Wow! I am almost speechless. Not quite - WOW WOW WOW.

You have done a wonderful job. Love the sink and the dark island. Love everything. Congratulations - You made it. Hope you have some time to enjoy it now. Way to go - HIGH FIVE!!

Congratulations! That is absolutely gorgeous! I love the contrast with the island and the cabinets. You have a nice blend of contemporary and traditional in the space.

OMG, that is absolutely fantastic, Socalthreems. Love it, love it, love it! Not that your original kitchen wasn't pretty good looking to start with, but the transformation is truly stellar. Now the space is grander, more sweeping with what looks like better opportunities for multiple cooks to work simultaneously. I'm liking that mix of colors between the cabs, island and walls. What paint color is that? Great job!

Glorious!

Looks like you are ready to host the next virtual party- ice down some cold ones in that great apron sink and we'll all be 'over' to help you celebrate a super kitchen!

Congratulations!

Beautiful. I love the wall color, the storage areas you have -- bookshelves, appliance garage, baskets -- it is all lovely.

Oh, wow! I could name so much to love. The colors, the cooktop backsplash (so simple!), the hood, the cut pendants that do major drama lighting, and most of all the electric guitar :)

Perfection!

Love the blingy lights...

Beautiful! I love the pattern the lights make. Great colors, too. It all works!

Love the way it all turned out, especially the island shape. I remember how concerned you were. I think it looks terrific. And that nice long island must keep "unwanted" people out of your space!

Super nice kitchen (no pun intended!)!!!

I am so excited to see your kitchen! It all came together so beautifully. I remember your posts along the way, like the day your cabinets arrived and you were telling igloochic about them, and when you were wondering what to do about your upper cabinet heights with the soffit removed ... and now look at your kitchen -- good enough to eat!

The backsplash detail behind your range is beautiful, but I think my favorite part is that such a gorgeous kitchen belongs to such a nice person.

Congratulations!

Thank y'all so much! I swear, I need to come here every day and I'd have such an ego!! LOL.

Marthavila - the wall color is Benjamin Moore Van Courtland Blue, and it really is a beautiful color. It was the first one I picked, then of course I tried out about 10 others, but always came back to it. The Verde Butterfly actually has a bit of that color in it (totally unintentionally).

Pecanpie - I'd LOVE to have you all over for a nice cold brew! My sister is actually harrassing me to have a crawfish boil - though getting the crawfish out here to San Diego will the key (and teaching people out here how to eat them!), but of course you have to have cold beer at a crawfish boil!!! Now I know what we'll be using the sink for! LOL.

Plllog and Malhgold - thank you so much for all the support regarding that island shape! I think that tormented me more than anything else (and now counter stools) - I had no idea how difficult some of the decisions could be since this was my first renovation project. I still sometimes wonder if it looks a bit odd, but once I get nice stools there I think I'll forget about it. The kids love sitting there, and because we recessed the legs under the ledge the kids aren't knocking into them nearly as much as I thought they would. Relief!

Pharoah - it is so funny that you should refer to them as blingy lights! I was totally going to go retro (think bikey's kitchen) and then my totally cool lighting guy said I HAD to have some "bling" in my kitchen! I was worried before I installed them, but after they were in I had to agree that every kitchen needs just a little bling to jazz it up! :)

The biggest part of this transformation for me is that I no longer have to go around the peninsula to get to the fridge and the pantry while I am cooking. The spices are also in the cab right next to the cooktop now instead of over in the pantry area, which is much easier. Before I had to plan every meal to the T before starting otherwise I'd burn things trying to run over to get that one extra ingredient. Also, having the sink so much closer to the cooktop is great. Less dripping across the kitchen! And no kids being splattered by food on the cooktop or running past me as I cross the kitchen with boiling water. YEA!

THANKS THANKS THANKS!

Oh RMkitchen - you are so sweet! It takes me forever to compose a post because I try to reread and make sure that I've made sense and haven't misspelled anything (though half the time I do anyway despite my best efforts!) - so I missed your post. It took me twice as long as usual because the game is on and my almost 4 year old was complaining that FOOTBALL IS STILL ON - where, oh where, are the kids shows???!!! LOL.

I know I love seeing everyone's finished kitchens, and am always so thrilled to see the fruits of everyone's labors. Whether you're a diy'er or are all thumbs (and must therefore entrust the construction to a professional), it's such a roller coaster ride of emotions (high and low) and it is just so amazing to have this community to talk to (since usually my DH didn't want to hear about it). I honestly do not know what I would have done without you all.

