Gorgeous. I like how the island countertop wood matches the cabinets on the perimeter. Congrats.

I Iove your backsplash behind stove - please share what you used, Thanks.

Thanks, yoyoma. You may have read previous posts in which I told that DH made the island top from trees we had cut on our property and had milled locally. We also used it for door and window casing and baseboard trim. It's probably one of the least tough materials for an island countertop, but it was essentially free, and has the added novelty of being native to our lot. If it has to be sanded or replaced, it won't be hard for us to redo it.

Territ, that is 4x8" slate tiles from Home Depot. I found it in their special order floor tile rack...It was $2.99/sq ft. This the "Arctic White" color. If you use this stuff, order extra, since the tiles come varying thicknesses, color, and with corners broken, etc. Thankfully, with the price, it wasn't too painful to order more than we needed.

I was just wondering what color your painted cabinets are? They're gorgeous--you did a great job!

Thanks, Tanders. The paint is all Benj Moore Satin Impervo. The gray is BM Sabre Gray, the burgundy is color-matched off a paint chip from Home Depot of Ralph Lauren Picture Gallery Red, and the island, when it's painted, will be BM Lancaster White or Lancaster Whitewash...a cream color.

rhome,
me again... and again, congratulations! i just can't stop looking at your kitchen! it is just gorgeous. I really think you only get this sort of result when you have the courage to let your creativity fly. It is truly amazing. I find it so nice that you love to have a crowd in the kitchen with you... that is something I aspire to. My kids love to work with me in the kitchen and I love having them there, but I do so much better when it is one on one... any tips on working with a crowd?

so gorgeous!!! i love the color; very understated and casually elegant. and i see you've been baking some treats too. what a tease!

Hmm, I may have to think on that one, Mamadadapaige. My kids are confident in the kitchen and pretty much just make themselves at home, so I have no real choice! ;-)

I think they start by learning things one-on-one, then become more independent...almost too quickly sometimes. I became used to my kids just diving into kitchen projects with my oldest, who at 4 or 5 decided to make cookies on her own with jam, GrapeNuts, chocolate chips, and flour. She is the 'jump to the advanced level' type, making cheesecakes without recipes (great ones) and sewing prom dresses without patterns...She just doesn't know she can't, so she does. She prepared a 5-course dinner party for friends (the 1st of several) when she was 13 or 14...and we're talking about a meal of dishes I wouldn't have tackled. I don't think I can take credit for any of that, it's just her personality to be brave and believe in herself. The others have seen what she does, so they feel free to dive in, too. My 8 yr old dd has emptied the library of cookbooks lately, I think!

This is one of those times when it's easier to have a large family, because the older ones teach and set the example for the younger ones, also giving them a hand with more complex tasks. (And there are lots of hands to pitch in at dish-doing time)

One good hint my mom taught me...When you find that your child likes to make something and/or makes it particularly well, let it be 'theirs.' When I was growing up we all did a lot of cooking and baking, but we had our 'specialties.' My mom always had me make biscuits and jam thumbprint cookies...Never made a big deal out of it, just when those things were needed or wanted, I was the one called on, and as long as I was home, she never did them herself.

Lots of rambling here...I hope it's what you were looking for or hope it helps in some way.

Thank you, Kateskouros!! That's exactly what I was hoping for in the kitchen's look.

thanks rhome! you're a doll for sharing... very nice of you to do so... as a child my specialty was sour cream coffee cake - I was the only one in the family to make it and when I moved out my mom gave me the pan which i still make the coffee cake in. my six year old LOVES to be in the kitchen with me but at this point her "creations" aren't all that edible (but I do enjoy the freedom she shows in her work).

Well, the Grape Nut and jelly cookies weren't quite edible either...But the cheesecakes and Chinese food my dd makes now are! Your 6 yo will get there, Mamadadapaige. ;-D It's just great that you let the kids try.

My dh's grandmother was, by all reports, an excellent cook, but wasn't open to having her girls underfoot in the kitchen, so, consequently, my MIL and her sister don't cook well at all. It takes time, and sometimes some teeth-gritting, but it's worth it. If we're raising them to be TKO, we want them to USE their kitchens! ;-)

Your kitchen is filled with so much visual interest. Love the combination of colors and textures. I'm also impressed that you were able to pick out 3 wonderful backsplash materials. I can't seem to pick one. It's a fantastic space!!!

Thanks, boysrus2. Sometimes you just have to pick something and stick with it...The options can get so overwhelming!

Just wonderful :) I LOVE grey and gold, btw :) I'm spacing--what's the counter in the baking area? Did you mention it before?

And did you do the design with the glass tiles? Sorry, I don't come to Kitchens very much so I may have missed all this info.

Thanks, flyleft...Glad you made it over to Kitchens to check in. :-)

Do you mean the countertop material in the baking area? If so, it's good ol' laminate. (Pionite) We used it for the counters on that wall and on the counter by the main sink.

The tiles are actually marble. They came on 1 ft square mesh sheets, one color per sheet. Then I reorganized them into the what's going on the wall. I'm working on the one for the baking area (behind the mixer) now, and have to make more for the sink wall, too. The ones by the sink will match the backsplashes to the sides of the gray area...behind the coffeemaker and the paper towels.

rhome410,

I love your kitchen, congratulations on all your work. I especially liked how you designed sections of your kitchen for function and it looks great too (well, more like fabulous). I hope my kitchen turns out as beautiful as yours.

What do you keep in the drawers around your cooktop? Does it save space or did you design with space saving in mind? Someone mentioned 'cabinets on the perimeter', what does that mean? I googled perimeter cabinets and didn't come up with much.

Sorry for all the questions I'm really just learning all the lingo and you seem so patient and kind I didn't think you'd mind.

