beautiful! everything looks perfect. looking forward to more details and hoping to find out details about your floors!

Oh, my, this is lovely! You've added so many wonderful architectural touches. I especially love the arched openings. Your backsplash looks great! I remember when you were asking for help choosing it. I think you chose very well. Congrats, you've created a lovely kitchen and home.

I love it! Your kitchen is definately one of my new favorite kitchens on Gardenweb.
I love the tile backsplash and would like to know what grout color you used.

Beautiful! I love the floors and good choice with the backsplash. Also love your granite. IIRC, is that Sage Brush? Enjoy!!!

Oh wow - I really love the shape of those arches of yours, and all over; with the iron work they are just elegant. I'm sure there's much else to like too but that's what I can't draw my eyes from! Can't even get to the kitchen part - and the wallpaper glimpse through the doorways is wonderful too...

Congratulations on your lovely kitchen! I love all of your choices...the gorgeous tile, the mix of cabinetry, the gorgeous lights, the beautiful drool worthy walnut floor. What a warm, inviting, and functional space. Enjoy!!!

Drool drool drool! Your kitchen is absolutely gorgeous. I love the colors you have chosen - classic, warm and I'm sure it feels good working in that space. I especially love the brown and white wall on the right - can't tell if it is a tile backsplash or wallpaper from another room.

Wow! What a ton of work! But it all looks great! Congratulations!!

ou la la! Beautiful, it looks wonderful!

C'est magnifique!

I love those floors! They are so beautiful and rich! Your cabinets and lights over the island are gorgeous! And that powder room is perfect!

Congratulations and enjoy!

Beautiful! Looks elegant yet comfortable.

Thank you everyone for your compliments :-) I knew I was missing details so thanks for reminding me.

The floors are from a mill in Tennessee which we got a amazing deal on. The mill is called Blackford and Son and my contact is Luke Blackford. You can message me for his email. They come unfinished and we had them site finished in waterlox. The quality is high, so the floors only needed a light screening. It was about 40% of what I was going to pay for Carlisle walnut floors. I think Carlisle is a great company but the pricing wasnt close.

The Shiloh dark wood hutch and island (cant believe I forgot that) is knotty alder with a walnut stain and a black glaze.

The waterglass french door is from Simpson company.

The barstool are from Ballards. They are only 9 inches or something, so they fit under my 12 inch overhang, which I know is a kitchen no no but that is all the room I had and the kids love hanging out there while we cook.

The dining room walls are actually a dimensional stencil I did with joint compound and a damask stencil from Cutting Edge. The lower part is Ben Moore Statutory Bronze metallic paint which I dont find very metallic personally but I still like it. I did the upper first as a sort of tuscan skim coat colorwashed in various taupes to cover the dark blue paint that was there, then did a raised stencil using the bronze metallic paint.

The Ben Moore paint colors:
Kitchen: Algonkian Trail, eggshell
Hall/LR: Sherwood Tan, matte
Bath, Above rail is Linen White eggshell; below rail is Hillcrest Tan, Eggshell
Family Room: Base Linen White Eggshell, Colorwash with Alexandria Beige.

The kitchen chairs are painted in valspar spray paint churchill vanilla

The granite is Western Sage Brush from Africa and milled in Italy, bought from Elegant Marble in Sterling, VA and fabricated by Dominion Granite. The people at Elegant Marble said that this was an unusual run of the Western Sage Brush. It is all taupe, grays, some copper/brown streaks, a little black here and here. Its very subdued and I had never seen it before. We were going to go with Typhoon Bordeaux originally but by the time we were ready to order, we didn't like the slabs for that. So we did a rushed 3 state manhunt for something else and fortunately found this, which we really like.

The grout color is alabaster. We almost went with a mix of that and antique white but the tile guy talked us into just the lighter grout, and it was a good result. I like the backsplash but I do actually miss the darker paint that was there. However, in the summer the kitchen doesnt get a ton of light because all the trees that surround the house so the light, reflective subways are good for keeping it bright. But in the winter with all the natural light, I sort of preferred the contrast. So I guess, I need a reversible back splash to be totally happy year round. We sealed with miracle 511. We also pre-sealed since it is a crackle tile, we didnt want the crackle filled with grout.

