Your Kitchen Questions Answered

Photo: ©Moya Mc Allister

Some of you may remember that Scott and I recently completed our galley kitchen renovation, replete with hand-finished floors (which I goofed and still have to repair) and a DIY pot rack.  It was featured on Apartment Therapy and  in a guest post on BrooklynLimestone, but if you missed that, you can catch all of the action here.

Aside from the little DIY projects mentioned above and the home-cooked design, we can’t take any credit, so in truth, we recently watched as our galley kitchen renovation was completed.  And it was heavenly.

The kitchen was one room that we left entirely to the professionals because kitchens are bloody expensive and we wanted to make sure everything was done right.  Scott is very handy, but plumbing and electrical are above his pay grade.  (He gets one pint of B&J’s coffee heath bar crunch per project.)  Our contractor, who got paid significantly more than a pint of B&J’s, did an amazing job and we love our kitchen down to the last detail.  That doesn’t mean that you will and that’s ok.  How could anyone ever love your child as you much as you do?  So you’ll excuse me for bragging on our child.

I did a lot of research on the appliances, the hardware, the sink, and everything that we eventually chose.  A few readers have asked me for more info on the finishes we picked and I’m just pleased as punch to share details.  Thanks so much Amanda, Melissa and Allison for asking.  Here you go!

Our cabinet pulls are the satin nickel Aubrey pulls from Renovation Hardware.  I fell in love with these early on, but I knew they were overpriced.  I tried hard to find a less expensive replica from one of the gazillions of online discount hardware dealers, but nothing could compare to those Aubreys.  I finally just scoured the web for a 20% off coupon code and bit the bullet.  In person, the Aubrey pulls look and feel like a million bucks. I’m happy I didn’t skimp on this detail and if you’ve found a less expensive version, I’ll thank you for keeping it to yourself.

Scott and I both just had to have a fireclay apron front sink.  They are pricey.  I did a lot of comparison shopping and the least expensive (nice) one I could find was the Belle Foret from Vintage Tub and Bath.  We love ours.

We also just had to have a bridge faucet.  You can easily spend over a thousand dollars on this item.  Well, some people can, but we definitely couldn’t.  So we settled on this Kohler bridge from Efaucets.  Also in satin nickel.  Again, we are happy.  Even when we have to do dishes.

You’ll find links to our appliances in this previous post.  Three dinner parties later, they all get a big thumbs up.

If you’d like to know anything else about the who/what/where/how much of our little kitchen, I’ll be happy to share.  Just leave a comment and I’ll reply as soon as I can get to a keyboard.  Maybe your comment will even inspire a post, like Amanda’s did.  Happy renovating, ADD

P.S.  That’s our dishwasher hiding between the sink and the range.  If you scroll down to the next post, you’ll understand why it’s hiding.