Luckily, this house is only about 13 years old or so, so it doesn't need as much work during renovations as older homes. For the downstairs bathroom, we'll be replacing everything but the floor, as it's in good shape. The wallpaper is the kicker - black with white flowers on green vines, with some hummingbirds mixed in - what a beauty .

Thanks . I really like the hood as well. A lot of people go with stainless steel hoods, but our family thinks they can make the kitchen look a little cold, and we were going for warm. All the appliances are stainless, which looks great, but I think a stainless hood would have been overkill.

Oh, and this isn't *my* house....I just live here for now. My parents are the ones with the ridiculous mortgage.

 

^ very nice kitchen. I love the choice of cherry and your granite. The only minor complaint I would have is the placement of the burner knobs on the cooktop. I'd rather have them on the side than on the inside.

Congrats on a job well done.

 

Wow LuvmyTSX. Your kitchen is awesome! I love the natural stone for the backsplash.

 

Most excellent!

I think we selected the identical tumbled stone backsplash, only we went with a running bond instead of diamond pattern.

 

Man all that work to make it beautiful and you up and move.. Still

 

Hey - could you tell me what blinds those are on the door to outside and where you got them? We have the same setup and are stuck on what to put on the doors. Do you have any other pics of just the doors/blinds? Thanks - looks great!

 

learning experience

 

This is still a work in progress, but here's a shot of the tiled backsplash over the stove. The vent hood will cover the "blank" area:



There is a very similar pattern over the sink on the oposite side of the galley kitchen. Unfortunately, I didn't do a great job getting the grout in, so I'll need to remove and redo a couple of areas. The counters have already been replaced with Blue Pearl granite. There is a ceramic cooktop under the plastic, but the cabinets still need to painted and dressed up with new hardware.

 

Yea i hear ya there. I like learning stuff like that. Ill be doing something similar (putting an addition on) but it will be around 5 years till i move after doing it.

 

It's roman blinds.

 

They are Roman style blinds, you can even put finials on them too.

We got them on sale at lowes, $7 each! Normally a lot more...($49)

Would you like better pictures of them?

 

^ I would!

 

Here's my updated kitchen - had formica countertops with wood edges, replaced that with granite (115 sq ft of it), put in ceramic backsplash, painted, replaced bright brass cabinet/drawer handles with oil rubbed bronze, installed granite sink, and oil rubbed bronze faucet fixture, color coordinated lutron dimmers/switches/outlets, and oil rubbed bronze switchplates.

 

Damn....some very nice kitchens here. I am working on buying a house now (my first) and if we get the one that we've been trying to get (put the offer in and all that stuff), we'll be remodeling the kitchen and some other things. I'll have to check this thread again when I get home since I am at work and a lot of the pics are blocked. I've gotten some ideas from this thread already.

 

Looks good. 115 sf is a LOT of granite. Is there another island/countertop to the right?

 

To those of you with Stainless Steel appliances, do you have a hard time keeping them clean? We are trying to decide between black and stainless steel (if we get the house of course) and have been having a hard time deciding what we really want. I know SS will add value, but is it worth it?

 

We had a little trouble at first, but then I remembered there was thread here about SS cleaners. I think it was Scrib (but I don't remember for sure) that suggested Simple Green Stainless Steel cleaner. We gave it a try and it works pretty darn well.
That is really only something you can answer. Generally speaking, the higher end appliances do not come in black or white. They have typically been coming in SS only, but now there are "designer colors" available in some high end appliances. Personally, I'd stay away from the designer colors, as they will look more dated that black/white/stainless quicker.

 

There's a small countertop behind the door by the stove, counter coming all the way up to the fridge on the left, and a butler pantry off to the right. It was $$$$. They managed to do the big island in the center in one piece. For scale, the kitchen is 22 ft. on the long dimension.

 

What color is that granite, and how much did they get you for.. if you don't mind me asking.

 

The color is -- and I'm pretty sure I'm going to butcher the spelling -- Amondoa Carioca. A more common, more yellow color is Carioca Gold. We paid $39 per sq. ft, but there's no way I'd recommend our installer. We had to have another company come in and seal the granite properly and buff out an area by a seam that the original installers buffed to a haze instead of a polish, so that added another $2 per sq. ft.

 

So that's per sq ft installed? If so that's a pretty damn good price. That's about what they want here for just the granite. I hadn't seen that color here before, looks really nice.

 

+1 that's an excellent price. Mine came out to about $50 sf installed - including demo of tile counters. But mine were prefab, so there is less work and it's easier to handle.

 

Also, if you don't have a stainless steel cleaner, just regular water and a microfiber towel works fine for fingerprints and those minor types of things.

 

That's per square installed with demo. Add another $2 per square for the sealing that we had done by a different company and it came out to $41 per square.

Then add the unanticipated cost of the backsplash that was incurred when removing the old countertops revealed some really.... creative drywalling and the price went up again!

 

Pre-tile



Pre-grout (tumbled stone)

 

I'd post a picture of my kitchen, but I don't have a wide enough lense to get a good shot. After trying a few times, I realized that nobody needs to see it, it's too ugly! lol

Seeing these pictures really makes me wish I could afford a house in a decent neighborhood around my area. It definitely makes me consider commuting...

 

Took these last night with the treo, better pictures will follow once the rest of the appliances are installed along with a few other upgrades.

view from the family room

 

^^ Nice.

We need to do some pendant lights.

 

Fib, love your kitchen -- nice and airy. Agree on the pendant lights.

I might have to do that to mine -- get rid of the fluorescent "cloud" light and put in some nice pendants instead.