And, continuing in the tradition of all of you inspiring me, I co-opted the photobook idea, and ordered one today for my contractor (and me of course!) as a thank you. Luckily I make one every year as our family photo album (it takes 2 books because I am a picture fanatic and all the photos won't fit in one book) so I get discounts from MyPublisher all the time. Thank you for that idea!!

Now I cannot wait to see all of your finished kitchens and chime in with any input I have along the way. I'm no good at layout decisions, but I'll chime in regarding aesthetics and whether things worked (or not) for me.

Oh, and I miss Igloochic - I hope she visits us from Maryland soon!!

Just beautiful. You can tell every detail has been carefully considered. Wall color is perfect.

Can you share details about your pendants?

Congratulations and enjoy.

-Margie

I just looked it up (I didn't know - how embarrassing is that?), but the lights are LBL Flute Pendant lights. I got them at a place in San Diego named Candescent, but I just found it online as well.

http://www.ylighting.com/lbl-hs194.html

Socialthreems,

I am fairly new to the boards and am admiring (okay, drooling) over your kitchen! It is just stunning and I know you must wake up every day with excitement to walk in it again!

I have a quick question, if you don't mind. Your decorative backsplash behind the cooktop is exactly what I have in mind for my own kitchen (my husband and I are building a house right now). Do you know where the tile came from?

Thanks so much and enjoy your showroom quality kitchen :)

Oh my, that is a fantastic kitchen!
Wonderful job, enjoy your beautiful "art"
V

Great use of space. Love the color of the walls. I, too, took forever over the stools! In the end I bought my own fabric and took it into the store and they sent it to the factory to be put on the style I had chosen.

Good luck and enjoy smiling everytime you hover in your new space... I do! grins

OK - I just finished my kitchen and I love it, but I'm coming to cook in your kitchen!! It is absolutely beautiful. Enjoy!!

Thanks so much for the link!

-Margie

Gorgeous kitchen, Socalthreems! It's nice to see it all finally come together and it turned out great!

Now enjoy it! And don't worry about the stools for a few days or even weeks...let yourself enjoy the kitchen for awhile first!

Well, they're not freshwater crawfish, but couldn't you do a boil up with spiny lobsters?

Decades ago when I lived in San Diego they weren't too expensive. Or you can get a license and go wading in the shallows with a lantern (though that doesn't sound fun this time of year :) ) ... Or if you want real local color and can wait a couple months you could do grunion :D

GORGEOUS!!! I would love to see a close up of your countertop : )
Those pendants are TOO DIE FOR bling!!!!! Not only wonderful ambiance at night but soooo good in the daylight too. Love it! Great job.

Nancy East - I'm glad you like the backsplash! I almost did something completely different (and luckily got feedback here which confirmed my doubts and sent me in another, better direction).

They are made by Studio Q, which is apparently a small tile manufacturer out of NY I think. I could not find them anywhere online back when I purchased them, but a tile shop here in town carries them. The basketweave actually came in white, but I had them handpaint the yellow "background" so that it would tie in with the beadliner and bring out the yellow tones in the cabinets. They first quoted me handmade subway tiles by the same company, but I balked at the price and purchased their mechanical ones instead.

The tiles behind the range are a bit wonky, though, since they are handmade (this might bother some people). We had to put a bit more space between them because closer together made the unevenness of some of them more prominent. I actually love the look because it is very handmade and artistic to me.

I suppose I could try spiny lobsters (my DH would LOVE that, as lobsters are his favorite food) - I've never cooked them before! I think my sister just wants to bring some cajun flavor to this neck of the woods and her place isn't large enough to accomodate such a gathering (we have a yard). So she's "using" me and my new kitchen!! LOL.

As for the stools, I've looked at so many I'm sick of it. Every website, every catalog, every where! UGH! I wish I knew how to woodwork and I'd make my own stools! Ha ha. Of course, then this kitchen would have been DIY and I'd probably never finish since my DH can't DIY anything and it would be all up to me and my 3 kids under the age of 8 (yes, I would find a way to put them to work, violating all child labor laws!). :)

I really can't think of any other adjectives to gloriously describe the masterpiece you've created for your family. It's spectacular! Take a bow socalthreems :) Well done!
Monica
ps...love the "bling effect" those pendants add :)

What a really pretty kitchen!

Is that a corner pantry????

I would love to know dimensions and see a photo of it open,
if you get a chance please.

Congratulations! Its beautiful!

WOW, WOW, WOW - rushing the kids out the door to school but had to stop in an tell you it's AMAZING and just Beautiful!!!

Wow, your new kitchen is just beautiful and looks so well-planned. It flows so nicely and without your old soffits it looks so much more open. Your wall colour and granite co-ordinate so well together too. You must be so happy!

