Building a Home – Kitchen Reveal

Finally, the very long awaited kitchen reveal!  For those who have followed along with our journey building over the past year, I apologize that it’s taken me almost six months after move in to show you our favorite room in the house.  But, hopefully, the loads of pictures that I’m about to give you will make up for it!  First, more “big picture” views of the room.

Now, on to the details!

We get lots of questions about the backsplash behind the range.  It’s a gorgeous tile that our tile guys simply laid and then put a tile trim piece surrounding it to frame.  It is gorgeous and we love it.  And it makes a huge statement with white subway tiles everywhere else.

We went with White Carrera marble and I’m so happy with it.  We have sealed it with mineral oil once and try to wipe things off of it immediately but, so far, it hasn’t been a problem to maintain.  There are a few spots on it that you can see if you look at it at just the right light but you have to look hard for them.  I love how cool it always feels and (when I keep the counters clean) how relaxing and inviting it makes everything look!

And for even more details….here are some pictures showing you what is where!

We used LED strip lighting under the cabinets and inside the upper cabinets and are very happy with it.  The LED lights pull almost no electricity and don’t get hot so we don’t worry about them being on for long periods of time.  The only problem that we’ve had with them is that the adhesive on them doesn’t stick very well over long spaces so we’ve had to reinforce ours with some Command hooks to keep them in place.

You also see in this picture that we moved all of our plugs and switches to under the cabinets instead of breaking up the backsplash.  I loved the look of doing that when I saw it on Pinterest and found that it was basically no more effort to install that way!

The coffee bar is another thing that I saw on Pinterest that we implemented.  We aren’t making great use of it right now but we plan to…eventually.  🙂 We wanted the doors to open and fold back all the way (which they do, until they reach the handles).  We also didn’t want there to be a cabinet piece on the bottom of the cabinets so that everything would sit straight on the marble.  This allows Jason to slide the coffee maker out and in when he makes coffee.

I love our Blanco siligranite sink.  I wasn’t sure about it since it’s a fairly new material and I didn’t want to detract from anything in the kitchen, but I’ve found that I love the white sink and love it even more that with a little Bar Keeper’s Friend I can get any stain (including rust) off with just a little elbow grease!  The one quarter/three quarter’s setup works well for us also and I love that the middle bar isn’t full height so that if you have a pan or something in the small side its handle can go over on the other side.  The only downside to our sink setup is that, since we’ve got a window above it, we needed to center our faucet on the window and sink which doesn’t provide fantastic coverage of the small side, but that’s a small problem!

Our wonderful cabinet company recommended that we make the panels above the range real so that they could be opened for storage.  Not only does this make it easier to repair if something ever goes wrong with the range, but it gives us great storage for glass vases and things that we don’t use often.

Another Pinterest find was the divided area for cookie sheets.  It’s so nice to not have to lift them all to find the one on the bottom!

Our cabinet makers made us a spice rack also which is nice.  The middle shelf is adjustable in height also in case we want to change it.  I need to get it more organized but it works how it is too!

Our utensil pullout is one of my favorite’s that we implemented in the kitchen.  I saw a picture of something similar on Pinterest and our cabinet makers made this one.  It’s got three metal containers which fill all of my (many!) utensils.  And the small shelf on the bottom is perfect for pot holders and miscellaneous items.

I feel like this whole post is turning in to “things I saw on Pinterest” but I am so thankful for all of the ideas that I found on there.  I saw a picture with a drawer for baking items (flour, etc) and so had some deep drawers built into our island for that purpose.  I was never able to find the containers shown in the post so I just have my flour, sugar, brown sugar, etc in regular containers in the drawer instead.  It’s so nice to have all of the typical baking ingredients right next to where I typically bake!

The mixer lift is incredibly nice and I feel like I’m using my mixer more now due to it.  I found the idea to hang the paddles using Command hooks from…where else…Pinterest and I love how it frees up the bottom of the cabinet.  I also am so glad that we got our electrician to put a plug inside of the mixer lift cabinet.  I put a surge protector on it and can leave my mixer plugged up all the time instead of having to maneuver down there and plug it in every time I use it.

Lots of people think that this is a warming drawer and, I think, it could be used as one, but it’s actually a microwave drawer.  It’s nice to have it on the back of the island so you don’t see if when you come in to the kitchen and the buttons to open and close the door make it super easy.  We’ve heard that microwave drawers can be a pain to clean so we’ve tried to make sure and wipe up spills immediately and cover items that we cook so that it doesn’t splatter and so far it hasn’t been a problem.

Resources:

Wall Color: SW 7641 Collonade Gray
Trim Color: SW 7646 First Star
Ceiling Color: SW 7641 Collonade Gray at 50%

Perimeter Cabinet Color: SW 7632 Modern Gray
Island Cabinet Color: SW 6205 Comfort Gray

Cabinets: Custom built by Huntsville American Cabinets (more of my opinions on custom Cabinetry)

Floor: 3 1/4″ White Oak floors with Walnut stain

Countertops: White Carrera Marble

Backsplash Subway: Adex Hamptom 3×6″ Beveled in White, Adex Hampton Chair Molding in White

Backsplash Accent: Walker Zanger Ashbury Vibe in Suede

Pendant Lighting over Island and Sink: Murray Feiss P1261 Urban Renewal 1 Light Pendant, Oil Rubbed Bronze

Lighting over Kitchen Table: Elk Lighting 63023-4 47 by 51-Inch Parameters 4-Light Clear Pendant with Glass Shade, Bronze Finish

Kitchen Sink: Blanco 441125 16-Inch Précis 1-3/4 Bowl Sink, White

Kitchen Faucets: Pfister 026-4YPY Ashfield Single-Handle Kitchen Faucet, Tuscan Bronze

Microwave: Sharp KB-6524PS 24-Inch Microwave Drawer Oven, Stainless

Fridge: Thermador T36IT800NP: 36 inch Built-In French Door Bottom-Freezer T36IT800NP

Range/Stove: Pro Harmony Series PRL486GDH 48″ Freestanding Double Oven Gas Range with 6 Sealed Burners 6.6 cu.

Dishwasher: Sapphire Series DWHD650JPR 24″ Fully Integrated Panel Ready Dishwasher with 14 Place Settings 6

Wine Fridge: Sub Zero 315W Wine Storage

Curtain and Banquette Fabric: Tabby Mist by Waverley

Kitchen Table: Zin Home Kingdom Oak Trestle Table

Kitchen Chairs: Paula Deen from Joss and Main

Kitchen Banquette: Made by trim guys