What I love best are all the different specialized crannies and cabinets. Custom is so worth it!

The Floor!!! When I bought my home in 2004, it came with the ugliest, oldest, dirtiest vinyl sheet kitchen floor I had ever seen. I almost cried the day my new flooring was finally done in 2008 and I've been in love with it ever since. It's a lovely, light shaded porcelain tile that is so easy to clean and feels great on/under my feet. I still smile every time I see it. And what a joy to clean! I had an excellent referral from a friend who did a great job with the floor project -- a real craftsman who was worth every penny. It's not just the flooring materials but the craftsman who did the job that made me so happy.

The lighting! Again, a good electrician with good, experienced suggestions/opinions is worth the money! I think it's one of the most important changes to be made in the kitchen.

OK, so I just realized that the "top and bottom" of the kitchen are really important to me and they do truly work to make all of the elements in between really look even more beautiful! Oh, and of course, the pro craftsman who do the work -- can't scrimp on them -- get the best you can afford from good referral sources!

My soapstone counters. I love how they're great for quick defrosting. I love how I can just plop things straight from the ov en onto them without having to look for a trivet. But most of all it's the feel of them - I still run my hands over them all the time.

Danielle84,
Thank you for this wonderful questions. A great way
to start my Sat morn.

Granite.
I love the honed smooth cool feel and deep color with
subtle movement that looks like someone tossed powdered
sugar and a gentle breeze spread it around. The cloud like
appearance.

Built in.
I love this one little shelf that I have pretty co,ffee
mugs that match perfectly my counters, cabs and
granite. It sort of give me a warm feeling when I pour my
coffee every morning.

Sink,
A giant single bowl super deep sink. Love that it can hide
dirty dishes. I dreamed of a farmhouse, could not work but
this giant one is a perfect sub.

Wood floors.
I love the look of the dark wood and light cabs. Gives
a rich warmth to the room that makes me feel yummy inside.

Cooking Range,
It is not a fancy one but wow is it fun to cook on.

And that is pretty much it, as I had a limited budget to
begin with. I love that it is my space to cook and I enjoy
making meals in my kitchen.
Thanks again for a fun topic.
~boxer

Minette99. Love your descriptions. Excellent.

I love the lazy susan that turned a black hole into a functional space. I love the window that comes down flush with the counter and hardwood floors that flow seamlessly into the adjoining rooms. The granite is pretty nice too.

Large rectangular single bowl sink. Once you go single, you never go back to double LOL!

Granite counters. They are beautiful, and indestructible.

Dimmable undercabinet lighting. I didn't want to spend the money to make my ceiling cans better (they weren't laid out that well by the PO), so I make up for the shadows with my undercabinet Juno xenon strips. And, when I don't need them for task lighting, I dim them for soft mood lighting.

Fun questions - my kitchen is only about 85% done, but I've been trying to figure out what element I love best so far: I'm finding it difficult! But here goes:

1. Has to be the walnut cabinets. The matched or 'book-ended" grain across my long run of drawers makes me weak in the knees.

2. My Luce di Lune or quartzite bianca counter. We have had an installation issue, which I believe will be solved in a couple of weeks. That aside, the stone is stunning, especially the veining visible around the edge of my prep sink.

3. Tie here between my Gaggenau Fridge and my Kohler Karbon prep sink faucet. The fridge is a thing of great beauty and makes it a joy to put groceries away. Plus the hinges on the door blow me away. The Karbon is just the coolest thing ever, love it. Wonderfully functional as my prep sink is located next to my cooktop - the karbon functions as a pot filler too.

4. The natural birch floors. The whole main floor is in clad in 5in birch. The wood came from the bottom of a river about 150 metres from my house - salvaged wood from the old logging days. The trees for my floors were cut about 120 years ago.

5. The space. It is a spacious kitchen, very open, wonderful for the kids as they flow through the house. But best of all, it is fantastic for dancing. I know, not your normal kitchen use, but I find myself dancing constantly while prepping in the kitchen. My two-year old has discovered how to play the air guitar and loves to show off while his five-year old sister dances up a storm.

That rounds out the top 5. We are having a round or wedge shaped island built in the summer (that will sadly diminish our dance floors a bit), we'll see if it creeps into my top five.

