We’re back with yet another kitchen update! If you squint while you look at these photos, it will look like the kitchen is completely finished…
But if you look closer, you’ll notice some missing pieces, dangling wires, and empty canisters on the counter. We’ll get to the full to-do list in a minute, but while Greg has been tending to the dangling wires, the one thing that’s been taking up most of my brain power is accessorizing. There are a like bajillion ways to “decorate” a kitchen, and I’m in the process of playing around with a bunch of different scenarios. Our poor mixer has been moved at least 12 times! Frames, apples, cutting boards, ceramic owls, canisters… it seems like I’m going through every option imaginable. Hopefully I’ll end up finding a “scene” that feels right soon – before Greg’s patience runs out and he starts super-gluing everything to the countertops!
With this being a white-on-white kitchen, we can go down pretty much any avenue of color schemes. Overall, I’m trying to add some touches of dark to break up all of the white, mixed in with some colors from our “stack of books color scheme“…
So far, our favorite thing about the new kitchen is the fact that we have a working sink and faucet (we’ll post more about the where and how much later). We went so long without having a kitchen sink that every time we go to pour out a glass or rinse a plate, we geek out a little inside.
As I was saying, there are a lot of odds and ends to finish up before the kitchen is considered complete. There is some missing trim on the cabinets, such as the piece missing in the top left of the above photo. We had to take them off in order for the tile to be installed. There are also wires hanging out from under the upper cabinets for the under-cabinet lighting.
Also, we have yet to install the floating shelves to the left of the window over the sink. I’m so looking forward to putting these in so that we can see the idea that’s been in our heads come to life.
About four weeks ago, we ordered this light fixture to go above the sink. It’s on backorder, but it should be coming to our front doorstep in a week or two. Fingers crossed. That along with a new shade for the window will really dress things up a bit.
Okay, now it’s list time. Here are the things on our to-do list:
Finish installing trim pieces on the cabinets
Build and install floating shelves to the left of the window
Shop for and hang window treatments
Shop for and install under-cabinet lighting
Hang new light fixture (when it finally gets here!)
Accessorize!
Even though we still have a small-ish to-do list to tackle, and it’s not technically “done done” quite yet, we’re amazed at how far the kitchen has come since we first closed on the house…
We promise we didn’t fall off the face of the earth! We put things on pause last week to spend time with Ash’s family in Florida. But we’re back and the kitchen backsplash is just about considered to be “done done”. After the countertop guys rolled out, the tile guys rolled in. While they were working, the plumbers came by to hook up the sinks in the kitchen and the half bath. At one point, there were five workers in our kitchen… at one time! Yes, it was a bit of a mad house, but it was all in the name of sweet, sweet progress. Here’s a few iPhone shots taken during the madness process…
You may notice one design element we haven’t talked about yet: the wall of subway tile. Ash decided to continue the subway tile around the corner and over the entire wall. I have to admit, I was a little hesitant about having so much subway tile. But so far, I’m loving the outcome and really glad Ashley convinced me it would be “so awesome”. As for Ash, she can’t help but squeal every time she walks through the kitchen.
Oh, and a bonus shot! Here’s the new countertop and vanity in the half bath in the laundry room. You can really get a good look at the countertop…
So, yes. The light is certainly at the end of the tunnel.
Btw, our hall bathroom renovation made it to Apartment Therapy! Click here to check it out…
We’re back with a kitchen update! I know it probably seems like this kitchen reno has taken f.o.r.e.v.e.r. Well, it has. Kind of like when you see an episode of a soap opera, stop watching it for 6 months, then watch it again, and everyone’s wearing the same outfits and that guy is still in a coma. But the light is at the end of the tunnel. Pinky promise. And soon we’ll be on our way to a nice, photo-ready kitchen.
We’ve talked about our wants and needs, the layout, the tale of the damaged sink, what’s next on the list, and all that jazz. But now it’s time to talk about my favorite part of the kitchen reno process: the finishes. Way back when we were in the “initial planning stages”, we posted photos of our dream kitchen (check out that post here). Most of the kitchens had white cabinets, white countertops, and a white backsplash. I know that probably sounds completely and utterly bland, but it has the potential of looking oh-so-crisp, clean, and luxurious…
So, all white kitchen it shall be. Well, sort of all white. But we’ll get to that in a minute.
