Finished! White (with blue island), soapstone, etc. (pic heavy)
We've taken some time off from reading this forum (new baby came 4 weeks after we were substantially complete on the kitchen!), but we just got back the photos that our contractor's professional photographer took, so we thought we'd do the final unveil.
When we moved into this house 17 months ago, we knew we'd need to update the kitchen. It was the size of a postage stamp and cut off from the rest of the house. See original floor plan here:
We really wanted a kitchen that would be open to our family room, would have eat-in space not separated by a brick wall, and - of course - more space. So we decided to take out the wall between the original kitchen and dining room, move the dining room to what used to be a formal living room that we never used, and taking out the wall between the old kitchen/dining rooms and a breezeway type area that was mostly wasted space.
After discussions with several design/build firms and countless hours of looking at floor plans posted to this site (thank you, those who gave us valuable input!), we pretty much designed the floor plan ourselves and then found a contractor who was willing to do it. We did have to convince him that we really did want this design. He wanted us to have a U-shaped kitchen with a peninsula instead of the island, but we really wanted the circular flow plan and felt strongly that we wanted 2 separate cabinet runs that make a disconnected "L" so we didn't have any corner cabinets. (With his design we would have had 2 corners on an 11-foot wall). What we ended up with was mostly like this:
Changes to this design included moving the warming drawer to the island, putting the icemaker to the right of the prep sink, and shrinking down the island a bit. We also moved things around within the mudroom. Generally speaking, this is substantially what we ended up with.
This was no small construction feat - we took out 2 walls, including one load-bearing wall to combine 2 rooms and an old breezeway into a single kitchen and then added a mudroom. From the first sledgehammer to the final nail, it took about 16 weeks. There were a few in the middle when we thought that the baby would come first but they got it done on time and for that we are super grateful!
For those who want to know what is what:
Cabinets - CWP (we originally wanted Crownpoint, but decided we wanted something made closer to where we live - VA - and less expensive). So far we've been pleased though the wainscot still needs to be touched up. We're glad we did the blue island with the white surrounding cabinets. It gives the room some personality, looks great with the soapstone and matches my Polish pottery!
Counters and sinks - soapstone from Buck's County. Love it.
Rangetop, hood and ovens - Wolf
Fridge - 48" Subzero
Warming drawer - Miele - we still don't really use this...
Dishwasher - Miele
Microwave - GE spacesaver. We went through a lot of angst with our contractor on the placement of this. We had this location in a prior kitchen and really liked it but he never did. We still like it!
Wine fridge - U-line
Ice Maker - SZ (found used on Craigslist!)
Backsplash - carrara marble (we originally wanted plain white but hired a designer for a few hours of input and he recommended this - we really like how it ties together the grey in the soapstone and the white in the cabinets)
Knobs and pulls- RH
Latches - can't remember, but found them from the Christopher Peacock look-alike kitchen blog
Faucets - KWC except for the filter/insta-hot which is Waterstone (I thought I would love the pull down one but I actually like the pull-out one at our cleanup sink more)
Pendants - Hudson Valley
Floors - White oak in kitchen, soapstone in mudroom. We had 3 different materials in the 3 rooms that were combined to make this (cork, wood, and slate) and had a hard time deciding what we wanted to have. In the end, we went with wood and stained it to match the adjacent dining room.
The pictures:
The old:
The new:
To orient yourself, the pantry to the left of the fridge is in the same location that our old fridge was!