I love, love, love my granite (Impala Black). It's simple and understated but still has character.

My backsplash is awesome (Fire & Ice). Interesting, unique.

Under cabinet lighting. This to me has more of a wow factor than my backsplash, though it does highlight the Fire & Ice nicely.

Jodi-

Two dishwashers

Layout for cooking ... everything is within a couple of steps, yet the k itchen itself is pretty darn big

My walk-in pantry! The house is small and old and seriously lacking in storage space so the pantry has been a god send.

Soapstone counters. I still can't stop touching them months later.

The vastly improved layout which just functions so well for us.

Everything else! Anything is such an improvement over my last kitchen that I'm just truly grateful for all of it :)

Our kitchen is just getting finished up, but so far there are many things that I love.

Drawers! They are great! Soooo much better than my old cabinets where everything fell out at me...LOL

My granite!

My super single Blanco sink! Totally love being able too soak cookie sheets and such now. It is awesome!

My custom cherry cabinets. Love everything about them.

1. My layout - it really works well for how we use the kitchen

2. Custom cabs, same price as bog box stores but NO fillers and drawers all around the base except under the sink and corners.

3. Trash accessible from both sides of narrow peninsula

4. Toe kick drawers

5. Induction cooktop and double ovens

6. Everything has a place - finally

What I love best about our kitchen: Yesterday, our 18 yo daughter and her friend decided to start a baking project while another daughter and I were working on making dinner (from scratch veggie and cheese pizzas taking up most of the island), and my 15 yo kibitzed...Also, our 5 yo came in and out to join in. We all fit and weren't in each others' way...and we all had fun, talking and laughing together while doing our respective kitchen tasks. --In kitchen forum words: Zones and work-surfaces for multiple workers with different tasks using paths that don't overlap or crisscross too much. :-)

We started planning our kitchen more than 6 years ago and it's been done for almost 5. I didn't find this forum until after the cabinets were planned but was lucky enough to have it for all of the other decisions (appliances, sinks, faucets, etc.) Fortunately I did what is most advised on this forum: planned the kitchen layout to be functional for the way our family uses it. I didn't read up on theories such as "zones" or "work triangle." I had 15 years in our old kitchen and daydreamed about ways to make it better functioning each time I cooked. We are at home a lot (dh and I both work here) and the kitchen gets used all day long. These are the things that worked well for us:

Hutch Divider: Unlike most, I wanted to have our kitchen more closed off than it had been. I like sitting down to eat without staring at the work zone. We used a peninsula with cabinets sitting on it to create a hutch effect from the dining side while giving usable counter space on the kitchen side.

Work Peninsula: I originally wanted an island in our 13'3" by 16' kitchen but my sisters convinced me a peninsula would work much better. It's right next to our range and I'm thrilled with it. It ended up being an ideal work configuration for me. It's very easy to transfer items from the chopping board to range. I'm able to easily keep an eye on pots on the stove or to reach over and stir. I'm glad I don't have the range at my back and an aisle between the chopped veggies and fry pan. It also creates a private work zone for me---others only come in if it's prep/cooking related. The mw, fridge, dishes, dw, small sink are all outside of the "U" created by the peninsula. The range, main sink and prep counter are in the "U".

TV Above Fridge: We put our tv on an extending arm in the fridge cabinet. The tv is small and half of the cabinet is still available for vertical dividers.

Windows: Maximizing window space while maintaining ample storage was really important to me.

Fridge Location: Our fridge is located outside of the prep area. It straddles the kitchen and dining area. It works out perfectly because I take many more trips from table to fridge than I do from prep area to fridge.

Second Sink: It's actually more of a clean up sink than prep sink--it's interior is 13"x18". The location in the main walkway and close to the fridge makes it ideal for lots of purposes and gives a veggie prep area for anybody helping out that's not underfoot when I'm working in the prep area. Putting in a 2nd sink was #1 on my list of priorities.

Dishdrawer Dishwasher next to Small Sink: I love our stack F&P dw. It made more sense to clear table dishes to the small sink than large sink.

3 Areas for Clean Up instead of a Clean Up Zone: Big sink near range for handwashing, dw next to small sink, food storage dishes in a place convenient for putting away leftovers into the fridge.

