I so enjoyed your pictures that I had to go through them 3x! The soapstone is SPECTACULAR! I love the style and wood tone of your cabs, the function of your space, and I ADORE the way you tiled up to the ceiling above your opening. CONGRATULATIONS! What a great accomplishment... one day I'll be able to post just like you! Many blessings in your new kitchen with your family.

Gorgeous!

What's the tile on the floor?

Spectacular! I just love your storage and the soapstone...really lovely. You are to be congratulated on everything. You also had great crafts people. Now get cookin' :) c

The pictures are gorgeous, of course, but it's even more spectacular in person! This kitchen could serve as the poster child for GW functionality, too. It's clear that you put thought into every detail, and all that effort was well worth it. You ended up with a real, live dream kitchen that you're sure to enjoy for many years to come! Congratulations!

P.S. You have a lovely family, too! :)

I love your kitchen. Those are some stunning cabs ;) You have the kind of kitchen that could hold everything and each thing has its place.
I love your thermos storage and think I will do a water bottle storage shelf just like it. It would not have occurred to me to put them on their sides.
I can see why you love your soapstone and leave it as it is. I'd be tempted to oil to see the transformation (like a magic trick), but it looks so warm in its natural state.
Your layout is so much more friendly now and your view so much better. You really made some nice changes!

Your kitchen is just beautiful!!! I love the soapstone, but can't talk my dh into it for our new kitchen.

Question - how do you like your sink? I have that one spec'd, but your kitchen is the first time I've seen someone use it. I think it looks wonderful, but would love some real life thoughts.

Also, I see you had to notch your drawer, is there a clearance issue for the cabinet under the drain board area? I'm hoping to put my trash compactor there, but would rather know now rather than later if I can't.

Thanks and congratulations on your beautiful new kitchen!!!

Loved going through your pictures. You did a fantastic job, It is beautiful. Enjoy Enjoy Enjoy :)

Birch is such a good, honest wood, it's a wonder folks don't use it more often.
Welcome to the club of "stoners".
Very well done, a modern classic.
Casey

Beautiful! Your soapstone is scrumptious, and your cabs are so pretty! Love the shots of your open drawers and doors! LOL on the "body keepers".

What is your floor?

Thanks for the compliments coming from those whose choices and kitchens have inspired me!

Remodelfla -- I love to see your progress. I feel like we've been in labor together, and my due date was just ahead of yours!

Darbuka and Shelayne: the floor is Daltile Cobblestone French Quarter. We put it throughout the house when we moved in 5 years ago. I really like it and didn't want to change it. Alas, they have discontinued it. I had to scramble to find one more box. I saw it at the local Harley Davidson store and knew that I wanted it in the house.

Dinnalo: the thermos storage happened because I am short therefore it it too hard to grab them when they are upright, and also because of the spacing of the shelves necessitated by the glass in those uppers, the thickness of the shelves, and the hinges. Ended up working out great!

Sewmuch2: I am very happy with the Stages sink. It does everything that I want it to do. A couple months ago I did this little review on it: the link is below. I don't think there would be a problem with the trash compactor, but I guess it depends on the height of the one you choose. I would absolutely choose that sink again.

Sombreuil: your counter is one of the reasons I knew I was interested in SS, and not oiling it. Unfortunately it is not magnetic. However, there is an area that when wet, the outline of Homer Simpson appears, if you squint and turn your head. Fox News may be coming to do a feature presentation on it . . . .

Trailrunner: Apple French Toast will be made tonight and baked in the A.M. for the Teacher Breakfast tomorrow (the welcoming back by the PTA). I'll have to post the pics tomorrow when they come out of the oven!

Have a great Sunday,
Rita

Here is a link that might be useful: My Kohler stages experience

Lovely transformation. Taking that wall down made such a big difference. Your birch cabinets are soo pretty!! It goes without saying that your counters are gorgeous and I really liked how you used the different tiles for the backsplash areas-they complement each other so nicely. Congratulations!!

Wow! Gorgeous! Those pics are magazine worthy especially the shot from the DR and the close up of the range. (I heart soapstone). Congratulations on a beautiful job.

