Very, very nice. A big change! I love your cabinet door style, and see you gained many drawers. Aren't they great? Congratulations and enjoy!

What a tremendous change!! I know you are going to love it for years and years to come. It is just beautiful. Congrats!!

WoW! Great combination of wood, stainless, granite & white! I really, really like how you've combined traditional elements with contemporary ones. As I take in your kitchen, each separate element steps to center stage yet each element steps back to let me enjoy the next one...you've done a wonderful job assembling a cast of stars into a very cohesive cast of supporting characters. It works. Wonderfully!

I love your kitchen
Can you tell me where you got your
sink?
faucet?
and what type of cabinets?

I love the window, the way it goes down to the counter and how sleek everything looks in that picture.
Thanks for sharing

What is the hood make and model. Very nice looking?

The FIRST sentence was the question. The second was the statement.

So warm and cozy to wake up to every morning, I love it. A happy place with a lovely view out the kitchen window, how lucky you are! What is that mountain view, if you don't mind me asking.

Wowzers! Love it! And the view, too!

Very nice change. The greenhouse window's granite sill is my favorite!

Lovely transformation - glad the rest of the wp is coming down that will provide a nice impact

Ok - are you on an island? if so, where - the bouganvilla are a give away what a beautiful site!

Beautiful!I love the sink layout with the full windows. The granite range backsplash is great looking too! Congratulations and happy cooking!!!!

Sleek is right ! WOW ! Very elegant and warm at the same time. I love the view too .

Please let us know when you get ready to bake bread and post pics....we LOVE pics :) Caroline

Same footprint all new feel! How did you make up for the lose of space since you did not replace the hanging cabinets over the peninsula? You really opened up the space and I'm sure the extra light must be cheery.

Very very nice! Are you in Phoenix, by chance? 'Cause that looks very familiar.

What a transformation - it looks wonderful. Your granite goes so well with the cabinet stain. Congrats on a job well done!

Great job! What a change. Love the cab color and the dark granite. You must be so happy every time you walk in there. Enjoy!!!

Great Job! Amazing transformation and in the same footprint and placement of everything yet sooooo different. Nice update. Okay, my guesses on your location, San Diego or Hawaii.

That view looks like it's in Irvine, CA...Saddleback mountain?
Your new kitchen is beautiful! It makes me wish we had taken away the over the pininsula cabinets like you did. It really opens up the area. I like the trifle bowl filled with two shades of green : )

I have one word for this remodel: EXCELLENT!

Really great look. You must be so happy it's done. You'll enjoy it for years to come. I know I would!

Thank you all for your kind compliments. It lifts my spirit (got a bad cold) and validates that we are not crazy doing a remodeling during this economic meltdown crisis of all ages.

My moniker reflects my occupation as well as being on a budget for this remodel. I think I can qualify to post in the thread under 20K kitchen. It is a little over 20K. With that said I can now address some of your questions. Many of the purchases are not high end nor top notch, but good quality and great value.

shannonskitchen: sink is from Swanstone QULS-3322 undermount double bowl granite black.
http://www.theswancorp.com/index.php?page=landing_ks
Bought it on-line from eFaucets.com
http://www.efaucets.com/finishdetail.asp?product_id=QZLS-3322-075&selected=QZLS-3322-075

I love that it has a low divider. Faucet is Price Pfister Hanover from Lowe's.

Old Lagebra : About the hood, there is a recent thread from the Appliance forum I'm linking here.
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg1215320620291.html?2
It is wall mount Spagna Vetro 30" model #SV168F4-30 by Euro Kithens.
http://www.euro-kitchen.com/products.asp?cat=32

owls4me & kaurie_2008: I am so glad I won that argument with DH. Took a bit of convincing to finally get him to agree. The overhead cabinet used to store drinking glasses and mugs, some bowls and knick knack dishes on one level shelf. It was not 2 or 3 shelves. I did not find it hard to relocate them to the cabinet next to the refrigerator and some bowls in dish drawers. The real secret is getting rid of 20-yrs of accumulation stuffed in blind corners,and never used. And Laurie isn't it the little things like the apple and lime that bring smile to our face?

wisrose, jejvtr, lightlystarched, debsinthepink, laurie_2008: It was fun watching you all play guessing game, I wish we are in an island like Maui, but no we are land locked. Each guess is getting warmer and coming closer to home. We are located in Camarillo, CA about halfway between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. The sink picture was taken recently when the east coast was getting all that snow and the west coast was getting all that rain. It was the quiet between storm and all look peaceful.

Mine was an easy one, same footprint, just change clothes. But even with a small project there are aggravating situations, nerve wretching moments etc. Remember the result makes everything worthwhile. Like you all said I am very happy! And THANKS AGAIN for your response for it means a lot to me.

Wonderful! I can hear the sunshine in your voice/words that you are happy. In the dinette area you mentioned removing wall paper. Curtains, too? Unless you need the privacy I would let those pretty windows show the yard your lovely new kitchen! Congrats.

