Seating for four please

Traditional Home

I mentioned in my last post that the onset of Fall has my decorating juices flowing again.  They are seriously on overdrive and probably driving my sweet Hubby crazy.  We have a beautiful kitchen in our 2 years young builder home, but it is not my dream kitchen.  I don't love our backsplash or our granite.  I don't love the fact that our island seats 3 people and we are a family of 4.  But it is very hard to justify making big expensive changes to a brand new kitchen.  I have been dreaming up ways to increase the size of our island, without having to redo the whole kitchen. It could be a huge domino effect, bigger island means new counter top on island so why not replace all of the counters and the backsplash while we are at it???  But I am trying to reign it in and limit the costs while coming up with a solution.

One solution is to add legs to the end of the island and replace only the island granite with butcher block countertop that has a bow shape since that can accommodate more stools.

Crownpoint Cabinetry

Another idea is to shift the granite towards the dining table and add a butcher block insert.

DeGraw & DeHaan Architect

Or we could add on a table extension like the one below.  I think this would be an extremely difficult look to pull off as I don't want the extension to look like an after thought.

Flourish and Design Style

I love the shape of this island, the white cabinets and grey paint.  This is the look I am going for minus the crazy bold floral.

Martha O’Hara Interiors


Here is our kitchen now.  I do love the look of our giant cutting board on the island, which makes me think that butcher block on the island is the way to go.

You can't tell from this photo, but we have a banquette bench at the end of the island now for folks to sit on while we eat at the table. This photo makes me LOVE our kitchen.  Too bad it doesn't always look like this. 

How do you cope with your not quite perfect kitchen?