Thank you for sharing inspiration photos! It is just what I need as we're still in the planning (fried brain) stage. But I can't see the first pic at the link, I only get to the generic photobucket site. I hope you'll try again!!!!

Hi Jan

Maybe someone can tell me what I need to do so you can see it. I can see it without any problem.

CC

I can see it now! (a couple of hours later). Yes, it's a very lovely and inviting room. I think it's mainly due to the cabinet detailing and the light fixtures. Lighting is almost everything in room design and they've done a marvelous job in this case. The light placement and the fixtures themselves are both outstanding.

the one posted here is lovely. where are the rest?

Thank you, ccinga. Both for the compliment and not posting my photos. Have you seen the ones on Attic Mag in Kitchens We Love? (Gray kitchens>French Gray Island) More/better/newer than the ones on the FKB.

The photo you posted is very warm and inviting. That's what I like about it. Personally, I would not want so many light cabinets, but it is a charming and "comfortable" kitchen.

I look forward to seeing your renovation as it progresses. Good luck!

kateskouros - It's a long time until August. So I'm going to fill the void by posting these slowly ... just one or two every day or so.

Alison - I haven't seen those. I will check them out. As I said, the first kitchen contradicts my taste ... but there is something about that kitchen ...

Here is Inspiration 2

Again, I'm drawn to the contrast between the wood stains. I love the stain color of the cooking wall, prep island, and the floor. It looks like the bar area and other cabinets have a green/gray stain, rather than paint. I don't have anything green in my house, but this pic makes me have second thoughts. I will have tall, glass front cabinets, like these, on the non-working side of my island. The pendants aren't my style and the corbels are way "over the top" for me.

CC

Wow-#2 is amazing and very different-I LOVE #1....both are beautiful. Will you be doing two different colors then?

Thank you for posting #2 -- I love it. It was helpful to see how well the wood cabs and wood floors look together, as it was something I've been worrying about.

My L-shaped perimeter cabs will be walnut w/white marble tops. The 10' island has a walnut top but haven't decided on a paint color for the cab inself, or the type & color of the wood floor. Grrrrrr, I'm having a difficult time making the final decisions!

re So I'm going to fill the void by posting these slowly ... just one or two every day or so.

I'm not sure what the advantage is of posting them "slowly" if you already have them ready to share, am I missing something?

Jan - I appreciate that you want to see them all immediately. But it is not possible for me to post them all. I have many other obligations and demands on my time and can not spare much to spend here. Today is one of those rare days that I have to myself. I hope the photos I am able to share are beneficial to those on the forum. I did not expect to be chastised for not providing them all at once.

oh dear, so sorry, ccinga.

Also, just so you know it was a misunderstanding, I should explain that I thought you had all the inspiration photos already collected on a photobucket type site that you could just point us to, so it seemed mysterious that you intended to "post" just one at a time. I hope that clears it up! Good luck with your project!

To me, #2 looks like a paint that has been glazed. See the glaze at the bottom of the end panels on the island? Dead giveaway.

I scanned a bunch of pictures one day and was shocked at how long it took from scanning to uploading to posting.

Allison, how funny - I have that Attic Mag French Grey kitchen bookmarked too! I love the combination of colours and styles. The link is below for those who want to take a peek.

Eliz

Here is a link that might be useful: French Grey Kitchen

Well, as usual, today wasn't all my own after all. I had to go over to the clubhouse and deal with an emergency issue for tonight's rental. I think I need to renegotiate my pay.

Jan - No harm done. You right, I have not uploaded all of them to photoshop. But if you tell me what style and finish you are looking to do, maybe I have something along those lines that I can put up for you quickly.

Alison - It turns out, I had seen those particular photos of your kitchen. Those are the ones I saved. Did you say that your island counter was from trees reclaimed from a river bottom? Is your sink sitting on a full plank or is that trim I see? I love the counter. May I ask where you found the vendor?

I have a photo of another kitchen that is a different style but similar finishes. It even has a copper hood. Yours has a classic elegance that this one doesn't. But there are some interesting elements in this one. I like the cabinet treatment above the ovens on either side of the stove. I like the step back of the wall on the far side. I really like the stack of drawers. The height is unexpected in a kitchen.

CC

these are all good photos, I appreciate you posting...

Thanks for sharing #3. I will have 10 foot ceilings and I am trying to figure out how to deal with them. This gives me some insight.

