Beautiful, thanks for sharing and explaining all your detailed pictures. Have fun!

Just beautiful AND sooo functional. Your pendants are snazzy! What colour are your walls - if you said already, sorry I didn't see.

Btw, I love your blog (we're doing an ICF foundation, a house would be cool but it's not in our budget).

Congratulations! I know this is the result of a lot of planning on your part and you did an awesome job. It must be a dream to cook in. Enjoy!

Thank you, everyone! I forgot to mention that you can look at the rest of the house on our blog (Link below). In our original design, we had a large U with the prep island in the middle, but we cut out the corner to aid flow to the dinette. We also had planned on a wall of open shelves above the baking center, but we were concerned that the kitchen would look too dark with the espresso cabinets (and no windows in the kitchen), so we made that wall a half wall instead to take advantage of all the light from the dinette.

Trainrunner, dank u wel! Mijn man is geboren in Helmond. Zijn ouders wonen daar nog steeds. (My husband is from Helmond. His parents still live there).

I started a food blog: http://eetsmakelijkwithjen.blogspot.com/, although I haven't keep it up well. I do try to make Dutch food often, mostly hutspot and borenkool, and occasional Dutch treats like paasbrood.

deedles: steal away, I got a lot of great ideas from other GWers over the last two years (and Houzz...and Pinterest). DH got me the Kitchen Aid over Black Friday for a song. It's a beast though, the professional series. There's no way I'd want to pull it out every time I want to use it. We designed that counter for it's home.

rhome: us too! I think we spent the first month walking around saying, 'Do we really get to live here?!' The kitchen has been great for my cooking club and cooking dates with friends. there's plenty of room to work and move around. The prep island in particular is ideal for having one person on one side and one on the other for prep work and cooking making!

kayakjen, the backsplash tile comes in several colors, in case you don't want green (Carrollton). Rampart is red. Bourbon is brown. St. Charles is a creamy white. Metairie is blue (though it looks green on a lot of screens. We ordered a sample, it is definitely blue!). Claiborne is black. Erato is teal.

SusieD3: the bread drawer was custom. It has a plastic liner covering the entire box, plus the sliding lid. The pantry is large! It's 9' x 9'10'. I forgot to mention that it has a sensor light on the door, which I love!

1929Spanish: Thank you! A lot of the kitchens posted here are a bit too tradition for my taste, but I usually see something that I like, style aside. I appreciate that you like my backsplash. Pictures really don't do it justice. Several friends have followed along on FB and our blog, then walk in and say, 'WOW! It's even better in person' Especially the tile. The lines give it a very subtle movement that doesn't get captured in a photo. I ordered vinyl letters for the door. I knew I wanted frosted glass, but the 'pantry' doors I saw were too traditional for our taste. This was perfect for us.

Olandy, thanks for reminding me. I forgot to add the paint color. It's Sherwin Williams Oyster Bay (Harmony no VOC paint). The under cabinet lights are from Task Lighting (tasklighting.com/products/angle-power-strip/). They were fantastic to work with. They even overnighted our order. What our lighting guy put in was plug mold. NOT what we had in mind, so we found Task Lighting. You can even pick the color of the column thing and rows (any combination of black, white and silver). I'm short, so I can barely see them when I'm standing in the kitchen, but DH doesn't see them at all unless he's looking for them.

CEFFreeman, YES! do you still have my address?

Here is a link that might be useful: de Jong Dream House

It's really gorgeous. And I'll say what others have already said, you have obviously thought it out so well.

I have label-maker-envy. I've got to get one of those.

Congrats!

Lovely!

LOVE this kitchen. So smakelijk done. Can I say that? :) Your OTGTK rocks!

Gorgeous! It is so similar to the look we are going for it's scary :). I am madly in love with that tile. Thanks for the inspiration!

Beautiful and beautifully organized!
I have one suggestion for your baking center though.I don't know how close you store flour, sugar, baking powder etc, but I have mine in a drawer below by baking area and I can't believe how much I LOVE standing at my mixer and pulling that stuff out and standing still. I use it and put it right away and baking seems so much easier to me. Try it with your empty drawer!

Oh my! What a wonderful space! So unique..I'm sure many ideas will be snatched up by others! Those pendants!!!!!Congratulations!

Oh, wow!

What an amazing attention to detail!

I have been to Amsterdam and I wish I could say it in Dutch but cannot remember a word.:-(

You have saved me a lot of planning time, thank you! :-)

I am trying to "green" my house too. If you don't mind, I'll PAN you with some questions.

