Stunning! Really, one of the best designed kitchens I've seen on GW. It has the perfect balance of color, proportion, and textural elements. I love how the squares in your glass cabs repeat the squares in your window. The design in the backs of your counter stools also echos the open design element in your kitchen. Thanks for using your limited energy to post the reveal. Hope you bounce back to your old self soon.

Love, love, love your kitchen. Would love to see even more. No need to stage. I need to show this to DH to see what a butcher block island would look like. Thanks for the pic.

Ps What make is your fridge? Is it magnetic on the front? Love the art work

Seriously your kitchen is awesome. It has that effortless look. Elegantly casual. It looks like a great layout & the window & the light, both the natural light & the island light fixture, are beautiful.

This is coming from another freezing northeasterner 30 something who recently finished the reno then finished holiday hoopla, and now feels tired in a way I've never felt tired before.

I LOVE your kitchen. It is the opposite of everything I have chosen for my remodel but yours is absolutely beautiful. If this is a half a$$ed reveal, I'm seriously out of my league...

Congratulations. It is a true Kitchen at Work. My eyes are drawn to the window and the lovely chandelier/pendant and wood tool-box on the island.

You have such a cool kitchen! I too saw it and had to read back to see if it was your inspiration kitchen. It looks that great! It is warm and inviting and I would want to be in it as much as possible. You did a fantastic job. It is super unique and just looks so well thought out and put together.

From your wood counter to the paint on the windows and your cool light fixture etc etc.

Congrats!!!!!

Your kitchen looks fabulous. I love the contrast with the dark window. It all looks very pulled together and in harmony. I only see pulls on your top most drawers - still installing?

Congratulations on a beautiful kitchen! It looks so warm and inviting, you did an amazing job! Love the wood countertop, and the dark window! We're planning on wood as well, how do like it so far? What did you seal it with? Your layout is almost identical to what we have planned to build, it's so nice to see in real life. Could you tell me the dimensions of your space and your island? (I need to finalize my decisions soon , we pour footers next week.) Thanks so much! Enjoy your lovely kitchen!

Thank you all for the kind words. I was thinking, before I fell asleep last night, and I hope my post didn't come off as snooty or ungrateful. I just meant that I'm in a kichen-UNrelated rut lately. And that I just didn't have it in me to put together a beautiful reveal with lots of pictures and details like so many of the great people here do. And thanks, pirate girl, for your concern and suggestions.

I had the day off today, so I did take a few more pics. My husband is a firefighter who moonlights as a house flipper, so we were already very familiar with Ikea kitchens (which was why we used them - we love them!). I think this is the fifth or sixth Ikea kitchen we've done.

I'll try to answer all the questions I see...

The chandelier was from Pottery Barn, but was on clearance when we bought it back in the summer, so I'm not sure it's being carried anymore.

We do have one dishwasher, a Jenn Air, to the left of the main sink.

The fridge is also a Jenn Air and is magnetic.

We ARE still in the process of installing hardware!

I don't have the whole-room dimensions, but the island is roughly 8' by 4'.

Here are the additional pics...

This is the opposite corner of the room:

This is a close-up of the different hardware we used. The bin pulls on either side of the range are for our recycling pull-outs (we have to separate paper and plastic):

Another (missing) hardware close-up of the island:

One more view:

And a close-up of the ceiling, because my husband worked SO hard on it!:

Your words were somewhat depressing so I didn't know what to expect, then I scrolled down and saw a beautiful kitchen. I had to go back up and make sure what I had just read was correct...

You should be proud and full of smiles with that kitchen. I love all your choices. I'll just say it - get out of your slump and enjoy your beautiful space. Don't sweat the small things either, they rarely matter.

