A Kitchen Wall of Windows

Some of my favorite kitchens are those with few overhead cabinets and one full wall of windows. This Charleston kitchen and adjoining den are flooded with light and feel very connected to the outside garden.

I'm guessing the owners removed the walls leaving just the fireplace wall. I like how it both separates and connects the spaces at the same time.

Think happy thoughts for me - the computer I use (the one with all my photos in it!) appears very dead. All hopes now rest with my son's 16 yr old friend who is a computer genious - I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Images via Carriage Properties here.

I Don't Need This - but it's so cute!

I have two perfectly good juicers so I don't need this from a practical point of view. However, from an "It's so cute to look at!" point of view, I do. $24 at Anthropologie here.

Kitchen Envy from Charleston

Marble, painted cabinets, stainless steel and a chandelier make for an elegant kitchen I don't mind being a bit envious of.
Similar features sans chandlier.

More of the same, with the family silver and wire grille added in to the mix. I've posted about this kitchen before - but just had to again as the house appears still to be for sale.

Images from here.

Elegant Comfort in Charleston

It seems that every time I find myself browsing South of Broad real estate offerings in Charleston, I come across something beautiful. This kitchen isn't large but it's a knock-out in my book. Love, love the diamond metal screen in the cabinets, the wooden shutters and all the silver accents.


Antique mirrors are encased in molding for a very nice effect in this sitting room.
My favorite part of this master bedroom is the white washed wood mantel.
And, to end with, an elegant marble bath with wall mounted fixtures and more silver accents. For more images of this lovely home, go here.

Hope you have a great weekend. Here in the DC area snow has been forecasted and we've been advised to "shelter in place," really...I never heard that once in the 23 years I lived in upstate NY!

Fireplaces in Kitchens

If I was building a dream house, a fireplace in the kitchen would be near the top of my wish list. This kitchen of Canadian designer Brian Gluckstein is my all time favorite. I love the elevated placement of the fireplace surrounded by the beautiful dark wood cabinets and woodwork. Off the the left, not shown, is a gorgeous banquet seating area (more on that in a later post) Source: Canadian House and Home, Feb 2003, photography by Michael Alberstat

Here's another beautiful, traditional fireplace adding ambiance to the kitchen of this older home. Imagine Sunday breakfast here. (photography by Mark Walron, Southern Accents, via All the Best)

The fireplace stands out in this blue kitchen in a Notting Hill home that was for sale last year. If it was lit I think it would give a better sense of its impact in the room.

Do you have a fireplace in your kitchen? If you do, I'd love you to send me a picture so I could so a second post. mynottinghill ( at ) gmail . com

Liquor bottle + Soap PUMP (not pourer) = pretty

I love Bombay Saphire gin bottles. Come to my house and you'll notice them on shelves, on display, etc - just love them. It started me thinking; could I find a useful purpose for them? My husband was against the idea of a glass bottle and pourer for dispensing dishwashing liquid (Martha Stewart's innovation), but since a hand soap pump is meant to be stationary I got the idea to combine a soap pump + gin bottle.The first picture is my second attempt - using the clear plastic pump from Trader Joe's Next to Godliness handsoap. I prefer the label left on because it's so pretty. Here's my first attempt - using the green pump from an old Cucina hand cream dispenser. This is the no label version for those who don't want to be constantly reminded the bottle used to contain gin. Both of the pumps fit perfectly on these screw-top gin bottles.

The tube from the Cucina hand cream was too short. However, you can solve that by adding a plastic straw over the original tube. Works perfectly. I have these shown in my kitchen but they are just as lovely in a master bathroom or powder room (not sure about the glass in a kid's bathroom.) Wouldn't the Bombay Sapphire bottle look beautiful on carrera marble?
Now I'm on the look-out for a pump dispenser for this very pretty Patron Citronge bottle. (Keep in mind the bottle needs to be a screw top style.)
Pairing bottles with pourers is one of Martha Stewart's Favorite It's a Good Thing. Maybe Dan will eventually change his mind...

A Cottage Kitchen

Here's the kitchen of the Fredericksburg cottage - idyllic in every way! The patina of this kitchen table was so beautiful. Painted mix & match chairs were gathered around the table. My absolutely favorite part was this very unique hutch/cupboard.
A spot for everything. This is so clever. Keeping my fingers crossed that I'll find one of these someday.

Beadboard, open shelving and scalloped wood borders.

The kitchen had touches of red accents. Hard to see the broom here but if a broom could be cute, this red one was adorable.

More of the table because I love it.
Here I am feeling clever after I noticed how the key lime tart from Rather Sweet looked resting on top of The World of Interiors with its green cover. Rather Sweet is a very well known bakery and completely worthy of its reputation.

In the living room the plans for the kitchen were framed. Here's a close-up of the kitchen design of one of the walls.
I think if you click on this photo you can view the rest. Definitely shows how much thought and care went into this memorable kitchen.

My kitchen - shield your eyes & would love your advice

(If you're wondering about the strange white gap - the old corian counterop is too narrow for the new cabinets. The Blomberg stainless steel fridge remains wrapped-up - still waiting for the appliance place to deliver a replacement one without a dent.)

Where do I begin? Our 1954 house came with a 1954 kitchen. Upon moving in, I painted the cabinets white and put in a corian countertop. A few years ago I just couldn't stand the crappy cabinets anymore and jumped in my car and drove to Ikea (not an exaggeration) and purchased Liljestad solid oak, dark brown upper cabinets - and then painstakenly sanded them, primed them and painted them white. (here is a picture)



My reasoning at the time: I can have a complete set of upper cabinets for about $1100 and they'll be solid wood. (I developed this response when my husband said, "Why didn't you buy the Lidingo white cabinets? They look just like the Liljestad but they're already white!" But I would reassert, "The Lidingo cabinets are fiberboard and feel like Ikea cabinets."