Lots of Drawers but Other Cabinets Mixed In: Going "all drawer" is a trend right now on this forum. I can't imagine. I love having lots and lots of drawers but I like having other varieties of base cabinets too. We don't have a walk-in pantry (again, because maximizing window space was a driving force) so our cabinetry has to do it all. I love knowing I have some deep cabinets that can be reconfigured if need be. A friend put in an all-drawer kitchen in 1985---so I had 20 years to mull it over and decided it wasn't for me.

Baking Area Near Sink & DW: I'm very messy when baking and the bowls are really gooey.

Dish Storage: Another trend has been to have dish storage in drawers near the dw. I still like having our dish storage in upper shelves (in the divider hutch) and having it close to the table. DW usually gets unloaded during nonbusy times. Table gets set when things are at full throttle.

48" Range: Gives us 2 ovens and lots of burner space so that dh and I can be using burners at the same time. I love the space much more than I ever anticipated.

Counters from Local Stone (Schist): We have a quarry near us in W. Mass. This particular stone reminds me of a cross between granite and soapstone with many of the best features of both.

Keeping Extras to a Minimum: When planning the kitchen I wanted one of everything. Luckily I had dh and dd to rein me in. I don't miss the things I thought I wanted--pot filler, warming drawer, instant hot, beverage fridge, garbage disposal for the food that gets trapped in the strainer in our sink (we have septic and compost everything) Things eventually break or need service and I'm glad that I have fewer things that I have to contend with down the road and I'm glad storage space wasn't wasted. I thought undercabinet lights were a "must have" but it turns out that we rarely ever turn them on.

I wouldn't want to be without many of the other things mentioned on this forum: full extension drawer glides, trash pull out, single sink, pull down faucets at both sinks, hardwood floors (original to our farmhouse), great lighting, super susans, mw on an upper shelf, generally great flow (with some compromises.)

So my advice is what you'll find throughout this forum: design according to your needs. Think things through thoroughly and don't get caught up in hype.

I love so many things about it. but probably my BEST decision was to go with all drawers. I can store so much stuff and actually find everything easily!! I just love it!! I also really love single bowl sinks, a prep sink, and my granite.

In order of personal satisfaction:

1. COLOUR!!! I lived tooooo long in beige kitchens. I chose blue cabs, then picked flooring, countertop, back splash, and wall colours to coordinate. It's been finished for over a year and a half and I still love it.

2. Raging inferno all-gas range. Ok, it's a 36" DCS, but it is so much more fun to cook on than all of the flawed electric cook top/ranges I have had to use during the past 25 yrs. Yes, they all had varying degrees of flaws, that required constant work-arounds.

3. Drawer banks instead of cupboards wherever they would fit. Also, pullouts and specialized interior fittings to maximize utility and capacity of all cabinets.

Drawers, instant hot, and undercabinet lighting (which I never had before).

Having a functional kitchen. Bank of drawers made possible by downsizing to an 18" Miele DW. Instant hot. Sufficient lighting. Replacing the ugliest vinyl floor on earth with Marmoleum. Soapstone counters so they are impervious to heat. Huge drawer under sink so the space is completely usable. Full depth cabinet above refrigerator with dividers for cookie sheets and the like plus two additional shelves above. Additional shelves purchased for all cabinets so our storage space was greatly increased. Cabinet above doorway dedicated to picnic and party goods so they aren't scattered and forgotten. Lots of turntables purchased at advice of KD so that items at back of shelf are accessible.

The fact that I finished it. I started with (less than) nothing, and now have everything I wanted. It fits my old house. It is good and right.
I did it myself (with help from Mr. Electrician and Mr. Plumber).
Casey

Love reading about all your loves! Keep them coming!!

When we remodeled the kitchen in our last house, I *loved*:

1) Cobra soapstone countertops
2) 40" custom Cobra soapstone sink
3) sand casted antique brass cup pulls from Horton Brass
4) Brasstech wall mounted faucets
5) Porcher 24" fireclay apron front sink
6) Pine cabs in walnut stain
7) Custom jam cupboard above soapstone sink
8) We remodeled the laundry room/breezeway area off the kitchen which served as a pantry/kitchen extension. LOVED it.
9) cheap jelly jar porch lights instead of cans.
10) runnels next to sinks.
11) 18" double drawer banks. Fit 1/2 g mason jars perfectly!

