I love everything about your kitchen! I like how you have a special place for those two plates displayed above the range hood. Everyone loves the backsplash, including me...can we get a picture of it taken a little closer?

Your kitchen is a beauty! May I ask what paint colour you used on the walls? Also, is your backsplash glass or ceramic tile?

I love looking at the finished kitchens, especially when they are as beautiful as this one! What a gorgeous, classic space! Enjoy! Thanks for the pics and the details.

Ditto what everyone else has already said! Love the backsplash.. love the chandaliers... love it all! Kudos! You've done a very nice job.

Looks great....congratulations...can you tell me about your stools...just what I was looking for...thanks!

Very pretty!!!
I go back and forth between wanting white cabinets and dark!!
Yours makes a strong point for white. Very crisp.

I LOVE it! We are doing a very similar thing (white with black perimeter + dark island with light top) - starting soon - and I have been so indecisive on backsplash but yours has given be guidance and inspiration! Beautiful!

WOW was my first thought upon seeing your pics! Your kitchen is BEAUTIFUL! I love the way you have the brownish tones along with the black and white. It give it a very personal touch. The island granite and backsplash are great together. I also love your chandeliers! All the details are wonderful, thank you for sharing it all with us! What an inspiration!

What a great spot to gather and cook! Beautiful.

I hope the rest of the house turned out half way as wonderful as the kitchen :) It's georgeous.

WOW - I usually do not like kitchens with white cabinets - but with your granite choices, paint color and especially your back splash, you did a killer job. One of the best white kitchens I have seen

Thanks again everyone! I'll try to answer some of the other questions.

Island granite - the base color is creamy. It has black, brown, gray, and olive green veining/spotting. The island itself is maple stained to look like cherry.

Backsplash - it's ceramic. We went back and forth between a cream colored marble and this and ultimately chose this because of its simplicity and how the olive green color tied into the island top.

Barstools - Target. They are ORB with a tan microsuede cushion. It was hard to find stools that we liked in a counter height that weren't riduculously expensive.

Wall color - Kilem Beige by SW. Almost the entire downstairs is painted this color. I chose it because it was a nice neutral. Now that I've lived with it for a year now, I still like it but am not in love with it. It's very 'blah' to me. One day I'm going to paint in a more yellow toned beige....right now I'm liking Pittsfield Buff by BM. But as I've got about 2000 sq. feet to paint, it will be awhile before I get to that project!

How do I keep it so clean? LOL...I don't! I moved almost everything off the counters and piled it onto our breakfast table while I took these pictures. With a 4 and 2 year old, our kitchen rarely is clean!

Wow, is your backsplash olive? On my monitor it looks brown, I like it even more if it's olive!

Fabulous kitchen, thanks for sharing!

Bellisimo!

Just lovely - Love how you balanced all the tones, and your backsplash gives me incentive to perservere in completing mine. Beautiful, classic look!

I thought I'd posted yesterday, but alas, had not. So, add me to the list of admirers of your beautifully done kitchen!

Scrumptious!! Simple, elegant...lovely!!!

Your kitchen is so gorgeous. The backsplash is classic and beautiful, but the color makes it even more special. Waiting to find just the right tile really paid off. Well done!

Gorgeous, really!!!

I love the slight French feel with those beautiful chandeliers and the traditional sink and hood cover. Well done!!!

Greta, you may not have seen my question earlier - what exhaust are you using over your rangetop? What cfm's? Thanks.

Very nice,

When someone made the comment about white kitchens, I had to go back and look- somehow it doesn't come across as your typical white kitchen- you've done an amazing job with the colour choices- I thought it was perhaps out of a magazine article!

Absolutely beautiful! Just beautiful!

Change the paint color in the rest of the house if you must, but I vote for keeping this color in the kitchen. It looks great!

Your kitchen is beautiful. Great job!!!

shannonplus2 - Sorry! I just knew I missed a question. Vent hood is a 600 cfm by Vent-a-Hood. It's basically just a liner that's made for a custom wood cover like ours. It's fairly quiet on it's low setting but can be a bit noisy on the high setting. But it works very well and we've had all 6 burners cooking at once.

Gorgeous!!!!

Greta, I think our kitchens may have been separated at birth! Love the chandeliers. I have the same ones over my island!

It truly looks like a magazine kitchen. LOVE the backsplash.

Twin kitchens:

Oh wow, I just might have to steal your backsplash, that looks awesome with the white cabinets and black granite. I will also have polished absolute black granite (not honed) and I love the combination. The whole kitchen is really stunning, congratulations!

reno_fan - LOL! I think your kitchen might have been one of my inspiration kitchens! I remember loving the chandleliers and your backsplash. Your picture reminded me that I still don't have window treatments. Oh well...I'm still calling my kitchen finished!

What a lovely kitchen! It really does look like something out of a magazine. The backsplash, cabinets, countertops, lighting - I love all of it! Congrats on a job well done.

Can you please share any other details on your gorgeous handeliers (mfg/model/etc)? I would like to find them on lightinguniverse and see if one would work in my hallway. Thanks!

I just love your kitchen! It truly looks like I am looking at a magazine spread of the kitchen of the year. I was surprised that your hard wood floors was oak since I love them so maybe oak is beautiful as long as it red oak and is not the golden oak veneer on my kitchen cabinets that is my next project after my floors in my home. Now I will be open to oak floors thanks to your beautiful picture.