For the undercabinet lights, we used linear lighting. (I put in link). It's really great, you see no defined light source just overall glow and its on a dimmer so you can infinite control. We have puck lights in the basement kitchen and I thought I liked those, but these are WAY better and they dont get the counters hot.

We also got talked out of plugmold by the electrician for most of the backsplash, I dont remember how he did that since I was set on it, but something about the big boxes he would have to use for everything close to the sink and range. And there were a few places I knew I would always have things plugged in and didnt want the cords dangling up, so in the end, there wasnt much advantage though I did find it challenging trying to paint matching lightplates. But we did use plugmold on the hutch where it works fine and I dont think is noticeable at all. We also put a bunch of outlets in one of the hutch uppers so its now a charging station for cameras and phone and ipods, etc. The phone jack is also there and we drilled a small hole so the phone could go sit on the hutch without cords everywhere.

I think that is it, thanks again for the feedback!

Here is a link that might be useful: linear undercabinet lighting.

Nice transformation. You did a great job! Love the floors! I did a story on Antique Tables Made Daily. They have gorgeous tables and their chairs - oh my! Their pricing is very reasonable, imo.

Enjoy your new kitchen!

Here is a link that might be useful: Tables and Chairs

Allison, thank you for posting their link. They truly are a fantastic find. They are about 30 minutes from me, so I originally went to their showroom and they could not have been nicer. But they custom make tables in any size you want for again, a fraction of what some of the other "farmhouse" table makers charge and they product is beautiful. My table is even extra high due to my extra tall husband/boys. The ONLY advice I would give is my own fault and that is that I didnt think when measuring the table that the legs are so much thicker than my old table legs and that I cannot get the arm chairs fully under the ends of the table. I went with a narrower size since I don't have a lot of room, so again, this is all my fault, but I just didnt calculate how wide those legs were going to be. They were super helpful in making sure I could still get 6 chairs around it if needed, which it turns out will be needed since I found out I was going to have another baby after ordering the table :-)

Amy,

Your kitchen is just GORGEOUS! Congrats on all the lovely choices...every detail is perfect and it all fits together seamlessly.

We, too, are in Northern VA and have looked at slabs at Elegant Marble and just yesterday went to Dominion Granite. I was wondering if you could tell me how it was to work with each of them? The owner at Elegant was quite nice to talk to, and said they are moving to a larger warehouse. We spoke to Eric at Dominion, but I couldn't quite get a feel for him yet. We're not wedded to any one fabricator yet.

Where are you located? We're in Reston (as you can probably tell by my name :)). Thanks for you advice.

Hi Reston,

We are down the road in Oak Hill :-)

Elegant Marble was lovely to work with. Very friendly, poor souls took every slab out for me to micro-analyze. Definitely recommend them.

Dominion Granite is the best in the area. We heard that from EVERYONE- friends, people in the trade, granite yards, etc Eric and team and great, the measuring process was elaborate, the templating process was very fun (they love gourmet coffee and do a great job as baristas as well as granite fabricators), the installation guys were great and were endlessly patient holding up faucet positions, etc. My only thing with them is that their edges are a little limited. Some places have a ton of edges, and they have like ONE ogee edge, which is just sort of standard. They probably are not the cheapest, but I think they are reasonable for their quality of work/operations. I recommend them highly too.

We had really great luck with contractors and suppliers on this project. We have run into issues before with other projects so we were very happy to work with so many friendly, quality craftsmen this time!

Amy

Very warm gorgeous kitchen!

I too am in NoVa, can you tell me more about your kitchen table? Did you have it made locally?
TIA

Yes, the table is semi-local- Antique Tables Made Daily near the Shenandoah mountains (skyline drive area). Allison posted a link above. They also ship nationwide I think.

I got the pine Irish Immigrant Table. I got the smooth top (vs plank) and the extra thick (2 inch) tabletop. I got it medium distressed and saddle brown finish. I got it in a custom size, I think 38 by 62 and it's taller than normal (husband is 6'7" and I have all boys). I think I paid around 750 for it, but I think they start normally around 550. I met the craftsman/woodworker- totally charming. Other places I looked at (online and even Amish places) were 2+ thousand dollars for a table. They also do chairs but I really love the comfort of rush seat chairs which I had and so I just painted my current ones.

Amy,

Thanks so much. I had heard good things about dominion as well, but a ringing endorsement like yours is always great to get. They were telling us about some lifetime sealant that they put on their counters. Did you get that? Would you mind telling what the cost was? Thanks again!

