So great!!!!! All of it.
I. Hart. Your. Beams.

Hi~

Congrats-It looks amazing!! Those beams are incredible.....
Another state? Not move in? Thank goodness you are.

Any photos of your island top? I'm considering walnut and am intrigued by what's under that paper!

Thanks,
Katie

everything looks lovely but that ceiling is to die for!

Ya done good son! Thats the right tile there for sure. Love the cab color, the beams, and the barn door. Is that the pantry?

The backsplash is perfect. Love it against the wall colour. The barn door is such a surprise and ties in great with your beams.
Very neat.

Wow - that's beautiful. Really beautiful.

Yes my jaw dropped over your ceiling, too, it's just spectacular!

I'm surprised that Manchester Tan is reading so creamy in your space, here it definitely read as a color. interesting.

Can't wait to see your final reveal. Congrats on being almost done!

katie, here is a pic taken a while ago of the walnut top, as you can see before all of the cabinets were completely in. It is random width planks -- some knots, and variation, but I love that. It is really dusty in the picture, that took about 5 minutes on our construction site! It isn't shiny in real life, but it does have just a hint of sheen. It brings out the grain of walnut, which is one of my very favorites! I like it enough that we are doing the floors in walnut and the drip rail is walnut as well.

You'll have to mentally wipe the dust off this counter.... sorry!

What a beautiful space and the perfect backsplash for the space. Those beams are amazing!!!

It looks perfect!

The beams and the walnut top... stunning! Love the BS too. But I keep coming back to those beams... sigh.

Lovely! Where did you get the wood top for the island? It's beautiful!

Gorgeous! The backsplash is perfect! So fun to see it all coming together!

What a lovely warm inviting kitchen! It's coming along beautifully! You've made great timeless serene choices.

Holy smokes! I am in love. You did a great job picking it all out. I love the color on your cabs. Thanks for sharing the details in your choices.

mtsnc~

Thank you so much for the photo! It is amazing! Exactly what I have in mind!

Katie

LOVE your kitchen!! Do you mind telling me the dimensions of your island? We are currently building a home and trying to nail down our island design. Thanks so much!!

That black walnut top is amazing. Where did you get it?!

I love your kitchen, I love love love that you used a barn door.

Those BEAMS! That WALNUT! That BARN DOOR!

*LOVE*

Your space is beautiful!! I'm sure you're happy being almost finished.
I'd also like to ask where you got your island top--love it!

Looks stunning!!! You must be getting so excited to finally be able to enjoy all your hard work!

Thanks guys! Thought I'd posted answers a while ago, but guess I forgot to hit send. Today has been crazy... guess that is what happens as end of school

Jan, the island is 10'9' x 5'. It is a bit of a jigsaw puzzle underneath because I wanted a big overhang, and I was able to figure out a way to make it work out without making it deeper overall.

The cabinet makers made the island for me as well. They found long planks of walnut that were 2' thick. They joined them and put metal rods on the underside for extra support. Then they waterlox'ed all sides. The edge was a new ogee bit that they got for the counter. I got to stand and watch them work with the router, it was very fun for me! When I was a kid I did lots of woodworking projects with my dad, especially on walnut, so it was interesting.

Breezy, behind the barn doors is not the pantry, but more like a baking / clean-up area. I can't believe I don't have any pics. I'll have to go over later and take some. I'll post if I get some decent ones because I really like how it came out.

Now.... here is my newest dilemma, what do you guys think.... I originally planned the space to have the beams as you see them, and the space between the beams works out exactly over the island, and then in the next set of beams is a fan (in the pic) and then in the next set of beams, there is a space exactly over the center of where my coffee table / ottoman will go in the keeping room (family room). This was planned to have a chandelier over the island, and one over the seating grouping. The link is a pic of the light.

Here is the problem / question. I have gotten so used to the space as-is, and I just got a call from the builder that the lights are finally here. I was excited and then had a momentary pause of, hmm, do I really want them put up in those spaces?

What do you all think?

