rococogurl's Kitchen

rococogurl's Kitchen

Contact: rococogurl (My Page)
Posted on Nov 2006
Link to kitchen photos:
Link to website: http://www.atticmag.com

Details:

• Overview
  The concept for my kitchen mixes 18th century Rococco colors, the look of Swedish country tile, and the futuristic aesthetic of the film A.I. Yes, I know it's odd but it felt right in this house in a rural location surrounded by oaks and pines.
  
  
• Cabinets
  Plain & Fancy Shaker in Almond Chiffon with inset doors.
  
  
• Ovens
  Viking Designer series with analog clock and Viking microwave.
  

• Viking electric cooktop and hood
  I wanted a sculptural stainless steel hood set against the tile and this 36" Viking chimney hood with a 600 cfm blower worked well. It sits over the white Viking 5-element electric smoothtop. I chose the white Viking cooktop with the milky glass so it would more or less disappear into the counter, giving the kitchen the peaceful sleekness I was seeking.
  
  
• Farmsink
  The Shaw's 30" apron sink was upmounted 3/8" above the stainless countertop.
  The stainless steel countertop was templated closely against the outside edge of the sink. The thin space between the two has been sealed with colorless caulk.
  
  
• Dornbracht Profi faucet and sprayer
  The deckmounted Dornbracht profi pair in satin nickel occupy the entire length of the 30" sink since. The faucet is positioned over the off-center sink drain and it swing laterally. They are mounted about 1-1/2 inches behind the sink. Finish is Dornbracht's platinum matte.
  
  
• Dishrack
  I've always loved the dishrack in Mrs. Miniver and while this one isn't as large, it holds 16 dinner plates and 16 dessert and hors d'oeuvre plates. Our contractor installed hooks on the bottom to hold coffee cups and we put in a 30" long Luche xenon light strip for task
  lighting. I customized a Plain & Fancy dishrack design and had them remove the back so the tile shows through.
  
  
• Backsplash
  One element I knew I wanted in the kitchen was the Eurosplash -- the countertop to ceiling tile backsplash. It's composed of Ann Sacks Sur La Mer 4 x 4" glazed handmade Mexican tiles in 4 colors: azure (blue), oyster (white), ochre (yellow), and foam (grey). There is a bullnose piece with 1 rounded edge used for the exposed side.
  These are handmade tiles and while they measure 4 x 4, they are irregular and actually measure about 4-3/8" each. So we added far too much overage and ended up with almost double the amount of tile we needed.
  I created a pattern so the repeats of the colors wouldn't form optical patterns and drive me crazy. But the tilesettle had a difficult time creating the pattern due to the irregularity of the tiles. Many were trimmed and beveled to look whole but they were not!
  I sealed the grout with Aquamix 511 sealer and so far, even spaghetti sauce wipes right off. Glazed tiles clean beautifully with windex and nothing sticks or penetrates.
  
  
• Open shelves
  Our contractor made these maple shelves from a photo I had collected and they were pickled white. They have a shallow rim so things don't roll off. We use them to store coffee and tea paraphernalia.
  
  
• Sink wall
  The sink wall faces the backyard (east) and we enlarged the window and installed a fixed glass pane. The sink base (33") is pulled forward to highlight the Shaw's fireclay farmsink (30"), which is upmounted 3/8" in the stainless countertop. There is a Miele Incognito 858SCVI to the right of the sink and a pullout trash bin to the left.
  
  
• View from the Breakfast Area
  Our peninsula is 36 inches deep and double-sided. The cabinets on this side are used for dishware and linen storage. The custom maple plate rack, pickled with white latex, is accessible both from the breakfast area and the sink. Floors are 4" ash, oiled and sealed with Soffix wax.
  
  
• Viking 36" Bottom-Mount Refrigerator
  The refrigerator fits flush with the two flanking pantry cabinets. In retrospect, it might have been nice to hide it behind wood panels. Because the pantry cabinets were originally mis-measured, we added two open shelving units -- one to each side.

Features:
Apron Sink
Blumotion
Bread Drawer
CabinetsBase >24"deep
CabinetsBase >36"high
China Hutch
Colorful!!!
Counter-depth Frig
Counter-to-Ceiling Cabinet
Cutting Board Storage
Drawer Dividers
Full Extension Drawers
Garden Window
Knife Drawer
Lazy Susan
Lighting -Above Cabinet
Lighting - Recessed
Lighting - Under Cabinet
Open Shelving
Peninsula without Seating
Plate Rack
Power Jack
Pullout Pantry
Rollout Trays
Spice Storage
Toe Kick Heater
Trash Pullout
Tray Divider
Unique Window
VacPan
Countertop to ceiling backsplash
No upper cabinets
Doublesided peninsula
Open storage shelves
Magazine and book racks
Microwave built in under the main oven as a second oven below counter height

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