Absolutely Beautiful! Everything looks so polished and pulled together. Enjoy!

Thanks everyone for your kind comments. It makes me feel so much better about my decisions.

While we did have what I refer to as a KD--he was really just the salesman for our local kitchen showroom. He wasn't particularly helpful in the design and I had to fight him to get a lot of the details you see in the final design. It took about 6 weeks of very long and painful meetings with him to get the design finalized. I came up with a lot of my design ideas from this forum and some of it was dictated by the limitations of our space--for example the mantel range hood over the peninsula. Because it was visible from the kitchen and the dining room, I didn't want a traditional wood hood to hang there and we really needed some additional upper cabinet space. I loved the look of a mantel hood and I hated that I couldn't have one because it wasn't against a wall. That's when I cooked up the idea of hanging two mantel hoods back-to-back with glass cabinets on the sides. The cabinet guy and I nearly killed each other trying to get the design to look the way I saw it in my head--but it finally turned out right. For the final month or so of the project I also brought in an interior designer to oversee the painters and trim carpenters and handle the final battles with the KD (I was over him by that point)--but by that stage the design was pretty much done. Thankfully she approved of all of my wacky design ideas because it was too late to change anything.

In my hurry to post the pictures this afternoon I failed to address any of the relevant details so here is everything I can remember:

Cabinets--Kraftmaid Marquette door with Vanilla Bean Glaze
Counters--Typhoon Bordeaux Granite
Floors--Brazilian Koa/Tigerwood
Sink--Rohl Allia Fireclay
Sink Faucet--Blanco Bridge Faucet
Pot Filler--Whitehaus Vintage
Range--GE Cafe
Refrigerator--Electrolux Wave Touch Cabinet Depth
Dishwasher--LG (from the old kitchen)
Hardware--Edwardian collection (manufacturer--Top Knobs, maybe)
Sink Light--Pottery Barn Track Light
Garden Room Chandelier--Visual Comfort Large Country Bell
Dining Room Chandelier--Quorum
Furniture (Dining Room & Garden Room)--Ballard Designs
Paint Colors--Georgian Green (Garden room)
Yosemite Sand (Kitchen/dining/living room)
Confederate red (foyer)

That's about all I can remember. Its hard to believe that I labored for weeks over decisions like the pendant lighting but I can't remember now who made them or what they were called. These little details are now just part of the whole kitchen and I don't think about them as separate pieces anymore. I must admit I'm really enjoying my new kitchen and I focus less and less on the little flaws that I know didn't turn out exactly as I had planned. Maybe I will enjoy it even more now that it has the GW seal of approval!

Thanks again everyone,
Crystie

What a beautiful kitchen and what a transformation! Your home has charm, warmth and is so inviting. Congratulations on getting through to the other side! :-)

Happy cooking!
Eliz

I thought the first photo was an inspiration photo.
Amazing transformation!!
I really like the layout.
All the rooms blend so perfectly. Great job! Enjoy.

Oops, I just read a couple more questions.

charlikin--You may be able to see in some of the pictures that our refrigerator magnets and my daughter's art projects have been moved to our french doors in the dining room (not my idea). We temporarily hung my daughter's school reward there one day and now she loves to see her stuff hanging there so much that I can't get away with taking it down!

msrose--Here's a picture of the front of the couch. We got it when we first moved into the house 4 years ago, but no one ever used our living room until we finished the remodel. The old kitchen was bad, but the living room wasn't much better. It was dark and closed in and very boring.

Just lovely, paigeysmom! A really beautiful kitchen.

WOW! I am looking forward to that! So very beautiful! I am just beginning my project. I can't wait until my 1963 yellow kitchen is gone! Thanks for the inspiration!

Nice kitchen. That yellow couch is just ADORABLE. Makes me smile.

Your pre-remodel lino looks a lot like ours.

Scary stuff...

That's so beautiful! Looks like a show home. Seriously looks like one of those before/after shows on HGTV. I bet you are so thrilled. I love how your whole house flows and feels so open. Gorgeous!

Paigeysmom,
Yours is one of those transformations that is so complete and shows how much a house can be changed! I just keep looking at your pics and it's hard to believe it's the same house. You did such a fantastic job it's hard to know where to start w/the complements!

