The house is finally done! Thank you so much GardenWeb and GardenWebbers for all of your help!

Here are pictures and details of my finished kitchen.

Happy New Year and Best Wishes!
janealexa

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Hardware on trash pull-out
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Pantry with pocket door, extra refrigerator in pantry
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Telescoping downdraft
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Outlet cover stained to match cabinets
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View into great room
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DETAILS:
Cabinets: Knotty Alder, custom cabinets with custom stains, highlighting details on island
Countertop: Tan brown granite with crescent edge, enhanced
Backsplash: AZ Tile tumbled camargo (travertine) 2x4, antique linen grout and caulk, light almond outlets/covers
Outlet covers on island/peninsula: unfinished wood covers that I bought from Home Depot and asked our cabinet maker to stain
Floor: White oak
Stovetop, telescoping downdraft, double wall oven: Kenmore Elite
Dishwashers, pantry refrigerator: Kenmore
Kitchen refrigerator: Whirlpool Gold
Sinks: Ticor
Faucets at both sinks: Delta Leland
Water filter faucet at prep sink: Aquasana
Soap dispensers at both sinks: Delta
Garbage disposals: ISE Evolution Pro Compact
Cabinet knobs: Amerock
Cabinet bin pulls: Cosmas
Trash pull-out pull: RK International
Counter stools: Hayneedle.com
Peninsula lights: Kichler Norwich
Breakfast nook light: Savoy House Oristano (discontinued)
Wall color: SW Kilim Beige
Ceiling/trim color: SW Alabaster

Tell me more about your "Shelf" in the ceiling area - are there up lights for this area - maybe it isn't a shelf but it looks like it. We have a shelf in our sunroom/kitchen divide and still trying to figure out how to use it.

How wide are your drawers under your cooktop - our longest drawers were 42 and I had a failure - no one mentioned to include the weight of the drawer as part of the total weight (I asked the question but KD said I was OK - oops!) I love my big drawers and working on a fix.

More pictures of what is stored in your drawers!

OldBat - that handle would look great in your kitchen!!

oldbat2be-Thank you and yes, it is a huge relief to be done! The door at the end of the sink run is an appliance garage, but we use it to store our compost bin. I searched high and low for a trash bin pull-out. I found this beautiful one for 20.23 shipped on myknobs.com. I had a coupon at the time so got it for even less: http://www.myknobs.com/rkicp617vb.html

a2gemini-we have two types of lighting in the soffit. One switch is rope lighting. At night I like to turn on the undercab lights and the rope lighting. Then the other switch is fluorescent lighting. They put in the softest fluorescent lighting possible, it lights up the room well without being too harsh. The same two types of soffit lighting are also in the great room.

Here is a pic of the soffit lighting in the great room (before furniture)
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As far as the drawers, our cabinet maker is still making organization pieces for me. The large drawers are 39 in wide. Here is a pic of the other side of the island (before hardware). I love my deep and wide pot drawers.

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I love almost all the kitchens I see on gardenweb for their own unique styles, and you can always admire a kitchen even when it's not "you" ... but this one I could totally move into without changing a single thing. .... When would you like me there? :-)

Seriously, I love all your choices, every single one of them. The cabs, counters, flooring (love), the backsplash (perfect), lighting, and hey, especially love those views!! But I don't suppose you'd want to trade me for my view of neighbours 8 feet away on each side, lol.

Great job. Congratulations and enjoy your beautiful new home.

a2gemini, thank you :)

taggie, LOL, thanks for your sweet message and for making me smile! Come on over, I'll put some tea on ;)

michoumonster, thank you! Yes, I am happy with the evolution pro compact. It works really well and it is so quiet. I have an air switch at the the main sink which I love. Then at the prep sink I have a toggle switch inside the cabinet. I have never used that disposal. I do have to mention that we compost so I don't put anything big down the disposal...

Your dark counter tops are also beautiful with the dark cabinetry. We have been advised to go with light counter tops because our floor will be dark as well. But it is nice to see an example where it works so well. I don't have to be so constricted with my choices when that time comes.

Karen.1288, thank you. It was difficult photographing my kitchen. The perimeter cabs and the granite are not as dark in person. And I could not seem to capture the detail of the granite in the photos. We decided on the granite before construction even started. Then I found GW and saw so many other types of granite that I really liked...but we had already purchased the tan brown slabs for the entire house. Good luck with your cabinetry, I look forward to seeing pics!

annsch and sanjuangirl, thank you! I am in the Southwest :)

treasuretheday, glad to reconnect, I appreciate all of your great input during my build :) And thank you for your very kind comments, so glad you like it :)