As you know, we decided to go with Dove White KraftMaid cabinets (check them out in their new home here). Next up on the decision making list: countertops and backsplash. We first started the search at one of our favorite local tile resources (Morris Tile) with the cabinet color sample in hand. After about five minutes of browsing, we quickly realized we definitely needed to pick out the countertop first. When it came to countertops, unfortunately the tried and true Lowe’s and Home Depot didn’t have exactly what we were looking for. Truth be told, we tried to love their options, but we couldn’t bring ourselves to do it, so we asked one of the sales reps at Morris Tile if they knew of a good countertop place. She suggested a place called Alpha Stone which happened to be less than a mile away, so we hopped back in the car and made the 400 yard trek down the street.
I mentioned before that picking out finishes is my favorite part about the kitchen renovation process. Even so, as we were walking in to the showroom filled with a bajilion countertop options, I was feeling slightly overwhelmed. However, much to my surprise – and especially Greg’s – the exact opposite happened. I kid you not… when we walked in, it was like a divinely providential experience. I walked right up to the sample racks and saw THE ONE. I immediately said, “That’s it. Done.” No exaggeration. No sample-collecting, no this or that, not a smidgen of doubt in my mind. Yes, it seemed way too easy.
Her name is Torquay (by Cambria), hailing from the US of A, she’s a part of the Quartz family and… we have a big crush on her.
Quartz is a man-made product, and sometimes it can come across as speckled and unnatural. However, this particular one has lots of natural looking veins that are to die for. I mean, seriously, it really looks a lot like marble. Here’s a photo of the countertop in action from the Cambria website…
I love, love, love the gray veins on the milky white background. The gray veins will pick up on the wall color in the living room and gives it an overall look of Carrara marble… and who doesn’t love Carrara marble?! Seriously. With our new BFF, Torquay, we get the look of natural stone with the benefits of manmade materials – less expensive yet heat-, stain-, and scratch-resistant.
Once I came back down to earth, I realized we had to check on pricing, availability, etc. So I anxiously pulled up the layout that Gaylord emailed us on the iPad and showed the sales rep the lay of the land. He added it all up for a rough estimate of $3,985. Keeping in mind it could be a little more because he only able to go by the cabinet sizes, it was around what we were planning to spend for the countertops (we guestimated around $4k). The sales rep also said one of his local suppliers had some slabs in stock, so the turnaround time after measurement would only be a few days. Needless to say, we said, “Go!”
Back down the road to Morris Tile. Now that the countertop was picked out, it was very easy to narrow down tile options. Since the countertop has a lot of veins, we wanted something simple, classic, and clean. Yeah… you know where we’re going… subway tile! Way back when we made the first mood board for the kitchen, we planned on doing Carrara marble subway tile. With the Carrara-ish countertop, though, that wouldn’t work, so solid white subway tile it is!
I love the classic clean look of white subway tile, but we need something to break up the sea of white. So we’re going to go with a light gray grout. The gray is super close, if not exact, to the gray veins in the countertop and also tie in with the wall color in the living room.
Fast forward a few days, the countertop guy came to measure (using a $70k computerized measuring device. Very fancy shmancy!). Our final quote came out right around $4,800 That’s $800 more than our guestimation, but since we were already in countertop mode, we actually added the countertop for the half bathroom to the order. All in all, we’re really happy with the final price. Using something like Carrara marble would have been $8k+, but by using our new BFF Torquay, we’re definitely getting the look for less.
The countertop guys are coming out to install early next week. So exciting! And we’ve called on Melvin (the same guy who tiled the hall bathroom and installed our new hardwood floors in the laundry room) to install the subway tile backsplash. We originally planned to install the backsplash ourselves, but since I’m still recovering from surgery, we opted to hire someone. Ugh! I hope I never have to have major emergency surgery during the holidays AND a renovation ever again. Anyway, Melvin is going to come by and get started on the backsplash as soon as the countertop guys leave. We’re hoping to get this finished by Valentine’s Day. In reality, we’ll definitely get it done way before Valentine’s Day. We’re just giving ourselves a far off goal so we feel like we’ve accomplished something awesome – since we didn’t meet our Christmas deadline (due to the damaged sink). We’re keeping our fingers crossed!
