The kitchen in the model is definitely what sold me on the house and on new construction. My current kitchen is nice. I designed it myself a few years ago. But the room is not big. I did what I could and we've got good cabinet and countertop space, but there's not a ton of room to move around. There's no way you could fit wall ovens. Realistically, how often am I going to use 2 ovens? But the thought of a Thanksgiving that is not an oven jigsaw puzzle has me giddy.
I was not settling for less than I wanted in the new kitchen, so we got:
- Morning room
- Gourmet kitchen island
- Premium II stainless steel appliances with the double wall oven configuration
- Scottsdale Square Maple Espresso cabinets (with the "enhancement" package -- sounds racy, but means extra trim)
- Luna Pearl granite countertops
- Brushed nickel fixtures
- Pre-wiring for pendant lights, which we will buy and add later
One thing we didn't like about the gourmet island in the Waverly was that there was only room for two stools at the very end. There's always someone sitting at our current kitchen counter when one of us is cooking and the kids also do homework there (usually while we're doing dishes). Our SR is awesome and suggested we extend it. We had to pay for it (of course), but for (more or less) the cost of the extra granite, we will be able to move the island a few inches and add a 6" overhang down the whole side.
What we didn't get: Fridge - we'll have to buy our own. Microwave - I mentioned this on someone else's blog a few days ago, but in our area, code requires microwaves to be mounted very high over gas cooktops. I'm 5'3" and would need a stepstool to put food in there. So, we're going to have them wire for a regular height, and add it ourselves later. (Apparently a lot of folks in our area do this.) Under-cabinet lights - We'll add them ourselves later. Backsplash - Also adding later (excited about cool glass tile or even glass and stainless options I've seen at Home Depot).
I can't wait to cook and entertain in this kitchen. Now, if only they'd hurry up and break ground ...
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| Current kitchen. |
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| Kitchen in the model. |
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| Color choices: Espresso cabinets and luna pearl granite with our hardwood. |
I'm excited about all the things you listed too. Especially that double wall oven. The holidays are probably the only time I will need two but they sure look sexy mounted on the wall. It's some kitchen eye candy throughout the whole year!
ReplyDeleteThat is a great idea with the island given there is room to do it. We eat most dinners at our island and someone is usually bouncing knees off of a cabinet.
ReplyDeleteColor choices are nice.
I am rather ignorant on the whole "micro over the gas stove" thing. But I do know enough to fake it a bit. I would recommend researching (if you have not already) into this. There seems to be a fair amount of melting handles and such with the set up. Thought I would play devil's advocate here.
Good luck
I have seen an island like you will have somewhere online. It's an excellent idea. It's one of the reasons we went with the Verona over the Ravenna. With three kids, we needed to be able to do three stools. With the Verona's peninsula, we can easily do two on the back side and one on the end.
ReplyDeleteLove the color choices. That was my first choice, but DH doesn't like granite or stainless, so we needed something that would look good with black appliances. I can't wait to see your kitchen. It's going to be gorgeous!
I'm excited about the granite, but to be honest if we had our choice of anything, we really liked a Silestone that looks like marble (but doesn't stain like marble). Our choices were limited to laminate or granite, no in-between. I've got Corian now and would do that again in a heartbeat too. So durable!
DeleteWe opted for the gas stove and the codes have changed because of just what Sgt Rich was eluding to. Not only was there damage to the micro, but safety concerns reaching into the micro, as well as using it while the stove is running. Even though it might not be optimal if they offer an alternate layout for the micro you should consider it. My wife is 5' and she can use the one in the alternate location easily.
ReplyDeleteThanks all for the feedback on the microwave issue. It honestly never crossed my mind that melting could be a concern. I've had a microwave above a gas stove everywhere I've lived for at least the last 15 years without incident. But now I'm sort of nervous.
ReplyDeleteI've read the GE profile microwave manual, and the only guide they give is not to put it over a 60,000 BTU cooktop (the GE cooktop if you had all the burners on high tops out at 42,000). The installation diagram shows about 14 inches between the cooktop and the microwave. Online recommendations average 16-24. I measured my current situation (GE profile in white above a gas stove) and it's 18 1/2 between the two.
I've got an email into our SRs to find out what our clearance will be.
We were not able to get a gas stove under our microwave either due to code. They also would not let us put the cooktop on the island, because of safety hazards (kids reaching up or sitting on the island). My mom had a home built by Lennar and they were giving the buyers the option to place the microwave really high over the gas stove to get around the building code.
ReplyDelete