Aaron's splurge in the kitchen will be the appliances, and mine the tile (carrara marble all the way), so I'm not sure where our commitment to melding "high" and "low" cost items will end up in this room? However, as they say, money is best spent in kitchens and bathrooms. How's that for justifying it to myself?
The sink will be moved to in front of the window, the range and range hood will be the focal point for the back wall and the fridge (or should I say Fresh Food Column) on the inside wall. The fridge will be quite an impressive size since I liken the fridge to my closet experience in that there never seems to be enough room. I am constantly cramming things in and we are a family of 2 and a half! Storage, storage, storage is a must for this house.
I love the T-shaped island where four counter stools can fit comfortably for casual eating. It seemed to be the ideal shape for the space that I needed to fill in the centre of this U-shaped kitchen. I also love that people can be seated around the island and there is room to easily walk behind without bumping into the stools or someone seated can back up without bumping into someone behind them.
We also made the controversial decision to omit upper cabinetry on the outside walls. We figured we had enough storage in the kitchen and pantry combined and will use the inside fridge wall for floor to ceiling-ish cabinets there and there alone. We want to ensure that we maximize the view and natural light throughout the home everywhere we can. You might think that having no upper cabinets is a crazy idea but I've actually seen many glossy pictures of kitchens with no uppers and it looks great. I also did a little research into it and it is said that upper cabinets will really close in a space and that visually the impact is even greater because these cabinets are mounted at eye level creating even more of a closed-in feel. I guess the moral of the story is avoid upper cabinets where you can. If you have a bigger space you can use more of the under the counter space for storage. And for those of you who are vertically challenged as I am, imagine never having to climb the kitchen counter to reach that high jar again.
Speaking of storage, I am thinking of incorporating window seats on either side of the fireplace with built-in space below for all of those stray toys and extras to make for easy cleanup. I had originally though I'd like the classic bookcases to flank the fireplace but it seemed like such a shame to waste this view wall.
There will be a rectangular dining table in the middle of the great room and kitchen. This table and chairs will be visible from the front door and the windows beyond will allow the view to be seen through the house from the front door. This was my inspiration photo:
Our lot is at the end of a cul-de-sac in a private neighbourhood so there literally should be no one walking by. Since privacy wasn't an issue for us, I'm ok with this open feel from front door.
We put the office and dining room at the front of the house where the view was not so important to us. The dining room will mainly be used at night when we can't enjoy the view anyways. I tucked the powder room in past the front closet so that it is private yet easily accessible.
One of my favourite things about the main floor is the butler's pantry. I love that you can walk right through to the dining room here and use it as a bar and prep area as well. It is such a great little space and small enough to really splurge. Sarah would say this is a great opportunity to do something over the top that you can't afford to do in an entire room, and I would like to do exactly that. This is my inspiration photo:
I know it's hard to tell from this photo but the back wall is tiled in carrara splurge tile, penny rounds, one of my favourites. Aaron is toying with the idea of some kind of exotic wood here. Normally, committing to anything off-neutral makes me break out in hives, but in this case I think it is the perfect place to do something risky and potentially trendy since if we hate the look in five years we can easily change it. It is such a small space and without committing to an entire room we can take on something dramatic without worrying about it's longevity too much.
The mudroom will also be a great little room filled with even more storage potential. We will likely enter the home through the garage and so I would like to have a bench flanked by shelving where everything has it's place. I've heard that one of the best things you can do to bring down the amount of dust and dirt that gets into the house is to leave your shoes at the door. I think we'll still be far from the point of never having to dust again, but everything helps!
Oh and the stairs. We really wanted the main stairs to be U-shaped for safety reasons. If there is a fall I think the damage would be much worse if there was a long, continuous stairway than these two smaller lengths. I wish we could have done both stairs like this but space didn't allow for it. I was also inspired by the first Sarah's House where they had a U-shaped stairway with a long vertical window on the outside wall. It seemed to open the space up so much more and to draw the eye up as well. It also brought so much natural light into a potentially dark and confined space.
We took the design of the stairs a step further and made an open space at the end of the landing which will continue up and down along the three levels of the house. There will be a railing at the end of the landings in front of the windows which will allow for one continuous vertical span of windows from top to bottom. This will let even more light into the stairway and I think will be so visually interesting by drawing the eye up and down along that back wall when climbing the stairs. Not to mention the water view from the stairwell...
Ok guys, so what do you think? It is not too late to make changes so let me know your thoughts! We have changed the plans dozens of times already, what's a few more?
Rebecca
Love the idea for the butlers pantry and that you are willing to take a chance there! Wish I could have such a place to store extra serving pieces. glasses and such. Hope that your dreams come true!
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