I have uploaded 114 photos of kitchens from houses worth 1 3/4 million and up into photobucket. These are new construction kitchens. ENJOY!!!

http://s226.photobucket.com/albums/dd310/CCinGA/Share%20New/

CC

Thank you, Eliz. We love our kitchen and although I would change a couple of things, it's as perfect as I imagined.

CC, I like the treatments above the ovens too. The niches, as well as the wall stepping back on the far side, break up the room and make it less kitchen-like. That was the MAIN thing I wanted with ours. I would have loved to put our fridge out of the main room, but DH said the pantry would get too hot (also would take up too much room). It could have gone where the Black Hutch is (between the kitchen and the laundry room) but that's the first thing you see when you come in through the garage. Just didn't want to come into the house to see the monster.

The island is antique pine that was once flooring for a warehouse. The carpenter who worked on putting the kitchen together ordered it from a local lumber yard and put the boards together in their shop. The island is all one piece, as is the island top.

The board under the sink goes back about 6 inches across the front, but all the way to the back on both sides to support sink. You wouldn't want to (but could) put in a solid piece, but there would have to be a cut out for the plumbing.

I was enjoying them one by one! lol

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchens

Hi, CC, and thanks. This is a great idea. I hope you continue to download them one by one here, maybe on separate threads to focus discussion. Chatting about what appeals and doesn't, what works and why, would be interesting and could be particularly valuable to people trying to figure out their own preferences and settle among the extravagant range of choices available.

What struck me about your first picture is the power of a very minor and inexpensive detail--the arc above the stove, which as the eye runs along a standard row of upper cabinets focuses attention right where you want it. So many people wonder whether or how to break that top cabinet line, and this wonderful idea would succeed in many much simpler kitchens.

That last kitchen gave up a few upper cabinets on the right in favor of a place to display art--love that!

Your inspiration album is terrific and is so helpful for me. Thanks so much for sharing.

Ccinga, great group of photos. Thank you. I saved several of them to look at later.

thanks for sharing!!! Always fun to look at kitchen pics. Just curious, what part of the country are these homes located in? Thanks again.

Here is a group of very large in area kitchens.

I haven't figured out where the island lamps are plugged in. I think that if you kitchen is so large that you have to have to lamps on the island to work, then maybe you have gone a little too far.

This kitchen reminds me of the kitchen of a cousin of mine. Hers is not this scale but she lives in Lousiana and has tall ceilings. She has glass fronted displays like this on each side of her kitchen sink and window.

This one seems claustophic. I think they tried to squeeze too much into the area.

The size of these are so overwhelming that I have difficult concentrating on the details.

CC

Rosie - Your absolutely right about the way the stove over-mantle breaks the straight line cabinets. I have looked at the pic so many times, but never keyed into that being the effect.

"Chatting about what appeals and doesn't, what works and why, would be interesting and could be particularly valuable to people trying to figure out their own preferences and settle among the extravagant range of choices available."

I agree about the opportunity to discuss the different aspects of a kitchen, and in this case, without offending the owner. It helps to have someone point out the obvious, as you did, to bring it to everyone's attention.

Malhgold - These are from the Atlanta area.

I'm glad everyone is enjoying them. Let us know which ones are your favorites.

CC

Seems claustrophobic to me too.

I bet they predrilled holes under each lamp for the cord to go down and outlets are located underneath but can be accessed.

I was in a builder's home in our neighborhood a few days ago. Very nice outside, nice inside, but the rooms were over-sized, uncomfortable and unfriendly. The kitchen, kitchen eating area and great room was one long stretch (did have a lower ceiling in kitchen) but the entire house echoed. Something about over-sized rooms just don't do it for me. I've been to Europe and viewed many castles and cathedrals but did not feel "lost" inside of them. Not sure what is the difference.

Allison - Thanks for understanding what I was trying to say ... versus what I spelled. I'm sorry also for misspelling your name.

I really had not spent a lot of time looking at the new construction pics that are in the album I put out this morning. I think there are several included in it that give a similar cavernous effect as you described.

This one is from a Jack Nicklaus development, I believe. They do great detail in their houses. But sometimes the area is just too massive. Notice that with all the space, there isn't a prep sink.