Thankfully, my list of mistakes was way shorter :)

Nothing I couldn't live without, but I really like my TapMaster, my Marmoleum linoleum floor, my 30" deep counter, and my blue ceiling.

The inglenook.

Oooh, I forgot about the Inglenook tile and the Jotul enamel stove...oh how I miss that kitchen!

While I love many, many of the things in my kitchen, what do I love best? I love the way it functions! I love how DH and I can pull off extended family holiday dinners and parties with organized ease! There's room for both of us and a helper to work, room to serve a crowd, everything has a place and washing up is a breeze. Sometimes we are sitting in the new kitchen having a cupa and just marvel at how well it has worked.

(And every thing is such an improvement over what we had, picking just one item is impossible!)

Lovely thread! So nice to read what others love about their spaces. Here's my list:

1. My kitchen is almost finished!
2. The wood - all maple cabs, maple countertops with black walnut edging, original oak floors.
3. The extra 3' gained by taking out a small wall.
4. New "toys" to play with, e.g. induction range, dw, microwave, hood :)
5. It's all new and clean and fun.

cooksnsews - can you link to pics of your k*tchen?

thx!

Like kimkitchy, I love the way it works; the way the end result fulfilled all our initial requirements: functional, light, bright, and says "cooking done here".

But the one single thing that we both love?

Pull-out trash.

Pull out trash;

Single bowl sink;

Under-cabinet lighting;

Hassle and worry-free [polished] black granite (I wanted soapstone or marble, settled for granite);

A perfectly-sized island that fits my three kids while giving me space to serve and work - and it's really not big - just perfect for us.

I love that every single time I walk into my kitchen, I look around and I think to myself, WE did this!

I love, love, love the vertical storage above the oven. I also love the instant hot/filtered water at the sink. It was a last minute decision to include it and now we wonder how we lived without it.

The ease of care and nice look of my Caribbean Corian counter tops.
{{gwi:1703414}}

My granite. I never thought I could get away with a strong granite on the island and a somewhat patterned granite on the perimeter, but I found a perfect combination. Antique Brown on the perimeter and Volcano/Lava/Supreme on the contrasting island. Works beautifully together.

All drawers! No cabinet doors except for under the sink. No regets at all.

My grids in my sink. Had no clue how much I'd appreciate these.

My gas cooktop. Finally, finally, finally, got rid of the
electric cooktop. Cooking with gas is the best!

My warming drawer. Had one several houses back and always missed having one since.

My pull out trash bin. Love it, love it, love it.

Thank you so much for all of your favorites. If I could it all I'd me a happy lady. Some of you are very fortunate.
Danielle

This is such fun. I love my Bianco Antico granite, even though at first I hadn't wanted a "busy" granite color at all...I'd wanted marble. The cost was prohibitive for the marble I wanted, and we ended up with BA. I love the colors in it, how it goes with the S/S appliances and pulls and knobs and faucets.
I really love the big single sink. I followed the advice of so many here and we did lots of drawers, undercabinet lighting and a cork floor. All are terrific.

When our son came home for ten days from Haiti, he came in the back door and dropped his backpack and slapped his forehead. He's a Mennonite, not materialistic at all, and I wasn't sure (especially after the earthquake and all he's seen) how he'd take the new kitchen. He was just struck dumb. He loved it. Right away he took a seat at the island counter and said, "Let me just take it all in. Whoa. Wow."

That was worth it all!!!

I have a list of specific things I love about my kitchen but the number one thing about it is that it's mine. By that I mean, I designed it, I picked out everything and I got exactly what I wanted all the way around. It's "me".

But you're looking for specifics so I'll give you a partial list:

I love that my granite is "bullet proof". It wipes clean with wet towel or 99c/bottle all purpose cleaner, including stuck on cranberry juice from the night before. OH YEAH.

I love my big bay window over the sink - it makes my kitchen light and bright and and joyful.

I love my appliance garage. Everything I need is at my fingertips but the clutter is gone.

I love my convection oven.

I love my step-in pantry. All my groceries at a glance including floor space for large things and a reachable upper shelf with room for tall cereal boxes.

