Blueprints

Brief glimpse of demo

Reveal
Instead of becoming too verbose here, check out my other threads below. But of course ask any questions you want.
Stadium Thread
Blind corner
Butcher block prep island
Stages sink
Walk in pantry
If anyone knows how to post direct links to GW webpages let me know, they are getting redirected away for now. Sorry.

This post was edited by will2kz on Tue, Jul 16, 13 at 0:56

A few of my favorite things…. (in case you asked)
My granite has emerald greens and sapphire blues with pure blacks and whites. It’s a schist called Orion, and its unlikely you will find something like this anywhere, very unique rock.

The wet bar is infinitely more functional. The utility runs to this spot were incredible. That’s a Hoshizaki C-100BAE cubelet ice machine. Makes ice like that found at Sonic fast food stores…. Also Miele coffee system (craigslist splurge), Thermador dishwasher and wine tower.

Everything I need for the steam, speed, and regular oven are all within arms reach. (All Miele)

Did this tile myself, love how it came out. It’s a mix of frosted, clear, and blue/black glass tiles. Wanted it to pull out colors in granite and complement the glass in the light fixtures.

Designed this too. The blind end of the island actually rolls away and contains all of our forma china and platters. The wood top is meant to be a functional serving top if we need a side table.

Spice rack, professionally modeled for you. Its right next to area I use it most. So easy to access and find everything. No more digging!

Yup, another proud idea. You can see this in the above post for my thoughts and how this works. Kohler Karbon faucet (splurge).

This took some imagination and careful measuring to fit as the drainboard to the right “shouldn’t” technically fit above a dishwasher…. Kohler Stages 45 sink

128,000 btu and 1200 cfm…. Capital Culinarian rangetop and Ventahood.

Legrade Adorne undercabinet lighting and plug molds. Keeps switchplates out of tile. iPad holder for recipes (when I follow one).

Popup plug, very convenient, but I wish it were flush mount to counter. Maybe my only style regret, but ridiculously functional.

Two identical counter height tables from Kincaid. With tables expanded we have room for 12. With them shrunk 8 chairs at table, four at island. We have no formal dining, so ability to move chairs from island to table was goal. So far we love this idea.

Will be sending this to finished kitchen blog in future. Feel free to asks questions.

wow. perfect. Love the backsplash with your counter, great job there. Glad its working out so well for you, you must have some great parties! great job, thanks for sharing.

The wet bar and spice pull out are FREAKING AWESOME.

congrats.

BTW You should x post this in Appliance Forum.

This ain't a GE Café type kitchen, I am sure some of the AF guys that rarely come here would love to see it.

This post was edited by deeageaux on Tue, Jul 16, 13 at 3:01

wowza! so many inspired ideas!
your fridge/pantry area is brilliant!
can you share more info on your ipad holder? i would love to have one of those!
also where did you get those metal spice rack holders?
i apologize if it is in one of your threads. i haven't had a chance to look through all the links you provided yet. thank you!

Wow! You have every special feature imaginable -- and then some! It is beautiful and seems to be so functional. So, when's the party?

I'm in love with the pictures of the fridges and pantry, open and closed (the glass!). You know somebody enjoys cooking wtih such pleasure in the largesse. Congrats. It's all wonderful.

Wow! It looks great! I especially love the pantry/fridge wall and the roll away blind corner is brilliant. What a great way to make an otherwise difficult area truly functional. I'm sure you will enjoy the many gatherings you have in the future!

Did you happen to use a kitchen designer for this remodel? If so, was it an extra cost for you? Thanks.

You did such a great, thorough planning job for both form and function. I love the way you found bargains, and am glad you were able to splurge on things that make you happy.

Will2kz
Honestly one of the best kitchens ever!
It takes something to take a perfectly good kitchen and transform it into a perfect kitchen and makes the rest of the space work so well.
Love the fridge/pantry, of course the bar area; but the cool under island roll out!! Thank you thank you! I've been trying to get a similar idea across to my DH and cabinet maker and they weren't getting my drawings. Now I can show them your awesome kitchen and say SEE!!
Really great job - I want to come to one of your parties.

The iPad holder is part of theLegrand Adorne collection. They have all sorts of accessories, but pricey.
The spice racks within the rack came from The Container Store. They fit perfectly, but that was pure luck. Each lid has a clear sticker label on the lid. Yes those are 95% full...

If you look at the blueprints its obvious we used a designer. I paid $800 to get 4 rough mock ups done, then we chose one and he cleaned up our choice. Then I modified it another 30-40% and added the wet bar, designed the living room, the pantry, etc. All I needed was someone to sort out "how" the space could be better used and took it from there. $800 was a drop in the bucket on this kitchen budget.

