Tag: kitchen

The kitchen design is finalized. We made the few remaining decisions in-person at the new Pedini showroom in South Lake Union.

First and most important was choosing the finish of the upper cabinets. We wanted something lighter than the dark brown lower cabinets. The section of uppers is small, so we chose something with a bit of contrast. We quickly narrowed our choices to the painted glass finishes. A coat of paint on the back of glass provides some gloss and depth to the color. We settled on Bianco, which (despite the name), isn’t white. The paint color is a light grey, and the glass adds just a hint of green to it. It is fairly neutral and matches our other materials well; it is lighter than the other cabinets, but is enough darker than a white wall to stand out nicely. Sadly, we cannot find any photos of the color on Pedini’s site.

While we were at the showroom, we noticed they had a sample kitchen with an interesting mechanism for opening the upper cabinets. In the Magika line (which we are using), they have an upward-opening option in addition to traditional side-hinged cabinets. To prevent the upswing doors from running into your head, they are hinged in the middle. The upper half is hinged to the cabinet like expected, but the lower half is hinged inward, so it stays roughly vertical while the door is opened. When fully open, the door is compact and out-of-way, without hitting the ceiling. Particularly for someone tall, this seems like a nice alternative. They cost a bit more, but it is worth it to us. The sample unit they had was equipped with a motorized control, so just a touch would open or close the door. We weren’t interested in the extra expense or complexity of the motors, so we chose the manual version.

We discussed several small decisions, mostly about handles. Magika has two handle options: hidden handles inset into the top of each door, accessible via a horizontal channel; and external vertically-oriented handles in aluminum or white. We generally liked the inset handles; they look clean and lack bits to snag on. For the back of the island facing the dining room we considered the aluminum handles for the visual effect. However, the channel for the inset handles adds height to the cabinets, and matching a set of channeled and channel-less cabinets on the two sides of the island would’ve been tricky.

On the upside, this conversation revealed that using handled cabinets in the bathrooms would lower the height a bit, so we switched those. Back in the kitchen, the cabinet and drawer on the appliance wall can’t fit channels, so those require external handles. We spent a while debating which handles to use, and how to position them. We decided to have no holes drilled by the factory, and decide which handles to use and where to put them at installation time.

The fixed, opened shelving was dropped from the order completely. The shelves from Pedini wouldn’t exactly match the cabinets, and were fairly expensive for simple shelves. Since we are getting other built-in cabinetry work done in the house, we decided we could get a better result by having those shelves constructed later.

With a few emails for revised diagrams and cost quotes, we now have the kitchen design fully locked.

We don’t need to choose plumbing fixtures until later in the process. Most of the time, they come near the end of interior design. But when Yuval sent us a sample list from one of the other houses, we spent an afternoon and evening picking out sinks, faucets, toilets, and accessories (drains, mainly), because we’re exciting like that.

Kohler is our preferred supplier. To simplify our choices and provide visual consistency, we decided to reuse the same items and lines as much as possible. Our faucets of choice come from the Purist line. For the lavatory, we were drawn to the version with separate linear handles, and we matched it in the shower and bath/shower. We considered the single-handle stem version, but found it fairly ugly.

The Purist line also has kitchen faucets with several variations: bridge or single stem, larger or smaller, and pull-out spray or no spray. We’re not fond enough of the bridge look to pay several hundred dollars more, so we chose the single stem version. We chose the larger faucet with spray as the main kitchen faucet, and the smaller without spray as the prep faucet in the kitchen. In the laundry room, we went with the larger version without spray.

Looking through all the sinks was a bit more work. Upstairs, we settled on rectangular under-mount sinks with a curve to the basin. They are simple, and look nice. We considered choosing something more stereotypically modern such as a vessel sink or wading pool sink, but neither seems as usable.

The powder room needed something a bit different. Yuval suggested that we could save money by skipping cabinets and using a wall-mount sink. We will separately install a bit of storage for the few things that we want to keep in that room. We found a reasonable wall-mount sink that should work well.

We quickly narrowed down the kitchen sink to two options. A large single-basin sink, or a model where some of the basin is taken up for a shelf on the side. Even though it has a smaller basin, we really like the shelf on the Stages sink. It is well-placed for using as a prep area, since the prep faucet will be mounted right above that section. The main problem is that it costs twice as much, at least in part because it comes with a whole bunch of accessories. They may not be completely useless, but we’d be happy to have just the sink. Despite that, we’ll probably use the Stages sink.

The laundry room just needs a large, sturdy sink. The garage gets a large, sturdy sink that can mount to the wall. It also gets a service faucet which can accept a hose. This means we don’t need a hose bib anywhere else in the garage to use it as a car washing area.

For toilets, we only had a few requirements. We want dual flush, and for the master bath and powder room we want comfort height. Out of the many options, we chose a style that looks a bit more modern. We decided not to spend the money on Kohler’s fancy new Numi toilet, because we don’t need a toilet that is also a geek gadget. Also, it costs $6000.

It will be a while before we need to order these, but it is another set of decisions made.

After the main layout was finished, we designed the kitchen. Kitchen design isn’t required for permitting, but the lead time on the cabinets is long enough that we need to order them around the time construction starts. We are using the Pedini Magika system for all the drawers and cabinets. The kitchen design was done by Pedini Seattle.

The main layout followed what we had decided while designing the floor plan: a counter and cabinets along the back (north) wall, a long island parallel to that, and then a full side (east) wall with appliances and cabinets. We wanted the cooktop on the island, since that is where we spend the most time when we want to interact with others. That put the main sink on the back counter, with the dishwasher next to it. The side wall then had the double ovens and refrigerator.

