Friday, June 8

Home tour: my kitchen

If there were to ever be a movie about my life, most of it would be set right here--in my kitchen.  So much of my time is spent in this room.  Take a look around with me!

Here's the view from one end of the room to another:

And the view looking back the other way:



As you can see, it's a long room, so I'll show you one section at a time.

At the far end is the door leading out to the deck and a bank of French doors leading to the screened porch.  Beside the French doors is my little desk area--my tiny "mom cave."


Next to that sits our giant (11 feet long) table and my mom's antique dough cabinet.  As you can see, I'm one of those people who mixes wood tones freely.


The dough cabinet is one of my most treasured pieces of furniture.  Behind its glass doors I keep little things that belonged to my mother and my grandmother, both of whom died in 1999.  The angel food cake pans on the wall to the right of the dough cabinet all belonged to my grandmother--this was just a fraction of her collection!


The dough cabinet is one of my favorite spots for seasonal decorations.  Right now it's just holding some of our hydrangeas plus the Lego "Town Hall" that my son Lee (aka LegoLee329) recently built.


On to the working end of the kitchen.  


The windows in my kitchen all face west, so they let in a lot of sunlight.  I like the plantation shutters in the eating and desk area, but I like having the window over the sink uncovered.  I created a super-easy no-sew faux Roman shade just to block a bit of the glare from the sun and to add some color here.


One of my favorite things about this kitchen is the feature at the top of the cupboards.  Those lighted shadowboxes give me great pleasure--but they sure threw me for a loop when I first started wondering what to put in them!  I decided on a single pitcher in each one.


And the other side of the room, which shows the doorway to the dining room and the living room.


Even though I have a nice desk at the end of the room, the bar is where I usually sit and work.  I like being right in the middle of things.


I found the barstools at TJMaxx and transformed them with paint and fabric.  Three of the people who live in this house are 6'6" or taller, so everyone wanted big barstools.


Lee sits here and works on his Lego creations, too.  


Here's a shot of the bar in relation to the rest of the room:


This shot gives you a look of the stairway that leads down to the "Terrace Level" (also known as the walkout basement).  The stairway wall contains one of my favorite DIY projects: a family portrait wall clock.



Recently my kitchen was the scene of some excitement: I won a brand-new KitchenAid stand mixer! Sandy Coughlin of Reluctant Entertainer held an amazing giveaway for a KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer, a darling apron from The Hip Hostess, and a copy of Reluctant Entertainer. Over 2000 people entered, and I won!  I'll write more about this later, but for now don't you think my mixer looks pretty in its new home?


And here are my darling apron and a copy of Sandy's book.  Lucky me!


I often get questions about my kitchen.  Sprinkled throughout this post are links to some of the projects.  Here are a few other details:
  • Cupboards are maple beadboard.
  • Granite is Santa Rita.
  • Backsplash is tumbled marble tiles.
  • Appliances are all KitchenAid.  Fridge and dishwasher are fitted with cabinet fronts.
  • Drawer pulls and cabinet knobs are from Restoration Hardware.
  • Wall color is "Ruskin Room Green" by Sherwin Williams. 

Thank you so much for spending time in the kitchen with me!  I wish you could come visit--we'd probably end up sitting at the bar with a cup of coffee or tea, wouldn't we?  The kitchen just seems to be the place where folks gather!


I'm joining Kelly at Kelly's Korner for her "Show Us Your Life" series.  You'll find lots of great kitchen inspiration there!

26 comments:

  1. Your kitchen is just so beautiful Richella! I think the lighted shadowboxes are so amazing and that table is HUGE. It is warm and welcoming which means it matches your personality perfectly! :-)
    Vanessa

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  2. Your kitchen is so inviting! I'm headed over to see the other kitchen inspiration too, I hope to be updating mine soon. Thanks for inviting us in!

