My name is Petra and I share a small Spanish country home in Andalucia, Southern Spain with my dad and a Labrador named Quinn.

I have learned a great deal just by reading on this forum and by looking at the pictures provided by many of you, so writing this post is, in a way, a big 'Thank you all so much'.

This is my home, the kitchen is situated on the righthand side, with a covered porch in front of it.

These are three shots of the old kitchen, I especially loathed the open storage and the double round sink plus the fact there was no dishwasher.

Left side (north wall):

Centre:

Open storage on the right (south) wall:

In these photos you can see we set up a temporary island to see if this would work for us. It could be argued that it is a barrier island, but it works very well for us. This is the layout we finally decided on, we received many good and thoughtprovoking ideas from members of the Ikeafans site. I had not discovered the GardenWeb Kitchen Forum yet, otherwise I would have posted these plans here as well.

The kitchen is roughly 14' x 14'.

We demo'd the kitchen ourselves, cleaned and lightly stained the beams, painted the walls and built the cabinets. The rest of the work was carried out by Kelly, our wonderful GC or by subs (floortile and granite).

Underfloor heating:

Building up:

Temporary kitchen:

Granite going in:

Kelly busy with tile install:

End result:
Left (north) wall

Centre

Right (south) wall:

Island:

Detail of backsplash (lovely yellow plum jam thanks to a neighbour's gift of 6 kgs of yellow plums):

Details:
Kitchen: Ikea with Stat fronts (colour is comparable to BM Simply White)
Granite: Blanco Perla, also known as Luna Pearl, Bianco Sardo
Island worktop: Ikea Numerar oak butcherblock
Stools: Ikea Ingolf, counterheight in antique pine.
Sink: Ikea Domsjo, single bowl apron front fireclay sink
Faucet: Grohe Concetto with pull-down
Cooktop: Bosch 5-burner gas
Hood: Siemens
DW: Siemens
Oven: Ikea Nutid with pyrolitic cleaning
Knobs and pulls: Ikea Antik brushed nickel
Lighting: Ikea Magnesium track lighting on the beams, Ikea Grundtal pucks (under-cabinet lighting), Leroy Merlin LED-strips
Backsplash: Ceramicalcora white beveled subway tile, shiny white 4" x 8"
Backsplash accent: Susan Jablon Mosaics Bijou 1x3" subway in glossy and frosted.

There is a funny story to how the accent in the backsplash came about, I had ordered two sample sets from Susan Jablon and decided against a whole backsplash in glass. However, I could not bring myself to just throw the lovely glass subways in the bin, either! So I thought up the accent stripe and used nearly all sample tiles there, glossy and frosted alternating. Here you see the tile just before I picked the order in which I wanted them put up on the wall:

More photos of the kitchen and the rest of the house can be found on Photobucket, I have provided the link below. I'll be happy to answer any of your questions on details of the kitchen.

It has been quite an adventure, I would not have gotten this far without the help of many, this wonderful community included! Thank you!

Love, Petra

Congratulations!

Congratulations!

I think you have a lovely space with great function.

And the colored tile in the backsplash is my favorite part of all! It makes the kitchen come alive.

Wonderful setting and charming home:)

I hope you and your father enjoy the new kitchen for many years to come.

Becky

I thought I'd be the odd ball with the BS accent strip being my favorite! wow! and the flooring...and the display shelf... and the beams... the WHOLE kitchen! awesome!

just plop it in my space and i'll be a happy camper!

a beautiful job with preserving the character of the room.

also love the outside of the home - and the benches.

SQ

Great job making it more functional without losing the character. The rainbow strip is a nod to the original multicolored tile splash. I like the grooved panel on the island echoing the beaded board cabs but on a bigger scale. I would love to have your heated floors.

Is that a freezer next to the fridge?

How much land do you have?

