Kitchen Ingredients

I am so excited about this post!

Here is a preview of my dream of a kitchen! The kitchen cabinets have arrived and are installed! Before I get to the goodies and the photos I thought I would explain some of my basic kitchen design ingredients:

-I've always been a white kitchen girl, so a painted white kitchen was a given.

-Our previous house was a 1950's ranch with drawers under the counter tops and cabinet doors under that. My lower cabinet shelves were stationary (they didn't pull out), so it was always a pain to have to get on hands and knees and dig to find something way in the back of the cabinet. While I'm a pretty organized person when we were moving out I still found many items I had forgotten I had because they had been pushed to the back. About a year ago I read a kitchen design article on the benefits of using of lots of drawers instead of under-counter cabinets and because of the aforementioned issues I loved this idea! Even if you have the pull outs with cabinet doors, it's still a two-step process. I was all about making the kitchen functional, and easy to use. So, I'm using lots of drawers (with a self-closing mechanism); that way I just open a large drawer next to the range and lift the heavy LeCreuset right up!

-All my cabinets (drawers!) were custom-made by a local cabinetmaker. His work is beautiful, but I had issues with his finished product because it looked "too perfect." His baked-on paint finish read plastic to me and my hundred-and-fifty-year-old house, so... I am having the cabinets hand painted at the house. This way they will have brush marks and look more like they've been there for a long time instead of brand new (no one I'm working with seems to "get" my want for imperfect perfection, but it makes perfect sense to me!)

-Because of our beautiful views, I opted for windows instead of more overhead cabinets. The overhead cabinets that I do have flank the sink and have glass-fronts. In the cabinets we will use antique glass taken from salvaged windows and doors from the house. Cabinets are very tall and go to the ceiling. (I have issues with that "dust shelf" on top of cabinets.)

-As previously posted, counter tops will be soapstone and the island is honed bianco cararra marble. Island is 3 x 7' and has a dual-zone 24" Kitchen Aid wine refrigerator which will have a paneled wood overlay rimmed door (made by the cabinet maker.) Island will also have a 24" cabinet with slots for cookie sheets, cooling racks, pizza paddle, etc. Oh, and drawers, lots of drawers!

-Backsplash will be real wood bead board. Ceilings will be tongue-and-groove boards .

-The island will have two antique glass pendants lights above it, and there will be a pendant light above the sink.

-Hardware on the perimeter cabinets will be polished nickle pulls, bin pulls and cupboard clasps. Hardware for the island will be reproduction iron bin pulls to match the original antique iron bin pulls on the built-in cabinet to the right of the fireplace. (I was thrilled to find an exact reproduction!)

-Floors are random width wide plank Eastern White Pine from Carlisle Wide Plank Floors.

-A walk-in pantry with a window!
-Oh, and almost forgot: a see-thru gas fireplace that I'm sure will always be on!

In this photo you can see a hint of the tongue-and-groove ceiling going up.

A glass front Sub Zero will go in the built-in at the end of the island.

There are no overhead cabinets going in on this side of the kitchen...

...but this is!

A 48" Wolf dual-fuel range with 6-burners and a griddle will find a home beneath the hood cover!

This photo shows all of the overhead cabinets installed.

All the kitchen windows are wood casements. I love the morning light in this photo!

My Shaw's Original single-bowl 36" fireclay apron sink! Isn't she a beauty!

A close up of the cabinet doors that will have the antique glass. The brown panels are templates for the glass.

Here's a photo of our new kitchen french doors. They aren't staying however. I designed them, and they are supposed to have a larger inset panel on the bottom, so corrected ones are being made. The kitchen dining table will sit approximately where the table saw is now, and you can see the brick fireplace wall in the right of the photo.

Other kitchen goodies:

Perrin & Rowe bridge faucet in polished nickel with side sprayer.

Bosch dishwasher (note the flattened handle, you'll hear about it again!)

This glass front Sub Zero! I have coveted this SubZero since I first laid eyes on it! In our previous house we had a stainless front SubZ which we absolutely loved, but I think it would look too contemporary for this house. I think the glass gives it that turn-of-the-century look of refrigerators of old, and a softness and casualness that will be nice for the room. Instead of the tubular handle (as seen in the photo) which is the norm, we are using what is called a Pro Handle which is shorter in length and slightly flattened as opposed to round, which also gives it more of an older look and feel. It is the same handle that is on the Wolf range.