Nell's Kitchen

When I think about my adoration for houses and interiors, the word "junkie" is the first to jump up. I think I am actually an "enthusiast." I am a Home Enthusiast. If you are a contractor, and you agree to build a house for a Home Enthusiast, you should be prepared to earn every penny you are charging to build the house. A Home Enthusiast knows exactly what she wants, because she has been looking and loving and thinking about what she likes and does not like for a long, LONG time.

Let's talk about my kitchen. The kitchen has the most design elements, is often the room that has the most "pieces," and as I am learning, the room where the upgrades cost the most.

I LOVED the kitchen layout in my chalet cottage. It bothered my mother that there was no pantry, but there was plenty of cabinet space for food. It bothered me that the cabinets did not go to the ceiling and there was no spot for a built-in microwave, but those were both things I considered as part of the eventual improvements to the kitchen. My mother, sister, and I could all be in the kitchen cooking or prepping and there was plenty of room in three divided areas. My new kitchen (below) will be a kitchen built for a maximum of two people to work. I do not like people in my kitchen when I am bustling about in there, a source of consternation to a son who often wants to help cook.

This post has my entire floor plan for the new house, and you will notice that the kitchen, dining room, and living room are one large, open area. So the kitchen is one-third of a whole room, and must act like it. My living room furniture is neutral, but my accent colors are blue (navy, cobalt, and turquoise) and coral. This photo provides me with two inspirations - a "clean" kitchen and a settee at the dining table.

 

Original source unknown, but pinned from Homeowner Buff.

Starting with the small details, I thought I wanted a desk in the kitchen. We had one growing up, and I insist on my kids using the internet in public areas. We use laptops, so I am not 100% committed to a desk in the kitchen, which has an island and a dining table in it. If I add a workspace to the kitchen, it will be a small work surface.



From Decorchick.

In my last house, the garbage can floated around the floor and I hated it. It scuffed up the cabinets to move it out of the way constantly. The floor around the garbage can gets disgusting. I vow to hide a garbage can in a cabinet next to the sink.

Original source unknown, but pinned from Houzz.

I live with two people who have not hit their growth spurts yet, and a constant complaint has been that they cannot reach cups and plates without a stool or their tippytoes. Since our upper cabinets will be raised (keep reading), I have asked for dish drawers in one-half of the kitchen island. So plates, bowls, and cups will be within easy reach to use and to put away when emptying the dishwasher (their chore.)

From Stay-At-Home-Ista.

My builder's standard is to use corbels on the overhang of the kitchen island. Because the side of the island faces into the dining room, I like the heartier look of flush sides with a recess for barstools. I am not sure about paneling, but I have until walls go up to finalize with the cabinet maker.
 

From Southern Living.

The ceilings in the house are nine foot ceilings. However, the cabinet installation is for staggered eight foot or seven-and-a-half foot cabinets, for that "castle" look at the top, and space between the ceiling and the cabinet top. Not for me. I am upgrading the eight foot cabinets to be raised to the ceiling, and a floating shelf go around the bottom of the cabinets, flush with the bottom of the microwave, which is eighteen inches from the counter.
 

From Urban Grace.

This kitchen inspiration also helped me with my backsplash. The builder uses a tumbled stone, but I selected a plain white porcelain subway tile. The tile will only go up to the floating shelf. The space between the floating shelf and the bottom of the cabinets will be painted the color of the walls.
 

From Urban Grace.

Granite is standard in the houses. To my despair, I found out on the flooring showroom that white granite, which is what I wanted, is $30-$70 MORE than every other color. Not willing to pay that out of pocket, I went with a black granite. The appliances are black, so it was an easy second choice that would not require me to change the entire color scheme of the kitchen.

From Better Homes and Gardens.

Searching for black granite inspiration pictures brought me to the island color. I noticed that many of the pictures I was collecting had islands that were shades of blue paired with the black counters.

From Better Homes and Gardens.

I went cuckoo for cocoa puffs over this island in particular, grieving white granite being way out of my price range.

From Better Homes and Gardens.

Off to the showroom I went. I was done in thirty minutes. My cabinet fronts are going to be flat panel. I pulled this cabinet off a wall because it was a not-bright white. I chose Sherwin Williams Snowbound for my cabinets and trim. With the black granite, I am tiling the kitchen in Emser's Lucerne Matterhorn porcelain tile in 12x24 inch rectangles with a gray grout.

This grout strip to the left is the grout for the floor tile and the white subway tile I chose for the backsplash. Rittenhouse White Gloss in 3x6 inch tiles, not this harlequin pattern. The wall color in the kitchen is Sherwin Williams Modern Gray. 

Here are the colors together, left to right, all Sherwin Williams: Modern Gray for the walls, Snowbound for the cabinets, a black swatch to stand in for the granite, and Aqua Sphere for the island.

 

I'm told that the construction loan was closed today and materials would be ordered next week. This wait is worse than Christmas morning. Follow me on Pinterest to keep up with what's being considered. Some of this will change as we go, but I've promised the builder to keep the changes to a minimum.