My old kitchen, and the new kitchen

[lokringbob]

About one year ago, my partner and I moved back into our newly remodeled home. Our goal was to create a house where we could age in place, and have everything on one floor. We are still adjusting to the new kitchen, among other things.
We did a major reconstruction. The house: a small Cape Cod with two bedroom and two bathrooms (Hah! I've been in nicer outhouses). We went from 1380 to about 3100 sf. In the process, we relocated the main stairway (really, more like narrow ladders) to the new addition and created a central hall to the kitchen. In the old kitchen, only one person could work in the space at a time. The refrigerator door couldn't open completely because of a old 3-drawer chest I needed to store pots and pans in sat directly across from it. That attests to how narrow the kitchen was. [this post was last edited: 1/14/2012-13:32]

 

[lokringbob]

After same angel

After

 

[pulltostart]

Very nice!  Congratulations on a great-looking space.  How about more pictures???

Lawrence

 

[aladude]

That looks great! More pictures please. What led you to choose the apron-front sink? Do you like it more than a traditional drop-in or under-mount?

 

[tlee618]

I was lucky enough to see Bob and Anthony's kitchen and the rest of their home after the remodel on New Years Eve.  Let me tell you it is fantastic.  That kitchen would be a dream to work in.

 

Terry 

 

[lokringbob]

More Pic's

I was going to post more pic but did not want to overwhelm the forum, so I included a link to my Facebook page. I guess i can post to the forum?

 

[lokringbob]

More Pics

More

 

[lokringbob]

Apron front sink

aladude, We had seen one in a magazine liked the look, and it tied into the stainless appliances. When we started looking, the price just about made us give up. Could only find it for about $1400.00. Thanks to my partner we found it for about $480.00 on CBath.com. Got to love the internet!

 

[lokringbob]

More

 

[perc-o-prince]

What a gorgeous kitchen!!!!

That took a lot of thought and work. Congrats and enjoy many great times and meals in it!

Rich

 

[whirlcool]

I love looking at all these before and after photos. You obviously have good taste!
Aren't you worried about belt buckles hitting the front of the sink and scratching it?

 

[circlew]

Nice!

That kitchen is very attractive, and I bet it's nice not to be bumping into something everytime you turn around.

The sink looks nice, but don't think I'd like the sharp corners inside. The church I belong to has a large sink made like that, and they have to use a brush to scrub the inside corners or gunk builds up in them.

What kind of wood are the cabinets? I saw some recently that were Alder that look a lot like yours.

 

[firedome]

Like!

how you resisted the trend towards white everything... it has a nice warm feel.

 

[rapunzel]

Stunning kitchen

Absolutely love the colors and materials. Why didn't you seal off the top of the upper cabinets though? Now you'll have to dust them periodically or pay someone to do it for you. Here in Oz that could be a real problem as you wouldn't get any professional cleaner to climb up a ladder higher than 3 feet. OH&S and insurance prohibits that sort of thing now.

 

[westie2]

Anymore it is common to have the open tops.  My mothers new home built in 2003 and the surround subdivions all have the open top.  Our home built in 1971 had to the ceiling cabinets and when we had a flood in the kitchen froma small leak we had to have everything torn out and we insisted that we have cabinets to the ceiling again.  Great for storage of items not used everyday.  And you are right about having to get up and dust it is either myself or one of my kids doin that to mothers.

 

[lokringbob]

Answer to some of the questions

The apron front sink has not been a problem, most of the time belt buckles hit above it. Cleaning the sink has been pretty easy I just take a dish cloth with soapy water to scrub it. If really stained with coffee, I spray some oven cleaner on it, let it sit for a few minutes and then spray it down. I do have to take care not to hit the counter tops but that has not been hard to avoid.
The cabinets are birch. We wanted something without a pronounced grain since there would be so much cabinetry. We considered maple for the same reason but birch was heavier and seemed a more substantial wood. These were very reasonably priced. The manufacturer's name is Marquis Fine Cabinetry (out of Topeka, KS).
We designed the doors by starting with their shaker door and then adding some trim so they would not be so plain.
We did not go to the ceiling with the cabinets because the ceiling is under 8ft and, again, there was so much cabinetry we did not need the space. Also, we wanted to have indirect lighting. I had the electrician place a switched outlet on ether side of the range hood to power rope lights on each side. We did the same thing in our great room with the crown molding.
Dust is not much of a problem the geo thermal heating has a 11 merv filter.

 

[lokringbob]

Indirect lighting

The lighting in the family room.

 

[westie2]

Bob it is beautiful with all the rope lighting in the kitchen and your family room.  With us we have higher (19 foor) ceilings so could do the upper cabinets.

 

The vuilder that did my mthers house used the rope lightig in her great room along with can lights it is very nice your room reminds me of hers only thing is she had a window on one side and a door to the patio and backyard on the other side.

 

[rapunzel]

This is the point where I go ooh and aah

The indirect lighting looks great and I love your sitting room.

My old kitchen cabinets were open at the top. With the new kitchen I made sure that they got sealed off.