It looks fabulous! Congratulations!

Love your stacked cabinets with the glass on top, and I think your frig looks great. Beautiful floor too!

I love seeing your example here of taking over the formal living room, this is something that I've wondered about looking at, you've convinced me that we should!

When I have more time I want to better study your pics, but from what I see W-O-W!!! I love the white shaker cab / white wainscoting aesthetic, and I esp. love how you made your house better work for you and the way you live. Oh, and I love the thoughtful touches, like the light switch in the column.

Would love to know the actual style of cabinet that is by Karman?

What a marvelous job. The details are extraordinary. I love the squared pulls and the backsplash is so simple and elegant. Elegant is a good word for the whole job. Congratulations.

Another question...what is it that you love about your dishwasher?

I wonder if there's something wrong with the photo links. I only see 2 "before" and 3 "after" pics but there are place holders for 8 more photos. What I see is lovely so I hope the links get fixed so I can see more. Thanks for sharing with us!

beautiful white kitchen, congratulations!!!! i love how open it is and also like the dark table as contrast.

i am stuck on my white kitchen backsplash - can you tell us what tile (brand and color) and grout color you used? thanks in advance!

babushka

Not all the pics are coming through but the ones I see show a gorgeous open space.

Does anyone know why all the pictures are not showing. I used Flickr. They are set to private. Should I change them to public? Why would only some show and some not? This is why I haven't shared my kitchen sooner...I've had so many problems every time I've tried to do this post. Any ideas? Thanks!

yankeejay, please elaborate on your comment about your marble countertops! You said, "...the marble, which I love and love hating at the same time." I so want honed marble, but I think I will feel just the way you describe.

When I click on the box with the missing photo, the photo opens up to you flicker acct. and all the album is viewable?
That was quite a project and it turned out just beautiful. Congratulations!

Photobucket usually works. Try uploading them there. It looks great from the few I can see!

Some of the pics don't show for me, but when I click on the number on the top, it takes me to your Flickr album, where I am able to see the "missing" pics.

And what I see is totally lovely!

I am drooling over the windows on your sink wall--holy moly! Your stacked cabinets are beautiful! It is a well thoughtout, absolutely beautiful space!

Congratulations!

I'm not sure the problem, but I just clicked on one of your pictures and it took me to the album at the Flickr site where I can see them all.

Just beautiful. What are your stools? I love them. Great job!

I could also see everything on Flickr. Just gorgeous. Love those little glass cabinets on top. Wound up with an induction range, but I really liked the GE Cafe like yours. Hope its working out because it looks fabulous.

I would also love to know what you "love to hate" about the marble countertops. Is it the fact that they are honed, or just that they are marble?

Also- you noted that your floors were white oak, but water popped. I'm not familiar with that term, what does it mean? The floors are beautiful.

Great job on a fantastic kitchen. It seems like all the kitchens are white these days (including the one I am building) but I still love them!

Well, I'm really frustrated with those darn blank picture boxes. When my post first came through they were all there...I'm clueless. Oh well.

annsch - the cabinets by Karman are their standard shaker style. What we love about the dishwasher is how well it's laid out inside. Very easy to adapt and change and adjust racks to accommodate almost anything. We had a Bosch before and thought I really liked it until we got this one.

nanj and others - Then there's the marble. I'm no marble virgin. We've had it in our bathroom for years and that's where my love of marble began. I told beekeeperswife my feelings on marble earlier this week and my experience has come down to lighting. I love marble and all of its pitfalls, but once I lived with it with that gigantic window in my kitchen, it was a whole other story. So, when you look at my kitchen from the dining room, the stove wall and refrigerator wall are etched to death and you can hardly see it because of the way the light hits (mainly artificial) and so in that case the etching is no big deal. BUT, where all the light comes in on that sink wall and across the island, the etching is magnified 1000 times. So, all etching is not created equally. Seriously consider your lighting...it makes all the difference on what etching really looks like. I can use a green scrubbie and basically re-hone the surface when it starts looking really bad, but it's a lot of work and a lot of sealer. I just haven't decided if my love of it is enough to warrant the hassle. This is my experience to date.

babushka - the backsplash is American Olean from Lowes...I think they've discontinued it. The grout is called pewter, but what brand IDK. Our tile guy just showed me color choices so I'm not real sure what brand, but I could find out.

