Before we even purchased out home we had started collecting some of our furnishings.  We purchased a dining room table and chairs from Sticks.com which is so beautiful and large that we had to make sure any house we chose would handle it.  Our Dick Idol King Bedroom Set was also very large and the house we purchased held it with not even one half inch to spare on the wall.  We don't recommend this but these were all things we had to have when we saw them and it did work out.

The house we recently purchased actually had a very lovely and very large kitchen.  We lived with it for almost six months before we began our remodel, which turned out to be a very good idea.  We were able to learn through experience what we liked and did not like about the layout before we tore it all out.  We had planned on having a stovetop with a hood, but ended up so enjoying where the stovetop was and the opening above it into the dining room that we went with a downdraft model instead.  We also learned we needed to move the oven from its current location and were able to do so.  There are so many things to consider when you remodel - try to consider how you work in a kitchen before you begin.

The huge hassle of living with out a kitchen during our recent kitchen remodel was so worth it.  See pictures below.

The kitchen remodeling portion of our house remodel project was the most extensive and all inclusive.  We removed all appliances, all cabinets including the kitchen island, all lighting, and even the floor.  We left the walls intact except for the pass through area to the great room which just cut down about a foot allowing more of a view of the room and the golf course in the back.

A local cabinet design company did a fabulous job with our new cabinet plan and we ended up with everything we wanted. We now have a double oven, a long copper counter which easily holds four dining chairs, a pantry, a plate rack, glass cupboard doors, a pull out spice cabinet, and a wonderful island.  We kept the same basic layout the house originally had and it all looks fabulous with the more modern hickory cabinets with pewter pulls.

The counters are verde fuoco granite which is a dark green variegated color with what looks like embers or copper running through it.  It is unbelievably gorgeous and is imported from Australia.  We love copper fixtures and it is a perfect color for our copper farmhouse sink, copper pot filler, copper island bar sink, and copper faucets.  Even purchased some hammered shiny copper canisters from Target.  A local artist designed and installed the copper counter between the ovens and the pantry which looks so luxurious under the long window where the morning sun comes in. 

The floor is random slate and if women everywhere knew how easy slate is to care for they would all have it.  It is rough and you do have to get used to walking barefoot on it but I have toughed it out and love it.  The floor molding is live edge juniper with saguaro rib pieces for the inside and outside corners.  My husband came up with the design and installed it.  It is so rich with the slate and he made a lot of points.  We have the same floor molding in the whole house and it too is easy to care for.  I dust it with a swiffer duster and after more than 3 years it looks like new.

The kitchen had the old typical track lighting in two different places on the vaulted ceiling.  We had it removed and the ceiling patched and painted.  The walls are all now latte colored venetian plaster but the ceiling is the original texture and was just freshly painted. The new lighting is the copper cable light system which is suspended from the walls and holds small halogen lamps you can direct wherever you want.  We installed three sets of them positioned so there would be sufficient light in each work station.  We are able to direct them and so one is pointing at the primitive metal wall art sun we mounted above one of the cabinets.

Our 48" downdraft Jenn-air gas cook top is in the same place the original smaller one was previously.  It was the perfect way to keep the pass through to the dining room.  The counter mounted copper pot filler fit perfectly to the right of the cook top and was installed as the cabinets were installed.   We installed a Jenn-air warming drawer - our first - and it is like a dishwasher in that once you have one you don't know how you ever lived without one.   Our double ovens, also Jenn-air have so many fabulous cooking options it is a joy to cook with them.  We went with a Miele dishwasher and although they are highly touted we prefer the Asko brand which we had in our previous home.  We kept the sub-zero fridge which was here and purchased new stainless steel panels to replace the then white panels.

Pictured left to right:  Before and after kitchen island, view from loft and the fabulous plate rack.

                               Privacy Policy   Misc. home decor resources   Home lighting resources   Home decor resources   Resources for sinks and faucets   Resources for hard surfaces   Home services   Organizational resources   Resources for furniture and furnishings   Cowboy and Western resources Contact Us

Custom Search

For Fabulous Skincare

Fill out the from below: