Cottage Kitchens

It's no secret that I love kitchens.  I spend a good chunk of every day in my kitchen, and though I may be a bit tight fisted, I opened up the wallet to completely renovate our kitchen.  Here's a sort of after pic.  I really need to take some new kitchen pictures.  This was taken before building the DIY Cookbook Shelves.

Over the years, even after my kitchen reno, I've spent a lot of time over on the GardenWeb Kitchen Forum and there is no better moment of relaxation than flipping through a Kitchen Trends magazine while sipping on a venti coffee.  The official term is TKO - totally kitchen obsessed.  Though I love my cherry cabinets, lately I've been obsessing over the details of white-painted cottage kitchens.  I adore the exposed hinges on these and used similar ones when we built our wine & liquor hutch.

My in-laws have started the ball rolling on their future retirement cottage.  They'll be adding onto the current cottage for a year round home, and the possibilities have gotten this TKO daughter-in-law really excited.  I may or may not have inundated their e-mail inbox with 1001 layouts and elevations of possible future kitchens.

I love the mantel hood and the butcherblock island countertops as well as the soapstone counters in this pic.

Image via here.

 Stacked glass front cabs say cottage to me, and I love the practicality of the solid upper stack for the not so pretty utilitarian stuff.  Does anyone need to see your Halloween bowls in April?  Love the thumblatch hardware, too, though they may not be the most practical hardware for an aging in place situation.

Stacked cabs can add up moneywise, and here's a nice solution for a softer hit on the wallet.  A wider stile at the top emulates that stacked cab look without the hefty price tag.

I'm not loving the proportions of these stacked cabs, but I adore the bleached wood enveloping the island.  You'll notice that I wrapped the island in my CAD rendering above in knotty pine.  Part of the cottage will be demo-ed to make way for the addition, and they'll be saving as much of the knotty pine as possible to be reused.

I love the look of a farmhouse apron sink, especially in a cottage.  This Ikea Domsjo sink is an affordable option for those on a budget.

I love the natural touches with the rattan baskets, and the pops of fun color with the yellow and turquoise in this kitchen reno found at The Handmade Home blog.  My in-laws are experienced DIYers with 2 kitchens under their belts, and I can see them putting in fun personal touches like in this kitchen.



Love the open shelves, blue island, and industrial lights in this pic.  In fact I love the juxtaposition of modern with vintage in a cottage kitchen whether it's lighting, stools, or a fab turbochef oven.

Love the casual feel of this kitchen, even with the great big hulking stainless steel range and hood.  There are no plans for a kitchen table, but don't you love how this table looks with it's flirty skirted chairs surrounding it?  Love the homey feel of the pleated shades, too.

 Love the classic blue and white of this Smallbone kitchen, but with a creamy white Aga range, this kitchen could do no wrong.  I love the large format floor tiles, too.

And finally here's a gorgeous Lauren Rubenstein kitchen that I'm loving for future cottage inspiration.  The architect's plans have the kitchen opening up to the dining room much like in this pic.  I love the wing back chairs and benches used here.  The future cottage's dining room will be much longer and rectangular as will it's table, and there will be a large 7' aisle way between, but I love the way the rooms relate to each other in this pic.  Again, the lamps and pleated shades make this space so warm and homey.

Thanks for popping in and checking out my current kitchen obsession.