Kitchen Details ...

Welcome back! Details here ... and a quick note that most of these photos are taken by my phone. My photos from the reveal on Monday were professionally done.

What a difference a professional makes.

These are the down and dirty for you ... so here you gol

From my front hallway looking "in" ... and now you know my "dirty" little secret. We are tv people, yep ... right there in the kitchen.

What You can see from here:

San Pedro Morning Benjamin Moore Gloss on the Ceiling.

We contemplated a gas fireplace in the fireplace! But we don't have gas. And we drink a lot of wine.

The Wine Bar won.

And the Dogs need to drink as well ... they get the lower opening. We are all well hydrated now.

Stainless Refrigerator. Which I will tell you, sucks. Sorry KitchenAid. We gave you a try. And NO. There will be a change here and I will keep you posted.

Another Before Shot ...

What you can see from here:

We removed the tile backsplash and opted for a simple beadboard backing.

With all the brick on the fireplace I needed a different "line" and the beadboard gave me the balance I was looking for.

Now ...

Before ...

And now ... my view from the Buffalo plaid!

I hear it time and time again ... what about marble in a kitchen. Doesn't it get nicked?

Why yes. Yes it does. And I love it. Will always have it! So there.

What you can see from here:

The black stove and microwave which will eventually move on. We want stainless. In my inspiration board I chose the Red Bertazzoni. Would still love that, but with the other color and green door I think it might be too contrived and too much. So a Stainless Gas Range will be the next inhabitant of this situation. Plus, we need to have propane added (we still will keep the wine bar!). Yup, nothing is easy!

Notice also the lucite counter stools. Not only do I love lucite, but there is a function here. The walkway is narrow, with the stools pushed in there is 28" between their back and the wall. This is okay. It works for us. The lucite makes it FEEL larger visually.

Countertop situation ... We have had soapstone, granite, wood ... and now ... I took the chance on manmade. We chose a Silestone that ended up not being available in the solid black so I went with a Pental Quartz countertop. And what I loved about this stone was the clear black shine. I wanted no more specs. Clean, flat, glossy, BLACK! This material gives me shine with one wipe!! :)

And after 8 months of tough use, hot pans, spills, bangs and abuse ... It shines on!