THANK YOU for all of the great comments. Besides bragging and trying to inflate my ego. The key to getting all this "crazy" stuff included was having a flexible builder, and knowing how to a) design and b) actually build these items. Yes, knowing electrical, and plumbing codes, etc goes with years of tinkering, but research, reading, flipping through GW and Houzz, these are the inspiration. I would be a complete failure had I not shared back.

If anyone in the Twin Cities wants a tour, I'd consider the request. Shoot me a message.

Wow! Love all the thought you put into your space. Your attention to detail makes your kitchen a stellar example of form and function.

Best wishes for many happy hours in your beautiful space. I love it!

Ditto what holly-kay said. So many great ideas. Beautiful space. Granite is gorgeous, and BS is great with it. Also love the cherry cabs. Congratulations!

WANT!!

OMG I would totally love to have this kitchen. Incredible. Love, love, love the wet bar area. Digging the ice maker. Is that that cup warming drawer under the Miele coffee machine?

Wow, the whole thing is incredible. Function AND Form in a lovely package. You will enjoy for years and years to come. Congratulations.

Wow! That would be some kitchen to work in. Love the refrig/pantry and the wet bar is awesome. Love the coffee maker too! Congrats.

Love the kitchen and the wet bar. We have a Sonic close by and even though I have an ice maker, I still sometimes drive thru and pick up a bag of their ice! So jealous. What color did you paint the walls?

Side note, the company I work for makes the Cork Cage in the picture. I have the same one as you and it's full too!

I wouldn't say the prior kitchen was perfectly good. It was newer sure. But it was designed to look nice, not function nice, except for the minimal "reheat" takeout cook. The house is a large "entertaining" house and needed a kitchen to match. Well, maybe I went overboard, but my wife made the mistake of saying "get what you want so I don't have to listen to regrets later....."
famous last words.

We love the cork cages! My mother in law recycles them as stylized plant bedding around her pool. Of course, the day of the "cork" is limited with nicer and nicer screw tops coming along.

The paint is a greyish blue, its from a company locally called Hirschfields so I don't know how to translate that to something you could see locally. My wife was hesistant to go with a primary color instead of some earth tone, but this is not a loud blue in my mind. Cool, modern, pulls the colors from the tile and granite. I don't think we are stuck with blue forever, I could get away with a green in the future too....

Thanks again for the complements. My builder is lurking here, and is enjoying the press too!

Your counters are neat. i am glad people are still going for bold look granite. As much as the mellow stone thing is hip right now, there is nothing like a unique granite!!!

Mr. Caples in earth science 8th grade. Hooked me to geology, haven't given it up since. I like to look "into" a piece of granite, and large pieces of quartz in this offer that. I like to be surprised the more you look. I like to break up monotony. Mankind did not create stone, I'm not choosing to use stone to decorate, its insulting. I chose the stone and decorated around it! It's art and science and forever, so don't be dull in this choice I say! To be honest, I looked at most of the granite yards in our large metro area, to find this. Of course it was in our closest yard.... go figure.

Awesome! It's so beautiful! Your granite is gorgeous and you've made such a fabulous place to enjoy for you and your family.
Congratulations on your lovely kitchen.

Looks great.

Amazing - on the road and want to see on a computer to see more detail and comments! Wait- maybe I will move to the twin cities just so I can see IRL!
Congrats!

You can tell how every item in this kitchen had huge amounts of thought and planning around it. So beautiful and so functional! Congratulations to you and your contractor. You lucked out finding someone willing to go on that journey with you.

Beautiful

>> Hoshizaki C-100BAE cubelet ice machine. Makes ice like that found at Sonic fast food stores….

Best type of ice!

How is its noise level?

I had to move the u-Line ice maker into the laundry room adjacent to the pantry because it just made too much noise during the cycle.

I actually preferred the original space-seemed warmer and more inviting. But I can definitely see that the kitchen serves your needs much better and is really beautiful. I LOVE the custom fridges!

Wow, I think you have every type of appliance and storage option imaginable! Love the granite and the seeded glass in the cabinets.

Fabulous!
May I ask what the secret is to installing the dishwasher under the Kohler stages sink?
Thanks!

What a wonderful entertaining space you have created, congrats! Love the granite, very envious of your Kohler Stages 45. How do you like the Kohler Karbon? I'd like to see another picture of your prep sink with board and strainer out - that looks interesting. What does sonic ice look like? That was the used icemaker you found and fixed, right? Fabulous pantry! My favorite part is how you've incorporated so many great appliances into the space.

So I did a post of the butcher block prep island with pics and instructions, but my link up above is a dud. So here is a separate post using the embedded link poster.

