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oldbat2be

Bold Tile, Sunlight Filled Kitchen

11 years ago

There are two versions of this reveal; this is the better one but it's loaded with pictures. Here's a link to the photoshop version, if that's easier for you:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0307394514459.html?26

Many of you have seen progress pictures along the way and given us so much valuable feedback and advice. With the forum's help, we have an incredibly functional kitchen in which it is great fun to cook and entertain.

Our home was built in the mid 60's and the kitchen used to be on the back side of the house, facing north west (never any sun). Our architect suggested relocating the kitchen to the front of the house, and came up with a very functional new plan, which included moving interior walls and adding a skylight dormer, mud room and pantry. We found a builder to perform the demolition and manage the construction. We built a temporary kitchen in our family room, moved the fridge in there with our camping gas burners on a card table, and started the long process of renovating. In the midst of this exciting and frustrating roller-coaster ride, my mom passed away. She was an amazing cook and would have loved watching the progress and seeing how everything turned out. This reveal is dedicated to her.

Cabinetry quotes for all the new areas (kitchen, island, desk area, bookshelves, pantry, mudroom) ranged from $35,000 to $75,000, uninstalled. Long story short: in order to economize, we went with an online Conestoga reseller (Brian Long/theCabinetJoint), who sold a ready to assemble/RTA cabinet, for around $23,000. This included many custom pieces; 18" deep uppers, custom width upper cabinets, 2 custom depth floor to ceiling bookshelves, and custom drawer widths and heights. While we've been very pleased with the quality and functionality, I wonder what the final effect would have been with different cabinets and/or a different cabinet style. DH and I assembled the cabinets ourselves and our builder's crew hung them. DH installed all the appliances (several, multiple times), built a steel bar support system for the island, and did so very much electrical, plumbing and carpentry work. He is one in a million.

As you look at these pictures, I would welcome finishing suggestions. What did we, as DIY-ers, miss or mangle? What stands out as unfinished to your eye and what could I add to a punchlist for a finish carpenter or DH and me? I won't be offended, but to be totally honest, I am not posting any of the bad pictures :)

When it came time to pick a backsplash, I found I had too much white and disliked how the upper run of cabinets looked. With a ton of help from the forum, I picked a bold tile which draws the eye away from the cabinets. (Special thanks to Hollysprings for reminding me that I liked a lot of contrast in my inspiration pictures and to onedogedie, for introducing me to kj patterson).

Before
The kitchen was small and my countertops were always crowded. Still, I feel the need to acknowledge how many wonderful meals came out of that space.

We bumped out the front of the house 5 feet, replacing the foot print of the old covered porch.

We learned we could replace a structural post which would have been out in the middle, with an LBL beam. (Huge thanks to jeff_from_oakville, live_wire_oak, remodelfla, sjmitch, karen_belle and bmorepanic).

Assembling and installing cabinets. There was no magical truck pulling up outside and crews bringing in beautiful, assembled cabinets....

After

Desk area to the right, fireplace to eventually be replaced with gas:

Bookshelves flanking the desk - houseful, you gave me the idea of using 2 of these, to balance the desk area, and I love how this works. Nothing warms a room like books! We also keep the phone and answering machine here.

Birds'-eye view, skylight dormer:

We love our recycling center and the inset composter:

Custom wood hood built by DH. Upper cabinets are 18" deep.

Recycling center on island and shallow cutting board cabinet:

Tiled fire extinguisher niche. This is located behind the ovens; countertops are 30" and ovens were pulled forward by 6".

Upper cabinet knobs:

Baking Area with 30" countertops: (we keep things out on them and still have room to roll out a pie crust or make biscuits).

Top drawer: (note my new XMAS presents, my pink thermapen and my yellow lemon juice squeezer, thanks to zelmar and Breezygirl!)

Middle drawer:

Bottom drawer:

Next drawer stack over to the left, fun storage:

Bottom drawer:

I like the Rev-A-Shelf pull-outs (DH HATED installing these with a passion) but they are flimsy (wobbly) in comparison to my Blum Blu-Motion drawer glides.

In the upper cabinets, DH has built custom spice racks for us:

We were able to find a caulk which matched our grout. We dealt with a local metal working shop to create our stainless steel surround and custom hood liner:

Pantry:
Linen closet at left, eventually washer and dryer at far end. The base cabinet at the end has a single large pullout; this will be for clothes sorting bins.

Filing cabinets and beverage fridge:

Cabinets: Conestoga RTA Cabinets and Doors, Crystal White, Door CRP-10875, Cordovan stain on island.
Counters: Cambria Torquay
Bar stools: Carrington CourtDirect Mitchell 26" bar stools, with COM and custom stain.

Wall paint: BM Aura Vancouver Day

Tile: kj patterson, Fireclay Debris

Cabinet hardware
Upper Hafele Knob Clear/Polished Chrome - HAF-135-75-420
Lower: RH Bistro Pull

Lights:
Varaluz, Nevada (table)
LBL lighting monorail, Lava II
Undercabinet: Philips powercore profile LED strips

Appliances/Fixtures:
Kohler Karbon faucet
KWC Sin Faucet
48" Capital Culinarian
Solon Inset Composter
Sharp 24" MW Drawer
Hood: Prestige insert with remote blower
Franke Peak SS Sink
Silestone Silgranit Sink, Biscuit
TapMaster
Hafele Food Pedals
Miele Futura Dimension

This post was edited by oldbat2be on Wed, Apr 3, 13 at 13:38

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