I started reading your post and just about fell of my chair when I got to the part about twelve children ! I stand in awe and congratulate you :) You must be a wonderfully patient human being !

Your choice of materials sounds wonderful. I am not sure if there is an Ikea in your area, but you might want to investigate their butcher block countertops for your island. You could piece a couple of slabs together. If you find it too thin, some casing or moulding on the side will beef it up visually. Ikea also has chalkboard doors in various sizes.

The marble option would certainly look wonderful. I have never had it so can't comment firsthand on the durability of it. We have had granite and that seems to be fairly impervious to just about everything, although it does get etch marks.

I personally like the whole aged/distressed look that marble seems to acquire, but that's a subjective thing. Certainly it is reputed to stain and mark fairly easily (for a stone).

What about laminate ? There are some really nice ones out there now. Also consider the synthetic quartz surface like Caeserstone/Silestone etc. For something a little unusual consider buying a sheet of bronze in the size of your island top and edging that with a nice wooden moulding. It's less expensive than stone and has a wonderful warm look.

It's always nice to 'meet' another large family!

Just to let you know, for our family of 10, we have 2 of the Electrolux all-fridges and 1 all-freezer. Right now, as I've frozen some of the summer produce, I wish we also had 2 freezers, because ours is bursting at the seams. Next year I'm going to refresh my knowledge of canning to try to stress the freezer space less. I think I'd be in big trouble with just 1 of the fridges, though. We use one for milk, yogurt, condiments, produce that's used for sandwiches and snacks, sandwich meats and cheeses...and that one is always packed full. The other holds baking and cooking supplies: eggs, butter, produce that will be cooked and overflow produce for salads that won't fit in the other fridge, extra milk, raw meat, a bit of wine and beer, any dough that I refrigerator rise, etc. That one is about 3/4 full most of the time. I can actually see what's in that one!

Can you deal with patina? I can, and would, even with our big, busy cooking and baking family, if I could have marble. I just don't think a bit of etching would bother me, and it sounds like good sealing helps it resist stains pretty well...and there are tricks to remove some when they get there. I also think light stains over time will just add to the character. I'm OK with the scratches on our stainless counter, so think I could be OK with marble, too. We have wood on our island, and like the warmth it adds to the room. Butcherblock, especially since you can find it in so many different species/colors, would be great in contrast to the all the white.

Email me through 'my page' (see link up by my user name) and I might be able to help you with the 3Ds.

Best wishes on your project!

Another large family welcome from me as well. We have 11 children and have almost the same combo in our new kitchen. Black honed granite/white cabs on perimeters, black island & baking centers with carrera marble tops.

I am happy to share pics. If your interested.
Welcome and I will be anxious to follow your project.

WOW... I could take just two of your families and fill up my entire classroom! God bless you guys...

Your choices will be fabulous. If you embrace soapstone and the classics; you'll be comfortable with marble. The carrera backsplash will tie it in beautifully. I love the look of stacked cabs on uppers with the top having glass. I would imagine latches would be a bit of a pain up that high and might opt for knobs there and do latches on bottom doors (if you're using doors ). The latches could work on the lower wall cabs. No reason why you can't mix up hardware successfully and have a little of everything you love.

Can't wait to see this progress. Good luck!

sounds amazing!!!!!! i had my heart set on marble or soapstone and my dh just couldn't handle either. i found a granite that i am in love with and i NEVER thought that would happen. it is a light green/grey with white veining.

maybe not for you, but my point is....go look at the granites and something might just pop out.

good luck!!!!!!!!!!!

I think the marble would look beautiful, but personally love the look of a beautiful wood countertop. I think you would love it. Plus, it can take a beating and be sanded back to perfection as needed.

It sounds like you are going to have fantastic kitchen whichever way you go!

I don't have much to add, except for something that I'm sure you hear every day. I'm barely managing with just a toddler and a newborn - how do you do it?

I can't wait to see your kitchen!

My kitchen is a little similar to what you're describing, although there are many others here (and in the FKB) which will truly match your 1910-style kitchen.