Here is a link that might be useful: butcher block link

Regarding getting the stages on top of the dishwasher, see the link below for a discussion. It requires very careful measurement, a dremmel, and high cabinets. My dish washer is a tall tub model, so it is dropped to the floor.

Regarding the Kohler Karbon it is very nice. Definitely a splurge. I wanted something I could fold down into a small item as I didn't want a bar faucet here, but didn't want a monster faucet towering over the smallish cutting board. I suppose a spray handle alone would've worked, but then you don't get two free hands. As a prep faucet you can point it right at the vegees getting washed and just leave it on, or leave a gentle arc to wash off potatoes etc into the main sink. I leave the upper bowl in all the time. It comes with a non-strainer bowl that I use to scramble eggs....

Here is a link that might be useful: Stages Sink post

Sonic ice is "nugget ice." Those in the Southern states (turns out an outdoor burger joint is not a great business model in Minnesota), have come to know that the little nuggets of ice in their drinks get 44 ounces of cherry limeade cold very fast, it doesn't impede straw movement, and is fun to crunch.....
We in the science world use nugget ice because it is easier to scoop and molds around the vessel you are keeping cold.
I love this ice. It is made by extruding ice along a chilled shaft until it hits the top and breaks off. Much like squirting play-doh through one of those spaghetti makers as a kid. Hoshizaki is the only company that makes a residential nugget unit, but they are NOT cheap. I bought mine used on Ebay, replaced about $250 worth of parts, and still got a deal. I suspect they are reliable given their commercial heritage, the guts are hardcore having seen them myself. As hoshizaki is a major commercial ice machine maker, service is not hard to come by if you don't like to tinker like me.

Oh, and it is the loudest appliance in my kitchen, but that is true for all ice makers. I find it to be 200% better than the Summit ice maker in my bar downstairs. It doesn't run as much, and is quieter than most. You can turn it off if bugging you during a party.

Sonic ice is perfect sore throat ice. You can crunch it without feeling like you are destroying your teeth. (you still probably are ;-) It's a soft crunch.

We had all sorts of ideas about how to surround the ice maker with sound deadening enclosure and keep it in the kitchen.

Eventually we just moved it beyond the pantry into the laundry room AND weather stripped the bottom of laundry room door since the noise still crept through the bottom of the door.

All I can say is WOW. You really thought out every inch and how you would use it. So many great things...where to begin....that dual fridge/pantry combo is wonderful, the granite is awesome (funny - I used that same argument about choosing my granite...I can see THROUGH it), the pull out under that corner is genius. I could go on and on, but I am wasting time when I could be planning the GW roadtrip to the Twin Cities.

Thanks again for all the praise. We are very proud of our kitchen. While this is a way to brag, I really intend to show everyone what is possible with research and an imagination. Don't settle for that architect's kitchen (it's what I had, good on paper, not for function), but don't just focus on the triangle. I know how I cook. My triangle is too big, my aisles are maybe too small, but it WORKS. Rules are made to satisfy the masses, but push your vision. Make cardboard mock-ups and walk around them. I made a chandelier out of dowel rods and three balloons to visualize placement and scope before I ordered those lights. I thought about the types of dishes I cook (meat prep, vegee prep, baking, measuring), where hot pans will go off stove or out of oven, where I will dump boiling water, where produce will go when coming out of fridge, where I will dump trash and load the dishwasher, how will I unload the dishwasher..... Think of every task you do now and how it will work in your design.

Wet bar thoughts:
The second dishwasher holds only drinking glasses, or spill over for parties. All the glasses are kept in the bar, and all the drinks in the bar fridge or bottom of the wine cabinet. I did this specifically to keep people out of my "cooking loop" as drinks are the "self-service" item people are most likely to come into the work area to get. It was a luxury my space offered, but it required a lot of planning to get all that plumbing and electrical into that wet bar area as it was mostly a china cabinet before.

Keep the questions coming, there are no bad ones.

Amazing kitchen!

Could you tell me what is the name of the shelf that hold iPad? I think its genius!
And also, which ventahood is that? I love the look with the shelf, but could not find it on their website…
Thank you!

How did I miss this post earlier? What a beautiful kitchen!

I have installed legrand Adorne products in my kitchen. I and my electrician decided to do this. I did skip the pop up and used a standard outlet on the two level island. Maybe my architect will do this now for other jobs now that he sees it finished. He wanted standard outlets. I live in a small farming community and I am the first to use this in the area. The sales rep from the company and the dealer came several times to insure that everything was right. THANK YOU EVERYONE!

Karen

So many great ideas, where to start? I love the fridge and pantry set up. Looks beautiful and so functional. I could go on and on. Enjoy your kitchen, and thanks for sharing. It is truly an inspiration.

I love your kitchen! Its is absolutely gorgeous and very functional. Thanks for sharing! You have given me something to dream about!