Here is a link that might be useful: Visual Comfort light

Oh I think those chandys will be stunning! The question will be how far down to hang them so that you can effectively light your space. (Especially your island, as that will be your primary lighting for the island, yes? Or maybe there are some cleverly hidden spot lights I don't see.) I don't have any info on best lighting heights... but I would recommend not cutting the chain and wiring until you're very sure of the height you want. If they loop it at the top, you can make it longer if you need to. (I know that means they have to come back out again, but it's easier to change than if they make it too short.)

That chandy will be gorgeous. If you don't use it, how will you light your island?

And I'd love to see the baking area behind those doors!

Gorgeous kitchen! The backsplash looks great! Can't wait to see it all done!

Hi, Just wanted to add my own "WOW!!!" I love it all, but the backsplash has really caught my attention!
Thank you for posting your beautiful pics!

I adore that backsplash. Those off-white subways provide JUST the right touch. This is one of my favorite looks.

You have a beautiful kitchen. That walnut is another one of my favs. Lucky you!

I admired that Circa light when I was looking for a neat fixture. It's going to be great in your space:) I'm very excited to see it!!

Finally got a couple pics of the area behind the barn doors....
On the left side is a trash pull, sink, dw drawers and a drawer bank. On the right are drawers, cookie sheet cab, drawers and ovens / warming drawer. Over the sink is a little cut-out to the breakfast area, so we can use this area as a secondary clean-up area and close the doors and hide my mess! I am hoping to find a neat antique cupboard to put at the end in the little alcove. I've been looking for years, but haven't found "the one."

Doonie, I just got my light in my master bath installed, it is not the awesome NW that you have, but it has little crystals in a similar pattern. I tried to get the underneath very artistic shot like you did.... it was so cool! Of course, mine didn't come out well, but it was fun to try! (The paint spot on the ceiling is not helping :-)

mythreesons, Could you please give more details about the tile? I just looked up "crema marfil", but it comes in many colors and honed, tumbled, or polished. What is yours?
Thank you!

Wow! What a wonderful kitchen and the overall space is just beautiful.

Can I ask you to take a picture of the breakfast area? I've been back and forth on a banquette and yours looks amazing. Mine would not have the built in storage on either side (unfortunately) but I would love to see more of your space. Is there a fireplace on the other end of the kitchen? It looks like there might be :)

Hi Sandesurf, the tile is honed crema marfil 3x6 from cooltiles.com. I'll link the exact one. Also, cali_wendy has a tumbled backsplash from cooltiles that is very pretty. They sell the tiles individually, but also by the box, which is cheaper.

Thanks Lavender.... I have a couple of pics of the banquette and the other end of the kitchen. you were right, it does have a fireplace...It is hard to see it, but where the windowseats are flanking the fireplace, we put doors to secret closets --- they'll hold games, puzzles, etc. We've had that set-up before in a previous home and it worked great --- big seats for reading, puzzles, games, whatever. Let me know if the banquette shot doesn't cut it!

The banquette has a barrel vault that mimics the arch of the window, with a shiplap ceiling, it is just so hard to get a good picture!

Here is a link that might be useful: cool tiles

That is a beautiful space. Your architect is a genius.

Your space is fantastic! And what you've done is really stunning! I love the barn doors and all of the details ! So FUN!!!!

mtsnc~

I am LOVING your photos!
Sorry to be a pain, but do you have any close ups of the walnut drip rail under your sink? I'm planning on having our cabinetmaker make our island top and I definitely want a drip rail in walnut to match.

Thank you & congrats on your lovely home!!
Katie

I knew there was a fireplace! LOL

The banquette is beautiful...thanks for the picture. The closets on either side of the fireplace are so clever! Are you planning to put cushions on the banquette and window seats? Your home is wonderful and I love all the details :)

Love your kitchen! And love the idea of the secret closets. You've thought of every detail which will make the area that much more enjoyable. So jealous! ;)

Sorry if you have answered this already, but could you give the source of your barn door hardware and just a rough size of your banquette area? Thanks!

