We tried.
When I envisioned our new kitchen, I wanted to implement something I had been thinking about since I posted about the gray kitchen fad last year.
I don't know about you, but I am loving this look lately. If I didn't have to ask my significant other his opinion, then I would have that kitchen.
With gold hardware. And marble counters.
But, with respect to this new life we are building, we made a decision together. And this man loves his white kitchens. Which is funny...because I remember a certain discussion shortly after we met, and he said "I will never have a white kitchen."
It almost ended us. For reals.
I questioned if I could love a man who clearly didn't have any style. Turns out that he was just being hard-headed, and he's pretty darn stylish.
I let him win this cabinet color battle. Don't worry...I've filed his 'win' away for a rainy day when I need a 'win.' That's how marriage works...right? ;)
Anywho, back to the cabinets, I do love white cabinets. And I've always drooled over the kitchen from Something's Gotta Give. I watch that movie to gawk at the kitchen.
Oh soapstone countertops. You're gorgeous. True story... the countertops you see above from Something's Gotta Give are only painted to look like soapstone, but they started a trend that's gone crazy!
 |
| Soapstone (unoiled) |
Turns out finding Soapstone is not easy y'all. And when you do find it... you get quotes like this:
A much cheaper look-a-like is in.
It hurt my heart that I couldn't have soapstone. But for $6 g's - this girl could renovate a specific bathroom with a tiny shower. Which probably won't happen either.
I couldn't tear myself away from the beauty of a matted charcoal top with the white cabinets. So I combed the internet and researched the heck out of suede Silestone, Paperstone, and honed granite. Silestone didn't carry a color we liked, and I couldn't find information (or fabricators) for Paperstone. I got so frustrated trying to find a dark stone (with not much luck) that I started to consider going with a light stone. That's when I posted it to facebook, and you guys encouraged me to continue the search.
I was left with honed granite. I loved the look. I had just read a lot of warnings about honed granite so I needed more feedback before we could make a decision. Honed granite is not polished and, therefore, has a matte finish. This basically means that the granite has had the protective finish removed from it. It turns out that lighter colored honed granites are more porous and prone to staining, but I was assured that a dark granite was more dense and would hold up really well if I sealed it every few years. We were sold since we were leaning towards Absolute Black Granite anyway (the darkest, and most consistent granite there is).
Here is the Absolute Black granite honed (left) and polished (right). If you're looking at this on a phone, then the honed is on top, and polished on the bottom. The finish gives the stone a totally different look.
You've probably skipped all these words and scrolled down to the pictures anyway, so let me get to the good stuff.
We are not going with an open cabinet look. Our hinges are on order and will be here later this week.
In the meantime, just look past all the clutter. I'm embracing the openness and learning where all my kitchen goods are best stored.
Please ignore the live electrical wires hanging from the cabinet. One day we'll install under cabinet lighting again. One day.
How about that sink! Isn't she a beauty?
Did you say you wanted a washed-out close up? Done.
We are pretty happy with how the kitchen bar turned out. At first we were afraid that it might jut out too far into the dining room. No problems yet.
Just overlook the obvious unfinished work here. The corbels still need to be installed to support the countertops. Until then, we'll be utilizing this beautiful 2 x 2 to support it. And drywall now needs to be patched (since the countertop installers rammed a slab into the side of the wall).
When it came time to find a range hood, I sought out the cheapest island range hood I could find that also had a great reputation (for longevity and noise level), blocked the least amount of light and hung the closest to the ceiling. I wanted the same style I installed in the last house (something like this). But holy bananas people, that's definitely not in the budget. When did range hoods start costing more than a Kia?! Apparently, since an island range hood is finished all the way around, you pay five times the cost of a normal range hood for it. We settled with this Cavaliere range hood. Which is pretty nice considering we "settled."
You can barely hear it whisper at volume 1, and even at the highest volume (6) it's still super quiet compared to others we looked at.
I do like that it has 4 LED lights (which will help light the kitchen bar too), and it has these fancy controls and a display on both sides of the hood.
Go ahead, I know what you're thinking.
I'm so fancy, you already know, I'm in the fast lane... Okay, I'll never use it. But that one day I do, I'll be so happy I didn't have to take those 2 steps around the bar to turn it on.
Since we're talking about my frugal purchases... I should come forward about the lovely faucet.
Yeah, I went cheap on her too. And that one cost me an extra two weeks with out water since it was delivered with a clogged cartridge. Good news is that the company sent me a new cartridge and she's working fine now.
Crossing my fingers it stays that way.
Did you notice that shinny copper accent color? Everything was up in the air about the kitchen renovation and 90% of decisions were made in the final hours. Except for the accent color. I'm all over the copper trend right now. Justin and I even registered for a few items knowing they would act as an accent piece in the kitchen.
I can totally adopt a trend in small doses. (The pendant light is from Potterybarn).
We all know these kind of trends don't last forever, and little doses can easily be swapped out in a jiffy. I think I'll love these pieces for a while :)
(Salt and pepper shakers were a wedding gift from my brother and his fiancé - and they can be found here).
(Creamer and sugar bowl are from Crate & Barrel, and were a wedding gift from a friend).
Now we're just waiting to get our hinges this week or next so the cabinet doors can go up.
Our kitchen to-do list is shrinking pretty quick. Here's what we have left to do:
- Install hidden hinges and hang cabinet doors
- Add corbels to underside of kitchen bar
- Fix drywall by bar area
- Choose a backsplash and install tile
- Install open shelves underneath cabinets
- Create shelves or drawers for food pantry
- Choose and install under cabinet lighting for the coffee nook
- Wait for cups and knobs to come off back order (September 12th) and install
- Buy, paint and nail in quarter round shoe molding
- Order blinds for the window
And finally, next week the countertop fabricators should be returning to fix the counter by the refrigerator. We had a slight disagreement on how the edge by the refrigerator should be finished. I think an appliance edge looks stupid, since y'know, it's not actually touching the appliance. So after 12 emails back and forth, they agreed to rectify the situation and cut a radius edge. #customerserviceforthewin
Our kitchen required 52 square feet of countertops, and we had to purchase two slabs of granite. We have remnants left over (being held at the fabricator) that will really help us out when we start our next big project (the bonus room)! We'd like to install a wet bar with a matching countertop and since we already own the slab, we just have to pay to have it finished to our design. I handled the countertop edge snafu above like a lady, so we shouldn't have any problems in the future :)
Mary it's BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!! wow I mean okay the next house I buy I am hiring you to help remodel any rooms I Don't like! You have such a gift my friend! :)
ReplyDelete