Kitchen

The kitchen fills up both bellies and hearts. It is the gathering place, the common ground of the home. It is like it has a magnetic pull or its own gravity. When people come over it seems to be where everyone goes. I always laugh that we have perfectly good, comfortable couches to use but everyone just stands around in the kitchen. This is why we planned for our kitchen to truly be the center of our home and one of the largest spaces.  

We love to have family and friends come over so we wanted to make sure they would all fit in the kitchen. We decided to accomplish this by combining the kitchen with the dining room and a hearth room. Doing this allowed us to utilize a 14 foot island with seating, a 11 foot table and an extension table in the hearth room to possibly seat 24 people all in the same area. At Thanksgiving and Christmas everyone feels a part of the gathering and when we host our small group from church conversation flows easily over good food.  

Another thing that was important when we planned our kitchen was our life style. We live out of town, and we are not close to tons of restaurants or grocery stores. I cook a lot and we try to minimize trips into town for groceries. This led to an amazing kitchen that I am so thankful my husband agreed to. (You know the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, right?) Anyway, I got the oven of my dreams! It does all the things, and it is beautiful. If you have not seen the GE Cafe appliances you have to give them a look. They have a commercial inspired look and they feature customizable hardware and finishes. They also have all the latest technology and the precision cooking capability. Honestly, I am still playing with all this bad boy can do. Of course, we matched all the appliances so we have the refrigerator and the dishwashers too. You might notice I said dishwashers. Yes, we got two and it is wonderful! If you can do it, I totally recommend it. My sink is not always overflowing after using multiple pots and pans and everyone’s dishes from the day.  

GE Cafe Appliances, farmhouse sink, touchless faucet, pendant lights are no longer available- similar pendant, dining room light fixture

Speaking of the sink. I have a single basin farmhouse sink. I was a little worried about the single basin because I had always had two, but I love that I can fit even the biggest pans in it to wash them off. I would suggest that if you have a large single basin like this that you get a detachable spray nozzle like our faucet has because it makes cleaning the sink so much easier. Also, now is a good time to mention the glass rinser. So, if you have not heard of these, they are a sink attachment that when you press a cup to them, they shoot high pressure water into the cup to clean it out. This has become one of my favorite things. It makes cleaning all those cups that are not dishwasher safe a snap.  

If you have read my favorite things article you already know that another of my favorites is in my island. It is a pop-up outlet with a phone charger. With such a large island I knew I would want to plug in mixers, crock pots, electric knives, etc. so, this was the perfect solution. The pop-up has regular plugs, USB plugs, and the top is a wireless phone charger. This has made my island so much more functional and it is really a handy place to charge your phone.  

As far as design, I am so proud of how this kitchen turned out. I really wanted to do a tricolor kitchen and it was hard to find inspiration pictures to get an idea of how it might turn out. Even though I felt like I was going against the grain ( no pun intended), I decided to go for it. Now, I can’t imagine it another way. I think the key to making it work was balancing the colors. I grounded the cabinetry around the oven with Black Magic by Sherwin Williams. I wanted this piece of the cabinetry to almost feel like it was a piece of stand-alone furniture. Putting the refrigerator next to it helped to define the area because the depth was so different. Also, the refrigerator matches the white oven, so we surrounded it with coordinating white cabinetry. For balance we had a cabinet made to the same specifications on the opposite side of the oven. Two more standard size glass cabinets were added over the oven area to display pretty dishes and add interest and sophistication. These are also in white to keep them light and airy. All of the white cabinets also feature a glass cabinet with a decorative “X” at the top to tie them all together. 

I knew I wanted the island to be a natural wood because wood creates a warm, inviting focal point. Wood has so much character and its grain provides so much beauty. It is a great option to break up otherwise “cold” aspects like metal, stone, and even paint. I kept the wood a light tone so that it didn’t overwhelm the space. My cabinet guy was awesome to work with and he put decorative “X”s on the ends of the island to continue the theme I used in the upper cabinetry. He also helped me achieve a table like look by adding turned legs at the bar.  

To finish off the look I needed to balance the wood and the black color I had used. I accomplished this by using the same light wood tone on the stunning, substantial oven hood. Using the wood again warmed up the wall of white I had created with all the white cabinetry and my white backsplash.  The coffee bar at the end of the kitchen pulls in the black from the lower cabinets and the floating shelves pull in the wood tone to that end of the room. Really pulling this off was an exercise in weight and counterweight of colors and tones.  

I didn’t stop with just mixing three colors in my kitchen cabinets. Oh no, I also mixed metals. I know. I am such a rebel. LOL This was again about balancing color for me. I loved the bronzy gold handles on my Cafe appliances and I wanted to use coordinating pulls on the cabinets, but I didn’t think they popped against the wood and white as much as the black. So, I used them on the black cabinets and I chose the exact same pulls in black for the white and wood cabinets. All the hardware now stands out and while the gold goes with the appliances, the black pulls tie in with our beautiful spring kitchen faucet and the black chains on the pendent lights over the bar. 

I chose the pendent lights because they make a statement without being too heavy or blocking the view of the cabinetry in the kitchen. Their stunning glass design plays off the glass in the cabinets and reflects light all over the kitchen. The light fixture in the dining area also was chosen to keep an airy feel while complimenting the style of the space.  

One of my favorite things about the kitchen are the doors to my pantry. I wanted our house to have an established look with character. I didn’t want everything to look brand new. Old doors are one of my favorite ways to do this. These were ordered online and supposedly are from Egypt. Whatever, they had just the look I wanted and when we added the lever style cremone bolt down the side it was exactly what I wanted.  

These doors lead to one of the best things in our house, the huge walk-in pantry. Like I said, we try to stock up and not go to the store too often, so this is great for us. Below are black cabinets with the same gold hardware as the kitchen with a butcher block countertop. Butcher block has such personality and is an unsung hero if you want to save some money. The countertop is perfect for appliances I don't necessarily want out in the kitchen but are handy to have plugged in for quick use.  The open shelving up top allows me to easily see what we need when making grocery lists. We also have a second refrigerator for drinks and overflow from the kitchen.  

I am so blessed that I get to enjoy this kitchen every day. It has really made life so much easier, and it is so nice to gather in.