Comments (64)
honeychurch
13 years agolast modified: 9 years agoflwrs_n_co
13 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Finished Bathroom Pics (two bathrooms!)--very pic heavy
Comments (41)Wooo!!! Cat, I am stuck at home because of the snow storm so wandered around here not looking at anything in particular and came upon your thread. I totally agree with you on the shower curtain choice. Regardless of whether I have the money to spare or not, keeping those suckers clean is a nuisance over time. We have a glass shower door that was installed back in 2003 and I can't tell you how much I hate cleaning it. Not that the door is all that dirty, but a shower curtain is way easier, and you can change the look/style whenever you feel like it. Can't do that with a pricey shower door. Anyway, everything looks lovely as usual, including the "prom" dress :-) Love, love those circular tiles, and the floor tiles that look like fabric. Gorgeous. What colour is that again? It looks greyish on my monitor....See MoreFinished pics - Creamy white, stained island
Comments (68)I am fairly new to this forum and have enjoyed browsing through all of the lovely kitchens and reading the comments but I have yet to comment myself. Until now...I must tell you- I LOVE your kitchen!! It's my 'dream' kitchen! We are getting ready to do a full remodel of our kitchen and I am completely stuck on the cabinets. Due to our budget, we have selected Mid Continent Cabinetry and I cannot decide on a door style!?! :-\ Would you mind helping me select a door style that would be similar to yours? I can't exactly tell from the pictures just what yours look like and since every company offers something different, I'm just not sure which one to go with! Here is the link to the Mid Continent site: http://midcontinentcabinetry.com/Products/Signature_Series/ We will be going with the Signature Series, full-overlay door. I am considering the Adams with the 5-piece drawer option (least expensive) in the Traditional door style, the Concord (mid-expensive level) or the Mission (most expensive) both with the 5-piece drawer option in the Simple door style. Or should I select something different? I would appreciate any and all input! I'm so stuck!!! Thanks much! Here is a link that might be useful: Mid Continent Signature Series door styles...See MoreBack Again to FINISH this!!! (pic heavy)
Comments (45)Ahhhh, paint colors. On my screen the mock up by blondell looks like a very creamy rich color. I'm bummed that on the decks when looking at manchester tan and normadic dessert they are more tans and not at all golds/yellows. My concern is making this work with the rest of the home as we have the golds/reds going on and the house is so open. I think that is why the designer chose the above listed colors because they matched the granite and tile and then had a much deeper color on the same strip that I could use in our great room. I want the kitchen to work and match, but also need to keep in mind my great room, dining room and furnishings. I have all new furniture and can't possibly start over. I'm going to have to start testing lots of samples, but hoping I can find something not too tan or too beige. Wish it wasn't so difficult. Perhaps more of a creamy neutral would work? Any more paint suggestions? Thanks :) I really hope I can find the perfect color choice to give me blondell's work of art and still match the rest of the home. I'm now concerned I'm trying to marry tan and gold and they will be a sure divorce before the honeymoon is over:--OO)...See Morefinished white/marble kitchen!!!! -pic heavy
Comments (65)dandylandy . Honestly I never really priced 1.25 inch carrara marble.. I priced 2 inch from all different types of marbles. I can tell you that if you dont use the carrara and go with another type of marble ( such as danby, calcutta, stauary) it was double the price. For me the upcharge was if i purchased through who my cabinet people referred me to, they were giving themselves a large kickback of about 2,000. I went direct through a recommendation of a family in my town of a home that had 8 stone bathrooms and probably a 200,000 dollar kitchen done by a particular stone guy who I highly recommend now too... because..... most 2 inch slabs or marble are typically smaller then the 1.25 ones. For my kitchen I needed just a tad more then 1 slab. Everyone I priced insisted my only option was to buy two slabs. The awesome guy I worked with told me hang on and lets wait and search and eventually we will find a slab that is just slightly larger and sure enough we did... that saved me thousands! He did an awesome job with making sure any flaws in the marble were not visible when he did my cut outs. If it helps you since I dont know the price of 1.25 carrara, I paid 4000.00 for my 2inch carrara marble, I can look up the measurements if it would really help. At one point I wanted danby so I was willing to goto 1.25 inches.. but it was still about 2,000 more then the 2 inch carrara and I am glad I went with the thicker carrara, I LOVE IT.. If you would like a referral for my stone guy please let me know...See Moredee850
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13 years agolast modified: 9 years agoirishcreamgirl- the DR wall color is BM Williamsburg Blue. We had originally chosen a golden color but changed to blue at the last minute, not even trying to coordinate with the island color, but it turned out well. Here's a pic of the DR. It is about a shade darker in person.
kitchenadict - the dishes with the dark blue are all Polish pottery. The flag ones are "Americana" and the dots are usually called "Peacock". There are a lot of online sellers these days...!
breezygirl
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mfhoopOriginal Author