Kitchen plans, almost all set!

Through the luck of the house building gods, our school kindly granted us a moveable holiday today, following yesterday, which was Ascension Day. Holidays are lovely here, but not so useful for getting things accomplished, as the stores are closed, and you cannot even mow your lawn. But the moveable holiday is a thing of beauty, because while most people are working, you are free to move about as you please, going shopping, doing baking transactions, going to doctors, and of course, mowing your lawn (if you are so inclined.)
Joern decided that we would pop in to the kitchen studio today to ask about a change I wanted to the kitchen.
Here is a picture of the kitchen as of last week:

I didn't like the way the range hood looked. You are kind of limited here with range hood designs, either modern like this:

photo: inwerk.de
or, they are the basic chimney design,like this:

photo: inwerk.de

But, a few reasons, I do not like either. First off, I am not much for very modern design. Yes, modern usually looks so cool, but for me and my personality, modern is not something I want to live with. Further, either of the two above designs look like a pain to clean, somehow, if they are built into cabinets, it is much easier to clean. I love the look of built-in range hoods. I showed the kitchen designer a few of my inspiration pictures, and asked if this was possible.

picture: lamaisonfou.blogspot.com

Turns out, little naive me, didn't quite realize such beautiful range hoods exist only as custom builds. Duh, most cabinets in the US are made of solid wood. Most kitchens here are MDF, there just is little way around it. Turns out, they don't offer such beautiful built-in range hoods. But, they offer at least something a little decorative. This explains the range hood that seems just slapped on the wall, in the middle of nothing, above our Bertazzoni.

I was pretty displeased with the way the range hood looked. I wanted place the stove betwen the built-in oven and the refrigerator to give this appliance wall more of symmetrical appearence.

So, off we went to the kitchen studio today. We were fortunate that our designer had time to sit and talk with us. Joern described our proposed change, and well, he shot us down. There were quite a few reasons why we could not move the stove to the center: it would be harder to vent the range hood, the refrigerator would stick out into our doorway, there wouldn't be much room between the door of the oven and the island, and, well, it just wouldn't look any more symmetrical. He said that the only option would be to put in tiny, 20 cm wall cabinets, and quickly added, "but that wouldn't look good at all." So, with a heavy heart, I said, fine, we'll leave it.

We talked for a while longer, and decided on, well, most everything. The kitchen is a lesson in the art of compromise.
We're going with white, high-gloss, mission style fronts:

Angola black countertops:

KeraDomo 36" apron front sink:

A stainless steel, rectangular undermount sink for the island.
A two motor built-in range hood and a built-in microwave from the Swabian company, Neff.

After all of our decisions, I decided to take a little walk around the store. As I walked around, I realized that I wanted the designer to try to put the cabinets next to the range hood, to see what it might look like (on the computer of course.) So, I went back and asked. He put the cabinets in, and then realized he could fit a second set of shorter cabinets directly next to the range hood. Joern and I both really loved the look, and even the designer agreed that it was very "harmonious." So, there you have it, we finalized the kitchen today!!! All we have to do now is to buy two faucets and of course, the French Door refrigerator. I can't believe it!

When we got home, the updated plans were already in Joern's mailbox! We now also have the price, which worked out to exactly what we budgeted. I have to say, I am so glad we signed the contract for the kitchen last October at the home fair. We got an incredible deal!

And now, if you have actually read through this entire post, a feast for your eyes (oh, and please remember, we'll have our burgandy oak hardwoods)