Well, over a year after beginning our remodel I'm finally ready to post pictures. Still a
few things missing, (need to find stools for underneath the island and maybe some
kind of window treatment) but for the most part it's done.

Like so many other have said, the backsplash was one of the most difficult decisions.
We've had most of the kitchen completed for about 8 months but just completed the
backsplash last month.

With the exception of hardwood floor installation and granite installation this is a
completely DIY kitchen (curtesy of DH). The refrigerator and dishwasher are
original (they are only several years old) but everything else was replaced.

Over the course of several years, I have really enjoyed seeing everyone else's inspiring photos and all the wonderful insights and ideas from this forum. Thanks to everyone for all your posts.

Here are the details on our kitchen:

What we did:

Widened opening between dining room and kitchen.
Removed 3 foot area of soffit (the only area we could remove) to allow for chimney-style range hood.
Built out soffit over refrigerator to accomodate deeper cabinet.
Removed old light fixtures and installed recessed lighting.
Installed xenon undercabinet lighting.
Installed new ductwork to allow for outside ventilation for range hood.
Installed new range hood and range.
Installed new electrical for new island.
Installed all cabinetry and molding.
Installed new Anderson window.
Painted molding and island legs.
Installed porcelain tile backsplash.
Had hardwood flooring installed
Had granite countertop installed

Materials:

Knobs (hardwarefriends.com)
Jatoba (brazilian cherry) island top(from DevosWoodworking.com)
Ge Monogram hood
Kitchenaid range
Red Oak Hardwood floors
Bianco Romano Granite
Cabico white-painted beaded inset cabinetry
4 unfinished hard maple Island legs(from OsborneWood.com)
Porcelain tile for backsplash (Vallelunga Pietra Romana, ocra color, from barefootfloor.com)
Pietra Romano Rope liner tile from Lowes
Kichler Undercabinet Xenon lights
Kindred sink (homeclick.com ebay store)
Danze melrose faucet (doitbest.com)

Our kitchen

Thanks for looking! :)

~finally

Beautiful! Love the detail on the soffit. And what a gorgeous backsplash! Congratulations!

Susan

~finally, love the "Thanksgiving granite" comment... "mashed potatoes, cranberries and gravy"... such an accurate desription!

fisheggs, getting the vent ductwork to the outside wall (yes, it is the window wall) was not easy. DH spent several days on it... sometimes working from the outside going in, sometimes from the inside going out. We had to use several different sizes of ducting, with several joints and elbows to get it to work. We took the ductwork thru the between-the-floors area above the soffit. Before deciding on this approach, we made several exploratory holes in the soffit in order to determine what was inside them.

Your cabinets are beautiful and I love the hood. I didn't see pics of the fridge or oven wall? Are you planning ot add to the album?

I love it all!

Normally, I'm a big fan of contrast -- and I came here through the thread about an "all tan" kitchen, so...

But WOW! What you've done with texture -- with subtle variations of cream. It's beautiful! Gorgeous! Stunning and Soothing and Timeless.

And that was DIY!? wow --

SheriLynn, the cabinets are from Cabico and were factory-painted there. However, we bought the island legs and soffit molding separately from the cabinet order so we painted these ourselves (saved quite a bit of money). For these items we used Sherwin Williams ProClassic Alkyd paint that was color-matched to the cabinets.

I went to the Cabico site, but it's hard to get a color off of a computer monitor. Would you consider sharing the Sherwin Williams formula that matched--did they put a sticker on the can top?

Thanks,
Nancy

The island legs and that countertop! What a fantastic job overall. Love the backsplash too.

Bravo!!!