Geargirly aren't you sweet : ) Thanks!

Our kitchen has been roughly 80% finished since last summer. We built a 900 sq ft addition so that we could increase the kitchen, add on a large mudroom, laundry room, 3/4 bath and two bedrooms upstairs. It was quite the project! I designed it myself and had an architect do the drawings. I designed the kitchen with help from this invaluable forum. It works better than I could've imagined in my wildest dreams. Now hopefully I'll be able to afford to pay it off! We built the house in '88 and just when it was paid in full I got the bright idea to add on, lol. I do love the new space, though and all it offers! My husband is a huge gardener and I get to "put up" all his bounty. So the farm kitchen layout gets used for canning, pickling, freezing, baking, cooking. All of this space would have come in handy when the kids were younger. But life is what it is!

We still need to install trim above the cabinets, shelves above the farm sink, beadboard in the eating area. We have a spot reserved for a soapstone heater, but it will be awhile before we install this because the prices went up even for the DIU kits. We will also eventually flank the bay window with cabinets to hide the audio equipment, etc. A window seat will be built into the bay window also someday. Because of all these loose ends, I haven't put pictures in the FKB. But I do have photos that I took last year still in my Photobucket that I'm happy to re-post. I posted a million already on GW over time but they seem to be lost in cyberspace. Let me know if you have any questions.

This is a shot of the addition that afforded all the room to enlarge the kitchen, etc. The deck still needs to be expanded.

This is the old kitchen. Yes I picked out that wallpaper! What was I thinking?? I even had curtain made to match, oy. I sold all of these cabinets on Ebay for $400.00 to a carpenter. He helped us dismantle them and load them on his truck.

View from eating area to kitchen. The doorway in the distance goes into the dining room.

We've since finished the back of the island and installed the rest of the hardware. You can see a glimpse of a small table in the foreground. That table is located where our soapstone heater will eventually go.

This is a 7" deep cabinet at the end of the island. It faces the stove so it's very convenient for holding spices, oils, etc.

Our DCS 5-burner range has a large oven. I also have a GE Single/Double which is a double oven in the space of a single. So we have a large, medium, and small oven. They all get used!! The pull out is stainless steel from rev-a-shelf. I use one bin for composting.

The "message center" is basically open shelves topped with a wine rack installed horizontally. We keep mail, keys, cell phones, cook books, phone books, pens, tape, scizzors, etc. here.

This is the side entrance into the mudroom. The garden sink and beverage center is located at the far end of the mudroom. The main kitchen is directly across from the garden sink area.

Another view of mudroom. The antique hi boy is where we store baking supplies. The top shelf of the coat closet is where I store large canning pots, etc.

This 24" wide closet is used to store our vacuum and also as a food pantry.

This is the wider cupboard (located next to the refrigerator) that we use mostly for the food I put up (can, dehydrate, pickle).

Our main kitchen sink has a double bowl. The large bowl is full size, and the smaller bowl fits our dish drainer. We bumped the window out 8" so there would be room behind the sink. I got this (and other) ideas from friends on GW.

Judydel, you have an amazing space! Can you tell me more about how you are liking your GE single/double oven installed under-counter? My DH fell in love with that model and picked up a floor model when he saw an amazing deal before we were certain about our kitchen plans. Now we're quite sure that if we use it, it has to go under-counter like yours. It would be our only oven, and I'm hoping we wouldn't find it annoying to have the controls so low.

Dee, I do love our double/single! Using it under the counter hasn't been a problem. It isn't any lower than a conventional oven/range (the smaller top oven is actually higher than a conventional oven/range). I find it difficult to see the controls without my reading glasses because they are light letters on black, not because of it being under counter.

They heat up fast, which is wonderful! But be careful when you remove items from the top oven because if your arms are angled up, you can easily burn yourself on the filament.

I also have a full size oven, as you know, to roast turkey, chicken, beef. This large oven is our dirty splatter oven. The medium sized oven gets used to bake casseroles and baked goods. The small oven is used in lieu of a toaster oven. It's perfect for heat ups! When we are doing big baking projects I usually use the small and mid size ovens. (When we're doing a crazy amount of baking at Christmas, I'll even fire up all three ovens!) I only use one rack even on the mid sized oven. There really isn't enough room to use two racks.

Thanks for the compliment : ) Let me know if you have any other questions. Lucky you for buying the double/single on sale! I got a good deal on my farm sink through Craig's List, but paid full price for all of the appliances.

Thank you for such a quick response! Very good to hear that the low installation is no problem. I can't even remember the last time I roasted a big turkey, but DH is always annoyed when he wants to make 2 dishes at different temperatures at the same time. Sounds like this will work well for us. Getting rid of my countertop toaster oven would be the cherry on top!

I tried to respond but my computer froze! Thanks so much for the pictures, your house is gorgeous, I can only imagine how much you must love it! I love everything you have done!

You're welcome geargirly. And thanks for your kind words. I do love everything we've done so far. Now if we could just finish, lol. We broke ground on the addition 4 years ago! For some reason we've gotten complacent with things the way they are and don't even think about finishing up. Just typing this and thinking about it is giving me some well needed incentive. But really it's DH that has to become inspired, lol. I'm the brains and he's the brawn of this project for the most part.

