Whoa! I just love seeing the before and afters people post when posting their finished (or almost finished!) kitchens. Gives us all hope! Beautiful cabs and what a gorgeous window to look out while standing at the sink! Enjoy!

I love your cabinets so much and I love your Amendoim floors!Love the color of your granite counters!

It looks beautiful. I absolutely love your granite.

Beautiful reno. I love the warm Amazon gray Silestone. It coordinates beautifully with your granite. And boy do I envy your dish towel cubby. Congrats!
And thanks for sharing.

VERY nice job!! I especially love your lighting and the Amazon Grey counters. Also appreciate your towel solution! In the kitchen in our last house we made a similar, left-over spot into storage for a folding step-stool that was one of my favorite features of the kitchen. Accidental cool features are great!

I almost did our baking center with doors like that... all the way down and pushing back beside. I ended up just doing the regular upper doors and leaving the counter open, but seeing yours gives me a little twinge of regret. ;-)

Nice improvements - congrats to you!

What an improvement! It really looks great and I love your choices.

Your new kitchen seems to be much more open and its beautiful. I especially like the way the lighting and granite go together and make a real statement for the kitchen.

Thanks for all the nice comments. I really enjoyed the process (with the exception of the cabinets - that was a debacle) and discovered a previously unidentified love of lighting! It can really change a room and add that bit of interest and personality that is sometimes lacking. :)

The Grey Amazon was my first love and most everything else revolved around that selection...most people don't even notice it as the island kinda steals the show. So, I especially appreciate that acknowledgment!

Your kitchen is great --- I love the shadows on the ceiling that the pendants cast. I also love the silestone and paint color, too. Sagey blues are my favorite color, so I'm really loving your whole kitchen.

Congrats.

It looks much better than the original, but captures something from the original, so I bet it fits in with the general style of the house really well.

I love how modern and fresh it looks. The style is current but is not too trendy. I think this is a kitchen that will stand the test of time and not look every other 2011 kitchen.
I'd be thrilled to have a kitchen like this....

It looks fantastic--cabinets, granite, etc., but I love all your great o.co bargains! I've considered those bar stools as extra stools for when we have company.

Love the transformation! The baking center, lovely granite and silestone, and beautiful cabs! I love the layout--so much better function than the before. Whatever your cab dilemma was, it is great that you were able to get that towel cubby out of it!

Did you use pull out shelves in your pantry? And thank you for sharing the cab stain color. I've been trying to figure out a stain that will go with the molding in our house and I think this is it!

Thanks for sharing! Enjoy!

Your kitchen is beautiful! 2 questions. Where did you get the chandelier above your kitchen table? (I LOVE IT) What color are your walls? Great job!

Beautiful kitchen! I love the granite and the cabinet stain. And the lemons to lemonade towel cubby is great! Enjoy your lovely space.

I love your beautiful kitchen. The lighting makes it very sexy.

Would you have liked a hood over your fabulous Bosch induction? Even tho gwers generally favor a hood, and it's more than favor, I had a hood over our cooktop in a cold Chicagoland house, which I stuffed with plastic bags as the cold seeped into the house. I never used and rarely missed a hood, but most folks here fry and I didn't. So if that bugs you, you could modify your cooking style. In my old kitchen, the hood didn't matter.

I have the 30"Bosch induction, 500 series and love it very much.

You gave a lot of intelligent thought to the cabinetry, its beautiful, the layout, the baking center, windows, just everything. It is gorgeous.

What you think are design flaws often become delightful accidents. If I had your sexy k-room, I would be so so happy that any other, well, less than perfect things, wouldn't bother me in the least-Because I would be so very happy at the functionality, the finishes, the sexiness(can't get over that aspect)/

Fondle the fondle-ables, smile, cook, enjoy the people and you will have a superb k-room reno.

It's really pretty. It's not a cliche. It's not reaching for a "1910 and the servants have been dismissed' esthetic- Its a damn pretty American happy kitchen. It be's. It is not a wanna be(wanna be's trigger my gullet)

What do you mean that the hardware can be removed without damaging the door fronts? Do you have a link to the item?

