susanandmarkw's Kitchen

Hi Susan - I love your kitchen. We are renovating our kitchen and wanted your advise. Would you put a refrigerator (subzero) and a wall oven (kitchen aid) side by side. The handles are different but I don't know if it's a big deal. Functionality wise, the 2 appliances side by side works out. Please let me know. You have done a wonderful job on your kitchen. Did you design it yourself?

Are you happy with your Blue Star range? spspiegel@charter.net

This is "susanandmarkw," the kitchen's owner. Someone asked about my Bluestar and if I'd do it again, and the answer is a resounding NO! The burners are great, when they work, but they haven't most of the time I've had my range (among other issues). I've had a terrible time with the company and my dealer (Eurostoves) getting it repaired. (It's turned into a nightmare, actually.) So, no, I'd NEVER buy a Bluestar again.

Susan,
First, 'touring' your kitchen and your wonderful family home was such a pleasure! Every picture showed something that made me say 'Wow!' And lots of them were 'Why didn't I think of that?' My favorite is the thoughtfulness of having a pot filler for your dog's water bowl!
At first I was just intrigued by your reference to the beach house in my favotie movie--wouldn't we all love to be there! But I really want to thank you for sharing not only your beautiful home and creative ideas but for identifying all the 'parts' such as drawer pulls, paint colors, and flooring.(How do you like those slate floors?) Too often we see wonderful magazine pictures (which yours far exceed) and wonder who/what/where about such items.
It is obvious you all live a full, happy life in these surroundings. Thanks for letting us have a peek!

Hi Susan
I was just wondering what is the total sqft of home as well as the kitchen, brkfst & keeping room in your home. Seems comfy and not too large. Im in the process of having blueprints done and seems as if its just the right size for my family.

lovely, lovely! and inspirational-
hanging pans inside a cabinet-genius!-

I am awestruck by the beauty of your decor. I would like to decorate on a much smaller home scale.. could you give me an advice for a 1500sf bungalow?

It's"susanandmarkw" to answer a few questions ... The total sq. ft. of the house is just over 4,000 sq. ft. When we were building our house, we were very worried about not being "too big," having come from just under 2,000 sq. ft. and being quite comfortable there for 10 years. (Our current great room area is about 1,500 sq. ft., which is weird to me because it doesn't seem huge until I think it's almost as big as our whole old house.) But, if I had to do it over again, I'd make it bigger. Not because I want a McMansion (quite the opposite) but because bedrooms, playrooms and the like all add valuable (in terms of overall home value, which is based on a sq. ft. price) while costing a LOT less/sq. ft. than rooms like my very pricey kitchen. To balance a room that elaborate (and expensive) I should have had a bigger house, overall.

Hi Susan,
Love your house, esp. the kitchen! We are building one because my husband was transferred to Buffalo, ugh!! From NJ. I am torn with the kitchen.Not sure about cabinets, everyone says pure white is out, that I should go with off white distressed look.I love white with the subway tile. Could I do subway tile with distressed cabinets? What would you do, do you still love it?I currently have black honed granite.Isn't holding up well. Lots of spots that I can't get out.Are you having this problem too? Any advice, I would greatly appreciate. I am having dark hardwoon throughout house,want slate floor in my mudroom.Anything I need to know about it??

"susanandmarkw" to answer more questions ... Haven't had a bit of problem with our Nordic Black Antique granite. No stains, etching or even chips in two years and I'm not very gentle with it (cook on it, hot pans, etc.). I'm very happy with our choice. ... Slate floors are great, for us. They are uneven (natural slate is) and furniture requires pads to level. They can be hard on feet/cold (I wish we had radiant floor heat). It was hard watching our son learn to walk (and fall, a lot) on them but they sure are easy to clean and virtually indestructible, and we've tried, to boot.

Hi Susan - boy is your kitchen a beauty!!!! We are looking to change our kitchen and this is exactly what we had in mind. We were wondering if its possible for you to tell us the dimensions of your kitchen to see if its similar to what we have.

Thanks ~ Melissa (cruzalvarez@earthlink.net)

Your kitchen, and whole house, is gorgeous! I see your husband is quite the OU fan... I'm in Oklahoma too, and it's so fun to see someone with a kitchen OTHER than brown oak cabinets in Oklahoma! You can see my kitchen here: http://hollydoodledesigns.com/shop/?p=623

The movie you were inspired by is SUCH a favorite of mine, in terms of style.

Enjoyed this, thanks for sharing.

Susan, how do you like your Bluestar range? Just trying to get input from someone who's had one for a while. thanks

Susan--Love your kitchen! I am in the midst of a rehab myself, and trying to figure out the best in-cabinet lighting. I noticed that for your glass-front cabinets, you have wood shelves, but the cabinets appear to have light throughout. Please share your trick with me as that is the look I would like to have. Thanks, and happy New Year!

The kitchen's owner here ... The in cabinet lights are vertical along the interior edge of the cabinet, on both sides of each door. They're a little LED strip system that allows you to place bulbs anywhere on the strip you want. There's a head unit hidden in one of the upper cabinets that powers all the lights. It's worked well and doesn't get overly hot. I hate glass shelves; too fragile and not functional. I wanted to store lots of stuff in my uppers but still have light throughout. We usually leave the in-cabinet and under-cabinet lights from when it gets dark to when we go to bed. It gives the kitchen/great room a nice glow without providing overpowering light.

There are lots of light system like this around now. I can't remember what this one is called, exactly, but it's some cutesy name starting with, I think, an "S". I know there are more options available now that might even work better, than what we had when we were building four years ago.

Susan again, to answer the Bluestar question...I think I might like it, if it ever worked properly for more than a few weeks at a time :-(. The company has been THE worst to get service from and, now that the original warranty is gone, even just purchase parts from. Just getting them to return a call or email--to me or any service person we've dealt with--takes dozens of attempts and then the wait for parts is usually months. It's taken 4-8 months, on average, to have the unit fixed (oven issues, broken door, and every single burner has had to be repaired at least twice, some three-four times), and the longest it's ever gone without needing repair is 14 weeks. Definitely can't recommend. (And our dealer, Eurostoves, who was our best buddy pre-purchase, has been totally unhelpful and downright rude.)

Hi Susan, I want to tell you that I love your kitchen, it looks amazing! I have a question regarding the backsplash and the granite. I see that you have a polished black granite counter and glossy white subway tiles. I am thinking of doing the same in my kitchen, but everyone tells me that I should not do a polished garnite counter with shiny tiles but rather I should do matte tiles. I see you've had your kitchen for several years now. How do you like the shiny white subways with the polished granite? Would you do it again or would you do it differently? Are you tired of the white subways yet? Thanks for you help!
Gina

The kitchen's owner to answer the tile/granite question. My granite is actually matte. Apparently, it shines in the sun a bit, but the surface is not glossy. I did the glossy subways (and, no, I'm not sick of them) as a contrast, and because they are authentic to the period "look" I was going for. You could always do the reverse, glossy granite and matte subway.

Hi Susan, Just located your lovely kitchen. Will you share the room dimensions please?

Kodak Gallery is no more, but you can see pictures of the kitchen, and more details on the whole house at: http://susanandmarkw.shutterfly.com