You're welcome geargirly. And thanks for your kind words. I do love everything we've done so far. Now if we could just finish, lol. We broke ground on the addition 4 years ago! For some reason we've gotten complacent with things the way they are and don't even think about finishing up. Just typing this and thinking about it is giving me some well needed incentive. But really it's DH that has to become inspired, lol. I'm the brains and he's the brawn of this project for the most part.

Judydel - beautiful kitchen - can you tell us a little about that great chandelier? It is just gorgeous!

Thanks Calimama : ) I bought the chandelier from Restoration Hardware.

http://www.restorationhardware.com/catalog/product/product.jsp?productId=prod1509251&categoryId=cat1701013

I bought it during some sort of annual sale.

Calimama I remember now. I bought it during their "famous fall lighting sale".

I love your "dishwasher inspector" :D

Fantastic kitchen...makes me dream of someday...

Don't let him fool you! He has grown up to be quite the little bad boy imp.

Here's another photo of him when he was still a cute kitty that I think you'll enjoy.

May I ask where you got your mudroom sink? Love it!

You have done a superb job with the creation of your kitchen/mudroom. I really enjoyed it!

Thanks chrismo. I appreciate everyone's compliments but I have to emphasize that I NEVER WOULD HAVE ENDED UP WITH THE KITCHEN OF MY DREAMS WITHOUT GARDEN WEB!! I mean that sincerely. So many patient, kind members helped me make various decisions. Seeing all of the photos from Boxerpups and others helped tremendously. This forum helped me figure out WHAT I WANTED and then helped me figure out HOW TO. I'm so grateful To answer your question, I bought the sink for a steal on Craiglist. It's a Kohler Harborview sink with legs. It can also be hung without legs, although I feel much safer with the legs because this sucker is heavy!

I bought the wooden drainer, which was pricy, but we do use it and love having it. The sink basin is just about 4 full feet wide!! When I'm doing a canning project or something that requires the full use of the sink, I just remove the drainer like in the photo below.

I bought the sink grids, which were also pricy, but I got a deal by buying them from a showroom sink. Each day my DH gathers eggs from the hen house and places them on the grids to wash later on. With the sink grids, we're able to continue to use the sink without the eggs getting wet or rolling around. Then after they're washed they dry on the drainer without rolling around.

Works so well for use in this respect. We also use this sink for a multitude of other purposes such as washing/filling large pots, canning projects, filling/emptying buckets, washing paint trays, washing/soaking veggies, potting plants, etc. We don't have a small dog or small child in the house currently, but this sink work exceptionally well for these purposes also.

Hi Judy,

I too have admired your kitchen and am glad to see more pictures. Thanks for the good info on the single double oven as I am getting one also.

Cata you're welcome! I didn't post these photos before for Dee, because she already has the oven and doesn't need photos. But these may be of interest to you.

BOTTOM OVEN OPEN:

UPPER OVEN OPEN:

Your kitty is drinking AND doing dishes and your pup is taking a nap. What a delightful pair they are! I love your spaces. It seems that you have utilized every square inch for functionality but with warmth and charm as well. It is not only beautiful but the fact that you love it, makes it all worth it!!

OT waiting for August for my native tomatoes to ripen. Your sinkful made me drool:)

Judydel,

Looooooooooooove your kitchen!
Especially the fun sink.
Those tomatos looks ravishing.
~boxerpups

Judydel...one more question about your amazing kitchen...I love every element! I especially love the tile. Can you tell me about it...what kind it is? Ceramic? travertine? I like that it looks old...("old" as in FABULOUS!) That is what I am looking for in my house and haven't found yet. Thanks for sharing your pictures...

Capegirl sorry for the late reply about our tile. It's Florida Tile, Pietra Art Chiseled Edge Travertine in the Modular Pattern and the color is called picasso.

Basically it's natural stone. It hides EVERYTHING, never looks dirty, never even looks like it needs to be swept. Of course we do . . .

I have it in our kitchen, dining area of the eat in kitchen, mudroom, laundry room, guest bath. Can't say enough good stuff about it!

Hi Judydel-Just wanted to pop in and say how much I love your kitchen.

I still remember that you responded to my very first thread here about those oversized farmhouse/drainboard style sinks. I wasn't able to fit one--one of the many great ideas I had for the kitchen that I had to abandon--but every time I see photos of your harborview my heart skips a beat. (And yes I also longed for tomatoes seeing your photo!)

I love how that sink captures (to me anyway) these romantic notions I have of keeping chickens and putting up food. Since it looks like you do, I have decided to just enjoy living vicariously through you. :)

Thanks for sharing your photos again and congratulations on such a wonderful kitchen.

"I love how that sink captures (to me anyway) these romantic notions I have of keeping chickens and putting up food."

littlesmokie that's one of the nicest things you could have said about my kitchen. That's exactly what I wanted to create . . . a romantic notion of a working farm kitchen . . . from a time when (what is now called) micro farms were common place and putting food up and family dinners was the norm.