It is GORGEOUS!!!

Absolutely gorgeous!! Congratualtions!!

I love those windows...sorry they show the etching but boy I would be facing out so it wouldn't matter :) Lovely lovely...what a great use of space. I bet it just takes your breath away every morning. c

In my frustration of this picture deal, I set up a PhotoBucket acct. Let's see if this is any better...very large pictures, but I'm calling it quits. Sorry for the mess I'm making of this post! :-)

Absolutely beautiful!! I love everything about your kitchen and your living area! Would you mind telling me what size your sink is? It looks magnificent!

It's just beautiful It is so bright and open. Congratulations!

Love it! What a beautiful space. Everything hangs together perfectly. I especially like the rich dark floors against your white cabs, and your mullioned upper cabs. I also admire the beadboard ceiling transition over your peninsula. Great job!

Beautiful! Looks like something out of a magazine!

G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S ! Love every inch of it!

Breathtaking. Nice styling throughout the house to make a whole new impression. The millwork and windows are so great!

I love it! it turned out beautifully!
right up my alley. :D

Great job! Very beautiful and sounds like it's even more functional for you - lovely and functional, what more could you want?! I hope the love for your marble continues to outweigh the hate. It's spectacular from here! Congratulations on finishing!

Your old kitchen was not bad, but the new one is "wow!". I love your ceilings and how it is interesting when you look up. I like the simplicity of your kitchen and the clean lines. It is quietly fabulous. Your views are wonderful and are worth the extra light on the etchings. Once the counters are "broken in" a little more, I bet you will enjoy them better.
It sounds like it was all worth the hassle, even if your dh does not agree yet. He will, in time...

Your kitchen is beautiful! Congratulations. I am looking at the same hardware, nouveau III, but in brushed satin nickel for my kitchen. Are you happy with them? What size do you have on your upper cabinets?

Thank you all for your kind words. We are enjoying the entire space very much. We put the same cabinets in our mudroom/office/laundry room (which used to be our dining room and we closed it in and combined it with our old laundry room). I will post a picture of it to show you the hardware used there, which I really like. They are by Cliffside Industries and the line is called B622. Not a very clear picture of them (taken from my iPone), but wanted to give them credit as their pretty cute and nice for their price point (about $7/ea.). Here's a couple pictures:

So, I've dug out my paperwork to see if I can answer some of your questions:

babushka: I remembered the brand of the grout. It's Laticrete and color is Pewter. We also used it on the little hexagon tiles in the laundry room (I think that's the shape...5 sided (ha ha, think I need to go back to school!!!)

abfabamy: The stools are Pottery Barn and surprisingly comfy. They break-in quickly. At first they're loud and stiff, but it didn't take long to wear them in.

workingondreamhouse: The floors were water-popped. Which I had never heard of before either. Our hardwood guy was amazing. He took a spray bottle of water and misted some areas to show us what this technique would achieve. This caused the grain in the wood to swell, while it was swollen, he applied stain to it which really made the grain in the wood pronounced. It was amazing the difference in the look. We went that route and are very pleased. I have to say, in the pictures our floors have a lot more red than in real life. I'd say they are more a deep brown than red.

love2decor8: The sink is 32". I LOVE this sink. I can stack tons of stuff in it after cooking and sit down to eat and have it hidden from sight. It is 10" deep so you can really get a lot of stuff in there!

MrsBrad: The upper pulls are all 3 3/4". I really do like them. Because of the amount of flat surfaces on this pull, you really do see all the smudges and finger prints, but they wipe up effortlessly. The goal of the kitchen aesthetics were clean and simple. These pulls are exactly that. I like the ones in my laundry room also, but they lend themselves more to a casual/vintage-y vibe.

Thank you again for the kind words!

Love the kitchen, gorgeous job. The space looks amazing and tons of light. Would you mind sharing with me the length of the peninsula? Thanks

Soooo lovely! The beautiful cabinetry, wonderful window, warm woods, gorgeous counters, and high ceilings. And your layout is so much improved! Congratulations!

