How nice it all pulled together! The first word that comes to mind is comfortable, which to me is high praise for the heart of the home.
The hood under the window is nice effect and I actually like your shelves as they are. If you do not want them just for dustables, you could put your most used spices on the bottom shelf in pretty containers. Since they'd get used fairly often, you'd have less dust with which to contend.

Your proposed light for over the sink is a good choice. I think the small fixture looks a little lost in that spot.

I can picture waking up to this kitchen every day and enjoying it.

Not sure what you mean about the kitchen being too matchy matchy with the counters? Nothing garanimals about your kitchen! My favorite touch is the open shelf to the right of the sink. I like how the wall cabinets made way for it. I would suggest an unobtrusive backsplash because your kitchen looks pretty darned perfect as it is.

You've done a really beautiful job! I love the mix of wood and painted cabs, you pulled it off perfectly! The countertops are making me drool!

Sparkle

Your kitchen rocks -- there is nothing to matchy matchy, but rather very complimentary. Love the countertop. Such a comforting space.

Love all the pendants -- the ones that are hanging are great, but the love the others as well.

The window above the hood -- brilliant. Such a great feature.

OK -- the shelves -- the size seems fine, but maybe the support brackets are a bit too big? Of course, they need to extend the full depth of the shelf, but perhaps could they be a bit shorter in back?

You have inspired me to get pictures of my kitchen TODAY. One more birch kitchen on the way.

I LOVE the color of the counters...Softer and more elegant than if enhanced...for me, anyway. Also, love the window and the way the island looks like a table, but isn't. Everyone has said it, your kitchen has a great, comfortable feel to it.

I would get those open shelves the way you want them. They would be too shallow for me, too.

Love your kitchen!!! Warm and SO inviting. The counters are fabulous!

I feel the shelves don't quite add to the look...Is it their proportion? The shelves too close together? I would be curious to see them made from the same wood as the cabinets, and with the shelves situated at the same height as the shelves inside the cabinet. However, no matter what you decide, the kitchen is truly gorgeous!!

Quick question... how wide is your cabinet that houses your micro? We have similar planned for our kitchen and I am curious as to how much usable space I will have next to the micro. Ours will be in a 30" wide cabinet. Does yours have much room behind it? I was hoping to have some space to put objects coming out or going in on, so to have our micro set back a little. I know I need to account for the door to be able to open.
The plan is also to put the cappucino maker next to it, but that is subject to change.
I will be so happy to get as much off my counters as I can.

Wow! Looks great. Enjoy! Love the window over the hood and also think the quartzite was an inspired choice.

Looks great!

I love the little shelf next to the window...can I ask where you bought it?

Onedogedie, rookie_1010, rjr220, rholm410, athomesewing, sabjimata - thanks for the kind words and constructive feedback about the shelf & light. Validation for deeper and more separate shelving is helpful.

The corner of the kitchen faces north so we don't get much direct sun from the back. Thus a light kitchen & some type of window on the side were a necessities to me.

dianalo - The microwave space is 24" wide and 24" deep. I have an old dorm type microwave in it right now, but I designed it for a micro/convection oven - which I have yet to buy. I am secretly longing for a Miele speed oven (only one that fits the 24") but didn't plan that in the budget :)

baileyandbella - The cabinet maker made the shelf. It is just flat shelves with simple brackets - you might be able to get one of those more entrepreneurial little unfinished wood shops to make you one for small money.

Last thing for feedback - stools. They are from another kitchen that came with the condo we bough before the house - more traditional cherry. I though we would either (1) get a more contemporary stool - metal lucite or (2) paint the current ones black, colbalt blue, apple green or an orangey red - something to have some punch or contrast in the kitchen but looks good with the gray and the birch. I do like the zen feel but I like the unexpected as well - either something metal, contemporary or the painted. OR - it will be 10 years later and I will have the same stools, shelf and microwave because I am so burnt out from the house renovation!

Here are things I found on a quick search -

Red stools

Modern red stool

Metal stool (might be too cold color wise with all the gray)

Green stools - but we need something with a back. I could do a black painted or leave it wood with a green cushion - or is that just kitchy?

Or I could paint the stools a great green - don't ask what came up when I searched on green stools :) But with green kitchen stools I didn't find much either.

I really like this - the cabinets and the set of colors and particularly the transom-like window over the range.

Good luck with your decorating and happy cooking!

Your cabinets are so beautiful. I love the counters too. (Now I need to Google ''pietra''). Everything just looks great together. I wish I could be some help on the BS and stools. Great job.

I love your birch cabinets and gray combo. The whole kitchen is really beautiful. You can play with any splash of color you want. Fun!

Oh I just can't tell you how much I love that island and countertop...talk about walking into a space and not wanting to leave.
Stools, I think it would look nice for the color pop to stay a little conservative. Maybe just have some stool seat cushions that have a little pale gray, charcoal, plus some muted colors that you like and already have on your selves.

Correction...Shelf not selves! Main computer crashed & I am stuck with this lapstop that suddenly moves part of a word off to another sentence. I have to keep typing everything over, its maddening.