P.S. I can't believe we have the exact same bamboo plant in the kitchen. :P

BTW,

Did you "float" your floors? I have looked up your cork and the installation method is specified as "Drop & Lock Floating Installation - No glue required."

I have read before that cork should be glued in kitchens. IDK how true it is and I don't want to do it.

Thanks!

Momo 7: The wall color is Sherwin Williams Oyster Bay (Harmony No VOC). And yes, we're loving the ICF. We knew we wanted a full ICF house so we didn't even price out without so we wouldn't be tempted to trim it since you can't change structure. We can't believe how low our heating bills have been. $75?! In the middle of the month? And now that we've been here for 6 weeks, we hardly run the furnace at all...at it's in the 30s out. I'm guessing our March bill will be less than $50!

Bee, I have an old label maker. The new ones connect to your computer for more options. And then there's the Silhouette, which lets to do labels AND vinyl art. Mother's day is coming...

JScout, yes, you can. DH even said so! (thanks!)

Modern Mom, I'm glad you like it! I found a lot of inspiration here, on the Finished Kitchen blog, Houzz and Pinterest. I can picture certain kitchen with elements I loved, but can't recall whose was whose. :-/

Pondlily, what a fabulous idea!

Eleena, our mantra when making decisions was that we wanted "as energy-efficient, as earth-friendly and as universally designed as we could afford." There's always more than you can do, but every thing that you DO do will help. There are also many ways to look at green resources, too. For example, cork is considered green because it's sustainable, but you also have to ship it over to the States, which uses a lot of oil, so there you go. As far as universal design, I had in mind my own brain injury, my mom's arthritis and my young son's needs in mind. We were working toward accessibility, not nursing home chic! And accessibility is green, because if you build your house for both your current and future needs, you'll save money and resources because you won't have to redo light switches if you put in dimmers, and put in drawers because you have cabinets, and extra lighting because you'll need it later. For example, we went with a cooktop, because if I'm ultimately in a chair, I can pull out the drawers and still cook.

We did float the cork floor. Using glue would release VOCs which we wanted to avoid. I don't see any reason why the floors would need to be glued. In fact, I think you'd want floating to allow the floor to expand and contract, like you would with hardwood. Maybe someone else can chime in about that. You can learn more about our installation at the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cork installation

So much to love about your kitchen. I love your recycling center - we stressed over that the most as our kitchen has turned into trash central as we're recycled more and more over the years. Beautiful too!

And it sounds like your cabinet maker has become a trusted partner in your remodel(s). Nice!

Thanks for sharing.

Yes, we love Joe! We were so impressed by how he maximized the space with things like tip outs under both sinks, shelves by the prep sink, the bottle cubbies, and don't get me started on my command center! (click the link below to see what he did there).

He really brought my recycling center dream to life. I saw this at Ikea in either Holland or Toronto a few years back:

{{gwi:1762622}}

Source: dejongdreamhouse.blogspot.com via Jen on Pinterest

When I looked for it in our nearest Ikea, I wasn't able to find it, and haven't since. I showed Joe the picture, and he made it work. We really wanted all of our trash and recycling in one place so that guests could recycle without any additional thought--it all goes in one place! The touch activation is just icing on the cake, but very, very nice when I'm baking or am processing chicken!

Here is a link that might be useful: Organizing the Command Center

I love all of the finishes together...the contrast between the floor and the cabinets...and I love that soothing wall color! I can't imagine the hours you put into thinking out all of the details to suit your needs. Enjoy it thoroughly!!!

Beautiful! All of it--you did a wonderful job of researching and putting it all together to create a warm and harmonious space. Thank you so much for sharing the details. Enjoy!

Beautiful job. I find your commitment to green living very inspiring.

Nice. Unique, customized, and well put together. Enjoy!

Wow! It's great that you put in such a fantastic, green kitchen -- kudos to you and your husband. You did a wonderful job. I hope you have lots of fun cooking in your new space!

I love the cork floors and am interested in hearing about your experience with them. And your pantry! -- lots of great space there. Would you also post about your experience with your trash drawer with the Blum Servo-Drive?

Have a blast cooking it up!

Oh, yes. I have your address!

I have cork floors, but they've been in their boxes under the kitchen table for 2 years.
I have the cork underlayment, but wasn't sure if on my plywood substrait, I needed to put a moisture barrier like tar paper or Tyvek paper? 3" under my plywood is concrete...

