nice. that backsplash is going to be sweet.

what color caesarstone is that?

Thanks. It's Desert Limestone.

Beautiful design !

Wow what cooooool digs! Your kitchen and whole house are luscious. It could really move me wholeheartedly to the contemporary side of life. I LOVE it all.

Oh gorgeous! HB kitchens are always knee-weakening and yours is utterly gorgeous. I must say though that I am a sucker for windows and I'm loving yours. Which doors/windows are those? Loewen?

I love the hard angularity and the wonderful minimalism of your design - my favorite finish of all: minimalist with straight lines. And that wood is amazing - it is all the richness that kitchen needs. Is that the walnut? Amazing kitchen - I'm going to go back to have another look.

So handsome!

OMG, I absolutely LOVE your backsplash. It's completely stunning. I like how you mixed warm woods and cool modern finishes, it's just lovely. Well done!

I love all the windows! And the backsplash, would that be cherry blossoms? Whatever it is, it's lovely. Would you mind sharing where you found it?

yeah, i have to agree. just got done looking at your blog, and although i'm usually not a fan of modern/contemporary, you've really done a nice job bringing lots of warmth into your design. it manages to be very modern without feeling cold and sterile. very nice.

Really beautiful! You are going to enjoy being in there so much! Congrats!

Completely stunning! I hope you post again when the backsplash is done. That will be the perfect finishing touch.

This is beautiful - very restful, clean and balanced. Love it. The backsplash is amazing!
Please tell me about your Blue Star! I ordered one as well in RAL 9004 and I'm curious about your color. Is it a black shade?
Thanks for sharing.

Now that is a style my brother would love - very contemporary and very nice. While not my cup of tea, you have done a nice job

Wow. Thanks for all of your kind words. This house is meant to be modern, but warm and inviting. It's really nice to have our vision validated. To answer some questions...

The HB cabinets are walnut. The construction is beautiful, and they were a pleasure to work with.

The backsplash is from Ann Sacks, and yes they are cherry blossoms. Ann Sacks has some really nice designs, and the buyer can choose the colors (of course, this means a pretty long lead time). Here's the website, ours is from the Sakura collection.

http://www.annsacks.com/onlinecatalog/collection.jsp?cat=268004&coll=268204

Good eye, mindstorm! The windows are from Loewen. They are perfect. They have a pretty minimal amount of frame, which was our goal. The doug fir is gorgeous, and the clear anodized aluminum we chose for the outside looks perfect against the black siding. We didn't use any trim on the outside or the inside. On the outside, we ran the siding right up to the frame, and on the inside, we wrapped the sheetrock around the corner in front of the frame, then left a 3/8" reveal. Looks great. There's a pic of the detail near the bottom of the first page of the blog linked below. Needless to say, we had a great (and accommodating) contractor.

Thanks again to all.

Oh, Billy. Gorgeous. Those are the most beautiful cabinets I've ever seen.

And, you know I have to ask: where did you get your stools?

Thanks Amanda. In our search for rustic yet modern furniture, we came across the goldmine that is the Sundance Catalog. Inexpensive and attractive furniture that you don't see everyday.

Beautiful!

BTW, from the pictures you posted of your Bluestar, it looks like you may need to adjust its air shutters. Do you have the directions to do that? Or if you installed after 4/14, you can call do the white glove service and they'll do it for you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bluestar White Glove Service

faeriedust - Our Bluestar is RAL 9004 too. It's perfect. It's very close to black, but it feels much warmer. It's basically black, muddled with dark gray and dark brown.

alku05 - Are you referring to the pics here on GardenWeb, or those on our blog? If it's the pic on the blog with the giant flame, that was done intentionally for drama by quickly adjusting the burner from very low to very high. Got to entertain the readers, you know?

I laughed when I saw "This house is meant to be modern, but warm and inviting." because I was mentally composing a response and had come up with "Modern, warm, inviting and beautiful." So I'd say you nailed it.

I love the look of the walnut on the kitchen cabinets, and I really love the more rustic-looking walnut vanity. Its pure art. Congratulations.

Thanks Bob. The millworker we used for the master bath vanity also did our fireplace cabinetry, and we're so pleased that we've asked him to build our master bed, a credenza for behind the sofa, a media cabinet, a couple of floor to ceiling doors and a few mirrors. He's a real craftsman.

Wow. I love this kitchen. Can't wait to see the backsplash in place. Couple of questions for you: how wide are the aisles on either end of your island? What made you decide to put your range in the island and your sink against that partition wall? And where is your pantry storage?

Your caesarstone is very nice, and those cabinets are beautiful, but the star is definitely your outdoor space and all those windows! Gorgeous.

There are 44" on either side of the island (same width as the hallways beyond) and 48" between the island and the base cabinets against the wall. Some other dimensions - island and wall are both 13 feet long, island is 44" deep, distance between wall counter and wall cabinets is either 20" or 22", I can't remember.

