New kitchen pictures

Well, the first part of our kitchen redo is finished and I thought you might like to see some pictures.....

Here's the pantry cabinet and the cabinet above the fridge....the installers finally finished the crown moulding at the ceiling. We paid extra for the finished end pieces to the cabinets, too. That was Rick's idea. (New fridge to come next year.)


The microwave corner area. Those sun tunnels are wonderful! I have the above-cabinet lights turned on right now, but that's it. And look how light the kitchen is. On a dark day with no sun shining.


The stove area. I love the wood hood. Somebody asked me why I didn't put the microwave above the stove. Well, I am getting to the point where sometimes I have trouble lifting heaving things above my head. Like a Pyrex cup with 10 cups of water to make tea or a large mixing bowl with ingredients. Trying to get things out of the microwave at that height can be troublesome and, IMO, it's an accident waiting to happen....like spilling boiling water all over my arms, for example. Not going there. Besides, I love my wood hood.


Area between the stove and the sink. Right now, I have some of my Christmas bells displayed on the whot-not shelves.


The sink! I love my sink! On Thanksgiving, I put the turkey roaster in the sink to wash it and the sink dwarfed the roaster. It's just amazing....love, love, love the sink! I can easily wash large cookie sheets with no trouble. It's about 13 inches deep, including the undermount. Love the faucet and the dishsoap dispenser. I really like the granite backsplash at the window....I wasn't sure if I'd like it, but I do. Love my window, too!


The China cabinet. Right now, I have Winterberry dishes in the cabinet. After the holidays, I'll put in some Fiesta. I have all the Fiesta colors, so I'm sure it will look very festive. Our electrician said he'd put lighting in the cabinet, but I'm not sure it matters all that much to me. Those drawers are too shallow to hold silverware trays....we're storing our phone chargers and my Nook charger in there along with car keys. I'm hoping that will keep the counters cleaner and not so cluttered.

Rick would like to put a Roman shade in at the window....that way, he can put the shade down at night. I'm leery as I don't want to lose any light at all....and I'm afraid that a shade or even a valance will cut down on light. And it doesn't bother me that it's so open; I rather like it that way. So Rick and I are at odds with the window area.

The other day when it was snowing, I was standing at the window and honestly, it was almost like being outside. There was a bird flittering around in the weigela bush and Mollipop and I stood there quite a while watching the bird. I love my window.


Meet Felix! My sister gave Felix to me last night as a new kitchen gift. He holds a wine bottle. (We drank the wine that came with him last night, along with a bottle of Three Witches, a sparkling wine that's a favorite with both my sister and me.)


View media item 140212And here's the reason I chose Pategonia for my countertop.....that vein running through the granite. It reminds me of a marbled cake in a long cake pan....a Chocolate Ribbon, if you will. I fell in love with that vein from the very beginning and, although we did look at other granite slabs, I kept coming back to the Pategonia. I'm not sorry. And it wasn't the most expensive granite; on a tier from 1 to 6, it was only a Tier 2.


Here's another vein....this is my main work area, between the stove and the sink. Every piece of countertop has one vein; I really, really wanted to be able to have at least three veins and the granite fabricator did a great job. There's one seam and that's at the middle of the sink. You have to look for it.

I've also noticed that when I roll dough on the granite, I don't need nearly as much flour as I did on our old Formica countertop. I think it's because the granite is a bit cooler. Cooler temps mean a dough that's easier to work with. (The day after the granite was installed, I was rolling out pot pie dough. On the counter. With no trouble.)


So that's it for this year. Next year, we'll put in the new floor (which we did find one that we both like), the new fridge, and the backsplash. Although, to be honest, not having a backsplash doesn't really bother me. It will look nicer with a backsplash though.

I didn't want a big, showy kitchen....that was never on my mind. I wanted a kitchen that would say "Cook here!" One that was homey and comfortable, not one where I'd be afraid to cook in. And I'm really happy with our new kitchen.

Thanks for looking.

BEAUTIFUL!!!! You have marvelous taste! And I think the crown moulding adds the right touch.  Isn't getting a new kitchen exciting? 

Gotta love the kitty's tail in pic #1! Of course, with your exquisite taste, Pam, the fur color even coordinates with the wood cabinets.

It's gorgeous, Pam! I absolutely love the granite with the vein, and the cabinets are beautiful. I'll bet the pantry cabinet holds a lot. We have a shorter one, and it never ceases to amaze me how much stuff fits in it. "Felix" is adorable. The sage walls are perfect with the cabinets and counters.

Pam, the kitchen looks absolutely fabulous.  I know you spend a great deal in that room and now you can enjoy it even more and it's ready just in time for Christmas.  Ok I have to agree with Rick that the kitchen window would look even nicer with some kind of dressing.  You could make sure you get a shade that lets the light in but have privacy at night.  Love everything tho and that granite is beautiful.

I love it!!  Everything has come together beautifully!!