Your kitchen reminds me of something out of a magazine, and believe me, I would know - I'm subscribed to a bunch of them (House Beautiful, Country Kitchen, Better Homes & Gardens, Elle Décor, Veranda, Martha Living, and probably some more I'm forgetting). My point is, (and I'm guilty of it too) - I think a lot of us have been conditioned to have this "perfect" kitchen in our minds because of what we see online, in magazines, and every where else. As a result, if our own kitchen or personal space isn't up to those same standards we are seeing everywhere else then we could be left thinking less of our own space. I'm not sure if that's what you were doing but your kitchen is hands down awesome! I love everything inch of it. It looks like a TON of work too so CONGRATS! :)

Your kitchen looks wonderful - hopefully you are enjoying it every day!!! I understand the seasonal rut/blahs. I'm in MI and it's pretty grey here from November through March - UGH. Hopefully the rut is short live and things perk up for you soon. Did you and hubby diy the kitchen or part of it? It really is magazine worthy!

Yep, I am in the rut too; need to muster the energy to paint two sets of window trim. Would take all of one hour probably but just can't seem to get to it.

Your room is inspiring! I love Ikea kitchens, love your window frame choice particularly, everything goes together so nicely. AND especially the ceiling! Is that pine?

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks so much for the island dimensions. So glad you posted the other pics, more eye candy! I love the ceiling. Your husband did an awesome job. What kind of wood is that? Also, I noticed your wood plank walls, we're having wood plank walls in the house as well. Are they shiplap? Are yours painted or whitewashed? Sorry for all the questions, I'm just so amazed to see some of the same things that have been swimming around in my brain. :) Hope you get over your winter blahs soon.
Thanks again!

Ohh, a new one for the favorites list!!!

Love the shiplap, light fixture, ceiling, and ESPECIALLY love the dark-stained windows. I think its the windows that are giving everyone that "magazine" cutting-edge vibe. Then, the kid stuff on your fridge makes it look so homey and inviting. We all want to move in.

FANTASTIC JOB!!!!!

Daniell - I almost didn't open this due to the title but so glad that I did! Your new ktichen is stunning and your DH should be proud of your ceiling.
Don't feel bad - I posted mine about 2 years ago and still waiting for the finishing touches and taking better pictures.
Wow - quite a few from Boston - I am running Boston (as a charity) this year - maybe I can meet some of the Boston GW group!
A2Gemini

I opened this thread because of the title...I love your kitchen. It is beautiful, and I had thought up until now windows with dark trim belonged in more modern spaces. Hah. We will build our house in a few years, and your kitchen is going in my folder. Thank you for the inspiration!

I hear you about the blahs. I have a long history of depression (and probably some other things that have never been diagnosed) but we moved to NE Iowa in August. The actual temperature hovered around -20s for a couple of days with the windchill at -50! If I wanted that cold I would have moved to Saskatchewan. There has been zero sun here. I bought my myself-I mean my daughter a Wii dancing game. I have to say I'm loving it. Good luck on getting out of your blues. Its a tough hill to climb on any level.

I love your kitchen. It is warm and inviting. You should be so proud of yourself and your husband.

Danielle,

I'm also from the Boston area and can understand not feeling "on top of the world" due to this weather we've been experiencing. I look at this as great baking and cooking weather; better than being outside in the bitter cold! You are way ahead of me as my kitchen has been substantially complete since June and I have not posted any reveals.

You kitchen is gorgeous, enjoy a fun baking and cooking day using all your new appliances. I hope it will lift your spirits.
MJ

Hijacking this thread for a moment :)

IowaCommute, go to the "conversations" side of the forum, I've left you a message.

Just. Gorgeous. Love the cabs. Love the tile. Classic.

I love your kitchen and I love your taste! I just searched for your old posts b/c we are planning a kitchen reno on the Cape this spring and I plan to use shiplap. I am sorry you are in a rut - I live outside of Boston, too, and it has been a grim winter so far. Just remember, it's been 20 days since the winter solstice and it's not pitch dark at 4:30pm any more. :)

Enjoy your kitchen!!!

Oh my word, so beautiful! Thanks for the extra pictures... what a great job you guys did in there. The ceiling is beautiful too, good job DH! That kitchen belongs on Houzz for real. Just wonderful.

Just wanted to say that you have an absolutely beautiful kitchen! Love it!

I installed Ikea also (6-ish yrs ago and still not finished/revealed...) I'll blame it on the fact that we live on the dark, frigid (-50 lately) prairies, so I hear you re: winter blues....