Ooh... I don't really like most granite, but your Lapidus is STUNNING! And what a transformation! Great job, your kitchen looks fabulous!

aa62579 - below is a link to the handles at Ikea. They are screwed into the back of the door...so can be easily removed later when I finally find the 'right' handles.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ikea handles

chitown_remodel - Here's a link to that chandy. It's such a fun fixture...I just love it.

The walls are SW Sanderling. The wall with the clock (by the pantry) is SW Uncertain Gray (this is also an accent wall in the LR). I'm not very color savvy, so I found a pillow that I love, and used the colors from it as my palette.

Here is a link that might be useful: O.co Chandelier

flwrs_n_co - yes, there are six adjustable 30 inch deep pull out shelves - plus one stationary shelf (in the middle). It holds a lot of stuff!

This is one of my lesson learned areas that someone else might be able to benefit from. My cabinet maker wouldn't make drawers the full 30 inches deep - said there wasn't suitable hardware, as well as stability issues. So, he made these huge roll out shelves using 3/4 plywood with full extension glides. I also have two nice big pull-out shelves in the lower cab next to the fridge. If I had went with drawers, I would have lost the extra depth. I know drawers are almost always recommended here on GW (I love them too), but this is a situation when a pullout makes more sense, IMO.

westsider40 - Sexy...ha that made me giggle. I was going for a little modern, a little fun with classic undertones. But I'll take Sexy! hehe

I have a 14" telescoping downdraft behind the cook top. It works for me. I don't do a lot of frying and when I do it does the job. In fact, one of the first things I cooked was pot stickers. My DS says he wants to go outside to where the vent is and see if he can smell it. He comes back in and says "It smells like they are burning." Sure enough, they were black, but we couldn't smell a thing inside. I guess it did a good job. ha

You make a good point about embracing the flaws! This kitchen is SO much better than before, it's difficult to even call them flaws anymore. I'm truly enjoying the kitchen as is the rest of the family.

Thank you for the 'American Happy Kitchen' comment - that makes my day!

So gorgeous! I especially love those beautiful alder cabinets. Great job!

Wow! Beautiful makeover! Love the warmth of the alder! And those light fixtures are gorgeous! I really like the temporary hardware, too - so sleek and modern. Enjoy your beautiful new space!

Thank you so much for showing your pantry! I actually think drawers aren't the best solution for a pantry because you only see the tops of stuff or everything has to laying on their side so you can see the labels. I'm trying to figure out how to reconfigure my pantry and your pics really helped. Thanks again!

A very lovely kitchen. It's very liveable, warm, and well planned. Love the alder cabinets. We used that wood in our master bath. I think you will really enjoy the cooking times you will have in it!

Your kitchen is gorgeous. Love the wood stain, and your counters are stunning.

My favorite part of your kitchen is the way you used the cabinets to hide the mixer and bread maker ... love it!!

Can you share some detail re. the cabinets over your desk? It looks like you have two 12" high pulldowns. I'm just finalizing our design and am considering something similar ... can you elaborate on how far the door opens (all the way down, or does it hinge inside to a flat surface?) and you do you like it? Thanks!

Cool Kitchen! Your DS probably says the same thing.

taggie. Thanks for the nice words! I really like the baking center. It's nice to be able to open it up and have ready access to everything I need.

That cabinet over the desk is one of my design debacles. It's two drawers under a regular cabinet. If I stand on my tippy toes I can see inside them. Not what I planned, but the cabinet guy had other ideas and I was DONE with him, so this is what I get. I like the idea of the pull downs though. Or even a hinge that allows the drawer fronts to fold down would be better than the drawers. Enjoy your reno!

Thanks Luv2Laf! Okay, now I see why you wanted to play 'I SPY the Kitchen Design Disaster', LOL. Drawers indeed. Well they totally look like pulldowns, and I thought you might have designed them purposely to provide easy access to mail slots or other dividers while at the same time hiding the clutter they tend to attract.

Good thing you luv to laf!! I love your attitude. And congratulations on your beautiful kitchen.