ago
Your kitchen is going to be fabulous. I love the walnut with the other elements.

Are the doors and drawer fronts solid walnut or veneer? Any reason why you didn't also go with doors/drawer fronts from Sherr's?

Thanks.
beekeeperswife
11 years ago
That is so beautiful! You must be so excited.

I vote for YES, use that last piece for the back splash. You will save yourself so much stress. Do It! Wait, are we voting????
cat_mom
11 years ago
Wow--it's going to look spectacular! Can't wait to see the finished kitchen!
writersblock (9b/10a)
11 years ago
It's going to be gorgeous!
kaysd
11 years ago
Wow, that is looking great. I can't wait to see it with the marble installed and the blue film gone.

Did you use black walnut? Is it stained or natural? I love the color. My drywall is going up next week, then the cabinet makers can measure and start building our walnut cabinets.
deedles
11 years ago
Wow, the walnut is lovely! Really liking the walnut cabs I've seen on here lately. Can't wait to see the finished pics!
pricklypearcactus
11 years ago
Thanks for sharing the information regarding your 18" deep island drawers. I've been wondering whether anyone here had drawers that were 20" or less deep on a seating island or peninsula. I am hoping to be able to do something similar with my kitchen someday in order to make some counter seating with storage.

Do you like the depth of the drawers? Do they seem functional at 18" deep?
annkathryn
Original Author
11 years ago
Are the doors and drawer fronts solid walnut or veneer? Any reason why you didn't also go with doors/drawer fronts from Sherr's?

The walnut is a veneer over MDF that comes in 4'x8' sheets. I'm going to buy a couple of sheets to finish off the island on the stove end and underneath the overhang. We had Sherr's price out the entire kitchen and their price was just a bit higher than SemiHandMade. We'd also visited SemiHandMade in LA earlier this year when we were down there and liked the operation, so decided to go with them for the Ikea cabinets. They could have done the drawer fronts for the Sherr's cabinets as well, but that just seemed way too complicated.

I vote for YES, use that last piece for the back splash. You will save yourself so much stress. Do It! Wait, are we voting????

Feel free to give your opinions - we haven't templated the marble yet so there's still time for us to change our minds (for the 100th time!)

I'm not sure if it's black walnut, but there's no stain just a natural finish.

I think the 18" drawers will be ok as they should at least hold all of our plates in the middle and bottom drawers, and silverware on top. They seem like they'll be functional, and having them this size was really the only way to get an island in the room. The 17" niche cabinets will be ok for storing things that we won't have room for in the dining room like candles, tablecloths, maybe small platters etc.

Here is a link that might be useful: SemiHandMade Doors
heidia
11 years ago
EEEK! This is going to be amazing, and I am soo interested in seeing as I too am doing a walnut/white kitchen(although more traditional. :)
PRO
modern life interiors
11 years ago
bump
sochi
11 years ago
I should have mentioned that I just love your cab pulls. I don't like mine much at all, I really like the minimalist look you have going.

All this luscious walnut, love it. I'm happy to see it being used more regularly here.
michoumonster
11 years ago
annkathryn, that is gorgeous! I can't wait to see the final results. especially since I want to do walnut with white uppers too. like everyone else, I love your hardware too!
just wondering, why you got some cabinets through Scherr's and others through semi-handmade?
secondhalf
11 years ago
What perfect choices you've made. I love walnut and you've done such a gorgeous job. Can't wait to see it finished.
function_first
11 years ago
A show stopper, just gorgeous. Love the mix of glossy white uppers and the walnut lowers. So unique, and I cannot wait to see more!
michoumonster
11 years ago
sorry, i just read thru all your thread and see why you used Scherr's for some cabinets and others from ikea/semihandmade. Cannot wait to see your reveal, or more sneak peeks (hint hint!)
annkathryn
Original Author
11 years ago
We've made some progress on the kitchen so I'll add some updated photos below. The Caesarstone is installed and we have a sink and dishwasher in place but nothing's hooked up yet. Dust everywhere! We also have a butcher block counter that just arrived from Hardwood Lumber Company that needs to be oiled - I think it's going to be gorgeous. The carpenter who was going to build out the island couldn't make it to the house this week so that will be delayed another week.

The floors are down but covered - we used a dark bamboo. The toekicks are the stainless steel style from Ikea.

Somehow this will all be ready for our move-in which is scheduled for less than 2 weeks from today.
From Kitchen
From Kitchen
From Kitchen
michoumonster
11 years ago
annakthryn, how deep are your uppers with your microwave? is it a built-in microwave or just sitting on a shelf? can't wait to see the final!
annkathryn
Original Author
11 years ago
The uppers are 12" deep. The microwave is a Sharp over-the-counter that I first read about here on GW.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sharp microwave
localeater
11 years ago
Looking beautiful annkathryn. You must be so excited to be seeing progress and getting ready to move in.
Love the Caeserstone and the butcher block. Is it american black walnut? How was your experience with Hardwood Lumber Company?
annkathryn
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks localeater. We're very excited!

I think the butcher block is black walnut, and our experience w/Hardwood Lumber Company was outstanding.

To clarify on the microwave question, it's bolted to the cabinet above it - there's no shelf underneath.
annkathryn
Original Author
11 years ago
I took the blue film off the first cabinets this evening as we're getting closer to being done. DH and I moved into the house 4 days ago and have a working kitchen! The only thing left is templating the island and finishing the walnut side and back of it. A couple of new pictures:
From Kitchen

Unfinished back of island:
From Kitchen
lucas_tx_gw
11 years ago
Are the glossy white doors on the uppers the Ikea doors?

Please please post the finised result! Love the way it looks!
phiwwy
11 years ago
oooooohhhh I love it - it's going to be fabulous. It's gorgeous already! Love the walnut!!!!
annkathryn
Original Author
11 years ago
lucas_tx the glossy white doors are Ikea Abstrakt. We used the Ikea deco strips on the tops and bottoms of the cabinets and the glossy finish was pretty hard to work with. Just about every mitered corner could use a little touch up, but it's been hard to find a way to do it. The kitchen people at Ikea haven't been very sanguine about matching the finish with paint or filler. I'm going to try going to a hobby store and seeing what I can find there as far as glossy paint.
annkathryn
Original Author
11 years ago
A couple more pictures. I'll start a new post with all the details once the marble top is on the island. The stools will be replaced with ones that have a lower back once we find some we like.
From Kitchen

Looking towards the dining room.
From Kitchen
steph2000
11 years ago
I am soooo enjoying watching the process unfold on this one! It's coming together beautifully. We haven't ruled out IKEA - and we haven't ruled out getting doors from the companies you are using, either. So, it's double fun that way.

The glossy white and walnut combination is beautiful. So fresh! Love the ceasarstone and walnut counters, too. The island is going to be great, to boot.

Living vicariously through you, so keep it coming! And enjoy!
drybean
11 years ago
Wow! It's gorgeous. I'm so happy to see a SemiHandmade kitchen. I researched them as an option for my Ikea kitchen to-be, but I could find little information on them here.

Gorgeous!!! Can't wait to see more.
annkathryn
Original Author
11 years ago
We're making progress and are almost done with not only the kitchen but the rest of the house as well. It's so nice to have the house mostly to ourselves without subcontractors everywhere! In the kitchen we just have some cleanup/dusting, cabinet door adjustments and the 2 pendant lights still to be installed. I finished the back of the island with Watco Danish Oil and finished the butcher block with mineral oil The highlight of last week was the install of the marble on the island.
From Kitchen
From Kitchen
michoumonster
11 years ago
annkathryn, that marble island is stunning!!