I dislike the microwave over the stove myself.  I spilled sauce pulling it out of my microwave once.  I was lucky I didn't burn myself but I made a horrible mess.  It came out of my clothing and all.  But one other thing that worried me was my DD was a new walker at that time and constantly under foot (she still is, but at least now I can tell her to get back a million times).  When we moved the stove to paint behind it I was finally able to wash it off the side of the stove where it had dripped down.  I also worry about dropping a heavy dish on the glass top range.  We didn't pick any of our kitchen appliances; the builder did.

My MIL just ordered her granite counter tops and she is having her cabinets refaced.  Shes another busy cook who deserves a good working kitchen!

What a wonderful job they did with the cabinets. And the granite looks almost good enough to eat.  You took great pictures of everything.  It is almost as if I were there.

All I can say is WOW! Everything is absolutely beautiful. I love the color of the cabinets, and the vein in the granite is so rich looking.

I do have to agree with Rick about a window covering. You can get something that lets in the light and that you can keep open during the day.

Happy cooking! I know you'll enjoy this for years and years to come.

Oh -- and I adore Felix! Where did you get him? I 'd love to get one for myself and as a gift for my nephew.

Your kitchen is gorgeous!  And I love the granite pattern, it's absolutely beautiful.  I like patterns with a lot of movement like that.

Everything looks great!!

That came out fantastic!

Thanks guys! I'm just so happy with the way it all turned out. MargeCat, you mentioned my taste. Well, I had to choose everything, so I'm glad that it came together....Rick stayed completely out of the whole thing. He refused to even comment on any of it. The only thing was the cabinets. A few years back, he mentioned the Carmel finish of the kitchen cabinets at work and how he thought it was so pretty. I kept remembering that and, when I actually saw the finish on a sample door, I liked it, too. But that was it. And even when I kept dithering and dithering about the granite slabs and I kept coming back to Pategonia, he never said a word. And even after I picked out Pategonia and that's what we ended up with, he never said anything. I even asked him.....Richard, what do you think????? He wouldn't say anything.....it was my kichen. He said that he was pleased with my choices and he wasn't saying anything.....this was truly to be my kitchen. I'm the one who wanted the sun tunnels and the larger window.....all he did was write the checks.

A GF came in to visit on Sunday afternoon and she stayed for dinner. She came into the kitchen, walked around, looked at me, and said, "Pam, this is YOUR kitchen! It's got PAM written all over it! I love it!"

Oh, I lied.....Rick did choose the sink. Yes, he did. I wanted a cast-iron undermounted sink in black. He (and the granite fabricator) talked me out of it, largely because a cast iron sink is insanely heavy,  and undermounting cast iron could have led to some other issues because of its weight. It could have been done, but they both said that they think I would have tired of it in time. The coating would have scratched easily and I wouldn't have liked that. Rick was intrigued with the Siligranite sinks. The fabricator deals with Blanco Siligranite sinks......when we went up to the granite center and I saw that sink, that was it. I said OK. And honestly? That sink just rocks. So easy to keep clean. (And besides, it gave Muffin a place to sleep!!!! We'll come out to the kitchen and see her curled up in the sink often......gives me an added incentive to keep it as clean and dry as I can. )

As for the window, we probably will get something......when I find something I like. In our last kitchen, it took me over 25 years to find the valance that we had for the old window. Made my mother spastic. And then when we finally did put the valance up, she came down for dinner soon after and that was the very first thing she noticed. The valance. Mothers! We'll do something because the openness really does bother Rick at night. I was in the kitchen baking cookies last night and he came out to talk to me. And it does bother him. Tabby, on the other hand, likes to sit in the corner and look outside. So between Muffin in the sink and Tabby trying to sit in the corner of the window at the sink, we've created a couple of new kitty places.

Lana, my sister gave Felix to me.....all I know is that she got him from a catalog that she receives. She gets a lot of "junk" catalogs from all sorts of companies. She saw the cat and she knew I'd love him. I'm the one who calls him Felix. I think he's pretty cool, too. (Mom had asked me what I was going to go with as far as decor in the kitchen and I didn't know. My sister went with grapes in her kitchen because she loves wine; she really loves checking out new wines and they've started to grow their own grapes now to make their own wine. But I wasn't sure what I wanted. I told Mom probably cats....because they're all over the place anyway.  ) So that's why my sister gave me Felix.

I'm glad you all like it! I'm in love with my kitchen!

Beautiful kitchen, really loved the simplicity in the look. Although i love modular kitchens more but this one is eye-friendly. You mentioned about the above-cabinet lights do you have any other base cabinet lights for more brightness?

Actually presently my kitchen work is in progress, i am planning to instal similar above-cabinet lights but worried if they are not sufficient enough. Additionally i am planning to install base cabinet lights below the black kitchen cabinets i have installed. I am planning to give it a modular look the cabinets being black may need some extra brightness to shine

It's lovely!!.

Your units are very similar to mine, are they Oak?

OliverMiguel said:

Beautiful kitchen, really loved the simplicity in the look. Although i love modular kitchens more but this one is eye-friendly. You mentioned about the above-cabinet lights do you have any other base cabinet lights for more brightness?

