A little background about my house and the renovation project. I have lived 11 years in a 1906 rowhouse in Washington, DC. I did some minor cosmetic renovations when I first moved in but recently decided to convert the basement into an apartment. That started a massive renovation project that included the basement, kitchen, adding a bathroom to the master bedroom, adding A/C, etc. It was very rocky in the beginning, but slowly the dust and debris stopped bothering me and I learned how to interact with my contractor. So, fast forward 12 months and I have a house that I absolutely love!

Here are the details. I copied a2gemini's detailed list of kitchen finishes.

Cabinets: Ikea cabinet boxes
Doors: Scherr Cherry Wood Shaker w/ Edge Profile - A and Cinnamon Cherry Stain
Floor Tile: Bianco Winter Matte 12x24
Pulls: Amerock Essentialz Satin Nickel 3 and 5 inch and 160mm arch pulls
Countertop: Colonial Cream
Sink: Kraus 32 inch stainless steel
Backsplash: Sand Glass Clear Mosaic Tile 1x6 - Mosaic Tile Brand
Paint - SW Loggia
Faucet: Delta 9159-AR-DST in Arctic Stainless
Soap Dispenser: LDR 551 P1200SS
Range: GE Profile
OTR Microwave: GE Profile
Refrigerator: Whirlpool
Dishwasher: Bosch
W/D: LG TurboWash
Pendant lights: Inhabit Living Reclaimed Bottle Light

Here are before and after pictures. My contractor did a fabulous job of making the most out of the limited space I have.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Hidden Broom closet and pull out pantry:

Combined 2 utensil drawers in order to save money on Scherr drawer fronts:

Converted an Ikea deep drawer into a trash pullout:

Lazy Susan and Spice Drawer (will label spices next year):

Here are pictures of the rest of the first floor which has also been remodeled:

Thank you everyone for your help. I'm picking up my parents, sister and brother-in-law from the airport today and can't wait to enjoy my new kitchen with my family.

Happy Holidays!

Love the whole first floor...can we see the rest;) ??? c

Wow - what a transformation. You really moved thinks around to make a much more functional and fun kitchen. Love your cabs, counters, BS and lighting. Your bar stools coordinate so nicely and pulls your kitchen together! Love your hydrangeas to give an added enhancement!

I wish I had thought of your utensil idea earlier - thought of it afterwards when I was going to have to split up my mega drawers - but solved that problem to some degree - at least for now.

How do you like your KA tea kettle? I asked Santa for a tea kettle and gave him a few choices - so something might pop under the tree.

Your spice drawer looks very interesting. Would you tell more about it sometime?

I am in process of planning an Ikea kitchen in our older home with a small galley kitchen. We are considering Sherr's doors and have to deal with visible laundry in the kitchen area as well. I will be referring to this post lots and lots!

Would you do the Ikea boxes with Sherr's doors again? Also, how did the cost compare to just getting the Ikea doors, or did you compare that?

Congratulations!

As for getting the spices all prettily labeled, you know there are basically 2 types, right? Those who wouldn't go to bed until it was all perfect, and those for whom there is, happily, always time to get to it? I'd be interested in reading a good article on us. :)

LOVE your painting in the dining area, too. Have a wonderful time with your family and report back how your kitchen functioned with the extra people. It's interesting to hear how a space does when put to the test.

Congratulations!

Nancy

It's so modern and clean. Just love it!
Enjoy showing it off.

L.

Trailrunner - Thanks for asking about the rest of the house. I added more photos to the end of this post.

a2gemini - I hope you believe in the saying that imitation is the greatest form of flattery. :-) Plus, I'm too lazy to reinvent the wheel. I love your kitchen. Because I have been so focused on my renovation project, I haven't kept on top of GW posts. I'm going to spend the holidays perusing the site and gushing over all the finished kitchens. In terms of the tea kettle, I really like that it's small and boils water quickly. What I don't particularly care for is the handle design. Pouring out the water while pressing the handle is kind of awkward. But, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it again because of the color.

Chicgeek - I bought those stools on Amazon.com for $35 each (24 inch AZ Saddle Counter Stool). They came in red and I spray painted them Sage Green (Rustoleum spray paint from Home Depot). Let me tell you, I have never spray painted anything in my life, but it was so easy to spray paint those stools. I read up on the process and just took the plunge. I think the key is patience, using a primer, 2 light coats of paint and finishing it off with polyurethane. I, however, wouldn't recommend taking on this project during the winter...like I did...because the paint will crack if it's below 50 degrees.

Marti8a - I was feeling woefully inadequate and overwhelmed when I saw other people's spice drawers/racks. But then the idea came to me when I began to use those Ikea utensil drawer dividers. Ikea has deep drawer organizers for $15 (I believe) that you have to order from a salesperson like you do the cabinet boxes. I assembled 3 of those dividers and organized the spices by spice category, i.e., Italian spices, Indian spices, everyday spices, etc. We'll see if it works. I think labeling the tops of the bottles would help visiting cooks. We'll see if I ever get around to doing that. Haha!