MCMesprit: I love that cooktop, especially the centre wok burner. I am sure many happy meals will be cooked on it.

phoggie: that's my dad you see scooting around, one knee on a cushion, breaking up the floor with a jackhammer. He always tells me he doesn't mind this sort of jobs, but looking at this picture it looks awful. I know you had your share of knee trouble, so I can imagine your feelings.

plllog: the shelves are a happy accident, really, like the rainbow tiles. The island top is constructed of 2 butcherblock tops stuck together, the offcuts form the shelves.

ptamom: Yeah, Spain has it all ... :-)

boxerpups: Funny thing is, Quinn only eats his kibble from these bowls. He will only drink from this bowl, which I made for him:

dianalo: imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, isn't it? :-))

lazydaisynot: Lovely cities, I am very fortunate to have these beauties less than a 2hr drive from my home:

Adrienne2011: You are absolutely correct, those are dried chilies. I just needed a place for them till the shelves were put up (to make sure they hang down next to the shelves), so that's why they ended up on the coatrack.

liz_h: Yes, the baskets with kitchen and teatowels are from Ikea, I could't find them on the US site, but I know the Ikea sites are sometimes not complete. I give you the link of the Spanish Ikea site, so you have at least the name of the product.
http://www.ikea.com/es/es/catalog/products/90177457

desertsteph: Those benches are a prettyaddition and a lovely seat for an early morning cup.

VickieHallmark, Brickton: we would have loved to keep the entire strip of exposed untreated brick, but it would have been impossible to keep it clean behind the cooktop. I tried some protective products on other bits of brickwork around the kichen but they all altered the appearance of the bricks too much. In the end I decided that this was a 'function over form' thing and went with tile behind the cooktop.

oldhousegal: Yes, what better way to fill up 2 difficult spots ... :-) The M�laga region was once famous for its sweet wines, a vine disease put an end to the extensive production in this region. Still, Spain produces many fine wines so we are never without.

edie_g: Yes, that's a freezer. Way smaller than what you are used to, but it serves us well. We try to cook from scratch everyday, so we can make do with a smaller freezer.

houseful: We are fairly certain that the original property only consisted of the central part of the house. The 2 extensions left and right were later added on. The house stands on 5.000 square metres, which is roughly 1,24 acres.
This shot was taken at the bottom of our field (which forms about 2/3 of the total plot).

We let our neighbour use most of the plot to graze his young horses. Here they are on the plot next to ours:

Once again, thank you for all your lovely comments and interest in this little corner of the world. For those interested I've added some extra pictures of places near to where I live.

Love, Petra

You did a beautiful job in a lovely house. Hmmmm. I'll have something with garlic and potatoes and chili and a glass of wine. Something green, too.

Wishing you and your father many smiles at home.

Kellykath (and others who like to travel): :-) There is one American airline that lands in Malaga, the airport nearest to us. If anyone ever would like to stop by, I'm sure something could be sorted out.

I have Luna Pearl granite as well. I have heard that it is also called Bianco Sardo, but I was not aware some call it Blanco Perla. That is good to know.

I like how the subway tiles are beveled and I love the thin colored tiles.

Enjoy your new kitchen!!!

-Laurie

i like the idea of a small upright freezer - will have to look more here for one. didn't see one yet with a nice handle on it like yours has.

and the slide out bins (under counter) that you have towels in - what brand are they? Are they just available in your area? would like to find those here where I could get some - they look so handy for a number of things - in the kitchen and in a bathroom. So far I haven't found anything like them thru google.

will have to drool over your pics some more I'm sure.

The slide out bins are by Ikea, they are called Rationell Variera. I tried to find them on the US website, but didn't see them, which does not mean Ikea USA does not sell them, the Ikea sites are notorious for being incomplete. I linked the product from the UK site for you. If you are near to an Ikea look for them in the kitchen department.
HTH, Petra

and the pull out - IKEA! figures... we do have a store w/in about 30 miles or so. I'll try to get over there sometime soon. i have a feeling if I get inside the store I'll be in there looking for a long time! I also bookmarked the link you provided so I can find it again.
thx so much!

Anyway, just heavenly. I hope you're enjoying your new kitchen!

I received the glass tiles as all separate pieces, not on a sample board. Some had the mesh backing still attached to them, so I suspect they were all pieces cut from larger 'mats'. I removed the mesh and any excess glue that got stuck to the sides. I left on the white coating at the back. HTH, Petra