Hardware Heaven.

I have a few last 'to-pick-out' items that I've been searching for. And because I love details and therefore am slightly infatuated with hardware, I've been in Heaven paging through virtual page after virtual page of cabinet jewelry!

In my mind, our kitchen is broken down into two separate areas: the hardworking part of the kitchen utilized primarily for food preparation (the white more classic looking kitchen) and the formal plating/serving/entertaining part of the kitchen (with the green/gray cabinetry). Here are the elevation drawings of the kitchen (the large closet cabinetry on the far right and left of the images is actually in the mudroom. Kitchen ends at the refrigerator and pantry).
Classic Kitchen:

Green/Gray Kitchen (the doors are missing in the drawing, but the right side will replicate the left side):


I want to coordinate the hardware with its respective aesthetic and function...essentially, having two completely different types of hardware within the kitchen united only by finish - polished nickel. If you remember back to this inspiration picture for our kitchen, I absolutely loved the look of the polished hardware against the blue/gray cabinetry.


My hesitation, however, with doing a polished metal finish on white cabinetry was that it really wouldn't pop as much as an oil-rubbed bronze finish would unless it was a substantial enough piece. Fear not, I think I found my substantial piece!

Oh how I love these! I see this as drawer pulls on the sides of the stove and also as pulls on the pantry and garbage. For the little bit of doored cabinetry we have, these will adorn their doors:

I love that they have a more utilitarian feel to them, but still add a bit of sparkle to the doors.

For the 'Butler's Pantry' (aka: Glorified Built-in hutch), I wanted a more glamorous feel...and some substantial pieces that would really pop against the paint. On the lower drawers, I'm picturing these:

And on the upper glass cabinetry, these in a polished nickel finish:

Rather than using knobs on the larger side doors, I want to use a larger scale pull...maybe something similar to this:


There is still mudroom, family room and dining room cabinetry to adorn in precious metals.


In our last house, I tried to keep the finishes pretty consistent throughout the entire house. There was always this fear of faux paus-ness looming over my head feeling as if mixing and matching finishes was a no-no. Come to find out that isn't true at all and if it makes sense in your mind, then go for it. In my case, I'm attempting to keep all of the 'common areas' the same. So the mudroom, family room, dining room, etc will all have the same finish as far as cabinet/door/window hardware go (I don't necessarily think this means keeping your light fixtures the same). However, within a confined space, perhaps you switch it up. For example, our kitchen will be polished nickel, bathroom upstairs is polished chrome, etc. My perspective is that as long as you keep it consistent within the surrounding four walls, you can go anywhere with your finishes.

In that case, it means finding a way to use these in the mudroom. I believe they were sent to me from Heaven above:

You know I love my labeling!

There are still plenty of details to work out with the hardware, but it sure has been fun looking, dreaming and playing around with what could be. Until we have our final meeting with the cabinet maker, I can't exactly finalize the number of pieces I need. That meeting SHOULD be taking place as early as next week! I can't believe it!

It's 10:30pm and we are coming off a busy weekend of celebrating my brother Matt's 33rd birthday in Duluth. We had such a fun time with my family at The Edge Waterpark, eating out at Fitgers Brewhouse, bowling at Skyline Lanes and caravaning the kids in every direction. Here's the kids all eating pizza at the bowling alley:

Tomorrow is a HUGE day at the house with interior framing beginning, window installation beginning, Heating & Air Conditioning, Plumbing & Electric subs all beginning their work. This is going to be a productive week and I can't wait to see how things progress. I'll leave you with this one final image of the guy that singlehandedly unloaded this gigantic 3 panel French door. I literally couldn't breathe watching him. Hats off to you guy!