Yes, it's true! We are finally done with the entire remodel. I still have boxes in the pavilion and our front porch that are marked "kitchen" from the move, but I can unpack those one at a time over the next week or so. The point is, there are no more piles of tools, materials and dirt lying around. Even the trusty folding tables are all gone.
Joel popped the cork on a lovely bottle of red wine for us to toast the successful completion of another Roberts remodel. It was worth the wait to get the kitchen we are really happy about.
We can finally use all 4 chairs to sit at the table now that the folding table is gone from behind the left hand chair in the pic.
I went back and forth trying to decide what kind of light to put over the table and this is what I came up with.....a retro looking bare Edison bulb light with a cloth cord attaching it to the ceiling. The baking center is one of my favorite parts of the kitchen and I think it will get a lot of use over the years. The black beadboard is distressed to age it a bit and I really like the deep contrast to the crisp white cabinetry.
To the right of the baking center is a stack of drawers with a cutting board on top of the counter. That makes it convenient to chop veggies since it's right next to the stove. The small cabinet to the right of the stove has a pull out drawer which holds baking sheets and muffin pans. Very handy. The corner cabinets above and below both have lazy susans in them which makes it so easy to access the contents.
The center island will be a workhorse, too, as it holds all my pots and pans and has another pull out drawer for more baking sheets and cutting boards. Right now it's all set up as a coffee station....I just had to decorate a little bit, now that I'm finding all my pretty dishes and things.
The cookbook shelves are put back together again after being repainted to match the white cabinets. I decided to add the black beadboard behind the shelves here as well to tie it in with the rest of the kitchen.
I love the way the baking center turned out. All my ingredients are stashed away in the upper cupboards and the lower drawers hold all my measuring cups, spoons, tart pans, fancy baking pans, and cake decorating "stuff". And that's a lot of "stuff"!
The counter will be so nice to roll out pie crusts and cookie dough and the mixer never has to be put away...it now has it's own space....handy, but not in the way. Did you notice the curve detail at the bottom of the baking center? It is repeated around the kitchen under the sink, the center island and the cookbook shelf. For me, it's the little details that make this room sing.
So, just to the right of the baking center is a bank of drawers with silverware and my Cuisinart and other large doo-dads. Yes, I have doo-dads.....and I like my doo-dads....and now they have a home close to where I will be using them as I bake.
Of course, the stove is next....with it's awesome hood. The hood has great lighting so I never have to squint, wondering if my soup is coming to a boil. And Joel just finished installing all the lighting underneath the upper cabinets all across the kitchen. There are no dark corners in this kitchen, no sirree.
As we turn the corner I have loads of empty counter space....something I'm happy we were able to accomplish. And then our caffeine fix is lined up near the water filter spigot on the left side of the sink.
And oh, how I love the sink. This kitchen just cried out for a farmhouse sink. And I really like how large it is, making it easy to wash even the largest of pots and pans. The high faucet stays way above the top of my tallest pots, even the canner, so, I don't have to struggle to fill and remove a full pot of water from the sink. Then the dishwasher is to the right of the sink. I picked out a Bosch again because it is so quiet you don't even know it's running unless you look to see the red light shining on the floor.
I went back and forth about the center island and whether to paint it a different color than the main kitchen cabinets. I'm glad we choose black because it seems to "ground" the other light cabinets. The edges are all sanded to a "worn" finish to age the island more like a piece of furniture.
When we were in the showroom choosing our countertops, I instantly knew this was the corner treatment I wanted on the island. It's called a Kentucky corner by the owner of the shop. He told Joel he saw it at another shop in Kentucky and got permission from that craftsman to replicate it on his own. In the showroom it had another thicker piece on top of this one, but that would have been a little over the top for our little farmhouse. And by the way, the counters are all quartz! I really like that they look like French marble....without all the hassle of maintenance.
The pantry we had built several months ago by another carpenter got their new paint job and handles applied and now they blend in seamlessly with the new cabinets. The painted finish is much prettier now as the old doors were not sanded well at all. Now they are smooth as a baby's bottom. And we have an amazing amount of pantry storage behind those doors which we've put to good use already.
It's so wonderful to have all this open space around the table for the first time since we moved in 8 months ago. Up until last night, there was a 6' folding table along the left wall behind the door, effectively blocking anyone from sitting at the chair on the left. Now the eat-in portion of the kitchen feels so spacious!
Joel and I kept trying to figure out if we wanted to tile all the way up under the cupboards over the sink....or leave some space open and painted the soft blue of the rest of the room Finally I decided I really liked the relief from all the white tile and we left the space free of tile. I'm glad we did that now and we hung my fun mixer clock with the cupcake pendulum in there.
Here is one of the two sliding baking sheet/cutting boards holders in the kitchen. What a clever idea! The cabinet maker suggested them and I'm so glad he did. No more struggling on my knees to retrieve a baking sheet from a tangled mess of pans under a dark cabinet.
Well, that's the grand tour. I hope someday you come to see us and you can visit the kitchen in person. It's taken a lot of work and planning, but we're both thrilled with the end results. Not only does it please me aesthetically, but I think the kitchen is going to be very functional.
A lot of canning, baking, cooking and preserving is going to get done in this room and now I can hardly wait to dig in. We'd like to offer many thanks to the very talented folks at Chuck and Cyndi Palmer's cabinet shop here in Crossville. They were so easy to work with and produced a high quality kitchen for us.....one we're sure to enjoy for years to come.
Feeling like one very blessed lady,
Debbie