Beautiful! I went through your photos twice just to take in all the details, and will probably look through them a few more times. I will also have the wall to the dining room taken out and on the other side of the kitchen, enlarging the pass thru to the family room. Seeing the difference that doing so made in your home helps alot when I get nervous about having that wall taken out.

That is one stylish towel pig!

And your kitchen is gorgeous, as I have noted many times. The drawers look so functional, and the wood is scrumptious, and it's clear that taking down a wall completely transformed your space.

Do you know what's amazing -- I think we have the same crystal! I can't even remember what it's called, but it sure looks the same in your pictures of your uppers.

I hope you have many years of happy cooking in your new space.

Rjr220 - You must be thrilled. What a transformation. I love the glass upper panel on the uppers, lighting the look of the tall cabinets without the expense of two different doors. Your hardware was a great choice and I could go on and on about your storage. Love the soapstone and your back splash choice was both bold and successful - stunning. Congratulations!

Eastbaymom -- OK, our mutual choices are getting weird! That's Mikasa stemware from when we got married 24 years ago -- they discontinued it about a week after we chose it, of course.

You have such great taste . . . .

What a beautiful kitchen! Love all your drawers and storage solutions, and your soapstone is just gorgeous! Congrats on a beautiful space tha I'm sure you must love.

You have so carefully planned each space. What thoughtful work went into this great kitchen! I especially love the soapstone. It's just stunning. Congratulations!

Lol! Slideshow starts with towel pig!

It's great that you took pics of the innards. That's a huge point of the whole project, isn't it? You are now officially extremely well organized.

The soapstone looks amazing. Lickably good! And it compliments the tile (or vice versa) very nicely.

How are you loving your induction range?

Happy cooking (and living)!

Love a deal! We went cheap on lighting, too, and I think it only adds to our kitchen. *What* exactly it adds I am not sure but isn't it personally satisfying getting something so cheap and *loving* it?
I am really a fan of birch cabs and love it when people post them on here. Looks really nice in the cherry stain. Like cherry, but birch.

Oh. My. God.

It is gorgeous -- one of the most improved kitchens I've ever seen on this site. I love everything you've done -- the chairs are great, the little touches, the soapstone, and the cabinets, which are so strikingly beautiful.

In my NEXT life I'm going to have beautiful kitchen cabinets with drawers below rather than sticking with the 1939 plywoods. ;)

Can't wait to see it IRL!

I'll say "ditto" to all the exclamations that have gone before -- it is everything they've said and more!

And that pig is a real scene-stealer!

But what I really want to know -- and maybe I'm remembering wrong -- wasn't there a little family controversy about a bottle opener or some tool that was attached to a cabinet? I vaguely remember that there was a strong feeling in the family that it need to stay 'out' but you were hoping it could go elsewhere. I didn't notice it in any of the after pics, so I'm betting you won that argument!

May many great meals and happy memories come out of your new kitchen!

--Amy

So lovely and, as everyone else as said, so very many things to admire. So I'll just say that (other than the soapstone: delicious) my favorite thing may be the way you used the accent tile so beautifully. I particularly like the tiling around the opening to the adjacent room. What a great touch.

Congratulations on a job done so well. And now the fun part: actually using that wonderful space.

It looks great!!!

Thanks to all -- once again, many of those of you who have responded have the kitchens that inspired me along the way -- cat_mom, your BS is one I drool over frequently!

The tilesetter had never done the tile around the pass-through like we wanted, but he was very picky and exacting as how it got done. The process of getting the BS done made me really admire the DIY'ers around here. I'm sure that the marriage counseling would have been much more expensive than having someone else do it.

Yes, the bottle opener. It's one of my son's momentoes, and I believe that he's mounted it somewhere in the mancave, the garage.

I do love the induction range, but my SS counter runs ahead of it now. I just love the practicality of the ss, and how it looks. I do love taking baked goods directly out of that range and popping them on the counter. Like these pans of baked french toast. I put these on the food porn thread yesterday -- here it is again! I have to remind my kids that when they go on to their own apartments, they'll have to go back to using racks and trivets on their counters.

and flipped

Mary -- where are pics of your new SS counters?

Sabjimata-- one of my kids recently did lick something off the counter. They are bad.