I love the way you opened up your kitchen to the rest of the house. Such a dramatic difference! Your hardwood floors are gorgeous. They have such lovely graining and the color shows off all of your furniture and cabinetry perfectly. The Typhoon Bordeaux granite picks up the glaze in your vanilla bean cabs and ties the cabs to your floor beautifully. Great choice. Love your lighting fixtures. You really show how you can use different finishes in the same room and have it look so complementary.

I'd love to know where you purchased the beautiful red chair and the gold sofa in your living room. You have a great decorating sense and I hope you enjoy your "new" home and kitchen for many years. Thanks for sharing.

crys

What a wonderful transformation - Excellent taste, use of materials and function - Just a really stunning kitchen -
Very inviting - so, what time is Sunday brunch served?

Enjoy that lovely new space

PAIGEYSMOM - I would love to know how big your cooktop and Cooktop Island are?

I am having issues with deciding if mine will be big enough.
I noticed you have a ledge beind yours. Could you tell me the dimensions of that as well.

Thank you!

oh ALSO The Glass Lighting fixture over the kitchen table ??
What kind and how much if you don't mind my asking...

Paigeysmom, Gorgeous transformation! You really pulled together a very contemporary design made out of traditional elements. It's kind of the grail for this kind of style and so hard to achieve! Brava!! Fantastic idea to bring in the interior designer as an "enforcer". :)

Congratulations to you on creating such a beautiful kitchen space which simultaneously proclaims -- real people live here! Love it, love it, love it! BTW, I'm especially impressed by your double hood/staggered island arrangement that you struggled over with the cabinet guy. Good for you for sticking to your guns for it surely worked out right! And that lovely little breakfast sun room? Well, it's to die for! All around great job!

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. Everything just goes, and I love all the little details like the wine rack and the warm and golden granite. Your home is wonderful.

Wow! What incredible design work! It looks much nicer than the any of the kitchens on the HGTV shows I watch. All the little details flow together elegantly and seamlessly. I wasn't a fan of white kitchens, but I am now. Wish I had your design "touch" - I had to play it a little safe and get friends with better taste than me to give lots of advice.

How fresh and beautiful! Great job.

Alterit-- The range is 30 inches wide and there is a 24 inch counter on each side. The range backs up to a raised bar consisting of two 36 inch wide 42 inch high wall cabinets. The total length of the raised bar is six feet. The counter on top of the bar is narrow--only about 18 inches at its widest point. I didn't want to use that bar for another eating area since we already have 2 dining tables in close proximity.

I must admit, I was obsessed with finding the right light fixture for the garden/sunroom. I knew what I wanted in there and I searched for weeks to find something that would work. I found a picture in a magazine of a custom lantern fixture that I fell in love with and I kept looking for something similar. I nearly had a fixture custom made to hang there, but the $2,000 estimate made me finally come to my senses. There has to be some limit to what I will pay to turn an inspiration picture into reality and $2K was it! I finally found the Visual Comfort Large Country Bell Jar Pendant--it was close enough to my inspiration picture, and the $700 price tag was at least somewhat more reasonable. I also got the matching small country bell jar pendant for the foyer.

Crystie,

We must have some long-lost gene in common! When I finally get around to posting my before and afters you'll understand what I mean. Even DH who I just showed your pics to, said we had the exact same floor (we didn't- but we do now- thought I recognized Tigerwood!). but we did have horrible old white wood cabinets- green walls (I picked it, but seemed dated after 12 years)- and divided space. We are also planning on redoing our fireplace wall- have removed the old brick (and it is being slowly gotten rid of piece by piece in our weekly garbage pick up) and the wood stove. We have an oak mantle in place temporarily, if the money holds out want to do something very similar to what you've done!

I wanted white cabinets and had picked out Typhoon Bordeaux though we went with DH's choice of stained Maple and Butterfly Blue, I still feel we must have very similar tastes! So I have to say love your choices!!! And DH does too! :>)

Love your kitchen. I have sienna bordeaux granite which is the same or similar to typhoon bordeaux. I have had it since november and still have not chosen a backsplash. I would love to know what your backsplash is. I love subway tiles. I am having a terrible time picking out and would love to know what color/brand you chose. Thanks!