Hope this isn't too brutal: The little painted shelves seem to undo the more spare theme of the rest of the room. The contrast of the lines of the white paint supports against the adjacent cupboard undercuts the impact of the displayed items. I understand why you want some of the white paint down on that end of the room. I suspect you will find a more satisfying shelf support solution that is less instrusive visually. At the very least, could the supports be pale birch? or the wall color with the shelves remaining white?

I vote for the less-industrial style for the lighting.

Where does the hood vent leave the house--straight out the back?

Have been stool shopping myself lately and I urge you to try out stools to see how they feel on the lower back and on the fanny. If people are sitting at an overhang regularly, not casually, they need to be comfortable. Harder task than I expected. You can achieve a lot with paint and fabric if the basic stool is well designed.

The birch is wonderful and the light, airiness is very successful. Your kitchen is very inviting and seems very well thought out. I can imagine you working in here and enjoying family and friends as the sparkling kittyqueen of the kitchen. I hope you are having a ball.

Florantha -Thanks for the feedback on the shelves - I am definitely not set on them so appreciate honest opinions. I realize that feedback is influenced by what I have on them right now, which is just some things I thought might not look bad - versus what I had originally planed. The original thought was something functional - to hold plates and glasses used everyday (to avoid the dust issue of open shelves) and maybe a few taller things on top. But they are not deep enough to do do that as they are made now (though cute.)

I also originally thought that they should be birch and toyed with the painted, but my lovely cabinet maker make them white before I figured out what I wanted. The good part is I now have something to fill the gap and provide a reference to I design what I really want. And I have thought from the thoughtful GWers.

I agree that those two counters are too close. How do you enhance it? I assume that will darken the perimeter - hope it works!

Your kitchen is great! Did you ever get your seam repaired?

How do you like the paint? Revere Pewter? It is a color on my short list. I too have a north facing kitchen and worry that it may be dark.

Enjoy your beautiful kitchen.

Semi:

Semi - You have a good memory about the bad seam. I need to put up a follow up post. Yes, I had it reworked by the fabricator and it is better but not amazing like the ones you see on the posts titled "find the seam." I am happy enough at this point. I was glad we were able to reuse the pieces. Lessons learned to not just the contractor's "guy" without some more information about how they do their work (i.e. what technology they use or not use to make seams, etc.)

Yes, I used revere pewter and it is not dark. I had a plan to put in a white marble tile backsplash or white ceramic - the pewter swatch looked great with it - pulling out the putty size of the RP. But I held off on the backsplash and I am surprised that the pewter has gone more gray/less putty against the pietra counters and makes the counters look almost blue in certain light (ugh.) But the RP looks great against the white (BM white dove) not dark but a soft gray/putty. Honestly I almost wish I had gone a shade darker for a little more contrast/intensity even with the dark room.

Probably more than you wanted to know, but I find this detail helpful to me with paint colors. Good luck.

Florantha - I forgot to answer the message about the vent hood. Yes it vents straight out the back. It was one of the few that I found that had the pull (600 cfm), was shorter (about 10 inches), could vent out behind, and wasn't ugly :) Kobe Hood CH-179. They have a few others.

Love everything about your kitchen except-something about that shelf isn't singing to me. Think if it was done in the same birch wood as the cabinets it might feel more a part of the kitchen to me. But, that's just my opinion and if you really love it, then keep it!! Your kitchen has classic and simple lines. Very nice!!

Wow what a lovely kitchen! I especially love the island countertop and the birch cabinetry. Personally, I like the soft, muted, unenhanced surrounding countertops. But I think it would look nice to be darker as well, so you really can't go wrong. I sorry to say that I have to agree with Florantha regarding the open shelving. Also, would you mind sharing the dimensions of your island? I'm interested in a similar setup: 3 seats on one long side, 1 seat on the end. Overall what a beautiful and truly unique kitchen. Congratulations!

First of all--
don't ask what came up when I searched on green stools :) Bwahahaahahaha! Thanks for the giggle!

Now onto your kitchen! I love your island--that is gorgeous! The whole space is really warm and comfortable, and I love your windows, and that window over the hood is really unique--I like it! I love the mix of birch with the painted cabs--you really pulled that off! I do not think your counters are garanimalish at all! And I think I could just take a bite out of the island top--it is delicious! (Maybe I'm hungry...;^)

Well done!

pricklypearcactus - The island is 84" by 39" - larger than you might need. It has an over hang on three sides so technically we could put in 5 chairs, but have a trash on the third and sometimes drag a chair over when cooking. If you only want an overhang on 3 sides you could loose 12" - 72" x 39" and you can probably even shrink the footprint a little more depending on your overhand requirements, chair size and design (more about our design below.)

The cabinet underneath is 24" deep and 60" wide. The over hang for the long side is 15" - the minimum we wanted for seating but max we could have and still have OK passage behind. And there are 12" over hang on both short sides. There is ample room for three chairs on the long side - if the apron wasn't arched we may have even fit four narrow chairs.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for all the feedback and I am still noodling on the decision including the pesky shelf. I think I have gotten to the point where I don't notice the issue as much...

Sparkle - thanks for the info. I could swear I already posted that to you but cannot find it. It is helpful to know measurements when looking at an element in a pic.

As for your shelf, do as Coco Chanel said, dress it up and then take one thing off (or maybe a few). I think if the belongings on it were more spare, it may be a better flow with the rest of the kitchen. Less can be more (unless it is chocolate).