Good-bye 80's! Great job, it looks fantastic and amazing price.

Looks great! (from a fellow Ventura County resident)

Gorgeous! You must be absolutely thrilled! I love so many things, but your window down to the counter is my favorite part ... I hope mine turns out half as nice! I'm not normally a granite person, but I love yours. Love your faucet and your microwave area too.

Glad to hear you're getting rid of the wallpaper. Doesn't go at all with your sleek new space does it?

Congratulations and enjoy!

Erika

Forgot to ask ... are you tiling above your granite backsplash or will that remain painted?

Wonderful transformation! So much bigger, yet staying in the same footprint! Removing the upper cabs over the penninsula made such a difference. I love how you continued the counter into your garden window. Great job!

You call that a small kitchen! In any case, it's beautiful and you made the most of the space.

The kitchen looks great and the view makes me homesick -- I grew up in Santa Barbara and went to college in Thousand Oaks! Hard to believe I've been an east coaster for nine years now. Anyway, awesome transformation. I love the granite backsplash.

It looks great I love your choices in everything and how you opened up the space. That view is stunning.

I love the new appliances and the kitchen beautiful granite counters and backspash. The new sink is gorgeous. Your view is to die for! I wish I had a window in my kitchen. Thanks for sharing since I have a small kitchen also that is even smaller.

I'm with janran - you call that a small kitchen??? I could fit *three* of my kitchens in your kitchen! Small kitchen indeed. Harrumph!

Okay, that said ;-), wow! Really pretty. Your granite is definitely the star of the show - I love having it go up behind the hood! (In answer to your other thread, I think just painting the backsplash some neutral color that picks up on one of the colors in the granite would be fine - I think anything else you would do there, any sort of tile, would just compete with the granite.)

But your other details are great too (including that window!). It all works really well together, and it looks like a very expensive kitchen. Congratulations, and enjoy it!

Bluekit: Where O' where are you in Ventura? if I may ask.

kitchen1921: College must have been CLU Cal Lutheran?

Erikanh: Backsplash is my next question. I wanted it to be done, but if it looks unfinish then next project is tiling the little bit of BS.

charlikin & janran: In light of the new interesting post from richardjc re liking all posted finished kitchen and why all positive comments, I am so glad I categorized it as "small". Would not want to pass it off as anything loftier. When you post yours, you can call it "smaller" for richard? heh, heh.

shannonskitchen: Just realized I did not answer your question about the cabinets. They are from W.L. Rubottom, a local cabinet company who supplies the builders of new home constructions. With the down turn of the housing market they are branching off to the remodeling segment to sustain business while waiting for the market to turn. This happens to be my gain.

I loved it all, but that the "level with the counter" window with the granite inside really, really floated my boat...

lovely! the window, the granite, cabs, everything is wonderful.

I love your kitchen, especially the hood. I can't find that model number on the website you posted. Which is the closest to yours? How tall is your ceiling and how high above the cooktop is it mounted? Thanks, Jane

Great kitchen! Love your flooring and the granite going up behind the hood. Enjoy!

Yay! thanks again for all who sign in to join in my celebration of the New Year and the new kitchen despite the few detractors...This is a great forum full of wonderful GWebbers with generous heart and spirit!

jane: I am linking the site with my particular hood model. My ceiling height by the cooktop is only 7.5 ft because of the soffit. For this reason many vent hoods will not fit unless a metal fabricator cut the chimney part shorter. I priced the labor for cutting and it was almost as much as the hood itself. Finally found Euro that came with an extension chimney. I ended up installing the hood with the shorter chimney. It is 26" above the cooktop, 2" shorter than the recommended height. All their models have the specification and dimensions on-line for calculation if you have the same problem as I do. And call them on the phone to verify the measurements. They are very helpful and assured me that the 2" difference is okay.

Here is a link that might be useful: my shorter vent hood

How the heck did you do all that in 20K or under? Is it the same cabinets? If so, did you stain them? They look updated and different from the originals. I'm impressed.

The cabinets were the reason for the remodel. They are now servicing the garage! They were about 8.5K from a local cabinet company branching out of supplying new home construction. Granite is another 5.5K, appliances came in around 6 or 7K and the rest, sink, faucet, microwave, hood, demo/installation labor another 2K. We retained our 20 year old wood floor, still looking good. The only DIY part is wallpaper removal and painting. Nothing is real high end only looks to be. I am crossing my fingers my choices are right.

This is spectacular for $20K in California yet! I love the cabinets.

Everything just works so well together. Wow.

Thanks so much for the link for the hood. It's exactly what I've been looking for. Great job! Thanks, Jane

Jane: Sorry, I need to correct what I said about the vent hood. I use the taller of the two pieces of chimney that came with it. The reason it sits lower than the recommendation. But I like the look of that better. You can use the shorter chimney length to be within the recommendation. With almost 900 cfm, it should also work with the hood sitting higher and with your stove's particular btu total. Good luck.