I love what you did. Could you tell me more about the parsons chairs from Ballard? Are they comfortable?

What an incredible transformation! And what a gorgeous and inviting end result! I love the lighting, and the floors look especially good, but everything, absolutely everything, is top-notch. Excellent!

Goegeous, beautiful, gorgeous! What a transformation! The whole living area looks so different and elegant yet casual and inviting!

It looks like there are actually only two recessed cans in the main part of your kitchen. Is that so? I am agonizing over having as few cans as possible in this old house. What are the dimensions of your kitchen and how many cans, if you don't mind?

I like your two-light over the sink fixture as well as all your pendants!

colleenkay: Thanks for reminding me that I forgot to post the backsplash tile details. The tile is the Siena Collection from Tagina in bone. Its a crackle finished tile and I love it.

chinchette: The Ballard chairs are fantastic. They are very comfortable and thankfully easy to clean. We were planning to get the matching slip covers to try to protect the chairs, but so far they are holding up really well--even with a messy 4 year old doing art projects on them!

Oh! And your before reminds me so much of mine! Except I only had as many cabinets total as you did on the cooktop side. Amazing what we lived with, huh?

Oh my!!! I almost missed this!!! What a great kitchen. It's just gorgeous. I love the cabs, granite, and that floor!!! yum!

Is that your daughter dancing around? too cute. congrats on a fantastic finish - enjoy

Thanks on the Ballard critique. I need some parsons and when I saw yours, thought they might work for me. That's helpful.

And the walls came tumbling down! What a difference. Your home looks so pretty-- you have a wonderful sense for color. Like others, I love your lighting fixtures and floors. Enjoy!

Absolutely love it!! Whoever said that white kitchens are cold and sterile hasn't seen this one! Truly out of the pages of BHG...or better!
:)
Sarah

Your kitchen is gorgeous and I love the adjoining sitting room. Add a bedroom and bath and it's all I would need.

Crystie,
I am still having a problem deciding on my backsplash. We are remodeling our kitchen due to hurricane Ike. I am looking at a subway tile right now in cream that goes well with our countertops. I have a lot of white cabinets. Also, A couple of the walls butt up against the cabinets. The walls have white beadboard about four foot high. My question is If I use a bone or cream tile on my back splash, do I need to repaint my cabinets a creamy color or can I leave them white?? Will i have to repaint the beadboard cream? LOL maybe Im over thinking this. I really donot want to repaint cabinets(but I will). Would maybe glazing them be an option to match better with a creamy backsplash and what color glaze? Any opinions, advice would be grately appreciated.

Your before pictures are exactly my "before" kitchen! It's so weird! You did a beautiful job - I love the sitting room, and your color choices - everything is gorgeous. Good job!

OMG, totally STUNNING!

May I please archive your kitchen in the Finished Kitchens Blog?
If so please submit the FKB Category Checklist so I can easily categorize your kitchen.
Thank you!!

Here is a link that might be useful: FKB Category Checklist

Thanks for posting more pics!
It's funny, for the longest time I would search and search for typhoon bordeaux and found maybe one picture of it actually installed anywhere. THen all of the sudden I came across the earlier pictures, where the cabinets and floor are similar to what we will have as well.

I cannot express how much I love your home post reno. It is chic but homey at the same time. Lucky you!

Wonderful!!! You did a fantastic job! Everything goes looks so serene and beautiful!

I love your FP as well!

Love your kitchen! How do you like your sink? Do you like the single bowl, and the depth? I really want fireclay, but not an apron front (well, I do, but too hard to retrofit into old cabs).

BEAUTIFUL!!!! Your solution for the oven was GREAT, gah too bad KD was such a PITA - I had a GC nightmare my last kitchen remodel and yep, the pain goes away. You should be so proud of your gorgeous kitchen.