-Abbe

Everything looks great - congrats to you!

Beautiful! A few of my favorite things: iron work railing, arches, table and rush chairs, granite (stunning!), bs, floor, moldings and details. I'm sure you'll enjoy your beautiful kitchen and home for many years to come. Oh, and congratulations on your new family addition!

If you have a chance, would you please post a close-up pic of your dining room stencil? I read your description and am having a hard time visualizing how you used the joint compound. Also, does your KA range oven heat and bake evenly? TIA!

Oh wow! I've been waiting for the final reveal, but was scared I missed it somehow! I don't think I ever saw what your final tile choice was.

It all came together so nicely! I continue to love the DR wall paper and the arches. My new love is your mercury glass pendants.

You kept the same design feel consistently througout the house. That can be hard to do, or at least it can be for me. ;) Everything works with everything else. Great job! And thanks for sharing it with us.

flwrs, I will post a picture tomorrow of the stencil wall. The range is a 36 inch GE Monogram, which so far, has been great. The warming drawer is a kitchen aid, and it just keeps things warm so not much room for problems there! It has humidity control and can also be used as a slow cooker, which I have not tried.

I forgot to add earlier the cabinet door style is oxford, for the original asker! I thought it would be too plain originally but I am happy with it IRL.

I am very glad I went with the highlighting/brushing. I dont know how you gals with the straight white kitchens manage. I see a LOT more on these cream cabinets than I ever did on my old wood ones. The highlighting helps but I can see you have to keep on top of things with painted wood.

Your kitchen is gorgeous. Thanks for all the information, not just on the kitchen finishes but also the other rooms. I love, love, love the stenciling you did. What a beautiful addition to your lovely home.

Here is a close up of the dimensional stencils:

Instead of paint, I used a pallate knife to smooth over a thin coat of joint compound. Once it dried, I decided to go back over it with the metallic paint from under the chair rail. Then i decided to distress that by sanding some of it back off. :-)

Your kitchen is an absolute dream! You did such an amazing job on your other rooms too. I can just look at this kitchen forever.
Love, love the backsplash, to-die-for cabinets and the beautiful arches. It truly is a charming home.

Not only is your kitchen straight out of a magazine but LOVE, LOVE all that greenery outside. It compliments your colors inside your house.
You must be a gardener! I'm always drawn to the kitchens like yours, with all the windows and lovely landscaping peek-a-boo views.
Amazing!

Jillsee, thank you so much, that is so sweet. I am not a very successful gardener on my own, but our house used to be owned (10+ years ago) by the garden club president so fortunately most of what she did is hearty and survives to this day! Also, we havent had the trees nearby trimmed in a while and we have a walk-out basement on that side of the house, so in the summer it has a treehouse effect. Which I really love looking out into trees but its really hard to get a photograph without shadows! My kitchen design firm asked to have it professionally photographed so I guess I will get copies of those, otherwise I will have to read my camera manual!
Thanks again.
Amy

Thank you so much for the info on your range and warming drawer, and on how you did your stencils. Your stenciling is so beautiful! I never would have thought of adding dimensionality to a stencil. Not sure I'm confident enough to try it, but it's certainly something to think about and maybe try in a smaller and less public space--like maybe my laundry room or study. ;)

Thanks again for sharing your lovely home!

Stunning! The detail is beautifully done. Thanks so much for sharing.

I love how all the details work so nicely with each other! You managed to pull it all together and have it feel like it was all meant to be. Your house feels so classic yet fresh. This is an example of the sum being worth more than the parts. Each item enhances the stuff around it. I can't imagine you making different choices after seeing this all together.

I love your stencils and can appreciate how much work that was!

Your kitchen took my breath away! Well done!

What a gorgeous kitchen. I especially love your floors, though you have so many amazing details! Congratulations!

This is one of the most gorgeous kitchens I have ever seen! Love it! Very nice job. Everything is so tasteful. Your whole house is beautiful!

Beautiful! Can't believe it's the same kitchen, what a transformation. Congrats.

Wow! Great job! Makes your whole house look new! Love the granite, backsplash, and all the details. It is such a warm, inviting space. Congrats!!

Wow! Stunning! Beautiful! I can't think of any new adjectives. I seriously love your table, your arches, your floor, your whole house! Everything goes together so beautifully. Just wonderful. Sigh.
Btw congratulations - that's exciting too.