I love my foot-pedal operated in-cabinet trash bin. I hated having trash under the sink or ugly bin sitting on the floor.

I love my mother's old metal canister set with the words in French and Arabic that she brought with her from Egypt via Italy which sits atop one of my cabs. Ditto on her mother's mother's (my great grandmother's) mortar and pestle which sits on my counter.

I love my drawers and how they are organized and hold everything I need and I can access everything without ever dropping to my knees.

And best of all, I love the fact that after 5.5 years, my kitchen is still "new" to me and I still walk in and marvel at the fact that it is mine.

And probably 80% of what makes my kitchen wonderful (including pantry, bay window, foot pedal and more stuff I didn't mention above) is due to what I learned here in 2004.

Among many other things, I love my spice drawer:

My drawer with flour and sugar bins:

My in-cabinet potrack:

My knife drawer:

My warming drawer:

(Hint: Much more likely to be used if not in a very bottom drawer.)

My induction cooktop and the niche above it:

Keep it coming. I love reading your favorites.

First, I love that we are getting closer and closer to getting this puppy done!

I love all the full-extension soft-close drawers. And guests do, too. I have to giggle when I see them opening and closing the drawers over and over. I did that, too! Heh heh.

I love that I actually have counter space! I love my Blue Pearl granite that sparkles at night, but is bullet proof.

I love my large apron-front farm sink because I can fit my largest pans and the griddle in there, plus all the breakfast dishes. Woo Hoo!

I love cooking with GAS! And I am cooking on a 36" cooktop, so have lots of room.

I love my warming drawer--oh my gosh--however did I live without that bad-boy? I use it all the time--especially on weekends.

I am going to love even more stuff as we finish, but the thing I love MOST is that my big sweet babboo did this FOR ME! If it were up to him, he would have taken down the wall, patched the floor, and maybe bought a new can opener.

This was done for me. With love. I cannot put a price tag on that. Now I better go give him a big hug before this feeling passes. LOL. ;^)

Great thread!

sally123 - where did you get your flour and sugar bins? They are so neat!!!

I am not done yet, but I would have to say my soapstone (Python), Perrin and Rowe chrome faucet, wide beadboard backsplash, island and closet pendant lights, and my "fancy pantry" closets that will have chickenwire doors and zinc topped consoles. Oh, and a closet sized perfectly to fit my vacuum!

Where to begin?! Do I ever love my new kitchen.

Probably my favorite thing....my custom soapstone single bowl sink with 2 faucets. I adore the restaurant style sprayer more than I ever thought I would.

I love my garbage/compost pullout, it's so handy and the compost bin is just the right size.

My soapstone counters are to die for, I am so glad I went through the extra effort to find the stone I wanted.

Yay for new kitchen!

Ok now we need pics of all those lives ones! 1, 2, 3 get to your cameras. We are dying to see it all.
Shelayne, hope you really gave hubby a big hug...

Number 1...I love how my kitchen functions and how we can all be in the kitchen at once doing various things at the same time...it's become a favorite family gathering place! My DH & kids even seem to prefer watching the small TV in the kitchen to the larger one in the FR (of course, the fact that the kitchen is HD and the FR is not might also be a factor, but we're talking about a big difference in screen sizes!)

When I started planning, it was for a better kitchen...but my real goal, subconsciously, was a kitchen that we could all enjoy working and gathering in. I didn't think about this consciously until I came here...thank you Sweeby!

Other things... My prep sink b/c it makes my layout "perfect" in terms of workflow and zones.
Trash pullout...I'm another one that absolutely hates a trash can under the sink or a bin/trashcan standing out in the open.
My warming drawer b/c it's made dinner prep more relaxed, I no longer struggle to get everything done at the same time...if something's done early, no problem! Put it in the warming drawer...what a relief...no more cold veggies or rewarmed-up, now overcooked veggies while something else got cold while warming up the veggies...you get my drift, I'm sure!
Drawers and finally, space for just about everything! Drawers fit so much and can be used in so many different ways w/no worries about things falling off and no getting on my hands & knees to access. Along with the drawers is the full-extension glides...no more scraping my knuckles trying to get to items in the back of the drawer. Soft-close is also nice (both drawers and doors), but as a "nice to have", not a "must"...full-extension is a "must", IMHO!
My beloved cherry cabinets. I've always dreamed of cherry but never thought I'd actually have it!
My speed-cook oven...I can now make baked potatoes & yams that taste baked, not microwaved, in about 20 minutes.

