kitchen bar top

The kitchen bar top is a major feature of the design of the Karina kitchen and one of the trickiest to pull off cohesively because there are many different materials coming together as well as it being a part of 3 rooms. We chose Lyptus butcher block for the counter top because of it's warmth and similar richness as the floor.
We could have continued the drywall onto the 1/2 wall from the living room side, but I wanted to continue the front paneling of the peninsula around the side.

To keep costs down and to make it more simple to build, we did not wrap the Lyptus top into a L shape, but changed materials to a painted trim top. The 1" trim top dies into the 1-1/2" thick Lyptus, while allowing the skirt trim directly below to wrap and be continuous to become like a window sill detail as it goes into the living room.

That same skirt trim turns the corner and then dies into the backsplash. The backsplash is the Chroma countertop material. We changed the outlet color to black and used stainless steel covers to better go with the counter & appliances.


Getting the right height was important...one for perch-ability (see the last photo), but also mechanically so that outlets could be included in the backsplash. Neil built a 41" high wall + the 1-1/2" counter. This is the right height to lean against. Even though there is enough overhang to pull a bar stool up to it, we thought of it more as a lean-against counter and buffet. It also hides dishes and the counter when sitting in the dining area and living.

The Karina - counters

The kitchen counters are in! They came on Friday and installed the counters and kitchen sink. Here you can see how we wrapped the backsplash around and used stainless steel up the back of the stove. I like all the play of grey and stainless. Neil was installing the garbage disposal over the weekend.

The living room wall is about finished...just another coat of paint around the inset. The mantel turned out well. We had debated whether to paint it or not, but like the natural finish...it will go well with the floors.


At least someone is enjoying our mud pit of a yard....

The Karina - counters

The real back door is up now. Some of the cabinet replacement pieces arrived so we were able to put the fridge in place and all the end panels to the cabinets...which was important because the countertops were measured yesterday. They will be installed next Friday and then we can put the last plumbing fixtures in and call for the FINAL INSPECTION!

We are going with Chroma countertops which is 90-93% quartz with 7-10% polyester resins and pigments. It's easy to clean, heat and scratch resistant and requires little maintenance...they just recommend re-applying the sealer now and then. We had narrowed it down to 2 colors for the kitchen.

I was leaning towards the brown and Neil was leaning towards the grey. Downstairs we are using more greys...like in the bathroom and the pavers at the living room stove. So we went with Coastal Grey. Upstairs we went with Crystal White with larger stone pieces.

It was fun to go down to Pental and out to their slab warehouse. It really helps to see them large.

kitchen inspiration - ross chapin architects

For the cottage projects that I have worked on at Ross Chapin Architects, we have typically put in white painted cabinets with a granite 12x12 tile counter. The look is classic, clean and has always been received well. Fred Kimball of Kimball Woodworks in Port Townsend, has been our cabinet maker of choice. Thinking about it, I realize I've worked with Fred on 70 some homes...repeating plans of course, but still that's a lot of homes. When it came time to choose cabinets for the Karina, to me it was a no-brainer to use Fred. Neil did get 2 other bids just to be sure. One from a much larger company, that was cheaper, but was not a true custom cabinet maker, so we would have had to use standard sizes. Our kitchen doesn't have a lot of extra space, so I wanted to maximize cabinets. The other was a similar outfit and gave a similar price. We are going with the Shaker door style as shown in these photos of past RCA projects, but they will be maple cabinets and we still haven't decided on the countertops.

kitchen inspiration

Many of the open houses we go to tend to be more modern in their detailing. Style is a funny thing to define. I'm not much for labels and find it hard to describe my style. In simple terms, I say traditional with modern detailing or classic with a twist. That's the way we have designed and detailed the Karina as well as our current home. The form may be the classic gable, but some of the detailing and plan layout is modern. Anyway...the kitchens below are all pretty modern.
love this deep stainless steel sink!

kitchen inspiration

Neil and I go to many AIA and other architecturally interesting open houses. Most of the time I can take pictures. I'm not always good at getting the overall picture, due to lots of other people at these open houses and the lighting is not always best, so I tend to take more detail, close in shots. Things like counter edges and how 2 different materials are coming together. Good shots for the files, to see what looks good together. Here are some kitchen shots from the past year.
concrete counters with metal edge
polished granite tiles with metal edge - nice thin dark grout