Hi all,

Well, we've finally got a (mostly) finished kitchen! This kitchen's been in the planning stages for 8 years and I've been in and out of this forum for just about that long-- wow, time flies! Whether I've posted or just lurked, the information I've gotten here has been INVALUABLE.

I can unequivocally say that my kitchen would not look anything like what it does without this Forum, and for that I offer my profound gratitude-- there is, quite literally, no way I could have done it without all of you, past and present.

So, here are the photos of the finished result:

For the entire album with detailed photos, just click on the link below any of the photos above!

Here are the details:

Cabinetry: IKEA Lidingo White (with glass uppers) for the perimeter, Tidaholm Brown/Black for the island

Island Knobs & Pulls: Anne at Home Farm Collection and Lewis Dolin Glass Cup Pulls (from Myknobs.com)

Perimeter Knobs and Pulls: Anne at Home Horse Collection, generic polished chrome knobs, cup pulls, and bar pulls (from Myknobs.com)

Wall Paint: BM Revere Pewter

Trim, Hood, and Fireplace Paint: Valspar Bright White (from Lowes)

Perimeter Counters: IKEA Butcher Block, stained Black with India Ink and sealed with Waterlox

Island Counter: IKEA Butcher Block, sealed with Watco food safe butcher block sealer

Main Sink: Whitehaus 36" farm sink (from Vintagetub.com)

Island Sink: IKEA single Domsjo, undermounted instead of the usual overmount installation

Faucets: IKEA Hjuvik

Refrigerator: Because we grow a lot of what we eat (so we don't need to store much) and have a large fridge in an adjacent laundry room, we chose a generic small undercounter fridge (Home Depot, off the shelf)

Wine chiller: Sunbeam (Home Depot, off the shelf)

Dishwashers: Kenmore and Hotpoint, both existing and 5-7 years old

Microwaves: 8 year old Kenmores

Island Oven: IKEA Datid 30"

Hood: ProLine 36" range hood (from eBay)

Range: IKEA Praktfull Pro A50

Backsplash Behind Range: Handthrown Williamsburg brick (local brickyard, left over from another project)

Flooring: Lumber Liquidators, Hand Scraped Teak

Island and Sink Pendants: IKEA Ottava

Cabinet lights: IKEA Grundtal single puck lights

Chandelier over the Table: Progress lighting, black 5-light chandelier (Home Depot, off the shelf)

Fireplace: Style Selections 36" Vent Free LP fireplace (LoweÂs, off the shelf)

A few notes about the remodel, just to hit some discussion points I see come up a lot in this Forum:

Our kitchen lives in a big old 1840 farmhouse, which has been part of a working farm since the day it was built. Originally it was soybeans, but now it's part of a gentleman's farm (horses, heritage gardens and poultry), so everything has to be hard wearing and practical. It needs to stand up to heavy traffic, mud, hay, tools, and the occasional chicken (though usually when they wander in, they don't go much further than the family room, because they like the television). That definitely informed our choices for surfaces-- they needed to be hard cleanable, and ultimately easily refinished or replaced down the line.

Because the entire house already has strong architectural elements (huge moldings and built-ins), we worked within the style we already had-- all the kitchen moldings, mantels, panels and cabinets match (or are closely styled after) what already exists in the house. We definitely didn't do a period kitchen (we wanted a 2010 layout with all the conveniences), but we wanted the kitchen to look like it belonged in the house.

The big thing for us was budget-- believe it or not, the entire kitchen was done for UNDER $20K. Four big things contributed to that:

1/ We DIY'ed the ENTIRE project, start to finish. The only thing we hired out was the gas line install for the fireplace and range, because state law requires it. Other than that, all planning, demo, sourcing, and construction was on us. Might be why it took us 8 years. . .

2/ We reused what we could, and scrounged a lot, especially construction materials (which could have been buckets of money, considering all the custom work we did in the space), and kept what appliances we could. It was also a great way to be environmentally responsible on a project that, let's face it, has a lot of non-necessities involved.

3/ IKEA, IKEA, IKEA. If you're anywhere reasonably close to an IKEA, and you're on anything approaching a budget, go check it out. The cabinet quality for the price can't be beat (except for a few pockets of custom cabinet makers), and there are a lot of great accessories, appliances, lighting and other things to be had for a terrific price. As always, you have to pick and choose your items for quality and value, but at least in our experience, it is definitely there to be had for the buyer with a good eye.

4/ We didn't go for major appliance upgrades. Our whole family LOVES to cook (and eat!), and we wanted a great looking, functional space to do it all in, but we just weren't convinced that we needed more than the basics right now. If we want to upgrade down the line, it's easy enough to do, but right now our Wolf budget is standing in our barn eating hay, and our LaCanche budget is steered towards this Show Hunter prospect I have my eye on . . .

So there's our formula for a great kitchen that works for us considering the (kind of odd!) parameters we had. Hope you all can take at least something useful away from our experience.

I've submitted the kitchen to the FKB, and I'll answer whatever questions you've got. . .

Thanks again, everyone!