Actually presently my kitchen work is in progress, i am planning to instal similar above-cabinet lights but worried if they are not sufficient enough. Additionally i am planning to install base cabinet lights below the black kitchen cabinets i have installed. I am planning to give it a modular look the cabinets being black may need some extra brightness to shine

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Thank you. Yes, we are working on under-cab lighting now. And while I wasn't going to light the China cabinet, we've decided to go ahead and put lighting in there, too. We also still need the new floor. I'm waiting on backsplash until I see something that I really like. And the fridge. So there's still a lot to do.

I wanted simple. I wanted functionality. I wanted to be able to take a few steps from the sink to the fridge....or from the fridge to the stove. I didn't want to walk a mile from the sink to the stove....you know what I mean. I wanted it to look nice, but I didn't want a lot of frills that didn't do anything.

Above-cab lighting. in my mind. is more of a mood-thing, than actual lighting for task-working. I love to turn the lights on at night and we have it set up so that I can change the lighting for holidays and such (red-white for Valentine's Day, green-white for St. Patrick's Day, etc.). At night, instead of having the main lights on in the kitchen, we'll just turn on the over-cab lighting and it works perfectly for enough light in the kitchen if we're watching a movie in the living room or something like that.

The really interesting thing to look for is if you want cooler or warmer lighting. I like a cooler light, so that's what we have. One of my GFs likes  warmer light above her cabinets. I can change our lighting without a lot of hassle (hence the holiday accents, if we decide to do them).

I'd love to see your kitchen.....

Rosiemac said:

It's lovely!!.

Your units are very similar to mine, are they Oak?

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Susan, thanks! Yes, they are Oak. I really wanted Oak and I really wanted a lighter finish. I like them. The lightness has made such a difference in what used to be a very dark kitchen area.

I love the kitchen. It is beautiful. What is outside the kitchen window. Is it the backyard where nobody would be. If so, I would want a covering too. My kitchen window opens onto our screen porch. Beyond that is our back yard. The same is true for my dining room window. Because it is my back yard and we live on three acres in the county with no neighbors. I hung valances only at the window. I did have to go back and add a blind at my dining room window because the afternoon sun comes in so bright, it blinds you if you are sitting in the living room. Because hubby has been so sweet and generous in your modeling process, I might would just do what makes him happy. Maybe you could go with some type of shade that would pull up during the day and let down at night. I know whatever you decide, it will be tasteful and only add to the beauty of your kitchen.

Winchester said:

I'd love to see your kitchen.....

Susan, thanks! Yes, they are Oak. I really wanted Oak and I really wanted a lighter finish. I like them. The lightness has made such a difference in what used to be a very dark kitchen area.

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I'll get a couple from Photobucket to show you

Oak is really poular here and it's a wood that never goes out of fashion

Thank you! The back yard is outside the window. We have a deck right outside the kitchen door and from there we have a fenced-in in-ground pool. If you look out that kitchen window, you can pretty much see our entire back yard. And it's pretty easy for somebody to look inside at night, if they really wanted to. I'm surprised at how much light that sink light throws around outside. I was in the bathroom one night in the dark (there's a nightlight at the bathroom sink) and I thought the outside back light was on because it was so light out back. Turns out it was from the sink light at the kitchen.

And you're right......we will be adding some kind of Roman shade to that window; we just haven't found anything that we really like. It really does bother him that it's so open. As soon as it starts to get dark, especially in the winter, he goes around and shuts all the drapes. I don't know why it doesn't bother me. I keep the drapes open in one of the computer room windows because that's where Muffin's cat tree is and they like to look out the window even at night, especially during the warmer months. Gives him the willies sometimes, but I don't think about it.

There's a longer cupboard that you can't see to the right that you can't see with another cupboard above it


I'll have to update the house pictures because my Austrian blind isn't there and there's a different microwave to the one l have now

WOW Pam, I must have missed this thread in December due to my moving. I am glad it has been revived. BEAUTIFUL!!!!! Really, really pretty and the granite counter top . I would spend all day in that kitchen and you must love cooking even more now. Rick must approve of that perk as well. Money well spent! I think the granite company did a perfect job laying out the counter top to show its character. I just love the pale green wall color you chose. It all blends so well together. Model kitchen!!!

Our new kitchen is a galley kitchen. I also have a large window over the kitchen sink. It has white corian counter tops and white formica cabinets. A bit outdated but we have too many other projects going on to delve into changing the cabinets at this time. We are installing a mosiac glass back splash and am having trouble finding someone to do the install. We were thinking of trying to install it ourselves but we do not have any tile experience and if you don't hang the sections perfectly you will see that it is off. I am so particular that I decided to hire a pro. We are redoing the guest bath also. Floor and wall tile get installed this Thursday and Friday! We are trying to pick out a vanity and are going to go with a vessel sink.

I get so excited about all of the things we went to do but it does get overwhelming and I think I need to take a step back. I mean, REALLY, we just moved in three months ago. :lol3:

OH p.s. I DO have pictures ix: on my digital camera to post here for you all to see. I just need Larry's help getting them transferred from my camera to the computer. ix:

I missed it too!  Gorgeous kitchen!  Love the natural light. I don't blame you for not wanting to cover that window!