Dear sweet child (yes, you are a child to me) I hope you are able to find out why you are in such a rut. It could be seasonal affective disorder, depression or simply you are tired of working on the kitchen. I just hope you are able to get your energy back.

And for that kitchen - my oh my. I thought it was an inspiration photo, too! It has so many unique features, but for it is the black window. I fell in love at first sight.

Good job! It turned out perfect!

Love the windows, the ceiling, the efficient layout, and the windows from the dining area to the living area. Now let's see the rest of that adorable house. It's AWESOME.

Thanks to your great title I was able to search "half" and jump right to your post and beautiful kitchen. Definitely stuck in my memory because I felt so bad for you when you first posted. I intended to come out of lurkville right away to say hope that sun streaming in the kitchen would make you feel better soon, tell you how much I loved the picture you did post, etc - of course so many others loved the beautiful kitchen and quickly actually POSTED that message loud and clear, I just continued my lurking ways. Do hope you are feeling better. I'm in TX, but afraid maybe not a lot of sunshine through your beautiful windows quite yet in MA. There WILL be a spring.

Would you mind sharing your window info??? We are planning (and planning...) a kitchen remodel. I want to add two new windows to flank the stove and hopefully eventually replace all of the old aluminum windows as well. I love so many things about your kitchen, but I think I love the windows the most. They are really just exactly perfect. I'm craving light streaming into my kitchen too!

Seriously, this could easily be featured in BH&G!!! Bravo! DH and I have tossed around the possibility of going to Ikea when it's time to redo our kitchen (we'd never get our $$$ back if we did a $100k reno, neighborhood wouldn't support it). My concern is 5-10 year quality. We actually have quite a bit of Ikea products in our home, and the quality honestly is quite disposable for the most part. So my question -- how do the kitchen cabinets stack up?

I really think you should submit your photos to BH&G, no exaggerations... very well done!!!

ThanksTizzy! I do feel better...MarinaGals comment about the solstice helped a lot! We ordered the window through Harvey Industries in Massachusetts. We knew that it would have to be a custom order because of the size. Since it had to be custom anyway, I got to design the whole thing (as far as dimensions, mullions, etc.) I just did a sketch and tweaked the design until we felt it was right.

A few people asked about the shiplap. There is a thread around here somewhere about it. I'll look for it...

Oh my goodness! I totally love this! I would take this kitchen in a heartbeat. It has such a welcoming and comfortable *feel* and it is also so bright and fresh. It is fabulous-- congratulations!

Looks beautiful.

This may be a dumb question, but how did you get you island in ikea chop lock without a seam? Or is there a seam? Glued?

I've been wondering about this. We will have a 4' wide island and questioned how this would work.

Thanks!

Wow, your kitchen is amazing. I thought the picture was an "inspiration" picture not an actual picture of your kitchen. You must have spent a lot of time with the details and getting it right. The design has great balance. Loved that you used IKEA.

I just saw this as I am not as active on the kitchen forum as I was during our renovation. Your kitchen is so beautiful. It could be in a magazine except that to me it has more character than what is usually portrayed in a magazine.

I love how your chandy looks in your kitchen. I adore the white cabinets and the subway tile, the counters, and what a beautiful ceiling. Your kitchen exudes a cozy elegance. Job well done!

My very best wishes for many wonderful years enjoying your time there!

Thank you again for the kind words!

Famcook, there is a seam on the island. This is either the 2nd or 3rd Ikea butcher block island that my husband has seamed. We had one in our old house and I believe he did one in a house he flipped. IIRC, he uses his kreg tool and those little biscuits that hold the sides together (along with glue). When he gets home I can get a more detailed explanation for you. You'd never know that it was seamed...his seam looks better than some of the natural seams!

Wow! It looks great! I too love the wood counter on the island.
Congrats!

Thank you again for the kind words!

Famcook, there is a seam on the island. This is either the 2nd or 3rd Ikea butcher block island that my husband has seamed. We had one in our old house and I believe he did one in a house he flipped. IIRC, he uses his kreg tool and those little biscuits that hold the sides together (along with glue). When he gets home I can get a more detailed explanation for you. You'd never know that it was seamed...his seam looks better than some of the natural seams!