It's lovely. You really struck a perfect balance of elegant and welcoming, and it looks like a very well thought-out space that will be a pleasure to use. Congratulations.

What a very nice place to be. I like it so much. Enjoy!

wow!!! that's just gorgeous!!! I love everything.

Saskatchewan Girl - here are a couple of pictures of the granite - I really am quite happy with it, and so far no issues at all with spills, etc. I definitely needed something low maintenance!

Vicnsb - the corner pantry is nice, but I would have done it differently if I had known better when I ordered it (I had just started visiting this site and really didn't use it to full advantage until later in the project). I'll try to get dimensions and post separately. The problem is that we had it custom done so that it goes almost all the way back to the corner and all the way to the sides, which is great in the middle section where the top shelf is notched out, but in the top and bottom sections they are full shelves and it is really hard to access everything. Honestly, those sections will be used for items I don't use very often (which was always the intent, I just didn't realize how inaccessible certain parts would be). As you can probably see in the lower portion of the second picture, I had my installers remove one of the lower shelves because it was ridiculous - it was so close to the shelf above it that you could never use it - items would need to be tiny, and you'd have to get on your stomach to get things from the very bottom. So now the very bottom section is taller, which is much better. It is hard to see, but the second picture shows part of the middle section and the lower section of the pantry. The top section is similar to the bottom section in that it has 2 complete shelves instead of a cutout shelf (I think the cutout shelves are key, though they limit storage).

The last picture shows part of the top section and the middle section with the cutout.

I also have a pantry with pullout shelves on the other side of the fridge (I don't think the pictures show it), and that is where I keep most of the stuff we use constantly - all the kids' snacks, cereal, etc.

Beautiful,

And quite unique! I don't think I've seen a kitchen quite like that before! Do you have a separate eat-in area for the kitchen, or can everyone fit on the stools? ( I see what looks like a dining room through the doors by your ovens.)

Congrats socalthreems! Your kitchen is amazing. You have a great eye for the details. I remember some of your first posts - the soffit one for sure. I think that made a big difference when looking at your before and after pics. Count me in on loving those pendants. You definitely have the bling! And the two different cabinet finishes.....I am so envious.

I LOVE, LOVE your windows. Were those new? All that natural light must be wonderful. Last question....how long did it take you from start to finish? For some reason it doesn't seem that long.

Enjoy yourself in there!

Oh, FABULOUS!

The colors are so great together! And I love how you changed the footprint to get access to the fridge, and, as someone cleverly noticed, to have access to other folks while at the same time keeping them out of your path!

It looks like such a pleasant place to cook in.

I love the sliding baskets for fruit, etc.

I love, love, love TheTrough (as I call the 36" Shaw's).

Congratulations!

Francy

Ditto on all above posts. You did a wonderful job. My favorite part is the area to the right of the ovens. A small space with a lot of usefullness. Great planning!! Enjoy!!

RaeHelen - we do not have an eat in area in the kitchen (other than at the counter). Or, more precisely, we have chosen not to. There is an area that you can't see from the pictures above that is sort of behind the counter. We are using that as a sitting area. Normally we eat dinner at the dining table that is through the doors that you see adjacent to the double ovens, and we eat bfast and lunch in the kitchen.

That "Sitting area" section is going to get new furniture, but here is a picture just to give you an idea of what it looks like right now. A hodgepodge of left-over furniture that we are going to sell and then we'll buy new stuff, probably at the end of the year when we recover from this expenditure! I also want to get some sort of hutch for that long wall (to put to the left) - trying to decide if I want to order it from Hertco or find something freestanding. It would be great if it matched the stain on my island, but I could just go black (the accent color on the island) or try to find a close match to the wood color. A freestanding one would be MUCH less expensive, and give me more flexibility...

Oops. Photobucket is doing maintenance. I'll post when I can get access to my photos!

KitchenKelly - those windows were there when we bought the house - this house has an absolute TON of windows - and in the prior kitchen I literally had to climb onto the kitchen counter to open and close it! I have ordered window coverings (a nice roman shade in a pretty striped fabric) for that window, and hopefully it will be arriving soon! In the winter the setting sun beats through that window and you cannot see ANYTHING.

Photobucket is back up - so for anyone interested, here is the rest of the kitchen - :) The three pics are from slightly different angles. As you can see, the room is teeny tiny, with really low ceilings. My DH didn't like having a table there because of the ceiling height, so I'm taking Frank Lloyd Wright's approach and having seating over there (he used to intentionally lower his ceilings around the perimeter of a room to encourage people to sit). The plant is new, which is why it appears in only one picture. You can see the long wall to the left of that enormous chair is hopefully where some sort of hutch or cabinet will go...