beautiful, lots of color, but it's energizing rather than overwhelming. Exactly the feeling I want to have in my kitchen. I'm particularly struck by the cabinets with their two-toned stain thing happening. It's something I never would have thought of, and such a nice touch.

Beautiful!

Yet another example of an article I would never have known about were it not for AT. Not only am I now aware of the photographer's work and name, but I also went to the original article to read the whole thing.

Um...it's super cool--I love it--but an Aga? Was that scavenged somewhere? Not sure I get the point of painstakingly collecting seconds tiles when you're dropping $20,000 on a stove. Again, I love it all, but it doesn't strike me as a "thrifty" kitchen, unless I'm really going to the wrong thrift shops.

Hmm--I may have totally over-assumed. Thought it was an Aga--on closer inspection, it looks like not, though clearly a funky, Euro-type stove. Any ideas?

greengage - according to the linked article, it is an Aga stove. That and her countertops were described as "splurges" for the kitchen.

I am pretty confused about the two years of tile scavenging... but this kitchen is beautiful and i like her design.

As the kitchen designer/owner, I had to chip in to clarify a few things.

- The photographer was a lot of fun and put everyone at ease; we had a great time.
- The two-toned effect for the cabinetry was natural (and desired); the wood reacted unevenly to the varnish; I had seen a sample beforehand and loved the color range.
- The Aga stove was a "splurge" compared to the piece-of-junk stove it replaced. It did not cost "$20,000," but in fact cost no more than a standard 36" one-oven stainless steel stove. It’s a Legacy stove, an English brand distributed by Aga in the US (real Aga stoves are much bigger and more expensive and work on a different system keeping them on 24 hours a day).
The choice of this stove was based on several factors:
- Again, the price comparison to basic stainless stoves
- It comes with two ovens, and a broiling oven
- It looks old-fashioned
- Most importantly, it comes in several colors
- The countertops were not exactly a splurge either in the sense that most kitchen countertops nowadays are made from some kind of stone anyway. What made them unique was not the price (same as any stone countertops), but finding granite that was all black, with not a speck of other color in it. This way, they don’t call attention to themselves, but work like a kind of neutral color (if black can ever be called "neutral"...) to bring out the color tiles.
- The tiles were indeed seconds; every one of them has a "defect" (a speck, not totally square, or not totally glossy all over, etc.) and were collected over a period of two years of going to a tile store's outlet; I saw red tiles on only two occasions. Part of the fun was the discovery, since the inventory kept on changing.
- The centerpiece of the kitchen is a Belgian buffet, an antique that cost only $800; compare that price with having a cabinetmaker build one...
- The glass in the cabinet doors is warped glass cut from old windows.
- The doors to the microwave cabinet and the basement were salvage doors ($20 and $60).
- The light fixture over the prep table (not visible) was bought on clearance from Rejuvenation.
- The all-stainless steel refrigerator was bought at clearance price and cost no more than a front-only stainless steel refrigerator.
- The hood was on clearance because it has a slight dent on its side (hidden by the adjacent cabinet).
- The distressed fir dining table was an amazing find at $600 and easily seats10 people.
- The jars for flour and sugar came from IKEA.

All in all, it really was bargain hunting.
(…And sadly, since we are casualties of the rough times, we’re going to have to put the house on the market in a few weeks.)