Fantastic! Love the chandeliers!

LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT.....this is one of the nicest kitchens I have seen on this forum.
That backsplash just sets the whole thing off. I am like another poster....I can't make up my mind about white or stained....this just might have done it for me....now to convince DH.

Beautiful! Congrats! Love the back splash color....

Very,very,very pretty. Love the chandeliers!!!! You did a great job. Enjoy!

forgot to ask...do the seats of the stools swivel?? its just what I've been looking for, but I think I need a swivel so the kids aren't always sliding the stools..thanks!

Love your kitchen, especially the backsplash and granite. I've been looking around for the granite and can't seem to find it. Any other names that might come up for it? Any suggestions for it in the NJ area? I love that it has olive in it, would go with my home beautifuly!

How do you like the JennAir CD french door?

Thanks so much, job well done!

How did I miss this thread before! What a beautiful kitchen! It is Gorrrrrrgeous! Congrats on a finished kitchen. It looks great. Very pretty!

For some reason I stopped getting notified of new posts. There were some new questions....

oldhometara - you asked about the chandeliers. I pulled up the old email that had the receipt from Lighting Universe. The description says "Minka Lavery Castlewood Walnut w/Silver Leaf HighlightsÂ,(3)60w B10 Cand C Incand, Height: 18.5" - Diameter: 13.75"" The part # was 2323511 3122-301. They were only $77 each.

jowbo - yes the stools swivel. Yet another function my husband had to have.

positano - We're in Dallas and I only saw the Monte Bello granite at one granite yard and we looked at about 4 different yards. I did a search on this site and on google and was unable to find it. I do remember that it was from Brazil. We really do love it and get many compliments on it. And yes we love the Jenn Air CD fridge. It's fairly roomy but we also have a garage fridge that we use. I'm not sure the CD fridge would be big enough for a family of 4. I do have one complaint about the fridge....most of the time when shutting the doors they both close but every once in a while if the left door gets shut "softly"...i.e. is closed when only open a little bit....it doesn't have enough "shutting power" to close all the way. So we have to keep an eye on that door to make sure it's closed. But it probably only happens 1 out of 20 times we close it.

I really need to take updated pictures...my camera appears to be functioning normally again so my pictures aren't blurry anymore.

Really nice job! I love how your backsplash pops. The room is beautifully restrained but has its touches of whimsy in just the right places.

Thanks Gretal- I'll keep looking for the granite, it really is beautiful. How is your absolute black to clean?

positano - I think the absolute black is very easy to keep clean. That was a fear of mine before we got it. So we were looking for soapstone or honed black granite. My neighbors had honed absolute black and once I saw their kitchen I didn't like it. It was too dull. They even said it showed a lot of smudges and always looked dirty. And for some reason Dallas only had the green soapstones...I wanted the gray/black slabs. Anyway, so we went with Absolute Black. Yes, you do see every little water spot and crumb, but one swipe with a sponge or a rag and it's clean. Complete opposite is my Monte Bello granite...I can't tell if it's dirty or not. Even when I clean it I can't tell if I've gotten it all so it's invariably dirty all the time. In any case, I love them both and I think they look good together.

I'm still striking out on the monte bello. Anything that you think it might be close to? I need to order my cabinets soon and I can't decide if I should make my island dark or not. If I could find the right granite it would help me decide. I did see your backsplash tile at WZ. They only have 60sq ft left and are discontinuing it.

Thanks for the info about the absolut black. I'm also looking at Cambria Black antiqued.

Hope your enjoying your kitchen!!

Timeless and tasteful. It does not get any better tha this.
You nailed it with the subway tiles.
Could you tell me the dimensions of your kitchen, please.

What a stunning kitchen! Congrats on a finished beautiful kitchen that I am in love with. Thanks for sharing.

Greta, we are also in Dallas. Your kitchen is beautiful! We've done almost the same thing....Volga Blue granite (but comes off as black and has huge chunks of mica running through it). Our cabinets are white. Our backsplash also came from Walker Zanger, but our horrible contractor had a tile guy install it when we were gone and it looks like a drunk installed it! We have to have it all torn out and done over. We are finished with our substandard-robber contractor and now need a quality tile guy to redue the backsplash. Do you have anyone you'd recommend? Thanks so much!

Add me to the list of admirers! I am not usually a fan of "white" kitchens, but the way you balanced the light and dark in here is so warm and beautiful. It is fantastic!

Sweet! Bet you LOVE it!

positano - the Monte Bello fell into the category of white or cream granites. Try these names....Yellow River, Gallio Beach, or Juperano Cerrado. I was able to find it online by a google of "Monte Bello brazilian granite".
http://www.naturalbeautystone.com/page/page/4198551.htm
http://www.swtile.com/cat_view.asp?catid=18

hammybee - I'm not sure of the exact dimensions, but I'd say the main area of the kitchen (not including the breakfast area) is 13'x 10'. If we included the breakfast area (which contains the pantry and microwave/wall oven), then it's about 15' x 17'

kat123 - we did our tiling ourselves so I have no one to recommend. I'm sorry! If you need a painter, let me know because ours is fabulous!

Thanks gretal, thank info helps a lot. I'll keep looking, I'm so sad I've seen nothing like it.

gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!