Eastern Exposure

Sometimes you want to hide all your dishes away in a cabinet where no one will see them. And sometimes you have an architect who loves the idea of a modern, european feel in the kitchen. And because I trust my architect I have these great, chunky, open shelves that run the length of the kitchen wall from just north of the sink down south to the edge of the refrigerator. 

If you've looked at this blog before you might have already noticed them, empty and waiting to bear their heavy load.

And now they hold my collection of super colorful new and vintage dishes

and glasses and various coffee making appliances. 

The rest of the kitchen stuff is mostly under the island,

                          

and there's a nice sized food pantry next to the fridge. 

There are some cabinets under the sink side too, along with a couple appliances and a spot for the trash can (très glam). What do you think of the mix of stainless and wood cabinets? I like it. The drawer pulls work well on both the stainless and the wood and they both look really good with the countertop stone. That was another smart kitchen idea from my architect. He liked the idea of the island looking like its own piece of furniture that just happened to be in the kitchen - rather than matchy matchy cabinets. I think it looks great. Thanks Bill.

Kitsch

The kitchen is looking a-okay. Having open shelves along the wall means I should probably buy an eclectic collection of cream colored pottery to put out on display. The pressure's on.

If I had any doubts about the counters (and I did) they are now all laid to rest.  I think they look great.  Super glossy, lots of depth and surprising variations in color depending on the light.  

Every so often they have a prehistoric looking detail that adds a ton of character and the super simple edges help soften them up.  

                 

They were worth all the effort it took to get them.     

The color works with the dark brown cabinets on the island

and with the stainless cabinets that run along the wall.

I'm super happy with the counters and with the kitchen overall.  And if I were pandering for comments I'd ask if you like them too.

Yummer Plumber

I had no idea that finding a kitchen faucet would make me so happy.  I had spent a lot of time online looking at plumbing fixtures and filling up virtual shopping carts.   Here's a sample of one list

I put together 3 or 4 more of those.  My search was for interesting fixtures with classic lines, anything that had a little character. Then I'd send the lists off to the contractor but somehow they'd synthesize my order, remold it into what they said I really needed and recommend something like

this.  They just weren't seeing my vision.

For as long as I can remember I've wanted to live in an industrial space.  When I was a kid I wanted to live in my elementary school.  I just loved the oversized windows in the halls, the high ceilings and dark, echoing stairwells. I'd still like to live in a school building or a warehouse or an old fire station. And so would lots of people which means that those cool old buildings are hard to come by and expensive when you do find them.  But there are little ways to introduce that industrial aesthetic into the Huron house and one of them is with plumbing fixtures.  The trick was finding something I could afford that had an interesting design style. Things weren't looking up until I stumbled upon a place called the Chicago Faucet Shoppe (chicagofaucetshoppe.com). These guys know their business and they're a treat to spend time with. The first day I was in their tiny store on Elston the floor was covered in cleaned up, previously owned sinks and toilets. Somebody was rehabbing a house that must have been fairly large because they had a couple truck loads of porcelain that they were recycling through the store. It resulted in a very casual, come-as-you-are ambience and if you like that sort of thing and appreciate a small, independently owned business where they remember your name and seem to really care about what they do then you should check 'em out. And if you need to repair, replace, clean or buy something Adam's your man. I wish I had more stuff to get because he is delightful. He recommend these

and they were exactly what I was looking for. Each piece is heavy and really sturdy feeling. Adam swears they're well made and will hold up and I really like the classic shapes. In less than 20 minutes he had sorted out what I'd spent about 2 months muddling through on my own.  And you know what, just looking at the pictures still makes me happy. Imagine what it'll be like when they're finally installed.