Danielleg - thank you so much for the info! So glad to hear it is working. I'd really like to do that for our island and your's looks so good I almost couldn't believe it had a seam.

Can't wait to hear any other info you can provide. Awesome kitchen. Thanks!

Great job on your kitchen. I like the way you made the window a focal point. All the other choices help with that result. The glass cabinets above, the island looking like a 'runway' to the window. The color choices. Love the wood island top and amazing job on the ceiling by DH!

I was wondering where you found your stools? Are they Pottery Barn too? Are you happy with the comfort of them? I love the color and the fact that the back is not higher than the counter. The crossbars give them a lot of interest. Bottom freezers are great, we love ours. I'm jealous of that stove and hood. Looks like a real workhorse.

I wonder if your feeling in a rut, might be a result of renovating and Christmas combined? I know I was completely worn out after our kitchen remodel and it took me a couple of months to get back to my old self.

Great job on the kitchen, you and DH make a good team!

Prairie, I got those stools for $30 each in the Ikea as-is section! They were supposed to be place holders until I could get the stools below.

I couldn't justify spending almost $1000 on stools right before the holidays, but we needed seating, so I got these instead. I had fully planned on buying the Ballard stools and selling these on craigslist, but I actually really like them. Like you, I like the height and the color looks pretty good in the room too. I like they they're not obnoxiously sized. There's plenty of room for people to move around while seated next to each other. They are not one bit wobbly and honestly, so far, I'm very impressed.

Here is a link that might be useful: stools

That's exactly the kind of treatment I'd like for our kitchen "refresh". I want those doors (hope Ikea has sizes I need!) those countertop options, and that comfy vibe. Good job!

Sorry, duplicate post.

This post was edited by prairiemoon2 on Thu, Feb 6, 14 at 14:09

danielleg, is your hood a jenn-air also? are you happy with it? i love the look of it.

I love it! The nicest thing is that all the components look as if they've always been there.

As for the organic milk in cute little glass bottles: it reminds me of the discussion, several years ago in the Decorating forum, about staging a kitchen when selling the house. One member who was trying to sell her house had gone to lots of open houses in her area and said that every kitchen seemed to be staged with a KitchenAid mixer on the counter. (The advice was to have only one appliance in view, preferably a fashionable and expensive one.)

Fancy brands of olive oil were also being used a lot in kitchen staging, but I don't remember organic milk.

Very nice!

I'm confused about the "hope I'm not banned" comment. What does that mean?

Your kitchen is absolutely gorgeous!
Could you tell me where you got your subway tile and what color it is. I assume it is 3 x 6. I am having a hard time deciding which white, gloss or or matte finish, and what size. My niece has 4 x 8 and another gardenweb member used 2 x 8. Decisions, decisions!

You have such a beautiful kitchen. I love the shiplap. I am using it on our ceiling and am trying to talk my husband into using it on the walls. Your huge window is great and lets in so much light. Congrats!

Add my kudos to the rest - your kitchen is beautiful, I'm doing something similar (color wise, at least) in my kitchen, but it won't look this gorgeous! I hope you're getting over those winter doldrums :-)

CEFreeman - I think danielleg was thinking that using the word 'a$$ed' in the title might get her banned for inappropriate language

Ahhhh, psbjmb. Never occurred to me!

Geeze. If that's as bad as she gets, we're all potty mouths! :)

prairiemoon2

Another stool option, similar to the ballard design stool but for less $$$, is the French bistro stool from World Market. I just ordered 4 during their dining sale and they were $119 each, shipped free. They are super solid, the backs aren't too high where they come way up over the counter (which is why I also liked the look of the Ikea stools) and very comfortable.

Here is a link that might be useful: World Market french bistro counter stool

Hi AGK, the range hood is not Jenn Air. Its a brand called Faber, I think. We needed some serious ventilation, as our range has the grill feature, which we use often. We're happy with it, although it can be loud when its on full blast.