I could go on, but I think I hit the highlights...

For me it's only been two years, but I still look at my kitchen and sigh happily...and I still even occasionally do the "happy dance"!

I just love having my cabinets go up to the ceiling. it makes the space look huge eventhow we only have 8 feet ceilings. it really does look spacious.
I love having a small drawer just over our pull-out garbage. When we are looking for something it is usually in there.
My stained glass window is a wow factor. We desinged it ourselves. It adds so much class to the space.
I love our sound system coming out of our ceiling calles SONOS. Wireless and more than 9 million songs. It's for real!!!
With huge drawers from the island we can store our Tupperware!, small appliances...it's great.
Love the recessed lighting, what a difference does it make. Again it makes my space look so spacious. And the under cabinet lighting adds so much drama. I love it
Still waiting for my silgranit sink and than my GRANITE. YES!!!!!!
got to go.....

Great thread, I loved reading everyone's feedback! I'm taking notes for our new build and one thing I'm looking forward to (thanks to this forum) in our new kitchen is...plugmold! :)

[bump]

Just finished our kitchen remodel last month. For me, it's been the little things that I think I appreciate more. Sure we got new countertops and appliances, but for my day to day improvements, here's what makes life easier for me in the kitchen.

1) Having a sink grid. I used to think these would get in my way while I was cleaning. Hardly. I love being able to dry pans and cutting boards right there in the sink whereas before I'd just turn them over on the countertop.

2) Having a pull down faucet. Last faucet I had had a seperate sprayer and I was fine with that, but by having it integrated I can easily pull out the faucet and rinse more space than I ever did. I use it 70% of the time when I turn on that faucet.

3) Slide out cabinets. Didn't want to replace all my cabinets w/drawers, but needed more space so installed slide outs in all my base cabinets. There are two levels and full extension glides. Had one slide out custom made to hold a few cutting boards on the right hand side.

4) Discovery of more space. You never know what's behind all those walls until you check. Don't assume that just because a builder puts up a wall or finishes out a corner a certain way that they did it for a good reason. We checked behind this wall and recovered 15" x 12" of space from floor to ceiling. That's a lot for my little kitchen. We slapped a cabinet face in front and built a narrow 5'tall pantry. That made a huge impact on how I stored things.

5) Got rid of the useless 24" x 12" cabinet above the refrigerator and replaced it with a deeper/taller cabinet. Now I can store all my cookie sheets, baking pans, cooling racks, pizza stones in racks. Don't need a ladder either.

6) Had some nice pendant lights installed that are connected to a dimmer. They are just pretty.

My one big change was getting an induction range and I've really been happy with that so far. Much, much easier for clean up than the old gas one I had.

I love cooking with GAS! Even though it wasn't in the original plan to replace appliances, I had enough money left over for the stove and installation. AND an LP tank half full of gas! The installer guy assured me that was plenty until summer fill when it would be cheaper.

I love the new floor plan minus the peninsula. I have twice the space I had before and that means my old oak table is finally in the kitchen!

I love my single bowl sink

I love having enough counter to actually DO something

I love my microwave/toaster oven/cookbook/baking pans cubby.

I love having enough cabinet space.

I love everything about it. Worth every penny!!
No matter where I am or what I'm doing I smile ear to ear when I think about my new kitchen.

until tonight I would have said "layout, granite, storage, undercabinet lighting...blah, blah..."

but tonight my nine year old helped me bake some cookies and told me how much he likes the drawers and pullout pantry because it makes getting the baking supplies so easy. Then I showed him the magic of convection baking. You should have seen his eyes when I told him we were putting three cookie sheets in at once!

Tonight was worth all the planning, agonizing, cost, frustration etc. to have my kid as excited about the kitchen as I was.

sally123, please tell us more about your flour/sugar bins!!!

My X cross cabinets and my soapstone!! Also my marble herringbone box out behind my stove!!

Here is a link that might be useful: My Kitchen