Kitchen design flaws: simple solutions

I have been working on this little facelift project in my kitchen. It started with a new Bertazzonni Range, which I really love by the way.  I would highly recommend it if you are considering a new freestanding oven. The light fixtures were a little dated as well and I wanted something really big and striking.  These are 16" wide at the base and put out alot of light.

The old center island had a raised wood counter which cut the center work surface in half and looked really funny.  We opted to use black Absoulte granite for the new island.  It would have been a major expense to pull out all of the stone so we left most of it as is.   The knobs were all  swapped out with bin pulls.

Out with the old....

The new center island went from bar height to counter height so I purchased these great stools from Restoration Hardware in weathered oak.

The new lights are Visual Comfort and can be found at Circa Lighting.  They are really oversized and are suspended by black electrical wire.

The faucet set was replaced with this great little industrial gadget.

A large portion of the cabinets are open and the walls are tiled in 3x6 subway tile.

I needed a little more cabinet storage so I found this great reworked cabinet made from old barn wood and trolly car doors!

Great old hardware too.

I stole the cutting board storage idea from Ina Garten's kitchen.  It is a really handy way to store big bulky  bread boards.

The vintage "Locksmiths" sign over the window is fun and  bold and ties the colors together.

Here is the before shot, not really that bad but a few design flaws that were easily reworked.  One final idea behind the doors....

A little dumbwaiter that stops on the second floor just off the Master bedroom and then finally up to the roof top deck!  Great for delivering laundry and dinner too.

Not a big project but it made such a nice improvement to the kitchen and fresh way to start off the New Year

best to all~*~kelley