TGIF!  I’m back from Vegas.  KBIS was great, I’ll post on that next week.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your very kind comments on my kitchen!!!

There were a few questions I’ll answer before I start in with the details…

Someone asked: if you had another $1,000 to spend what would you spend it on?

What a great question, I have thought about this all week… and of course I can’t narrow it down.

A) I would buy a new dishwasher (I saw a Bosch on clearance at Lowe’s last week and was so tempted).

B) I would buy a new range.  A dual-fuel downdraft one. This one, which I actually already own (it’s in my office), so maybe I’d spend the money on a propane tank (we don’t have natural gas here at our house) and pay movers to move the range from my office to my house.

C) I’d buy a casement window and replace that squirrelly door that swings into the kitchen counter

Why did you choose tongue & groove wall paneling over a tile backsplash?

Mostly because I prefer the look for my house.  And… it was less expensive.  I may have said the boards were 1x4s in the first post, but they are actually 1x6s.  The white trim color was already in my house, I just had the painters match it.  The 1×6 pine paneling can be purchased from any hardware store or lumberyard.

How do you secure the shelves to the wall?

After taking the old wall cabinets down we took the sheetrock off that wall and ran the wires for the under-cabinet (undershelf) lighting.  (There are new puck lights in the bottom shelf that illuminate the countertop.)  We then sheathed the wall in 1/2″ plywood, which acted as blocking – a secure material that would help support the shelves.  It also helped the the shelves dead end into a wall on the right, the shelves are actually hollow and straddle a strip that was applied to the two walls (back and side) and the farthest left bracket is secured into a stud. The brackets aren’t just decorative… I didn’t want the shelf to ever sag and so they support some of the weight as well.

The brackets and shelves?

I actually found the brackets when I saw this publication in Food & Wine featuring my friends at Tracery Interiors.  As you may notice, I turned the brackets so the longer side was beneath the shelf instead of against the wall.  I did this because I felt like it would give me more clearance/space on the shelves… and I preferred the look of the bracket when turned on its side.  When I saw the publication I emailed Doug (@ Tracery) and inquired about the brackets.  He gave me his cabinet shop contact info, but I first contacted my local cabinet shop.  My cabinet shop identified the brackets right away, they can be purchased from a cabinet supply source (I wish I knew what it was, but I don’t).  I let her know how many I wanted and they painted them to match the shelves, which they also made.

Is dust a problem on the open shelves?

The dishes and glasses on those shelves are mostly used everyday.  Of course when I climb up on a barstool to get one of those cake plates off the top shelf I usually take a swiffer cloth with me and dust a little… but because we use the dishes so often dust doesn’t have time to settle.

Where is your microwave?

In the pantry!  That open cabinet to the right of my kitchen sink (where I keep my cookbooks) was actually supposed to house the microwave… but I don’t like seeing it, so I moved it to the pantry.  Which works great for us, and keeps it out of sight.

What are your white dishes?

I registered for those when Chance and I married, they are Lenox Butler’s Pantry.

More details are noted on the photographs below….

The roman shade fabric was a splurge… I loved it.  It is a to the trade only fabric, but if you are interested you can contact us for pricing. (allison(at)urbangrace(dot)com)

Thoughts on painting cabinets…

As I mentioned in a previous post I removed the doors and drawer fronts and had my local cabinet shop (the same cabinet shop that made the shelves) spray lacquer them.  I then had my favorite painters (Bryan and Bobby) paint the cabinet boxes with an oil-based satin finish paint.  Now, if I had gone with white cabinets I probably wouldn’t have used an oil-based paint.  White oil-based paint tends to yellow over time.  I would suggest a very high quality water-based (latex) paint.  My sister used Coronado’s Rust Scat paint when she painted her kitchen cabinets white.  It claims to be an “acrylic enamel” paint.  I’ve used it before and the quality is great.