Everything is grown organically and GMO free.

Here are more photos of the fruits of my husband's labor. He grows it and I cook/bake/put up the bounty. Just know that this is hard work, lol . . . and during long marathon days of working in my kitchen I can be very tired and not feel the romance quite as much until I get rested again, lol.

Getting ready to make fermented garlic dills in my Harsch crock

View from our Master Bedroom window. This is one of three vegetable gardens and then there's the greenhouse, mini orchard and berry patches.

This is the greenhouse early spring after it was tilled and readied for planting

Blueberries (just a fraction of what we pick each year from our netted patch)

My husband grows enough garlic to have for the whole year

The peaches are coming in now

My husband has about 200 raspberries bushes (each year he plants more) and he sells 1/2 pints of raspberries to a local farm stand.

Supercalifragelisticexpialidocious! (or something like that! ;^) )

The fruits now have my mouth watering, and I'm already drooling from that darned sink of yours! :^D

Judydel, Thank you SO much for all the great photos, comments! Love your beautiful kitchen! I am SO jealous of that sink and all your homegrowns too. I have a small city kitchen, so I don't have room for extra ovens, just one 30" range. May I ask how you like your DCS range? Do you have a 30" and is it big enough? It looks like you have this year's model?

WOW! A beautiful kitchen and great transformation. Well done! And the harvest you reap...wowzers! We are tilling up our garden and planting grass because we are poor at tending to it :( Wish I was your neighbor to pick your berries!

Oh...please do share what your counter top is !

judydel - your kitchen is beautiful, but I must say you made me feel really old!!! I saw you said you bought in 88 and just when you paid it off......I thought "Gosh, they paid that house off quick!".

Then I realized 1988 was over 20 years ago! How did that happen?!?!?!? LOL

Sorry to be OT, but could you tell me about your greenhouse?

I want your sink, I want your kitchen ... I think I want your life. sigh.

Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed that vicarious tour. I hope your are as happy with it all as just looking at it makes me!

Judydel, I love your kitchen with all the light and the way everything goes so well together but I especially love your Florida Natural Stone Tile, Picasso Pietra Art Chiseled Edge Travertine in the Modular Pattern. The grout color you chose is perfect for that tile. I love the French doors and all those windows with the window trim in the happy white color. Your doggie seems to enjoy your kitchen floor also! You kitten is so adorable and is probably now a handsome cat.

So sorry that I didn't see these more recent comments. I haven't been on GW lately. Thank you for all of your enthusiasm and lovely compliments : )

I'm only home on the weekends now, since my DD's ballet training is becoming more intense in NYC. I miss my kitchen most days!!

I'll try and answer all of your questions.

Elisa our DCS is a few years old. We bought it before we remodeled when our old range went kaput. I love it. The five burners are amazing. I can fit SO MUCH all at once. I'll post a photo to show you what I mean. Our oven is large and has a convection fan. When we were shopping ranges, the guy at the appliance store told me it's a reliable workhorse, which it has been so far. One of my favorite features is the ultra low burner setting. When you turn the knob all the way it goes to this ultra low setting. So without having to try and adjust the flame low, you just turn the knob all the way and it goes to this setting and the flame can't go out. Even if the flame did go out, it has the self re-ignite feature.

MIssy the counter are Julia Soapstone from Texeira in N.J. I adore them.

Kngwd I know whatcha mean! I can't believe my "baby" is 23. When we built the house he was still in my belly!

KitchenDetective the greenhouse is my husband's project. It's 60 feet long by 20 something feet wide. The cover is two layers of plastic with pumped air in between. He grows stuff in there in the summer that likes heat. But then he also plants another crop of greens, carrots, beets, etc in the late summer. The idea is to get this second crop to be full grown by the time early winter sets in. When winter sets in the plants become dormant. They don't freeze in the greenhouse because he covers the rows with plastic and they keep warm in this way. The moisture also gets trapped under the plastic so the rows stay moist without being watered. Anyway, then all winter we can go out and lift the plastic and pick fresh veggies : )

Judydel,

Your kitchen is perfect. I love it. What color are the cabinets and what is that pretty soft green wall color in the dining area? What paint did you use on your cabinets? Have they yellowed over time?

Judydel,

I love your kitchen.

How long are the pulls on your dishwasher and undercounter refrigerator? Thanks!

Lisa

CC, The cabinets are from Cabico and are painted Benjamin Moore Cloud White. The walls in the kitchen and dining area are painted Ellen Kennon Gustavian Grey. The cabinets have not yellowed, they were painted in the factory.

ljwrar the pulls are from Restoration Hardware. They are 8" and called "Ephram".

Thank you judydel!

Judydel, did you use a satin or a semi-gloss for your beautiful cabinets? I love them so much!

lynn I'm really not sure. Cabico factory painted them and I never saw the paint cans. They aren't shiny, but they aren't matt either. I'd say semi gloss.

Thank you Judydel for letting me know. I love your cabinets so much and your kitchen.