Huh? Misleading headline...but your kitchen turned out GREAT!!!

You have every right to be proud! This has to be one of the most beautiful kitchens I have seen. It is truly stunning. What are your countertops and the backsplash? Just gorgeous! Beautiful home. Would love to see more pictures.

Wonderful! Your kitchen just moved to the top of my favorite kitchens list!!

Fabulous! Your kitchen layout reminds me (somewhat) of one of the designs I"m considering for my kitchen remodel. It helps to see how wonderfully functional it seems. What kind/brand are your kitchen cabinets?

The wood is absolutely spectacular as is the craftsmanship of the cabinets and the small view of the entry door. The floors are beautiful. Please give more details on the counters and backsplash which are a perfect contrast to the cabinets and floor. One of the best kitchens I've seen! Thanks for the post.

JB

MMmmmmmmmmm... nice! I've used almost all salvaged wood for trim, etc, as well. It's a very satisfying feeling, eh? You will love your doug fir floors and doors -- mine are 90 years old and still going strong. :)

Why can't my friends do that? It looks amazing. Congratulations on a job well done.

Your kitchen turned out awesome bengal!! I love that on GW there are so many kitchens in so many different styles. It's funny because when I first started this project I thought my style was transitional rustic. Now I realize that I don't really have a style, I just know what I like when I see it. Beautiful is beautiful whether it is transitional, traditional, contemporary etc. You mastered a clean, contemporary look that is also very warm and inviting......which in my opinion is a difficult dynamic to achieve!! Great job!!

Very, very fine! When I see homes like yours I regret not yet completing my evolution to simple serenity (these ceramic chickens kill it every time). Hope to see your kitcen in the Finished Kitchens Blog for future inspiration. Happy cooking!

Thanks for all the kind words. I still look at it in disbelief that it came together so well.

Kompy,yeah, the title was tongue-in-cheek, because I was warned about using friends as contractors, but I knew these guys and their work ethic, so I wasn't worried.

Cabinets are clear maple with a natural finish, from a local custom maker in Salt Lake, Mt Tech cabinets. Countertops are Maron Cohiba granite. They almost read as black from a distance, but are deep brown and scattered with gold flecks, small fractures, large flakes, etc. Really have a lot of depth. Backsplash is from Daltile, from the Urban Metals collection, UM01. It's a running brick pattern with pewter grout. It's kind of weird, not really tile, almost a composite substrate with a thin laminate of shiny material that also has specks & color. Hard to describe.

The whole thing was really a collaboration with input from a number of different people. I had a rough idea of what I wanted, and had spent a lot of time talking about it with Dale & Damion, my friends who were the contractors. Dale loves to do the "Craftsman" style woodworking, so a modernized version of that style was the base. The original kitchen was cut in half by a bank of cabinets that totally cut off the "dining" area, with the original stove in that section, and the old sink where the range is now. I really wanted to open up the kitchen and join all that space, so that also was one of the primary design criteria. From there, things just developed, and as we went along, I decided that I'm only going to do this once, and I wanted to do it right, and do justice to the beautiful woodworking that the guys were doing. I was also fortunate to meet and enlist the services of a great designer, Carrie Snyder of Avatar Design in Salt Lake. Carrie was just awesome at coming in at crucial moments to make sure things worked together. She did the lighting plan, helped me choose the countetop material, chose the backsplash, and all of the interior wall colors. The walls are Pratt & Lambert "Briarwood", with accent walls of "Clove Dust", and some "Chalk Grey", with the same Chalk Grey ceilings. All of the woodwork was laboriously hand sanded, then shot with sanding sealer, sanded again, then shot with three coats of lacquer. One of the details that you cant' see in the photos is that the baseboard is 5/8" thick, the jamb legs 3/4" thick, then the frieze boards on top step out another 1/8" to 1", so there is a three dimensional step out on the trim, which was all milled in my garage.

Anyway, I hope I've answered some of your questions without prattling on too much like a proud papa. If you could have seen what this house looked like before, you would not believe it. I bought the house in 1988, and the entire thing (including bathrooms!!) was carpeted with a short blue-green industrial looking carpet, all walls were the same battleship grey, (it was listed as a "Newport Contemporary Solarium") The transformation has been awesome to watch. This past Monday I got my final inspection, and was able to start moving back upstairs after spending the last 6 months in my dungeon of a basement with my two Bengal cats, (hence the screen name). I don't have any more photos at the moment, but would love to share some of the rest of the house when I get back home from work in 2 weeks.

Thanks again for looking & listening! I got a lot of great information from the folks on this forum, so if there is anything that I may be able to contribute, just ask. BTW, the range is a Blue Star, 36" RNB with charbroiler. I haven't really had the chance to cook on it yet, but the installation was relatively painless (it's heavy!), and all burners, ignitors, broiler, etc worked perfectly first time.

Now that is truly beautiful wood combined with wonderful craftsmanship. You are indeed lucky in your friends!

Looks great - glad to hear no friendships were jeopardized in the process. Gotta say I think that's the first range photo I've seen with burners flaming and no pots/pans.....

Simulated cooking! Actually, none of my kitchen ware, dishes, pots & pans, etc, have been moved in yet. Just wanted to fire up my new stove. The local Blue Star service tech came today, did the White Glove exam (everything was working perfectly anyway), and pronounced my stove to be worthy of the two year warranty. Now I have to wait another 10 days till I get back home to complete moving in. Still have painters doing a few touch-ups, etc, but everything is ready to go. Can't wait to get back home to my new/old home!!

Gorgeous! What's on tap?

Your home should be in a magazine. Just fantastic.

Hi scootermom, currenty Odell's IPA is the only thing on tap. I'm a longtime homebrewer, though, and as soon as my garage is cleaned out (it's been a complete woodworking shop all summer) I will again have my own brews on tap. The tower on the countertop is a glycol cooled unit that is fed by a trunk line that goes through the floor to my basement. I have a 15 cu ft converted chest freezer for a keg cooler, which will hold about 8-9 of my 5 gal. stainless soda kegs. Next to the freezer is a Micromatic glycol chiller which circulates a food grade antifreeze mix through the tower, keeping the beer lines and the tower cold so that the beer in the lines doesn't get warm and go bad. It's basically the same setup that bars use, on a smaller scale.

Hi Circuspeanut, your floors are beautiful as well. 90 years old! When I decided to go with fir, everyone told me how soft it is, and how much it wears. The guy who installed the floors said that they wear with "character", you can't worry about every little dent, and they look better with age. Have you found this to be the case? I do know that if you drop something, it makes a dent. But these are 3/4" solid fir, finished on site, so I can refinish as many times as I want to, I guess. I'll wait a few years and see how they look then.

Wow! If your friends need a second career, they're good to go! Beautiful job . . . congratulations to all of you.

Arlene