Gorgeous! Love your lights.

Your kitchen looks beautiful.

Have you considered using Waterlox on your counter? I also installed Ikea Oak Butcher Block. I love how it looks. We are not in the house yet, so I haven't lived with it yet. I used 4 coats of the Waterlox on both sides of the counter and all exposed edges (farm sink).

That's looking tremendous! Great job! I love the oak butcherblock!

Really nice look you have going,
lights are really cool too. Congrats!
vic

i'm loving it! great lights... tell us where they're from please!

Oh my...your cabinets and that butcher block are droolworthy. I don't think I've ever seen butcher block that looks that good,like it's freshly oiled or something? Those lights are fantastic.

thanks!

Jenanla - I thought that Waterlox wasn't considered a good idea if chopping on the counter? Maybe, though, I could apply it around the sink/faucet alone (if it can go over previously oiled surfaces....)

Kateskouros - the pendants are from Home Depot! I really, really like them - shiny, but practical as the glass cylinder can be cleaned somewhat easily. I think that their are made by Bazz (?) And since they are transparent, they don't block views and don't feel heavy.

Redroze - it is rather freshly oiled, as IKEA suggests a rather heavy maintenance schedule for the first two months. Now, after seeing how happy wood can be, I feel that I ought to appologize to my other rather neglected cutting boards.

What I especially love about mineral oil is that it isn't combustible. I don't care what anyway says, chopping on a surface where the rags used to apply the product cannot be put into the dryer and are spontaneously combustible, seems rather unappetizing to me.

I did find that the oil raised the grain, so I knocked it down with a super fine sanding block, and it is silky again. The first night that we had it, I put a hot pizza (on carboard) on it and found that it raised the grain oddly. but I oiled it, sanded it, seems fine.

I think that it will take some getting used to, chopping/cutting on the counter. I've been so used to NOT doing that, all these years :)

How about back-painted glass behind the range. Use starfire or other ultraclear glass to reduce the green cast.

Palimpsest et al - Thoughts on the backsplash behind the butcher block? I was thinking something simple, like white. BUt it could be that I'm just panicking from the amount of decisions required :)

It looks great! I used a similar palette in my kitchen. I like glass tile for the backsplash, probably influenced by the fact that I used that in my own kitchen, LOL.

Those pendants are perfect!

Oh, I really like the stripes in your dining nook, too!

I don't know if Waterlox can be used over oil, but the folks at Waterlox are very helpful. I don't plan on chopping on my counter so I went with the Waterlox as opposed to oil.