Blessings in 2011

Happy New Year!!!
May all of your hugs be sweet.
May all of your relationships be hugged.
May your 2011 be full of love, growth, peace and the joy of knowing our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!!

love,
tonya

Elements I love! First up: The Bertazonni Gas Range

Meet our Bertazonni range.
OOOOOooohhhh my, how beautiful! It's an Italian built, gas stove top and oven and it's gorgeous!
I am now up for the challenge of charting new culinary territory! No longer am I simply "cooking in my kitchen"...well, that maybe a bit of exaggeration;). But I might dress a little better while I'm making dinner or *gasp* doing the meal planning! I have a sudden urge to create stir fry's. This bad boy is uber sleek, uber powerful, and uber easy on the eye!

Actually, the process of deciding on this range might be helpful to some of you, so I'll share how we went about deciding to get the Bertazonni. We needed to decide what size range we were going to install before our cabinet maker could build the cabinets and here is where we started.

We went over to local high-end appliance Retailer to peruse possible appliances for our kitchen.
Our budget did not include any appliances in the remodel. We had basically 28k for the whole thing...no appliances. I didn't mind reusing our fridge and dw, but I've been cooking a lot in the past few years and I needed more space on the stove top. I desired a 36" 5 or 6 burner top. We were introduced to induction cooking and was sold on it in a second...about three seconds, actually, that's all it takes to boil water...and no residual heat. Amazing.

However, our kitchen is only about 12x12 and we couldn't figure a way to put an induction cook top AND a wall oven in our layout. I didn't like the oven being so low if we went with a single wall unit. We needed one complete unit. No manufacturers build a 36" induction range...hello, you're kidding right? No. If we went in that direction, we would sacrifice size, because the only type of induction range has 4 burners(std. 30"). I highly recommend this type of range to anyone shopping for a new range. At least look at it...it's great for kids, powerful, and you have amazing control of the heat.


This was the splurge o'rama in the whole redo
Even though this stove top isn't as powerful as a Wolf or Viking, it's about a third of the cost. The largest duel burner is 15000btu's. More than sufficient for my humble (but adventurous!) cooking. We couldn't find a main-stream brand that makes a 36" range. We also investigated induction cook tops and would have went that direction, again, if we had the real estate.

After pouring over internet reviews of several different brands in the 3-5k range, we thought we had settled on a Fratelli Onefri and began looking for the best pricing in our area. We found a great appliance place in Cinnci that had one on display and so we went to take a look.

The Salesman at the store proved to be extremely helpful and asked if we were set on the Fratelli, because if we weren't he'd like to show us a couple of other models that might work for our project.

We were open (always stay OPEN!). He took us to see the AGA pro and then the Bertazzoni. His opinion was that the Bertazzoni gave the power of 18kbtu's, with the way the flames are arranged on the duel burners. Frankly, he could have told me anything, because I was in love;)! The range had a 5 burner or 6 burner option. We liked the look and the feel of the range and it more substantial oven racks than the other brands/models. The Berta Pro has an option of duel-fuel oven, but again, based on price, we opted for the all gas oven. It has gas convection, which was something I wanted. I was a little concerned about having my oven be solely gas, but I'm willing to learn how to bake with gas. So that my friend, is how this lovely range came home to our kitchen
...and we hope to live "happily ever after"!

Give away over at one of my favorite blogs!!

http://myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.blogspot.com

I found Kristin when I was scouring the internet for kitchen inspiration. She's done some crazy amazin' things with ordinary things and has turned her home into showcase! I just love her kitchen and she creatively turned ordinary builder's grade cabinets into spectacular cabinets. If you get a chance go and take a look around. While you're at it, enter to win a gift certificate for a cool online shopping mecca: www.csnstores.com

I had not heard of this place, but I'm spending some time there and probably some cash, now that I've found it!
have fun!
blessings,
t

Sneak Peak of kitchen

Here it is! I LOVE, love, love it! Absolutely, exactly our style! I love the black distressed bottom cabinets with the rich warm, ginger-y color of the tops! The granite has both gray and cream tones, so I think it will pull it all together. I've NEVEr had a range fan and I must say, this is the bomb!! We are suppose to have counter-tops installed on Monday! Can't wait to share the whole space...

Ode to My Ol' blue

Ahem.

Ode to my Ol' blue

Oh, blue carpet you've served me well,
where messes have been I can hardly tell.

You've taken the good along with the bad,
Christmas wrappings, good food spills,

and a time or two,
you've been hit with a blurp, a gerp or some poo.

Who knew 20years ago when we purchased,
you'd be so gallant and not back away.
You've stood the test of mauve decor, country blue too,
and even transitioned to the rich regal of hunter and wine.

You've taken the babes, toddlers and teens.

The messes two dogs and a cat,

and children so many, too many to count

threw at you each day and you never talked back!

I hardly believe it's time to tell you goodbye.

I'll miss all your color.

I'll miss all your charm.
But I do have to say, it's a blissful new day,

when I can purchase some fabric and not jerk away from

those color schemes

that don't blend with you!

Ode to My Ol' blue.

Thank you.

Granite choice for My Dream Kitchen!

After many, many hours of looking for granite here's our choice:

Here's an up close detail picture:
I just love, love, love the way the granite is almost marbleized. It has warm creamy tones, as well as white & grayish tones. Which I think will completely tie all the appliances into the color scheme. I'm still using my white fridge and white dishwasher, because it's fairly new and is in good working condition. The granite people came to measure today, will get the slabs in next week (the above slabs are the actual slabs that will be going in our kitchen), and installation will be scheduled for the weeks of the 25th. I will later post my tips on how to go granite shopping. It's quite an adventure and it's awesome how you can see the handiwork of God in every piece of granite. Blessings,
tonya

Flooring sneak

Here's a sneak at the floor. We couldn't wait for Tom to do the install, so we put some pcs together to get a general "feel" of how it would look. YUM! We love it! We've got a mix of wood finishes throughout the house, so I think the variation will pull the wood tones together. I know you think I'm excited, however, you should have Jeff give you the tour! He's UBER excited! Hope you've enjoyed the pictures up to today. I had some technical difficulites with my Picasa and now am able to post again!

Getting to some finishing!

I LOVE my mini chandilier, purchased at Lowe's. It's so cute and perfect for the entry spot!

It's hard to see, but I've got a milk chocolate brown, same as entry way, painted insde the bay window area. The walls are "fresh baked bread"...indication of time's to come? I think so!

An overall view of the kitchen finish so far, 5.25.2010. Floors are being installed today. Hard wood throughout the kitchen, dining room and family room, down the hallway.
Below, is a picture of my new entry door, painted the lovely "fresh baked bread" color. I've got some ideas for adding a little somin'somin' to make it look like the sun shining on a medow;0)