We put the range in the island because I prefer to face my guests while cooking, rather than while cleaning. I tend to clean as I cook, so cleaning up after the meal is usually as easy as throwing the plates into the dishwasher. I also prefer the look - the range is centered in the island, but would have been off center against the wall. I'm aware that island hoods aren't quite as functional as wall hoods, but that's not such a big deal to me. The island was also long enough to accommodate 2 prep areas and the range.

The pantry storage is actually behind the wall cabinets. If you go down the hallway on the left, the pantry is right there on the right. It's basically a big walk-in closet.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Looks Great! I absolutely love the backsplash tile. What Faucet did you install?

I love it all! The whole house is to die for. I'm drooling.

Just beautiful. Warm, naturally-grounded modernism. Absolutely a house I could move into and be happy in forever. I love how the backsplash eases the minimalism of the rest of the kitchen, and the gorgeous matched veneer on the henrybuilts. Where are you located? Do you have lots of acreage so you can have all that gorgeous exposure? Who designed the house? That house is an instant classic. Did you have to search for a contractor who would work with such --well, zero tolerances? Or did the architect have a relationship with a builder already? I can just hear the whines from contractors I've met if presented with such a design...

And may I ask, do you know what the R-value of the windows is? We did a Milgard wood-clad (fiberglass) for one window with bronze on the outside and fir on the inside when we redid the kitchen, but I'm not sure I want to go with them for redoing the entire house, as we work our way through bit by bit.

It's beautiful. I hate you and your cabinetmaker too! Those creeps actually matched the veneer back to back across adjacent cabinets in the island. :)

NICE!!!

organic sprite - The faucet is from Danze, the collection is called Parma, the finish is brushed nickel.

flyleft - Our house is in Dutchess County, NY. We're lucky enough to be on 17 acres, so all exposures will remain private.

My wife is an architect (and I wish I were) - we designed the house together. Thanks so much for the compliment.

We found our contractor by searching the web for modern houses in the Hudson Valley. We found one in Millbrook that won several awards, then we contacted the architect and asked who the builder was. We've been very fortunate to work with this contractor, and we'd recommend him in a heartbeat. As you mentioned, most other builders we met weren't too happy about things like reveals - they preferred to just use trim everywhere. Ours, on the other hand, was excited about all the modern details. He has the same aesthetic vision that we do, and you can't put a price on that.

Loewen has three levels of windows, with R-values between 4.0 and 7.9. Obviously, there's a significant jump in price between each level. More information here - http://www.loewen.com/home.nsf/why/glazing/heatsmart

Again, thanks to everyone!

Thanks for the information, billy. We've had to make do with using minimal trim and painting it the same color as the walls. (What color is that on the wall, btw? I love that you didn't choose the usual gallery look but went with a subtle connection to the outdoors)

I have now perused your blog and experienced almost continuous lightheadedness at the fabulousness of the design and "right"ness of the subtle colors/textures/lines of the finishes. Your wife designed all that? You married well :) (I'm sure she did too :))

I'm pretty sure the main floor walls are Benjamin Moore Aura in the color Ashwood. It's sort of beige/gray with the slightest hint of green.

You bet I married well (she's probably reading this).

I went through every page on the blog site and have to say this house appears to be very well designed and constructed, with quality throughout... I really enjoyed reading about the whole process! Thanks for taking the time to post it all.

Reading through the blog I was really curious why the wood floors were installed before the insulation and sheetrock. Our downstairs is down to the studs now and I wasn't planning to install the wide plank Cherry floors from Carlisle until the walls were buttoned up because I thought the flooring would get damaged.

Also, if you have any info on the mechanical systems, HVAC, etc. that would be interesting to see too.

When's the pool party :-)

hi tom. this is billy's wife posting. i too was curious about the early installation of the floors, and i think it really just came down to scheduling. usually the floors (especially a wide plank) need time to acclimate to a controlled environment inside the house. and ours did - we had our heat going before the insulation was in. the flooring guy took the moisture readings, and everyone said they were okay to install, so they went ahead. the white oak's a pretty hard wood, so i wasn't too worried. maybe a little bit about the damage from general work going on, but we got a character-grade oak, so wear and tear would likely blend in. i was concerned about spackle and spackle dust getting into our knots, but our gc kept assuring me that when they sanded the planks just prior to finishing, all the white would disappear. and it did. so far so good.

May I ask what brand hood you used on the island?

Thank you!

I don't know what henrybuilt is, but it's gorgeous!!! Great job, you must be so excited.

That is a beautiful space and a gorgeous kitchen. The backsplash tile is really cool! Enjoy your new space.

The last post in this thread before yesterday's is from 2008. I don't think you're going to get too an answer!