Thank you all. It is really nice to hear the positive feedback, I sat there for many hours with my pencil and graph paper, with little cutouts of furniture and came up with the space. My architect drove me crazy because I would give him my drawings and he would send me back final versions that were not aligned. I'd get out my white-out and re draw it how I wanted it. Every time he'd give me the drawing, I'd mark it up that night, give it back to him straight away and he'd get it back several months later, and still missing things. I finally gave up and asked the builder if we could just take the most recent version and then I'd mark it up cleanly and we'd work from that. He has been great about it, thankfully since I seem to be a bit crazy about my alignments and lines of sight. Anyway, thanks for making me feel like my white-out investment was worth it!

To answer a couple of questions:
Lavender, the seats will have cushions, I already have them made and I periodically take them out and we sit out there... I am so anxious! My youngest son calls them the mattresses, they are pretty big, like 42" deep by 60" or so. The banquette also has a big cushion, but that might be an oops in height. The cushion is several inches thick and it might be too much, not sure yet --- since it is done I almost don't want to know!

Katieob, here is a pic of the walnut drip rail. It is really just added after the fact. I would have made the corners slightly more rounded, but I guess I gave them a picture of the concept, and I didn't notice it was more square. I didn't discuss that detail.

The barn doors were actually made by a barn door company --- they were great.... I drew a little picture and they made them. They are actually on backwards. The other side is smoother. The guys put them up wrong, but we liked it, so they'll stay that way. The company is called woodstar products, and they have lots of real doors, or they'll make your design. They also have hardware.

The banquette area is roughly 15' x 7'. It looked so small at framing, but the little furniture cutouts to scale work, and it will be deep enough.... phew.

Katie, I can get a better pic of the drip rail if it helps, that one is not great. I also have a couple in my files.... chinese grandma has a gorgeous drip rail set up.... http://www.chinesegrandma.com/2010/08/dream-kitchen/
Can't wait to see your encore design!

Here is a link that might be useful: barn doors

Just had to add the lengthy oohs and ahs to say that your space is gorgeous! So big and airy with so many really special details. Your windows are especially magnificent (and the woodwork of course). Thank you so much for sharing - an incredible space that will just never age - timeless for sure.

Your entire space is gorgeous! There is so much to love: those amazing beams, walnut counter and floors, barn doors, staggered height cabinets, hidden closets. The hours you spent on getting the alignment just right was so worth it.

The cabinet arrangement on your range wall looks similar to one of my design ideas. Would you please tell me the widths of the uppers cabinets and counters that flank the range, and also the width of the deeper cabinets at the ends? What will be going into the tall deep cabinets?

Beautiful! And thank you so much for the tile info!
Keep on keeping on! :)

WOW! Love everything about your space! The height is amazing and I would DEFINITELY do the chandelier, it is beautiful and will look stunning over the island! Windows, barn doors, built-ins, stone, floors- I can go on but you get the picture ;)

Great colors, great finishes, great space! I love barn doors -- our front doors are barn doors and so is the door to my bathroom. So far i like living with them. Hope you are in soon.

The whole banquette + cushion height is a tricky one. You may be able to use a squishier cushion that compresses more when you sit on it ... and have you selected your table? You could cheat a little there, too.

If the cushion is a little tall, I think cheating a bit on the table is a great idea. You could also add comfy cushions to the other chairs and everything would be the right height...and very nice to sit on, too :)

THank you so much for the information! I just love it! How many bar stools do you plan to place around the island?

It all looks so lovely and liveable! Thanks for all the photos:)

I've been thinking about your layout today. It looks like your clean up area and oven area are behind those impressively textural barn doors? Is that correct? And I thought, what a neat idea, especially if you entertain, because you can keep all the mess contained in a closed off area and continue to enjoy your guests! (I'm just one of those people that can't stand to see messes out in my main living area so when we do occasionally entertain, I have to have it all cleaned up:)

I'm so excited for you and your family to be in that lovely space! Keep showing us the progress!

love love everything I see
have a question about the barn doors though
especially the hardware
could you show a close up of that and also give details of where you got the hardware?
please, pretty please

Absolutely stunning! LOVE!! Your space is amazing and I love the separate clean up area behind those beautiful doors. dripping with jealousy right now.....

Pure eye candy here. I LOVE what you've done. Those beams are gorgeous! BS, the original post, works perfectly.