We are just a family of four, and our children are four and two and for just the four of us we have separate fridge and freezer (ours are Thermador 30" columns) AND a set of refrigerator drawers, and we use it all! I am really, really concerned that 72" of refrigeration will be nowhere near enough for your family. Really. trailrunner has the Electrolux twins and it's just her and her husband!

We have acres of marble (it's our primary countertop / backsplash) and I love it. One thing is that it hides crumbs beautifully! But it's not really a work surface -- what is it you want from your island countertop? We have butcherblock on our (black) island and I LOVE it! My husband won't but I work directly on it.

We have magnetized blackboard panels in our kitchen (we have two of them) and they are terrific! My four year-old practices his writing and both the kiddos love to draw on them. I write our weekly menu on it, and it's a great spot for keeping our grocery list (affixed with a magnet).

You're off to a great start, but make room for more refrigeration!

Thanks for all the great feedback and warm welcomes, everyone! I'm really excited to hear from other large families, too, because you guys get how important function is (not that the rest of you don't, but we are definitely in a different category than families with 2.1 children!) ;o)

Regarding the refrigeration questions, I forgot to mention this in my OP, but we are keeping our current refrigerator (a 5 year old wide-by-side - 27 cubic feet) and will be getting a deep freeze. They'll be kept in the basement in a secondary kitchen/laundry area. It won't be the most convenient, but especially at times like holidays, I'll have the space I need for everything. We're also considering an under-cabinet fridge which would just be for milk. I'd love refrigerator drawers, but I don't think I can carve any more out of our budget.

I've gotten really good at weekly menu planning and I basically buy just whatever we need for that week's meals, but I always have to make mid-week milk runs. Our big new pantry and the spare refrigeration will mostly be there to help me take advantage of good deals and buy loads of milk! Plus, we have a large storage room in our basement that's entirely devoted to food storage.

acountryfarm - I would LOVE to see pictures of your kitchen! Do you have them posted somewhere?

rhome410 - thanks for offering to help with the 3Ds. I would be happy to pay you something for your time. We live in a very rural area, and the nearest kitchen designers are 2 hours from here. We could have gone to the local building center, but didn't feel good about having them do all the work when we weren't buying our cabinets from them. I will email you what I have.

rmkitchen - we were looking at your kitchen the other night, and I guess I should confess I'm totally stealing your Roomba garage idea. ;o) That's just too cool! Your kitchen is beautiful.

And cosmo_nj - one day at a time! :oD The funny thing is, I used to say I didn't want kids. It was a HUGE deal for us to decide to have a third child, and we always say that it was the fact that #3 turned out to be twins that led us down this road. After they were born, we adopted 8 more amazing children. :o) It's wild, but lots of fun!

Welcome to the forum! Your choices sound wonderful already, but you'll find so much help here to refine your plans. rhome is an absolute genius with layouts and there is so much design inspiration here. One of my good friends just adopted child #10 last year and I tell her all the time that she is the real supermom. She and all of you are such an inspiration to those of us who think we're busy with only two.

I end up doing 3Ds for people here all the time. I enjoy it, knowing how important it was for me to see the 3Ds when I was planning our house and kitchen. I can't imagine how anyone does it adequately without. You could either post your design here and we could do it through posts, with input from others as they see, but it can be easier to do a lot of them back and forth through email, then post here if you run into choices or questions.

Glad to hear the Frigidaires aren't the only refrigeration you're planning. What you'll have sounds like plenty. I'm trying to do without a fridge or freezer elsewhere, since we don't have a garage or basement, but it's proving a little challenging.

Can't wait to see your plans.

rhome - I put a link to an album with the drawings and pics in the post linked below. The big floor plan is the most accurate representation, but I realized I'll need to email you measurements. I'll try to do that tomorrow. :o) Thanks for being willing to help me out!

Here is a link that might be useful: my post with album link

I commented on the floor plan on your other post...I'll be sure and watch for your email tomorrow!