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  3. I love your kitchen. It just says welcome! I love your plantation shutters and table. I could fit a lot of family around a table that size. Thanks for sharing. I love seeing other people's homes:)

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  4. This is darling!!! Love the bar stools!

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  5. love the size of your kitchen! And love the Roman shade....I'm thinking I'm going to have to try this.

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  6. What a wonderful room or rooms! I just love everything about it and I can picture just how much you and your family must enjoy it too.

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  7. I just love your beautiful kitchen. You have so much space and I too love those little lit shadow boxes above your cabinets! I love your Mom Cave and your mother's dough cabinet. What treasures you have and you've certainly decorated your kitchen wonderfully too. Congratulations on winning that gorgeous mixer. I'm asking Santie Clause for one for Christmas! :)
    Be a sweetie,
    Shelia :)

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  8. What a lovely kitchen! I love your plantation shutters.

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  9. Your kitchen is the coolest kitchen I have ever seen Richella. I absolutely love it! It is huge...yet so cozy and warm and welcoming!

    So happy that you use it and enjoy it so much! That is wonderful.

    Also love the rest of the house and the sun-porch! And how wonderfully you decorate. (:>)

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  10. Love your dining room table!!

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  11. I love your son's town hall and the angel food pans hanging on the wall! Also the pitchers in the shadow boxes are lovely.

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  12. Your kitchen is HUGE! And beautiful, I'd treasure things from past generations, too. I have little from them, but I cherish them. Just curious-- what are the dimensions? My living room is 12X24 and your kitchen looks bigger. Janet

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  13. The kitchen is lovely. How did you affix the dough pans to the wall? I have some pans I would like to hang like that. Thanks.

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  14. I love your kitchen!! The space has to be HUGE to fit a table that size with room to spare!! Thanks for sharing!!

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  15. Your kitchen is just beautiful. It is homey and warm and yet very functional. I love it...and I can see your family all gathered there for everyday life- xo Diana

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  16. Fabulous, what a wonderful area. I love your cabinets and the layout of your kitchen is so functional and so pretty. Love your dough cupboard, it is priceless. Beautiful.

    You asked about hardware that I found for the nightstand. I found some really reasonable things at
    http://www.antique-hardware.com/ Great prices plus shipping is a flat $6.95

    Hugs, Marty

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  17. Gorgeous kitchen! I LOVE the huge kitchen table! And who couldn't use a Mom Cave?

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  18. Richella, what a fun tour! Wow, that is a huge family/kitchen area. Is it always that clean and uncluttered? I need your help....

    And... I beg to differ. Your "mom cave" isn't tiny at all. I dream of a spot like that! :-)

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  19. Beautiful! I just love that little corner office!

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  20. I love your maple cabinets. I really do. I had maple in my first house and loved those and they didn't even have that beautiful beadboard.

    Honestly, I think your kitchen is dream material! You have SO much cabinet space and gathering room! It is obviously big but you have done a great job of making it so homey and warm. And I love the dough cabinet & your "mom cave."

    YUM! :)

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  21. The word that kept coming to mind while reading was HAPPY. It is such a cheerful space. Your family is lucky to share it.

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  22. I love it! My husband and I visited a couple of antique stores over the weekend and at one I found a 10 foot table that came out of an old library. I really want a table that will seat all of us without adding leaves. I tried to talk him into it but he said who in the world has a ten foot table in their house? OK, now I can show him that you have one even longer!
    Beautiful kitchen!

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  23. I love how much space you have in your kitchen. When you have a party, I can imagine that everyone stays in this room. Every detail of your kitchen is pretty and exactly the design that I like.

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  24. LOVE LOVE LOVE how homey and inviting your kitchen is! complete with Lego's and sentimental pieces. PERFECTION! :) wondering where you found your table? thanks for letting us all "in"... :)

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  25. What a wonderful tour of your gorgeous kitchen! I love that table! I am going back to some older posts that I missed. XO, Pinky

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