Kitchen Cabinets and a Hand Print

When we first started putting together ideas for our kitchen renovation, we knew that we wanted white cabinets with unlacquered brass hardware and marble countertops.  We want everything to patina and age in this house (though I will admit that Bryce does not love the "dots" that are coming first on the faucets).  The kitchen is suspiciously reminiscent of our last kitchen but we figured why reinvent the wheel if we already loved something?

We turned to a local cabinet maker to help with our design and build the cabinets, and we are thrilled with the final product.  My favorite thing of the whole process was getting to go and walk the workshop while our cabinets were in production.  I love having met the men and women who worked on our cabinets from start to finish!

Their facility is top notch.

As you can imagine, we are thrilled with our new kitchen but wouldn't you know that within months of them being installed, we noticed a faint, but most definitely there, red handprint on the refrigerator panel.  The culprit?  Harris.  Apparently, after working on homework with a red shading pencil he felt the need for a snack and had to use one hand to pull and the other to push!  We've tried everything to get it off but it won't budge.  The cabinet makers think it might need to be refinished!  I guess we got that patina earlier than expected :).

Hard to see but it's there!

A Bread and Vegetable Bin

Years ago, I pinned an image on Pinterest and have had it tucked away as something lovely that I would like in my kitchen.  Last fall, I sent the image to Al and asked him if he thought he could make me something of the sort and that's exactly what he did!

The bread bin is absolutely gorgeous and my pictures don't do it justice.  Al made it out of dark walnut (the same wood he made our bedroom furniture out of) and added glass to the doors.  The doors actually slide forward and backward so that one has easy access to items in the bin from the front or the back.

The vegetable bin does leave a lot of wasted space but, as of now, we are lucky in that we have plenty of storage and can afford the space!

I love them.  They are such a pleasure to use and see everyday!  

Favorite Things #14

Remember the ipad that we got?  I don't use it very often but when I do it's most often to read a recipe while I'm cooking.  Unfortunately, it wasn't very convenient sitting on the countertops and I worried that I was going to get it really messy.  I started wishing for a way to mount it to the cabinets and I've finally found one!  It's made by Griffin Technology and while it's not perfect (Bryce thinks it holds the ipad a little too loosely) it has worked beautifully for me.  When you are not using the holder you just push it up into the bottom of the cabinet.

When I ordered the device I believed that it would be invisible when not in use, I didn't realize that you would be able to see it's arms when it is nestled up into the cabinet.  I put off installing it for a few days because I worried that it would really bother me every time I looked at it since I like the clean lines of my cabinets.  However, I can honestly say that I haven't given it a thought and the benefits outweigh that particular negative.  Plus, I live in my kitchen so anything that makes life easier gets a big thumbs up.

P.S.  Anyone have recommendations for apps for the ipad that I should have/use?