It's been a long, hard road, but the end is finally in sight! After all the hours of research I spent on this forum, I feel compelled to pay it forward. As some of you recall, I asked for advice on my floorplan many times and there were so many who responded, but I need to give a special shout out to rhome410 and bmorepanic who kept me sane and helped me fight my Kitchen Designer every step of the way ;-) Plus beekeeperswife, who chimed in many times with great ideas and kept me strong in the face of a ridiculous amount of stress and things going wrong on this project.

To give you a sense of how far we've come, this is the before shot

And After

And here is the kitchen from the West looking to the East

From the South looking to the North

And the North looking to the South, the grid windows in the sunroom were old, and I thought I could keep them.

But, we just installed these panes of clear glass, from Sunrise, and they make a huge difference.

New fridge and microwave wall

vs. the old fridge wall and microwave

We have dividers above the oven for cookie sheets, pizza stones, oversized serving trays, etc.

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I put a drawer below the ovens for all of the GE Advantium Speed Oven's microwave and convection/oven trays, booklets, etc.

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Here's our first meal we cooked in the newly remodeled kitchen. Braised short ribs. The induction cooktop is such a pleasure to use.

The backsplash behind the cooktop goes to the ceiling.

The Ticor Prep Sink I have is a knock off of the Kohler Stages, and I find it to be a really great design, especially with the Kohler Karbon faucet. The walnut cutting board was custom-made and fits and slides in the grooves of the sink, just like the colander that Ticor made.

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The Ticor built in colander with my garden bounty

My Jenn Air Induction Cooktop has two bridge elements, which is nice when I want to use my cast iron griddle for pancakes, bacon, etc.

But, the corner chipped off about one week after it was installed, and no one knew how or why. I contacted Jenn Air, and they explained that the only way they are responsible is if the glass shatters due to thermal damage. This corner crack was clearly not near the thermal induction units, so I was SOL.

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I decided the chipped corner was in addition to being ugly, dangerous, as it is very sharp. Since I did not know how fragile the glass corners would be on a replacement top, I opted for the Euro Stainless framed version when I replaced it.

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I actually think it looks even better with the stainless steel, so I am trying to focus on the silver lining to this $500 cloud of unforeseen replacement.

This shows the 42 inch Side By Side Sub Zero, the orbital finish with marine edge stainless steel countertop and the two ovens, GE Advantium Speed Oven and Wolf E Series oven. I pored over A2Gemini's photo of the two ovens together, before I pulled the trigger and bought them both. So far, they have both been great!

Closer shot of the glass display with my sterling silver

The wine cooler has a bubbly chandelier next to it, from Overstock.com, which I love, as it reminds me of champagne and sparkling wine.

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I decided to take advantage of the few inches I had to the right of the wine cooler, and put in these liquor pull outs

It is a miracle that I still have so many bottles left of wine and tequila after this remodel ;-)

Here is the cooktop wall, with seeded glass cabinets flanking the hood, and glass display to the left

The tile is by Sonoma Tilemakers, the Vihara Annica Silk, 1 x 4 inch complements the Mother of Pearl Quartzite countertops and the walnut countertops.

The Truffle Silgranite sink by Blanco also works well with the Mother of Pearl countertops.

This the view from the Living Room looking towards the sunroom, the sunroom stools are a great spot to watch all the kitchen happenings.

Close up of the 10+ foot long walnut countertop in the sunroom, overlooking the clean up sink and prep sink area.
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And here is the view looking out to the backyard, the windows are new and make a huge difference with the space.

And the view from the kitchen's clean up sink towards the sunroom and living room, where I replaced the grid windows as well.

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In the big island, directly across from the dishwasher and big clean up sink, I have large 36 inch long drawers that hold plates, bowls, tupperware, etc. I love not having to stack them on tall shelves.

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The top drawers are full of organizers for knives, kitchen gadgets, etc.

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Perlick Fridge drawers in the smaller "entertaining island" have drinks, and the sink has a Reverse Osmosis, both are convenient to the bar area for making coffee in the morning.

Pantry between the breakfast bar and ovens.

I installed a Yellow Jacket central vacuum in the small island. There are vents to sweep up crumbs, under both islands, and it comes in handy across from the cat feeding area. The wood floors throughout the first floor are 5 inch wide rift and quartered solid white oak from Heidelberg Wood Flooring in Indiana.

Here is the drawer where I put the cat food, treats, and bowls.

The corner cabinet is made by creativewooddoors.com and makes me happy every time I open it to get something out as it is such an improvement over the old bermuda triangle that existed in my old kitchen in the exact same spot.

And the chandelier over the small island, close up so you can see the glass and the bubbles inside

Before this side of the kitchen was a lounge area

What an improvement! We sit here all day long, the walnut and white stools are from Overstock and are so comfortable.

The Wolf warming drawer is in the big island, and is directly across from the ovens. I put it there, so it is easily accessible for entertaining. I wanted the warming drawer to be close to my waist, so I would not have to bend over to reach stuff under the ovens when I have guests over.

The handles on all my cabinetry are Top Knobs, Princetonian model. I have plenty left over that I am looking to off load, if you are interested.

Spice drawer next to cooktop

Before, I had a desk and a pantry along the wall that goes under the back stairwell.

But, I really wanted a breakfast bar, an idea I got from Mick de Giulio. That is what I put under the stairs in my remodel:

Here is the appliance garage open with the toaster, juicer, etc. A marble sculpture of a pregnant woman, made by my late Mom, is on the countertop. I love having a piece of her in my kitchen! The cable boxes will be disappearing shortly, when I upgrade my receiver.

The trash pullout has recycling for paper and plastic as well as standard trash in front. Next to the clean up sink I have another pullout trash.

Charging drawer

Bread drawer with pull out walnut cutting board

My crystal behind the hutch glass doors is like art, I love how the glass sparkles, with the LED lights shining on them. I love having all of my Grandma's crystal on display. She would have loved it!

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The punch of color on my sliding doors is Benjamin Moore's Warm Earth and I love what is behind the door: my MUDROOM with radiant heat tile floors!

And a utility closet for brooms, Swiffers, etc.

Closet doors in mudroom closed

And open, with storage on top and kids coats hanging on the bottom

Pull out baskets are great for holding sunscreen, gardening gloves, mittens, etc.

My stone countertops are Taj Mahal Quartzite, AKA Mother of Pearl Quartzite and are seemingly bulletproof. Taj Mahal countertops have cream, white, brown and gray in them, which tie together nicely the walnut and white cabinetry and the Revere Pewter paint on the walls.

Even rainy days are blissful in our new space.
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Thanks for reading.

This post was edited by tl1969 on Mon, Nov 25, 13 at 11:06