~ a funny fact about the nester ~
my husband is amazed that i can talk construction workers into building extra things at no cost. one of the many things i persuaded our painter to do, was to paint our old barstools. i think it is my happy personality that is contagious.
our kitchen
since i couldn’t fit all my photos and paragraphs on the last post, i decided to break up the story. so if you missed out on the earlier post, here is the link: kitchen remodel, part 1 my hope is that this post will help you with your kitchen projects and inspire you.
remodeling can test your patience…
how many of you have survived a kitchen remodel? what was the hardest part of the remodel, besides spending waay too much money?! here is a funny story about testing my patience… during our remodel, i had to listen to our worker’s music. let’s just say that i heard the same songs over and over for 7 months. so, you can imagine that certain songs just make me cringe. i kind of go into a bizarre physical state when i hear the song ” moves like jaeger”! remodeling does test our patience, but in the end it is worth it.
lighting
i viewed many light fixtures in the store and on the internet and i found a line of handblown italian lamps. i was excited that they contain the colors of the granite and the cabinets in the beautiful glass. i feel that lighting is a very important element in a kitchen. we placed lights over our island, the sink, under the cabinets and over the stove. also, we did have our electrician put some of them on dimmer switches. just some ideas to think about when designing your kitchen.
~ task lighting
i just love the under cabinet task lighting. all of these lights are controlled by one switch. in our last home, my husband installed another type of under cabinet lights and we had to manually turn on each row of lights. now that they are all on one switch, this makes me so, so, happy!
~ stove top lighting
i love these halogen lights. it lights up my work space and makes stove top cooking so much easier.
fun decor
~ framed cards
so a little known fact about me is that i love cows. here in northern california, the cows roam the hills and you can hike among them. so here is my favorite cow. it was originally a greeting card that i framed. this is an easy to way to get instant art that is cheap!
~ i can’t have enough clocks
if you have read my older post (here is the link: clock) you are familiar with this cute and happy clock. i found it at a thrift store and it was on sale!
essential equipment
~ elica zepher hood
we bought this at our local appliance store and our salesman went to their back room and found this awesome hood that was the last year’s model. so instead of paying the premium price tag for a new model, we ended up saving a ton of money. the thing i love about this hood is that the top part is made of glass, so it allows light to come through and makes the cooking area less claustrophobic and dark.
~ dacor gas stove top
in our seattle home, we had a dacor stove that was very similar to this one. the thing i love about this specific stove top is the cooking surface. it is made of a very washable material. i love how easy it is too keep clean, and of course that makes me very happy!
~ moen faucet
i love this faucet. the key that i found with this type of faucet is that the spigot that detaches does best if the base has an arch that points down. my last one had a regular shape and didn’t point down and so when i tried to use the spigot, i had a difficult time getting the hose out of the faucet. i hope this makes sense to you. trust me that this is a good shape for a faucet. also, i love my big sink, it is so hassle free since it is one big tub and i can pile all our dishes in it.
counter tops and backsplash
~ stone
this is the granite my husband chose. i was so worried that it was going to be way too orange, but once we got it into our kitchen and i quickly changed out my wall color to silver (benjamin moore, revere pewter) so that it complimented the granite. i have a hard time photographing it, but in person it is more subdued. it definitely is dramatic and is the star of our kitchen!
~ finding your granite
we had the darnedest time finding a piece of granite that was big enough for our kitchen island. we found places that carried prefab finished stone counter tops (that were too small) that were ready to install. so, with a ton of research, we found a specialty shop that carried big pieces of stone and the prices weren’t that different to the prefab ones. sorry that the above photo is blurry, but it shows the three slabs that we bought.
kitchen stations
~ dish towels
i wanted the towels to be hidden, so i placed them along the back end of the kitchen island. also, it is cool that they are conveniently located to the sink.
~ dish towel hooks
i bought these damage free hooks at target that won’t ruin the surface! i love how they match the wood stain. here is the link on amazon: 3M hooks
~ my coffee and tea station
i have a little spot that is devoted for making tea and coffee. i also made sure that it was tucked away in a corner so it wouldn’t interfere with the flow of the kitchen traffic.
~ coffee and tea station essential equipment
this cuisinart electric tea kettle (here is the amazon link: kettle) is the best. my absent minded husband has fried two tea kettles because he has left them on the stove and for some reason cannot hear the loud whistling noise they make when the water is boiling. so this little kettle heats up the water quickly and also has an automatic shut off feature that makes it essential in our household. also the little nespresso frother in the background is my friend in the morning. it foams my soy milk/milk combo so quickly and just makes my drink taste like i bought it from starbucks! you’ve gotta buy one!!! here is the link: frother
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this ends my tour of our kitchen and i hope you enjoyed it. i look forward to posting more room tours of my house so, keep checking back or subscribe by email. by the way, let me know how your kitchen remodel turned out, or better yet write a quick comment on your favorite part of your kitchen. i would love to hear from you, really! i truly appreciate your visit and i hope you have a wonderful weekend!
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