LIKES:
-Refrigerator recessed into the pantry so it doesn't stick out. The builder had the dimensions of the refrigerator when they were framing the house. The cabinet maker also had the dimensions ahead of time in order to make the refrigerator cabinet have a built-in look. The cabinet is deeper and wider than it appears in case we ever have to replace our fridge with a larger one. Love the built-in look without the built-in price!
-Double ovens - I like to use the second oven as a warming oven. We have a cabinet drawer under our double ovens. There is an outlet back there in case we ever want to put in a warming drawer. I also like how the ovens can be used as convection or conventional ovens.
-Appliance garage - I actually don't use it as an appliance garage. I like how I can hide our compost container in there.
-Non traditional pendant lights over peninsula - they are actually foyer lights and I love how they look.
-Breakfast nook light - I searched high and low for something different. I get many compliments on it.
-Two dishwashers - they work out great for when we have company. When we don't have company we use one as a drying rack for when we handwash dishes, pots, etc. It keeps the counters clear
-Deep and wide pot drawers
-Mostly drawers on my lowers
-Lots of cabinet space allows me to use dishes, etc that were difficult to use in my old house because they were so hard to get to.
-Large handle different from other hardware on trash pull-out - easy to open and easy for guests to identify
-Extra refrigerator in pantry (as opposed to having an extra one in garage)
-movement sensor light in pantry so light automatically turns on when I walk into pantry then automatically turns
off shortly after. There is an option to turn it on so the light stays on.
-my bridge burner on my stove top, was great to make gravy at Thanksgiving and Christmas using the pan drippings in the large roasting pan.
-air switch for garbage disposal at main sink
-built-in soap dispensers
-single bowl main sink makes it easy to clean large pots, pans, and platters. I would never get a double bowl sink again!
-polished chrome fixtures - I love the shine that they bring in to the kitchen. We originally had ORB fixtures in the plans but they were more than double the price of chrome.
-cabinet hardware that blends into the cabinets
-pull-down faucet - love these high arc faucets, but they are not too high that they cause a lot of splashing. I like having the same size faucets at both the main sink and the prep sink. I was going to get the smaller version at the prep sink, but again it was much more expensive for some reason. Having the same size at both sinks makes it look very balanced IMO.
-highlights on the island - the dark highlights on the island tie in the darker perimeter cabs - gives it a cohesive look
-raised panel cabinets and paneled drawer fronts - we upgraded our cabinets and we are glad that we did. It was worth the extra money. We did flat panel cabinets in the laundry room and bathrooms.
-bun feet at island - originally I was going to integrate 4 posts at the island but it was very costly. I was able to obtain the freestanding look with bun feet and they were much more affordable

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DISLIKES OR THINGS I'D DO DIFFERENTLY
-my stovetop scratches VERY easily. If I had known I would've made sure that I used microfiber cloth on it to clean initially. It is scratched up from metal utensils touching it, from the grates, and from just using paper towels to wipe up spills. I wish I would've been more careful with it.
-I would've used a slightly darker grout color so I could see the individual tiles better. This is an easy fix with grout dye.

OTHER:
-We have an outlet in the pantry for a microwave. We did not use our microwave much in our other house. We never put one in this new house and we don't miss it at all. We reheat food on the stovetop or in our countertop convection oven.

Construction is difficult because there are so many details to attend to. Not to mention so many expenses. My "original" dream kitchen included pro/commercial appliances, a subzero fridge, and a huge range with a beautiful mosaic backsplash. But due to budget and the layout of the kitchen, I had to pass on these items. As I mentioned previously, I also wanted different granite after I saw such beautiful granite with a lot of movement here on GW. However, we purchased tan brown slabs for the entire house before construction even started. But in the end I am very happy with the results and it is a dream kitchen to me :)

Our home was built with views in mind, and the builder put so many windows in the kitchen, there is very little space for cabinets on one entire wall!! We have the views but I'd rather have cabinets in the kitchen!

We meet with our contractor today and I will mention the deep and wide pot drawers!

Wonderful post!

Suzi

waterpondgal, No, our island does not have a seam. Hmmm, that is a good question. The only seam we have inside is at our kitchen sink. Then our outdoor countertop is a long run with one seam. I don't mind it outside, but I'm not sure if I would want that inside...especially if there is no stovetop or sink to distract from the seam. Maybe you can post your question here on GW and see if anyone has/had the same experience? I know I have done a search of granite seams in the past here. Some of them looked fine, but it also depends on the type of granite you have (color, amount of movement, etc). Maybe you can ask your granite fabricator to show you pics of some seams that they have done? Good luck!

desertdance, thanks so much! We had a similar issue. I could've put a wall up between the kitchen and the great room. That would've allowed me to either have more upper cabinets or have a stove with a mosaic backsplash. But in the end we chose to keep the open floorplan. It allows us to enjoy more views from the great room as well. I think you will be happy with your choice, I love looking at the views everyday! Just make the most of your cabinets, such as organizers, drawers instead of lower cabinets and/or pull out shelves in your lower cabinets. Good luck with your new kitchen, I'm sure it will be lovely!

ppbenn, thank you so much! We use the pantry fridge like a fridge that people would have in their garage or basement...all the extras such as extra milk, drinks, meats, etc. OR anything that just doesn't fit in the main fridge. I love having the extra fridge right there without having to run down to the garage! I do think that I might still get an extra freezer for the garage one day :)