I'm going to read your link and probably contact the manufacturer.

Love love LOVE your kitchen.

Beautiful kitchen - and practical too! The touch activated recycling center is intriguing and the video for it on the Blum site is entertaining! Thanks of sharing. Enjoy!!

Beautiful! I have the same Delta faucet. :)

I'm in love.

We have very similar taste, which I'm sure leads to why I'm drooling so much over your kitchen. As much as I love my space, I would really love working in yours. So incredibly well planned, and really beautiful.

I don't even know where to begin addressing all the details I admire. All I can say is great job. Can I come to dinner? I'll bring the wine. :o)

Kiffgirl, I take that as a very high compliment. I have drooled often over your kitchen. You can come over anytime. Clearly you have excellent taste!

CEFreeman, did you see the link to our blog above about cork installation. There's pictures of the process. It's basically subfloor, plastic, and cork planks.

JMcGowan, I LOVE the cork floors. It seems some on this forum have had issues with theirs, and other have also loved them, so I suppose it just has to do with brands. Ours are from US Floors, and they are so easy to take care of. Our housekeeper started up last week, and even she was raving about them. She said they took about 1/4 of the time to clean as our old wood floors, and look much nicer. They are soft, quiet, sound-proofing, don't get dust bunnies, and, according to the two teen boys who spend the night last night, perfect for sliding hockey-style on. So there's that, too :-)

In fact, we are planning to rip out the carpet in a few years and do the whole first floor in cork.

Ah yes, my pantry. I love it.

In our old house, we had this:

{{gwi:1762623}}

Source: dejongdreamhouse.blogspot.com via Jen on Pinterest

It worked really well, but I wanted a full size freezer in there so we could buy more bulk meat and dry goods. And I wanted something that could be accessible from a wheelchair if needed, which mean it needed room for the turning radius. And I wanted an appliance shelf for the appliances I use occasionally (like the coffee maker we have out only when my mom visits) that is waist high so I don't have to lift as much.

This is how it will eventually look (ignore the orange) once we bring Joe back:

{{gwi:1762624}}

Source: via Jen on Pinterest

{{gwi:1762625}}

Source: [houzz.com[(https://www.houzz.com/magazine/12-great-ideas-for-organization-in-the-kitchen-stsetivw-vs~353262) via Jen on Pinterest

The recycling center has been a lot of fun. It does have a sweet spot, that I usually miss when showing it off, but it will always open if I'm just leaning against the counter going through mail. The motor sits behind the bins, behind the shallow shelves that you can see when you're standing at the cook top. It plugs into an outlet inside the island (but accessible).

I know I've always appreciated peeking into fellow GW'ers cupboards and drawers, I thought I should return the favor. Last night, I finally made a blog post with all the picture I didn't post on this thread with a look inside all our drawers and cabs. Enjoy...

Here is a link that might be useful: The in depth tour

ICF - first, absolutely lovely kitchen. I hope that now being a few months down the road, you still love it as much as you did originally.

I don't know if you're still checking in on here since your kitchen is done, but I have a few questions for you. I was going to email you through your web links, but I thought that it might be helpful for this info to be on GW for others as well.

We're considering using the Fizz pendants over our island - can you tell me how long your island is? Do you find the coverage/spread of light enough with them? If you had to select pendants again, would you still go with them?

I see that you used the Task angled plugmold. Were you able to source it directly or where did you get it? If you ordered directly from Task, how did you go about doing so? When I look on their website, I don't see a place to order it and we're very interested in going with an angled plugmold if possible.

Andreak,
Thank you! And yes, we still love our kitchen. It's my favorite room in our new house. I'm thrilled with it all. if anything, I might have tweaked a few things on the command center By making it an inch deeper so binders fit better, and an inch taller so I can open the cabinet if I have something in front of it. But I wouldn't change a thing about the main kitchen.

Our island is about 72" (we're out of town at the moment). We love the Fizz pendants and would definitely get them again. An LED version came out just after we bought ours, so we would switch to those, but love the design of the lights and the amount of light they put out. You can find them on amazon for less than what we spent at our lighting store.

We were not able to source the Task outlets directly. They only sell to contractors and electricians. Our Electrician called them and they were super to work with, even overnighted everything to us to keep us on schedule. we've been really happy with them, and I use the outlets almost every day.

ICF, would you please tell me more about your custom bread drawer ... Who ? Where ? How much ? Website ?