Love your kitchen!!! It has inspired me also. The window is gorgeous. Can you tell me the size. Is your ceiling height 10' or 12'? Love the upper windows, makes your kitchen look massive. Great job!

yankee - wow, beautiful kitchen! Can I ask you how you like your range? Our old glasstop just smashed...and i love the look of the cafe line.
Thanks!

wow, such a lovely house! would you mind sharing info on your lighting? i love your chandelier and foyer lights especially!

WOW! I love the elegance of the new kitchen. It is so peaceful and zen because of the nice lines and color scheme. Love it.

This is a beautiful kitchen all the way around--and I too would love looking out that window while prepping. I also love your rich colored table, what brand is it? Do you like having the benches rather than chairs?

It occurs to me that if you built this house, it must have been a little rough to redo it so extensively--some emotional attachment occasionally must have reared its head during this long process.

Thanks for sharing!

Thank you again for the kind words!

ratrem: The peninsula is approx. 4.5 ft wide x 5.8 ft long. We have rollout trays on the kitchen side where all of our everyday dishes, silverware, placemats , etc. are stored (we eat most of our meals on the peninsula) and fairly shallow storage on the dining room side (stuff we don't use that often like crockpot, apple corer, pump pots, etc. are stored in there).

julcarr: The ceilings are the original height of what was once our formal living room and they are 12 ft. tall. I'm not one for a lot of "stuff" and it was really tough for me to put the glass cabinets in the top, but with the narrow, tall kitchen, we needed to have something to add an airiness to the space and to help break up the mass of white cabinetry. I had a very small collection of white pitchers already, so that's what I've decided to display in them. The kitchen has such a stream-lined look, I've enjoyed seeing the curviness of the pitchers...helps soften all the harsh edges I think and it gives me an excuse to go antiquing! The window is 88" wide x 78" tall. The two side windows open to the outside and really brings the outdoors in.

jalsy6: I have been pleasantly surprised with the range. I would have loved to explore options of some more high-end appliances, but with this being a whole house remodel, I couldn't dump all of our money just into the kitchen. We didn't have room for wall ovens and have no gas available. That narrowed our options way down. I like the look of it, it has a shallow bottom oven, and so far my baked goods have come out far better than they did with my old oven. So, all in all, we give it two thumbs-up!

michoumonster: Funny you ask about those particular light fixtures. The chandelier in the dining room was the original fixture to the house. We bought it from Pottery Barn over 15 years ago and I like it as much today as I did then. The light in the foyer is from Home Depot. It is from the Thomasville line. I remember it being very reasonably priced and I think seems to be of pretty good quality.

colorfast: The table is from Pottery Barn (Toscana). I had my eye on it from the beginning of the remodel and actually planned the space to make sure it would fit. It has two leaves that go on each end. At Thanksgiving, we were able to formally seat 16 people. I like the bench seating and especially in our space. It allows people to sit with their backs to the dining room wall and visit amongst everyone in the living room and kitchen. It also eliminates random chairs being pulled out into the walkway between the couch and dining area keeping the area tidy and uncluttered. I swore off fussiness with this remodel...no more straightening chairs, towels (only hooks for us now), and various other things that just drove me crazy. You can still catch me fluffing pillows on a frequent basis although. As far as how comfortable they are, I suppose that depends how long you linger. We're middle aged, and our friends like the casualness of them. I think people feel more inclined to have a seat rather than pulling out a chair and spinning it around to visit with others in the space. When our parents come to dinner, I try putting them in the upholstered chairs just knowing they'll be more comfortable there. I think if I had more of a "formal" dining room area, chairs would probably be the way to go. For your question about emotional issues, yes, there were some moments of emotional angst, especially when packing up and deciding on what to purge. With the entire house doing a complete 180, hardly anything we had was going to work in the new space. But, like I said earlier, it is our love of this home and all the memories it holds that encouraged us through the project. I love it more now knowing that we didn't give up on it. I honestly think we'll never leave.

Yankeejay... this is one amazing kitchen... I just love it. This is a kitchen I could really imagine myself cooking in.
You have inspired me beyond belief. Congrats.. i hope you enjoy your new kitchen and enjoy many wonderful mealtimes in your new space.