I just saw this, and can't believe it's even the same house! Your style is the same as mine. So obviously, I adore your kitchen. That's all I can say.
:o)

Love your kitchen.
How high are your ceilings? Mine are only 8feet - I would love to do hanging pendants/lights over my prep island but think too low - love yours just wondering how high your ceilings are?
Thanks!

Thanks everyone! :-)

cmmarch, my ceiling are also 8ft. I thought the pendants might be too big initially, my other option was iron lanterns of a smaller scale, but my husband liked the mercury glass pendants better and in the end, I really love them and they dont feel too big to me now that they are up. They dont fade into the background to be sure, but I never feel like they are obtrusive.

adh673, I love your kitchen and your random with floors really go great with the theme of your kitchen and are beautiful. I love the cabinets, the matching backsplash, the pantry area with that beautiful refrigerator and I especially love all the room you have and the overall gorgous look. Thanks for sharing.

adh673, I love the style of your kitchen. I recently had the same backsplash installed in my kitchen. Unfortunately, the tile guy talked us into using bone as the grout color ( I thought it was too dark but he said that it typically lightens 2-3 shades and would look really light once it dried). We had it installed last Tuesday and the grout is still pretty dark and is drying unevenly. Did you have similar issues with your grout? Are you happy with the sealer used? Thanks for your help in advance :)

Your kitchen is so beautiful, I could so come live with you. I looked at every picture and could not find one thing I didn't like. You did a fantastic job :) Just love it!

Your kitchen is so gorgeous and so well thought-out with every detail. I am wondering, can you tell me what size your sink cabinet base and legs are? also, how much of a bump out did you do on it?

I don't know how I missed this one -- GORGEOUS! You surely must be loving working and living and cooking in such a space!

If I may ask you a question - do you have a layout of your space? I'm wondering about the actual details (ie - how wide is the island? the aisle space? how does that work in real life?) My kitchen is similar to yours (although the L is on the other side- short cooking wall on left and long sink wall along the back)

Thank you!

adh673, did you go with 36" or 39" uppers? I have 8' ceilings and trying to decide on upper cabinet height. Thanks.

Thanks everyone!

Here is one of the layouts, it may be hard to see.

The sink cabinet bump out is 3 inches (legs are three inches also). The sink bumps out an additional 1 inch. From the sink cabinet to the island is 39 inches. So in other spots that aisle is 42 inches. The other side of the island has a 49 inch aisle. Originally the plans showed the 49 inch side 1.5 inches wider. Once they laid out the island I had major misgivings and I made them move the plumbing over 1.5 inches towards the sink line of cabinets- bc the 47.5 inch aisle seemed way too narrow with the door there and the fact its a major walk through. I am happy with the dimensions now. Even with my husband and 2 small kids (3rd due soon!) milling around in the kitchen it doesn't feel cramped. It feels much bigger than our old kitchen, very functional.

I did 39 inch uppers and then 4 or 5 inches of crown molding. I also have 8 foot ceilings. 36 is pretty short, we had that before with like 9-12 inch soffits.

As for the grout, I was stressed over that like everything else and did briefly considering going with a darker contrasting color- it might not look as bad as you think. I often hate things at first, even when I carefully plan them! The Miracle 511 sealer was well recommended and we havent had any trouble with it. If you still dont like your grout, I have heard of grout lighteners. When I did my grout, I did some test patches with broken tiles before the grouters came and that is how I decided on a color. I think the grout was dry in a day or two- yours sounds like its taking a long time to dry, but I am not an expert. I had unsanded grout I think.

It's beautiful. You did an amazing job. I, too, love the stencil in the dining room and thought about doing that once upon a time before I had kids - how did you ever manage to find the time for it - impressive.
Two questions - what granite did you use? And what edging did you use on the island - ogee? Whatever it is, it's beautiful! Congrats.

Oops - I just saw what granite you used - an unusual cut of Western Sage Brush. I'd still love to confirm that edge on the island though. Thanks.

Love it. You have a real knack for putting things together. Very, very beautiful.

Thanks :-)

The edge on the island and hutch is ogee (I think ogee's can vary but this is what my fabricator called ogee). The edge on the perimeter cabinets is just straight/standard. I am glad I did that, I think the ogee everywhere would have been a touch fussy and it was also expensive!