And where to obtain the recycling center - my OCD DH hates to touch anything!

Beautiful! I'd kill for your pantry and organization skills! Love the color scheme and your backsplash tile. Looks great without the outlets. Appears you have a place for everything! Thanks for sharing.

VERY cool pendants too!
Does your cork floor extend beyond the kitchen?

Wow. This is one of my favorite kitchens. Everything flows and it looks so calming and peaceful. You did a wonderful job. Congrats on your gorgeous space!

What a clean, calm kitchen. Deso your backsplash tile vary in color / depth? It looks very dimensional, which I love! Enjoy!

It is beautiful and very European looking. :-) I love the green, too.

Good to see you!

Did those bamboo drawer dividers work for you?
If not, I hope you passed them on. :)

Wow, oh Wow! I think that is the most well thought out kitchen I've ever seen. So functional and so pretty. I need to know more about that touch recycling center too. Your house sounds really neat too, do you have links to more photos of it?

Hi, I just now saw your kitchen and thanks for sharing. I loved it (of course!). I have had fun reading through your blog and have more I want to see.... just loved this comment you made about the Command Center desk/hutch in your kitchen:

"I decided that the top shelf would be great for family photos. No more staging for me. My house will look like a home, not a model!"

I think we could start a new movement with that philosophy;)

Just beautiful! So many great things about your kitchen. Gorgeous!

Love it. Simple without being stark. And SOO functional. I am sure you will eat tastefully.

Okay, we're back home. On with the answers!

Angela,
Our bread drawer is from Rev-a-Shelf. It comes in two sizes and three colors (almond, white, and clear). The price varies from $30 to $54.

If you google "rev a shelf bread drawer kit," you'll get lots of hits. It seems to be cheaper on Amazon.

We use ours daily. The drawer won't close if the lid isn't closed, which is kind of a pain, but then, if the lid isn't closed, it's not really preserving the bread, either, so we see it as a reminder. We love it and use it daily. We find that it's nice to put our non-refrigerated things like nutella and peanut butter right there in the drawer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rev A Shelf Bread Drawer.

a2gemini,
Our recycling center was custom made by our amazing Amish carpenter. I gave him a sketch of what I wanted and he made it happen. The touch control is powered by Blum Servodrive.

If you look toward the end of this post, I have a few more photos and a description of how it works.

It is SO nice when your hands are full of chicken or dough!

Here is a link that might be useful: Touch activated recycling center

beradmr,
The backsplash is glass tile with a piece of paper with lines glued to it. I have several up close photos of it on the blog post linked below.

I wanted something that had a little variance to it, but was still subtle. I LOVE this backsplash! It's call Solistone Mardi Gras, and it comes in 4 or 5 colors. This is the grayish green (Carrollton).

Here is a link that might be useful: backsplash upclose

Thank you so much for coming back with that info !!!

CEFreeman,
ACK!!! I owe you some money! Can you email me your Paypal account again please! :-)

marti8a,
I just posted some info about the recycling center in my response to a2gemini a few comments above.

We have a house blog, that covers everything from the dream stage to the build to now, at last, the settling in stage. I have the link below.

If you click on the photo of the house, it'll take you to the home tour post.

Here is a link that might be useful: de Jong dream house

Hope you don't mind a quick question about your task lighting outlets. Did you install the backsplash first or the task outlets? Where are they attached - to the cabinet, through the backsplash, against the style?

I really appreciate your help.

Your kitchen is a dream come true!

So happy to see this thread again! Your kitchen was a HUGE inspiration to me (as you will see when I post my finished pics in the coming weeks). Hope you are enjoying it. It is so beautiful! Cheers!

Oi, somehow I missed this reveal! I remember way back talking about the lights and backsplash and they BOTH are divine in your finished space. It's just an amazing remodel. Everything is so integrated and the flow/workspaces seem so thought out.

I'm curious about the Task lighting and outlets, too. We'll be using some kind of plugmold in our remodel - and I need to start getting my head around undercounter lighting, too.

I really do love your pendants... they seem like they have zero glare. Is that true?

Kim Cela, I just happened to see your post because as much as it breaks my heart, we just sold the house this week. I still LOVE LOVE LOVE the cork floors. No fading, no scratching. Still look brand new. SUPER easy to care for. Our house keeper said she wished everyone had cork floors instead of hardwood. I'm actually on Houzz to figure out how to put cork in the new house!