This is going to be our Kitchen?

This is going to be our kitchen? Is what Paul asked when I showed him the above picture I made for this blog posting. I take for granted sometimes, that because I design all day long and I have everything tucked neatly inside my head, that he can't read my mind. This overflows into other aspects of our marriage ha!

Things are finally moving at a little better clip at the house because the HVAC and electrical is underway. For those of you that live in/near Medway, we hired Burroughs Plumbing and HVAC and Castle Electric. Both companies live local and I was very impressed by both their positivity and interest in the project. Through Hawthorn (the firm I work for) I have learned that having a good team is essential. 

So back to the kitchen. As someone that has designed probably 100+ kitchens, it is sooooo weird to design my (our) own. I also cook and we spend a lot of time in our kitchen since its some of the only time we get to spend with the kids after work and school. I have always dreamed of having an island which is a big reason why the chimney came down. But other than that - I don't need fancy things. I have been cooking for 15 years and I've never wanted a double oven. I also don't need a huge refrigerator. We shop weekly and don't keep a lot of freezer items. But we have a commercial grade freezer for the barn. The big must-haves are a great dishwasher and a beverage refrigerator for drinks and wine. I also want tray dividers and some good spice storage. Since we are not going to have a kitchen table, I wanted the seating on the island to be on three sides so if we end up eating dinner here, we can look at each other.

As for style - we are tiling the floor for practicality and because there is not enough of the original floors to put it in the new kitchen. I like two toned cabinets and have always liked black. I have also had or made open shelving for my everyday dishes in the last two kitchen's we've had - so I know I like the open shelving. Those were the basic design ideas. The above is just a quick rendering of what the look is going to be - so you will have to keep reading this blog to see how it turns out in real life!