The cooktop is offset to the west of the island so that it isn’t back-to-back with the sink. That also gives a nice large prep area on the island. The wall with the ovens and fridge has a tall, skinny cabinet for things such as brooms, mops, vacuums, and aprons. It also has some open shelving for cookbooks and a larger open surface for open cookbooks, mail, or other non-food items.

We considered putting a small prep sink on the north-east corner of the island. I want a chopping station where I can rinse vegetables and cut them up without fighting with Erika for the faucet. I also want a slightly taller section of the counter for chopping so that I don’t have to lean over. Raising the main island wouldn’t work very well, though, and the prep sink would add extra cost. Instead, we raised the back counter by two inches and added a second faucet on the right corner of the sink. We also removed the upper cabinets in that section. This gives me a nice section of counter to use for cutting up ingredients, without cabinets getting in the way and with access to water that doesn’t interfere too much with Erika. She might not be able to wash lots of dishes, but if she needs to fill pots with water, or rinse and peel potatoes, or other smaller tasks, we can easily share the sink and not interrupt each other.

The original plan showed the south-east corner of the island as a bar counter. We decided not to bother with this, because we will have a large dining table just a few feet away; we replaced it with more cabinets.

We considered adding some smaller amenities, but decided they weren’t worth the cost. We looked at having a pull-out trash and recycling under the island, but decided, given the $600 additional cost, that having just a plain cabinet there would work fine. We also had a tambour (roll-up door) over the open shelving on the side wall in the original design. However, we didn’t want to add a bunch of extra metal next to the stainless steel appliances or to pay the additional $700, so decided to go with open shelves.

The upstairs bathrooms also feature designs from Pedini Seattle. The layouts are very simple, with two cabinets and one set of drawers in each bathroom. We did debate on the heights for a bit. Standard kitchen counters are 36″ high, while bathroom counters are usually around 30″. Since we are using kitchen cabinets for the bathrooms, they are only available at around 36″ high. For adults, especially tall ones, 36″ is a nice height. For young children, the taller height can be a bit more difficult. We decided that we wanted consistency with the cabinets, so we are going to use Pedini for both bathrooms, and add a temporary step for when our children are young. This also allows us to adjust the height more easily as they grow.

Compared to other parts of the design process, the kitchen and bath were pretty easy. After the first round of design, we were only tweaking details. Still, getting those more or less in place feels like real progress.

After choosing the bathroom materials, as described earlier, we moved on to the main level.

The Hearth Room
We were less certain about the main living area. Anne encouraged us to start with the kitchen surfaces and the flooring since those are some of the largest and most visible areas in the house.

In the kitchen, we gravitated toward dark brown cabinets with a white counter top. But we had to decide what type of white counter to use. We had asked Yuval to get samples of the different varieties of white CaesarStone and settled on Quartz Reflections. It has more variety and character than plain white, including metal flakes in that give it a bit of a sparkle. Anne commented that most men fear the glitter, but it is sparse, and we both think it looks nice.

We will use the dark brown for the lower cabinets, and the cabinets around the appliances on the east wall. However, we want to pick a lighter color for the cabinets over the sink and back counter so that the room doesn’t feel too dark. Pedini has a lot of colors available in a painted glass that looks really nice, so we’re going to get some samples to help us pick a final color.

Choosing the floor material was harder. Wood comes in so many colors, textures, and finishes. We knew we wanted a fairly neutral colored wood; I don’t like woods that are too yellow or too red. We liked darker brown woods, but, as we suspected and Anne confirmed, with the dark cabinetry, dark wood could lead to the room feeling too dark. I liked the very light colored woods, but Erika was less fond of them. Eventually, we settled on a fairly light brown, oiled wood that we liked the look and feel of. Oiled floors require a bit more yearly maintenance, will stain more easily, and will still dent; but they look more natural and less shiny, and develop character as they age (instead of just looking worn).

We chose Ecotech tiles for the entry. It is a sturdy tile, so we can use it both in the outdoor and indoor entry. The Ecogreen version nicely matches the wood floor on the main level, so the transition from inner entry to the main area would work well.

The Powder Room

We want the powder room on the main floor to generally match the theme on the main floor. However, the powder room is a small space not visible from other areas of the main floor and provides a chance to do something more interesting. Not crazy — our style, as Anne put it, is more ‘understated elegance’ — but using some interesting textures, lighting, and color combinations.

We were drawn to the Pental Glow tile. It has a fabric-like texture and a nice sheen. We chose a lighter gold that goes with the floor and white of the sink and toilet. We will run the tile up one of the main walls (probably behind the sink and mirror) and use light to bring out the texture of the tile. Anne suggested a grey paint for the other walls and ceiling. We were surprised, but it works. We will use black for accent, perhaps through some elements made of iron or blackened steel. It seems like a very unusual combination, but it should yield an elegant and interesting result.

Even if we don’t change our mind about these choices, there are still many choices to make. The south wall on the main floor is the biggest one. It will contain the fireplace, with a raised hearth for sitting and some kind of material wrapping it and extensive built-in cabinetry between the entry and fireplace. We need to decide on the interior color of the window frames, carpet colors upstairs, other flooring options for the upstairs landing and utility room, trim, paint colors on walls, the media room and other areas downstairs, and of course the stairs themselves, which will be a centerpiece of the house. Many of these choices will be delayed until the house is partially completed and we can stand in the rooms and look around. This will be an ongoing process; but we have made good progress.