Mission: A mountain house chef's kitchen

Our friends Mary and Bill have a phenomenal mountain home between Boone and Blowing Rock along the Blue Ridge Parkway in beautiful North Carolina.

As Bill gets closer to retirement, Mary wanted their vacation home to become their forever home. She quickly realized that a forever-home must have a dishwasher! 

Before the renovation the kitchen was charming, quaint and pretty close to perfect (except for the lack of a dishwasher). We all told her she was crazy to take on such a huge renovation when we all loved the cottage as it was.

But guess what? We aren't the ones living here full time. It's easy for us to say that it's perfect when we are only visiting for a few days. When your nearest store is a half hour down the mountain and you're stuck inside when the weather is bad, you start to dream about what could be.....

Mary decided that the only option to get the chef's kitchen she dreamed about was to blow out the back wall and create a massive addition. This photo shows the new room framed; just look at that view!

Mary doesn't have any trouble making decisions, and had a vision of how the space should look and function. Professional appliances and Mission-style cabinetry were tops on her list of must-haves. She jokes with me (at least I think she's joking), that if you have to open a can, it's not really cooking. Well, that rules out everything I make.

This large bay window is just spectacular. The copper farm sink is anti-bacterial and is a beautiful addition to this mission style kitchen.

Natural Hickory wood floors are a perfect fit in this mountain abode. The variation of light and dark compliment the darker stain of the craftsman cabinetry.

The glass backsplash provides just the right amount of subtle color to the room and picks up on the wonderful colors of nature.

The cladding on the backside of the bar peninsula is framed out in a mission or craftsman style to match the feeling of the rest of the kitchen. This adds a certain element of interest when viewed from the family room.

Mary is always so kind to allow us to bring our children as well as our four-legged friends when we visit. Her dogs, Beau and Lucky are certainly lucky to have this stainless steel custom made feeding station built right in to the cabinetry. No mess on the floor; I love that!

The pictures aren't the greatest, but you can see the beauty of the Jade Green granite in this photo of the peninsula.

This image shows the Thermador refrigerator before the custom panels were installed.
And AFTER:

My son, Nathan, baking an apple pie with Mary. (He rarely wears a shirt.) Isn't that island a great work surface? 

Mary has been fighting an illness recently...... I sure hope she is back to her spunky self soon.

If you could have your dream kitchen renovation, what would it look like?