Nice to hear about Ballard, too - I was considering them for a couple of things for our house decor.

madaboutkitchens,
I wanted an apron front sink too, but it wouldn't work with our sink base so I finally gave up on the idea and got the fireclay sink instead. I love it. I must admit that I really hate to do dishes. The best part of this sink is that it fits into a smaller cabinet but I can fit several days worth of dishes into it before I have to force myself to wash them! The only problem is that they had to push the sink back several inches to fit into the cabinet so I have to lean over a six inch wide counter to reach into it. But that was just a result of the tipped corners on our cabinet. In a regular sink base cabinet where the sink could be installed closer to the front that wouldn't be a problem. My husband actually likes the fact that we have that wide area in front of the sink. Its one of the imperfections that I'm getting over. Another happy surprise/accident was the color of the sink. It was supposed to be white, and we didn't realize that it was biscuit colored until the granite installers had it in place. Thankfully its exactly the same color as the granite and the backsplash so it was a very fortunate accident that looks like I planned it that way.

I LOVE your kitchen.

Do you like your fridge?

Wow. Your kitchen is a dream.

May I ask which granite you used?
I am in the process of a kitchen Reno and trying to figure
out what Grantie to do with white countertops and stainless
appliances.

I could really use some help.
I love your counters, It has movement. I am so fearful of
movement because my kitchen is small. But your granite
has some movement without being overpowering. I LOVE IT.
I will have to post
pic when I figure it all out.

boxerpups - I too was ogling this kitchen and the granite. I looked through the posts and she used Typhoon Bordeaux. I'm off to another trip to the granite yard and will add this one to my list!

Beautiful! I think I'm getting addicted to this website-all the fabulous kitchens and great advice!
The green garden room is so pretty-and those diamond shaped windows are cool!

Paigeysmom , your kitchen is magnificent! I love the Visual Comfort country bell lantern. I was looking to put two of those over the island in my new kitchen. My concern was how easy or difficult it is to clean the glass inside the lantern. Can the glass bell be seperated for cleaning ?

jctz,
The lantern is actually very hard to clean. The day after my husband installed it our painter came out to do some final touch up work and some debris fell down into the lantern. That was about 4 months ago and I'm still afraid to try to take the glass shade off and clean it out. The shade is very large and heavy and its difficult to get it hooked into place just right. Ours is actually hanging a little off center but I'm terrified of moving it and possibly setting it off balance completely. Its reaching the point where I really have to get up my courage to take it down and clean out the debris, bugs, fingerprints, etc. but I'm not looking forward to it. I do love the fixture and it really has an incredible visual impact. Let me know if anyone has any clever ideas for other ways to clean it. Every time I try to reach down into it from above it sets the candelabra section swinging and I'm afraid it will break the glass. I just can't come up with an easy way to clean it.

Beautiful and tasteful kitchen!!!. I'm going to forward it to my friend to use it as an inspiration for her kitchen remodel. Could you please provide info about the three pendant lights above your peninsula? Love them...

Outstanding transformation paigeysomom. Your floors highlight everything else by contrast. I am sure that you are enjoying your new space as well you should!

SPECTACULAR KITCHEN. Thanks SO MUCH for sharing. Your photos caught my eye because they're very much like what I've already chosen for my kitchen project, right down to the granite. Our total kitchen remodel begins on 9/8...yikes! Finally chose granite today after agonizing for weeks. Happily, it's typhoon bordeaux to compliment shaker style cabinet doors in biscotti(creamy white). All that's left to choose are light fixtures. It's been a long, difficult process. I only worked with a pro to get a good design, but am such a control freak that I've researched, compared & shopped for everything myself. Thank goodness for internet, magazines & showrooms. It's been a labor of love and having an understanding husband with endless patience helps. Can't wait for it to be over and wishing mightily for as happy & beautiful an ending as yours.

Fantastic layout and great pic of colors!!! We have also started our renovation as of November of last year. It has been a slow process as this whole process is new to me. I too picked typhoon bordeaux as one of my favorite pieces for the kitchen and utility room with coliseum for my butlers pantry. Now what? Well, I just received my raised panel doors last week. My granite for the kitchen side will be installed next week. And from there, I will need to pick the colors for my cabinets and walls as well as backsplash and the shower tile and bathroom floor tiles. I have looked at thousands and thousands of pics, I know what I will like but am struggling with how to get there. I know what it must have taken for you to get to that end point. Kudos to you