I want the feel of a Parisian bistro
-- it's not there yet, but I think once the lighting and hardware is in, we may get close.
This is very much "in progress" -- the view into the kitchen would show some gaping holes under the cooktop and where the oven goes, and there is an obvious cover panel missing at the end of the upper cabinets.Formerly there was a row of cabinets blocking this view -- getting rid of them has done amazing things to open up my living room as well as the kitchen. The cabinets are all Ikea Liljestad. I repurposed some glass front upper cabinets to make the breakfront cabinet on the penisula -- I'm hoping it hides a lot of the potential mess on the countertop.
I've been angsting over what to do with the replaceable panel refrigerator for over a year. After getting the cabinets in, Ben says it needs to move up on our list. I agree.
This pretty half moon over the sink is the "complicated" part of the kitchen. It was cut from some broken tabletops my dad had bought over 30 years ago that had been sitting out in the weather since then. My countertop guy said it would never match the carrerra marble I used for the countertops. It did. Perfectly. :)The sink is the Ikea Domsjo sink. The fixture is Kohler Fairfax, off of eBay. You can pull the whole faucet part out -- a requirement so Ben can get his homebrew pots filled up.
The horrible yellow is the glue left over from the linoleum backsplash. I'm covering it with a black and cream vinyl wallpaper. I'm shopping for a small art deco light fixture on eBay for over the sink, and I may try to cram a mirror in that area, too. We'll see.
I'll post more pictures when we're all done.
omgosh I love it! It looks perfect for your steampunk home without being overly themey. Great job!
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the first picture and the different refrigerator panel I thought that was the look you wanted, and it's a look I personally like. And of course mixing cabinet styles and colors is an older look which could help with the Paris bistro look imo.
ReplyDeleteVery cool! I've never seen a fridge like that before! I love the glass cabinets!
ReplyDeleteLove to see your new kitchen furniture and other stuff!! i recently got new cabinets for my kitchen from Home Depot...
ReplyDeleteYou've probably already dealt with the fridge, but... what about replacing the wood with the antiqued copper pvc wall covering I saw in your steampunk kitchens post?
ReplyDeleteIt would be a dramatic and unexpected and give the room a touch of the unexpected ... of course I like copper so I am biased..
Peace,
Geoffrey
Late, late, late, I know.
ReplyDeleteI think one fix for the fridge may be to make it look less like cabinets and more like a mysterious steampunk device. This is one of the advantages of the panel structure. Consider installing flat panels with onlay carvings (say, from Van Dyke's)and use a certain number of pipes, gauges, and the occasional lights behind a grill(a speakeasy/door grill works). A section of pipe and elbow joints might do for a handle.
I'm all for mixed metals. While stainless steel has been all the thing for upgrades on the "sell your home" shows, for that very reason I think it's wearing out. To move your home ahead on the design curve (because I don't think you'll try to sell it for years to come), bronze fixtures are probably the next thing. Sort of like brass Victorian gets dismissed as "Oh, how Eighties!" (which means it's often cheap to get), all this stainless is going to be "How turn of the century!" Polished brass is very bistro, but cast iron is extremely steam-age, and if you're going to have Art Deco, you need copper and, yes, stainless, as 1920s metals.
Gorgeous marble and a great choice of lighting. When do we get an update?
Hot sink! I dream of one of those. Gorgeous wood! Bravo!
ReplyDeleteBy now you're probably done, but-
ReplyDeleteI recently saw a kitchen with cabinets in different colors and style. (It was nicer than this one: http://images.meredith.com/kbi/images/2009/08/p_100671726.jpg).
Like Waterbug says, it gives a nice accumulated-over-time feel, as opposed to the IKEA-off-shelf feel. Hey, I'd think less of you if they DIDN'T come from Ikea!
One thing I do with prefab is hand sanding the corners (slightly) and oiling them.)Crown molding would look good topping the wall cabinets too - a finishing detail.
Also with the fridge, I'd say go further with making it a butler's cupboard.
A complex (antique? like an armoire)crown molding there on the top of the fridge would be neat. Base molding is good also, or fake turned legs at the forefront. Put a picture frame around the watermaker, and more molding between the doors.
Remember that ugly fridge would be a marvel back in the day. You could make it like an icebox with trompe l'oeil "see-thru" curio cabinet doors... So many actual Victorian kitchens were NOT comfortable places - I love the apothecary direction you're headed in!