By the time this kitchen is done, I’ll likely have nothin but sweat inside my hands.

Work has finally begun on the kitchen and at long last, I am seeing my plans come to life.

Over the past decade, my vision for the kitchen has changed several times. After watching Diane Keaton make pancakes in Something’s Gotta Give, I, along with most of America, wanted those white kitchen cabinets and a black countertop. And the subway tile – oh, that subway tile.

But time and plans and budgets change. At one point, I wanted a green, French Country look. Even just 2 years ago, we were very seriously considering doing blue cabinets. It wasn’t until this past year that I even thought about doing gray cabinets. If we did this project just 5 years from now, I’m certain it would look very different than what we’ve currently got planned.

Thanks to the blessing and the curse that is Pinterest, I’ve had plenty of inspiration. My Kitchen Inspiration Board is a myriad of ideas and I’ve combined my favorite bits and pieces to create the design for our space.

After having cabinets priced out at several places around town, I thought I’d look into RTA Cabinets. Several friends have purchased ready-to-assemble cabinets and their cabinets look fantastic, and they swore it wasn’t an impossible task. When I found this inspiration picture, I was sold on the Gainsboro Gray line. They are transitional and timeless.

We are having a custom hood created and the one in the photo above is the inspiration.

The countertops will be quartz. We’ve chosen this subtle Calcutta Ultra.

I thought I wanted to do a white subway tile for the backsplash, but I’m having second thoughts. Once the countertops are installed, I think I’ll finally be able to make up my mind.

For hardware, I’m going with chrome transitional pulls and handles. I cannot wait until these are on the cabinets!

For the faucet and pot filler ( yes, I said pot filler!!!!) we are going country, French country.

This faucet was one of my first purchases for the kitchen. A good friend with impeccable taste and a fabulous apartment in NYC renovated her kitchen and had a bridge faucet. I saw it, I loved it, I wanted it, I copied it.

And yes, I’m getting a pot filler! Let’s be real, I haven’t boiled a pot of water in 8 months, but I believe that this pot filler will be the inspiration I need to boil some water and make some pasta ; )

For paint – it’s all about being subtle and letting the rest of the kitchen shine. Valspar’s Summer Gray for the trim and Sherwin Williams’ Glacial Stream for the walls.

The old floor in our kitchen was covered in perhaps the world’s sturdiest peel and stick floor tile. We never dreamt that it would still be sticking after a decade. I’m ever so excited for the new floors we’ve got planned. Black and white checkerboard. Again, my inspiration came from France – Versailles to be exact.

If it is good Versailles, it’s good enough for South Street!

I have selected a light fixture, but I think I’ll save it as a surprise for my final reveal.

In my next post, I’ll share some progress pictures.