Kailuamom - Thank you so much. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. I love that I was able to save money and still end up with a nice kitchen. The trick to Scherr is building the kitchen and then ordering the Scherr doors. I fought with my contractor about this because it was going to take a very long time - 2 1/2 months - for the doors to come in. But as we were building the kitchen, we found other ways to arrange the cabinet boxes to make it more functional. AND, we discovered that Ikea horizontal cabs are a hair wider than their wall cabs. Overall, it takes a lot of time and detail to order separate doors (see pic below), but Tanner at Scherr was just absolutely amazing to work with. We communicated by email for about 10 months, trading those Ikea kitchen print outs. The only glitch was that two sets of doors were the wrong size and I had to wait another month for the replacement doors. Other than that, everything came in perfectly. In terms of cost, if I had gone with Adel doors with glass horizontal cabs, it would have been $6000. With Scherr doors, it ended up being $13,000. And, the quote from Great Indoors for Diamond cabinetry was $28,000 without the W/D doors.

Badgergal - I've read on this site about post-reno blues. Just like everyone else, my energy and time have gone into renovating my house for the last 12 months. It feels weird to come home and not have to jump on the computer to hunt down a reasonable priced light fixture or faucet. So, I'm fighting the urge to take on another project. I am determined to relax and enjoy my new house. And, thanks for your help with the pulls. I couldn't find the Hickory Hardware in a local store and the prices online were outside of my budget.

tbb123 - I completely agree! I can't remember if it was Marcolo who knocked some sense into me by telling me I was all over the place and needed to take my time to plan out my kitchen. My kitchen would have been a hot mess had I moved forward with my earlier plans. Thank goodness for GW and the honest feedback.

Rosie - I think I will be in the second camp. If the kitchen I lived with for 11 years is any indication, I will likely live with that spice drawer for 11 more years. Ha!

Chiefy76 - Yes, my contractor is an Ikea pro. His own kitchen is from Ikea. When I got quotes from other contractors, they were going to charge more for having to assemble an Ikea kitchen. There are a lot of boxes and gadgets, but it took them about 2 days to build the cabinet boxes and another 2 days or so to put up the Scherr doors. I've added a URL to a post with pictures of my Ikea cabinet boxes.

alex9179 - yes, I'm curious about how this kitchen will perform, especially the area near the refrigerator. I went back and forth about whether putting the refrigerator so close to the peninsula would create a bottleneck. We shall see....

These are pictures of the basement apartment. Converting the basement was the best decision ever. It added a significant boost to my home value, I found a great tenant in 1 day and the rent covers most of my monthly mortgage payment.

Here's a picture of the front of the house. I replaced the ugly wood door with a glass door that's painted red.

I added a bathroom to my bedroom by taking space off of the middle bedroom.

Still left on the renovation list is adding radiator covers and replacing the living room light fixture. Any suggestions? That's the original light fixture but it doesn't go with the rest of the house.

Wow, this was a long post. Sorry about that.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!!!

I love what you did with the basement and aren't you lucky to have the income .

I have almost the same teak stool in my bathroom !!

I was thinking of you yesterday but didn't see your post until this morning. So happy for you that it all came together so beautifully AND that you have family with you to share it for the holiday.

I spent my entire childhood through young adulthood seeing those row houses (lived in one near Walter Reed). Yours is just wonderful. Enjoy!

Javachik

I love the elements you selected. I'm sure glad you pointed out that the horizontal boxes and vertical wall cabinets weren't the same...I never looked at IKEA sizes that closely.

I did have 2 questions. We too were looking at IKEA. We were originally going to go with the Nexus Brown/Black but now are looking at the ramsjo red-brown. It's a bit more red then I would like but I was wondering if it's just that way more so in the store lighting. Yours seem a warmer brown stain. Was that the reasoning behind your going with Sherr's doors or did you have another reason?

The second question arises about the frig position. We were looking at placing ours in a similar position. With the extra visitors visiting it may give you an idea sooner then later of how much of a problem it is.

Again, great job!

aloha2009 - I test drove my kitchen today and the refrigerator by the peninsula does NOT work. I noticed folks had to wait for the person to finish grabbing a drink before they could enter the kitchen. Oh well! Luckily, I don't have many guests. I went Scherr just for that reason - I didn't like any of the darker stains. Adel was close but it would have matched my floors too much. And, Ramsjo was too red. I tried to match the stain of the cabinet doors to that of my dining room table.

DCcurlygirl & Smaloney - I need to also credit a lot of the design work and my sanity to my FABULOUS architect. He is so patient and knowledgeable and really goes out of his way to ensure the project is being done according to his design. So, I would definitely recommend the pair of them. My contractor is a little rough around the edges. He's an acquired taste, as he likes to describe himself. If you can overlook his cussing and brash personality, you'll see that he is a really great person. AND, he doesn't use subcontractors. He has a crew of 10 guys who are super reliable, respectful and trustworthy. It was the same 4 guys showing up at 8:15am every day, except Sundays.

Here's their info:

ARCHITECT
Jason Grant
Emotive Architecture
jgrant@emotivearch.com
202-329-5564

CONTRACTOR
Glen Sperling
Harmony Remodeling
harmonyremodeling@gmail.com
202-365-4147
www.harmonyremodeling.com

Let me know how it goes! I'm excited for you.

Btw, love the front of your home too, it has such great character.

First you had an "eh" little pocket kitchen, and now it's such a gem full of elegance and gorgeousness. What a joy it must be to walk into and see the difference!

And the apartment is such a wonderful addition, too...Good job and congratulations!

Well done & I hope you really enjoyed your new space over the holidays!

Well done & I hope you really enjoyed your new space over the holidays!