Betcha didn't know: we're also kitchen designers

so...we saw this kitchen in some fancy-ass magazine or something a few months back.  pretty cool open shelving concept.  but, like many initial ideas, they fall by the wayside as time goes by and the final decisions are made.  but not this one.  it kept its strong appeal up all the way, so we decided to find out a way to get it done.

upon showing this picture to several kitchen people, most of them said "ummmm....we can't do that....and we're not sure who can"

in our minds we're sayin' " SOMEones done this...why cant we?"  lets keep looking.

so then we got some quotes.  MASSIVE amounts of money.  and time.  no thank you, kind sir.

finally we decided: why dont we do this ourselves?  lets just find the shelves and mount them up on the wall.  maybe Jenny's Dad can give us a hand or maybe my construction crew can do it for us.

so we looked at Ikea, West Elm, Pottery Barn etc. etc. etc.  for some pre-fab shelves that can hold some weight and look good doing it.  easy installation is a must, too.

ummm...that wasnt going to work either.  those shelves are meant to hold pictures and candles....not plates and pots.  lets try again.

Jenny did some sleuthing and found a fella that actually makes these kind of shelves.  and they can hold a small automobile.  and they dont cost 50grand.  sold!

since they are custom, we needed to figure out the size of the shelves [length, width, depth, and thickness]

the pictures here show our process.  blue painters tape on the wall and a cardboard cutout to represent the stove hood.  low-tech, but it did the job.

so now the shelves are in production..we've even added lighting to the undersides.  they should be ready in less than 2 weeks.  check out the pics for a preview