BerryBerry’s Kitchen:

Our goal was to re-do our 17 year old kitchen, original to the house. The old cabinets were standard builder grade and while looking good on the outside, were showing signs of wear (broken drawer guides, etc) internally. Plus the color scheme was, ummm, just a tad outdated – LOL.

We planned 90% of the kitchen ourselves, from doing research ahead of time, looking at magazines, and using the garden web and other internet resources. We met with 3 different cabinet reps / KDs to obtain quotes from three different cabinet lines – Durasupreme, Shiloh, and Kahle’s (a regional brand based a few hours away from us on PA). We obtained a few different ideas from the various KDs we met with and incorporated them into our vision. Our vision was further defined seeing a display of Omega cabinets at the one showroom which also sold the Shiloh line. This display is what we used in helping us design our plan and look.

In looking at cabinetry, we were impressed with the Shiloh brand’s construction but they had no door styles, finishes that would give us the look we really wanted to achieve. Durasupreme was the least inexpensive of the group but also the least flexible (ie they couldn’t do the special microwave cabinet we wanted to do). It was only by a fluke we came across Kahles. Even though they are based in Pennsylvania, we had never heard of them. But one day, when out looking at appliances, one showroom we stopped at had full type kitchen displays. Some of the cabinets we saw were fantastic – better quality than the Omega custom line we saw at the Shiloh dealer – and we thought they had to be full custom cabinetry. We asked one of the appliance sales people about the cabinets and he said a couple local contractors installed all the cabinets at their facility. We showed him the couple cabinets we liked and he told us they were all installed by a man named Dale Conrad. He gave us his number and we contacted him http://www.conradkitchenandbath.com/

We found out the cabinets were made by a company called Kahle’s – which sells regionally in the eastern part of the US. They are a family run operation and do things the old fashioned way as the quality of their cabinets can attest to (for instance note the full plywood TOPS on the base cabinets). They are based in northwest PA pretty much in the middle of nowhere. http://www.kahles.com/ As you can see from the website, marketing is not their strong suit but making top quality cabinets is. They happened to offer styles and finishes that we were looking for and help us complete our vision. Furthermore, we found Dale to be a forthright man to work with. And while his initial quote came in a lot higher than the other two, we worked together, thru some minor design changes, as well as advantageous scheduling to help him fill some down time to come up with a price that was competitive with the others we had received. Dale told us the job would take about 2 weeks (except waiting for the granite to be fabricated) and he was spot on. His crew was here 9 days and completed 95% of the kitchen, hooked up our old sink / faucet as a temporary sink and then we waited about 3 weeks while the granite was being fabricated. Dale’s crew was back the day of the granite installation to disconnect the temporary sink and faucet, install the new ones after the granite went in and finish up some minor details. Two weeks of work exactly with no issues. The only issue we did encounter was with our DIY backsplash. The tile store initially ordered the wrong material so that delayed me installing it for about 10 days until they had the correct material shipped. Since we didn’t order the tile until the granite was in, this pushed the final completion back slightly. .

Here are the details of our final product:

Details:
• Cabinets – Kahles (http://www.kahles.com). Main cabinets are cherry wood cabinets, Laporte Full Overlay w/M-bead raised panels in a toffee stain. Accent cabinets are paint grade maple, Chadds Ford door in a beaded inset style with steeple hinges – painted antique white with brown glaze. All drawers are 5 piece wood, matching cherry wood light rails under the upper cabinets, maple veneer interiors, plywood boxes, wood shelves, dovetail drawer boxes, wainscot panels on all end panels where applicable, full extension soft close drawers, fluting at sink and fluted spindles at range, two different size of crown molding to match depending on height of upper cabinets.
• Countertop: Vyara Juparana Granite – purchased from http://www.montgranite.com/ Our fabricators did a fabulous job – and are located in the center of PA, several hours away but our contractor uses them because of their high quality work http://www.bcstone.com/
• Backsplash is from Jeffrey Court – Fire and Ice http://www.jeffreycourt.com/content_p_pietra.asp?ContentId=225 I installed this myself thanks to the advice from Bill V. Like Jodi in SoCal, I substituted some #39 Burnt Unber glass for some of the lighter glass tiles. I purchased the #39 Burnt Umber glass from Morena Tile (they shipped it to me from CA) Fire and Ice runs about $17.60 a sq foot plus shipping for me.
• Our handles were amazingly inexpensive finds. On the cherry cabinets – we have Weathered Nickel Country French Knobs and Pulls ($1.30 and $1.79 each respectively from http://www.yourhomesupply.com/ The pulls on the painted cabinets are Liberty oil rubbed bronze pulls – bought in bulk from http://www.cripedistributing.com/liberty-rubbed-bronze-cast-pulls-25ct-p-3458.html?osCsid=fdc8cecbd915efd7d94705f4a30b531e $14 for 25 pulls
• Our sink is the Blanco Silgranit sink in Biscuit (Blanco Diamond 1 ¾ bowl under mounted to be specific)
• Danze faucet; Antioch in oil rubbed bronze http://www.danzefaucetwarehouse.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1301 with basket strainer and disposer trim from Westbrass in Victorian Bronze to match the faucet color
• Floors are from Daltile Terra Antica Oro with earth color grouting http://www.daltileproducts.com/series.cfm?series=52
• Bluestar Range: 36" RNB range with 22,000 BTU burners http://www.prizer-painter.com/ purchased from the best appliance store in Pittsburgh, http://donsappliances.com/
• Independent hood – we purchased a 42" SS Professional Incline hood http://www.kitchenhood.com/products/professional.htm also from http://donsappliances.com/ who matched the price of an internet vendor
• Miele dishwasher http://www.miele.com/usa/dishwashers/product.asp?cat=2&subcat=&model=348&series=75&menu_id=1&nav=21&oT=93 (Miele Diamante, fully integrated stainless steel).
• Panasonic microwave: purchased from Amazon.com for $129.99 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ON2TCA
• Samsung French Door refrigerator from Lowes (a few months before we started the remodel) for about $1440 http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=51887-149-RF266ABPN&lpage=none
• Waste King Legend 9980 3 bolt 1hp, lifetime guarantee model online for $179.99 from Ira Woods online. http://www.irawoods.com/Waste-King-Legend-9980-1-HP-Garbage-Disposer;jsessionid=0a0106431f43683122f07db340c7a2ccfc1f84ba003a.e3eSc3eMbxuPe34Pa38Ta38Obhz0?sc=2&category=72961
• Switchplates, outlets and dimmers are a mixture of Lutron, Cooper and Leviton found either online at a couple different stores (dimmers and the 3 outlet switchplate) or at Lowe’s. Light almond to match the painted walls, grey to match the backsplash area.
• Our fan is the Harbor Breeze Paradiso model http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=65388-1811-PAR52CB5C&lpage=none
• Our island pendant is Kichler Lighting 2955NI in a brushed Nickel Finish http://www.lightinguniverse.com/products/view.aspx?family=13305
• Walls are painted with Benjamin Moore Aura paint in AF-90 Harmony color (we DIY the painting). http://www.myperfectcolor.com/Benjamin-Moore-Aura-AF-90-Harmony-p/mpc98038.htm purchased from our local Benjamin Moore dealer
• Woodwork is painted with Cabinet Coat paint custom tinted to match the painted cabinets http://www.insl-x.com/viewProd.asp?prodID=180 purchased from our local Cabinet Coat dealer

A few Old Kitchen Pics - more can be seen at http://picasaweb.google.com/jfd1961/KitchenOldAndWorkInProgress

and now the NEW PICS (more can be seen at http://picasaweb.google.com/jfd1961/KitchenFinished )

**this one has lighter stone:

**this one has darker stone

** here they are side by side

here's a pic of the kitchen with the floor

then i would do diamond shape above. i think the stone on the left is too light (we put enhancer on it) but maybe it looks better when it's all together.

the stone on the right is a bit dark.

give me your honest opinion. i love the glass tiles, just wasn't sure if i was supposed to pull in any of the gray color of the counter.