CC

FWIW the last kitchen pic labeld claustrophobic was the overall winner of SuybZero's kitchen contest last year. The pic is a bit distorted as that room is absolutely enormous. May not mean much to the average remodeler, but it is a rather coveted prize in the Kit. design industry.

In the last post , the Nicklaus house , I think there is a second sink. Left of the range under the window looks like a sink base cabinet with an insta hot/filter dispenser.

Allison - duh - did not realise it was YOUR kitchen! Hope you don't mind that I added the link. It is really beautiful, and your island is something we will definitely use as inspiration. Just curious - if you don't mind sharing - what would you do differently? We're in the final design stages and I find there are new questions that come up every day.

Eliz

CC, I could care less if you spelled my name wrong. I watched a woman write is down as "Alyson" the other day. GW is not a legal document, so there should be no problems with typos. lol

I like the island in the JN kitchen, but would do a solid island if it were mine.

Eliz, no problem. I don't mind someone doing a link, I just don't want the photos posted in a thread. GW rules, and all. Don't want them showing up just anywhere.

My island was taken from a Chalon ad. I did one long drawer on each end, instead of two. No idea what the backside of theirs looks like.

Here is another, similar, island.

What I would do different:

I would make the pine hutch and black hutch freestanding pieces - although technically, they are. The ends/sides are finished and could be freestanding but the are attached to the walls and go wall-to-wall. I could take them with me that way too.

In the future, I will redo the tile backsplash. I left the room without even thinking and came back to it with large grout lines and squared. I would do it staggered and no grout line. I would also not do the tile on either side of the range, just bring the paint on down. The corbels are not large enough and will be replaced when I redo the tile. We were two days from having to move out of our old home and I was too tired to pitch a fit or have them redone.

They two carpenters who installed the cabinetry, rebuilding several pieces the owner (now out of business) mismeasured, built the hood from scratch - even the pine trim and did the island countertop are now working for themselves. Very talented young men. (That makes me sound old!) They have done three custom pieces for me and are about to make a small tabletop for an antique pub table in the great room.

If anyone lives near Alabama and would like have them do something, I'll like their websites. They have two - one is the High End Woodworks and the other is their store.

Here is a link that might be useful: High End Woodworks

Here is there store. I do not benefit from them staying in business! lol

Here is a link that might be useful: Weaver-Lewis & Co

ccinga - I sent you an e-mail, but wasn't sure if you got it because of the approval thing.

Laurie

ccinga,
Just wanted you know how much I'm enjoying looking at your pics -- especially since a lot of them have wood floors and dark cabinets.

Napagirl, it is a great selection of photos. Even if you don't find "the" kitchen, there are ideas or lessons to be learned (aka don't repeat mistakes) from each picture.

Wow, what a very large collection of very large kitchens! Thank you for taking the time to put all 114 on the photo site in one weekend!

They are truly impressive rooms. They look like CASTLE kitchens. I think my whole house could fit inside of most of them. The cabinetry is gorgeous.

A web site featuring more of these larger, manor like kitchens with multi-tone cabinetry is designgalleria.net. I stumbled across it this morning and thought of your photo collection ccinga.

Here is a link that might be useful: Design Galleria Kitchen Portfolio

I have added another album of 192 pics to share. Please save any that you like. If you would like to bring individual pics into the forum for discussion, please do so ... if it isn't against the GW rules. There may be some duplicates in this album.

http://s226.photobucket.com/albums/dd310/CCinGA/Share%20More/?albumview=slideshow

CC

Thanks for posting! Here's a link to make it easier ...

Here is a link that might be useful: Ccinga's second album of 192 pics

jan s - Thanks for the link. I believe the 4th photo is the kitchen I posted earlier that antss said won a contest. It looks much better in the larger photo.

I'm glad you all are enjoying the album. I haven't had the time to look at these closely. But there were a couple that caught my eye.

msrose - I replied to your email. I hope you received it.

Do any of you have the rough edge treatment that this counter has? Is it difficult to keep clean?

CC

Thanks so much, ccinga, for posting such a grand collection of photos (192 more!). It's really handy to be able to visually scan/revisit them on one page together.

Sometimes I wish the FKB site had a page like that where all the finished kitchen photos were displayed together and you could just scroll through the thumbnails, page by page.

jan_s,
Thanks for the link to "Design Galeria Kitchen Portfolio" (on Apr 29, above) ... very nice pics!