What happened here? - bad, bad things

This past summer I went to the local kitchen place and got a quote for solid wood white base cabinets - they had a match for the Ikea Liljestad raised panel style. However, the quote was $14,000 and that didn't include any cabinet fittings. So, I decided to stick w/Ikea. For about $2300 I was able to order all the base cabinets along with a complete set of interior dividers. Just before Thanksgiving (yes, lousy timing) the Ikea base cabinets arrived. This was the beginning of the bad, bad things.

I had assured my husband that we wouldn't need to remove the counter tops and could just SLIDE the cabinets in underneath the counter. I said something along the lines of "Honey, just bash-up the old ones and then push the new ones under. Ikea has those legs and we can just screw them down really low." As you may have guessed from the MISSING FLOORBOARDS this is absolutely not possible! Plus, it wasn't just a matter of removing hardwood. Countless hours were spent while my son (age 15) and I tried to lift up the counter top as far as we could, or as far as the limestone subway tiled backsplash would allow, in order for my husband to install the cabinets. (At this point I should say that my husband deserves to be sainted - this project was one of many, the largest being the 18 x 20 family room addition w/13 ft ceilings he built himself in 2003, with only minor help from friends. You can see the oval window of this room reflected in the glass cabinets in the first picture.)

After all of this I decided I LIKE the dark wood and don't want to paint the lower cabinets. So, I am going to have a two - toned kitchen - white uppers and dark oak lower cabinets. Yes, I know that trend is from the 90's and is so over but I have to say in my small, L-shaped kitchen I think dark upper cabinets would be just too overwhelming.

NOW - WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE FLOOR! The floor is not only in need of repair but now the honey,yellow floors look even more ghastly. The floors in the connecting rooms are a light, medium brown and wouldn't do well in the kitchen either. So, after reading Joni's post on her kitchen I am very interested in painting my kitchen floors.

So what do you think in terms of paint color(s) for the floor??? I'm very interested in Farrow & Ball's Skimming Stone. (the color looks a bit different/lighter on the computer) Eventually I plan to replace the Corian (with it's icky mauve undertone) with Ceasarstone in a color as close to the current limestone backsplash as possible

Here are some inspirational pics for the painted floor.

I like the colors of this floor. If I were to do a stripe I would want the 2 colors to be closer so there would be less contrast. (Designer Suzanne Rheinstein, image via Cote de Texas)

This pattern provides interesting inspiration - although I don't like it exactly as is. (Designer Sara Story)
These floors are pretty - although I've never been drawn to diamond shapes. (Designer Suzanne Rheinstein, image via Cote de Texas)

Update - High-Heeled Foor in the Door left an intriquing comment about Windsor Smith's blue green painted kitchen floor...very interesting (pic via Pink Wallpaper)

Eventually I will replace the counter tops - here are some options from Caesarstone. I haven't seen these in person though.
Desert limestone Caesarstone

Buttermilk Caesarstone

Champagne Limestone Caesarstone


Would love to hear your advice!!

My New Refrigerator - The Blomberg

I'm very excited - in about 10 days we will have a new refrigerator! Our criteria: (1) counter depth, (2) energy efficient (3) reasonably priced and (4) less than 34" wide as that's all the space we have! Models from the German companies Blomberg and Liebherr fit the criteria but the Blomberg was more affordable. We chose the Energy Star rated Blomberg 1450. Energy Star qualified refrigerator models use at least 20% less energy than required by current federal standards and 40% less energy than the conventional models sold in 2001.

It has 14.8 cubic feet of storage and is counter depth at 24 13/16 inches and is 75" high and almost 28" wide. Our current refrigerator is no where near counter depth and is 34" wide - so we will gain 6" of storage space and about 8 inches of freed up floor space. This will be great because our refrigerator is positioned to the very right of the entrance into the kitchen. Although it is smaller than our current Amana bottom mount freezer, I'm very excited that it's shallower because alot of our food ends up getting forgotten about at the back of the fridge.

Check out Yale Applicances blog for their comments and more pics of the Blomberg. It's interesting because they also mention the counter-depth Fisher & Paykel fridge. We really liked that one but it wasn't Energy Star rated. (p.s. - Thanks to the salesman at Yale Appliances! Eventhough he knew he couldn't make a sale with me (Yale is located in the Boston area) he generously spent time with me on the phone. I was interested to hear about the product reliability of the Blomberg and he said they've had no red flags raised by their service department.) If you're in the Washington DC area you can see a Blomberg (as well as Summit fridges) at M and M Appliance.

Love this creative idea for storage.

After the fridge arrives, we will be completing the second 1/2 of our kitchen renovation. We finished the upper cabinets two years ago and now it's time to move on to the bottom cabinets. This is a case where our procrastination payed off because the Blomberg fridge has only recently become available in the U.S. image via Canadian House & Home

The image below is from Porch Light Interiors - a terrific blog if you haven't already come across it. I heart this kitchen from Notebook Magazine.

Kitchen love

Southern Accents, designer Suzanne Kasler, photography by Trio Giovan
Southern Accents, designer Jenny Peters, photography by Tria Giovan
D Home, designer Julio Quinones - love the bench & cafe table in this kitchen
image via Desire to Inspire
Design,Inc. season one, designer Sarah Richardson
Image via Cottage Living
Amanda Prior via Desire to Inspire
House Beautiful March 2008 - just had to post this photo one more time
Image via PointClickHome - love this butler pantry
Living etc. September 2007 - I really like this idea