Great looking kitchen, I love your backsplash. Also wonderful idea on having the two level countertop!!

It looks wonderful; I'm jealous of your open kitchen!!

Where did you get your tile? What is it?

nice fridge!

Undersink dishwasher? May I ask who makes this marvelous device?

Kat, great tip about the granite. Your kitchen looks so much like mine. It is almost uncanny! Those are the tiles I was hoping to use in my kitchen renno (i think) but they were sold out. Are they from a time place near Union Square?

Did you do something to seal the space between the counter and the backsplash? I'm having problems with it staining as my kitchen ages a bit.

Yes I also want to know about the under the sink dishwasher! That would make a world of difference in my kitchen!

This is my favorite so far. It has personality, seems to offer a lot for the cook, and doesn't look too cluttered. Come to think of it, I think a lot of the personality comes from the tiles, which are beautiful. And having a tiered counter means that guests won't put their glasses and food onto the cook's counter, which is wonderful! I hate to have to boss guests around.

Thanks for the compliments! Here are a few answers:
The dishwasher is a GE Spacesaver under-the-sink dishwasher. It was a great find as it's the only way we could fit a dishwasher in the our kitchen! The only downside it that you have to also use a special sink made for this, and it's a little on the shallow side. The tile is a type of "brick" tile from Nemo Tile (I can check the exact name when i get home).The fridge was chosen as it's a super skinny 24" model from LG.

I think it's a great renovation! It's very stylish and looks super functional. Great job. I would suggest one thing. I think you have a column with a grill in it toward the ceiling. You could ask your cabinet person for a piece of veneer in the same color as the cabinets and apply it above the tile to the column and you will have fantastic continuity in that spot. I see there looks to be no fill space to the left of the wall cabinet, but a veneer would do the trick because it's about 1/32" thick. Or, you could continue the tile up as well if desired.

Enjoy your kitchen!

No, you can't really tile there because the cabinet door is right on the column. Doesn't look like you have 1/2" there.

Looks a wee bit dark in there -- is it?

gochrisgo: I just have the silicone caulking between the counter and backsplash, and it seems to be doing ok... but we try to keep it dry as much as possible.
mrs: It's actually a very bright kitchen as it faces huge windows. I took these pics during the darkness of the torrential storm 10 days ago.
susan: Good suggestion. We have been trying to decide between installing a veneer, vs painting the entire kitchen blue, including the left wall, the ceiling and that pillar. On one hand it would create an interesting colored-box effect, on the other it might make the kitchen feel even shorter (it's 7ft high). Ideas are welcome!

Me, I would let the walls flow from one room to another as they do now, I wouldn't chop it up with another paint color. What I would do, if you wanted to tie it in with the blue is get artwork that has blue in it, if you want a connection. And I would bring the artwork (add additional artwork) to go 2/3 down the wall, much lower, ending about 2 feet or so off the floor, the bottom of a frame, maybe a little more, to really feature that wall.

is the fridge the bottom freezer style? i really love the design. and it's quite reasonably priced.