Can you show us your sink area?
KB

Wow! Fantastic! Can't wait to see the cream colored island!. Please keep the pics coming so we can continue to Ooo & Aaah!

Sure, Katybuggs, I can show you the sink side. It's not at all finished yet, which is why it isn't above. The panels need to go on the dishwashers, the backsplash and window trim aren't started, and neither is my dish hutch.

"Perimeter cabinets' are the cabinets around the edge of the kitchen, usually up against the walls.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'does it save space'. I did try to make the most of every space in the kitchen for as much storage as possible. Does that answer? In the drawers around the rangetop I keep pots and pans in the 2 big ones. To the left of those I have pot lids in one and woks in the other. To the right of the big drawers, I keep our panini maker in one drawer and waffle irons in the bottom. In the smallest drawers on either side of the rangetop, I keep cooking utensils...spatulas, whisks, big spoons, etc.

I made the drawers directly under the cooktop 36", because I felt 48" to match the rangetop was too wide to hold the weight, and two 24" would be too small. This also enabled me to make those side drawers a little wider. The whole idea, originally, was to make that area (painted gray) into a 'hearth' look, or have it resemble a big, room-dominating range.

I will try to get a photo of the sink wall posted later today. I find that I don't have any very recent photos, since it's not been getting any of the attention. :-)

Here are the stove drawers, though:

Thank you, bdaykitchen. We were posting at the same time. :-)

Here are the other 2 walls not shown before. The white wall cabinet is NOT staying and is where a to-the-counter dish and silverware hutch will be. The cookbooks sitting under it will go above the fridge and freezer set in the alcove. I guess you can't really see that. It's in the opening to the right of the oven. I'll post a photo to show that better, too. (The door to the pantry I've shown before is facing the freezer.) The fridge and freezer will have cabinetry surrounding them with one bookshelf all the way across the top and cabinets above.

I love all the color combinations you used. Such a large & beautiful kitchen!

Thank you, Laurie. :-)

Your kitchen is great! The backsplash is so cool....I love how you have areas so different and yet they blend so well! [I'm paying attention to BS's lately as I'm hoping that's next after we do the pantry!] You are so much braver than me...I'd be afraid to mix too many items for fear they would look like a hodge-podge of elements just thrown together...but yours all work!

Great job!

It's also so nice to see the kids around the island all working together (w/your DH looking on)...was there any fighting? My two children can't seem to be in the same room together lately w/o fighting...I know, it's their ages...13 (almost 14) & 12...but they used to get along so well!!!

rhome410 - I just have to say that your kitchen is one that I keep coming back to for inspiration! I love how well-thought out each piece is and how it seems to fit your family's use so well. That being said, I hope you don't mind answering some questions from one who is at the design stages --

I love your drawers around your rangetop -- I saw the widths of them, but am wondering how deep they are?

Please tell me about your counter heights and reasoning behind what you decided to put where.

I thought I saw in an earlier post where you have roll-outs behind cabinet doors on some perimeter cabinets -- how deep are your roll-outs and what is height between them?

Thanks so much!!

PS - If I am double posting, forgive me -- I thought I posted this message this morning, but now can't find it anywhere....

Wow, so sorry I missed your posts, Buehl and Alice462! I need to check this more often. I'm supposed to get emails when someone posts to avoid this, but that I only received them the first couple of days.

Alice, the drawers around my rangetop are, from top to bottom, 6 7/8", 10 1/2", and 10 1/2" tall on the faces. Inside, the top drawer boxes are 3" tall, but have 5" of clearance because of being shorter than the space available. The 2 bottom rows are 6" deep with about 8 1/2" of clearance...So I can put pots and pans that are taller than the drawer box, but they don't scrape the drawer above. Does that make sense?

My main sink counter and the breakfast area (30" wide to the left of the single fridge) are at 36" in height. I don't like to go lower around the cleanup sink, because it hurts my back to reach down that low into the sink. But where the mixer is, the island and the rangetop and counters beside are at about 34". We like the lower height for chopping, kneading, rolling, and even putting together sandwiches, etc. It's also better for looking into the mixer and into pots on the stove. I'm a bit over 5'3" and the kids are about my height or smaller (so far), so it works great for all of us. DH works in the kitchen occasionally and it doesn't seem to bother him. If he ever did something that took awhile and he wanted a higher work surface, he could do his working on a butcher block or something that would raise it.

I don't have rollouts in this kitchen. I had them in my last and didn't like them. I tried to get too much in the cabinet and things would slide or fall off when I pulled it out. I also didn't like that I lost about 3" of cabinet width to the hardware and the pullout sides. I guess it's the same loss as with using drawers, but I find the higher sides of drawers to be much better, and I don't have to first open a door (or 2) to pull them out. All that said, I may add one rollout to one of the island cabinets, because my bread mixer has very grabby rubber feet and it'd be easier to get out if I could pullout it out and lift. I'm considering changing the doored cabinets in my island to drawers, so that would solve the problem, too.

I'm so sorry to be so late in answering your questions. I sure hope you check back!

Beautiful kitchen! I've been wondering how to make the transition from my (future) undercabinet backsplash to the backsplash behind the stove/rangehood. Thanks for the great idea!

Could you please tell me about your backdoor? I've been looking for a nice plain wooden one with lots of glass and yours looks perfect. You don't happen to have a matching screen door on it, too, do you?

Thx!
Sandra

Sandra,
Hope you got my email about the Simpson door. :-)

rhome410 - I just saw this and it looks amazing!! So glad to see how yours has turned out. I do have one question - what are the measurements on your sink window? Hope to see more and more - congrats!

Dalcolli, thank you! Our sink window is 78" wide by 40" tall.