Kitchen Hold-ups

Now that our kitchen is usable, I've been spending more time playing rather than working on the house.  I'm getting used to cooking in a U-shaped kitchen as opposed to a galley style (like I had in the last house).  And now we are to a point where we are stuck waiting for items to arrive, and making some final decisions.

Hinges

The hinges that were installed on the original cabinets were exposed.  This is (was) a popular style hinge used in overlay cabinets (which is what we have).  Inset cabinets also usually have an exposed hinge (but I'm working with an overlay, so I'll focus on that).  Hinges have their place in this world.  I just felt that they caused a lot of eye distractions against our white paint.  Here's what I mean...take a look at a white kitchen with overlay cabinets and exposed hinges:

 

And now a white kitchen with hidden hinges:

 

Case dismissed.

 

We wanted a seamless look with less stops for the eye.  Less eye distractions = more attention for my copper beauties.

 

 

Meeoooooowww. 

 

The hidden overlay hinges at Home Depot cost $6.99 for a two pack.  Each door needs at least two hinges, so that's $7 a door.  I have 22 doors + 2 heavy pantry doors that require 4 hinges each.  I'm looking at almost $200 with tax to swap out the hinges in my kitchen.

 

Want to upgrade to soft close? $10 a door. $300 for this kitchen. Ouch.

 

 

Unless you find a cheaper retailer online offering the same brand named product... for half the price.

 

Which is what we did.  And then the shipment got "lost in the mail."  Because free shipping sometimes means that they...forgot to ship it.  Anyway, we're still waiting on the hinges.

 

Hardware

 

We made a decision a few weeks back to go with Oil-Rubbed Bronze bin pulls and knobs for our cabinet doors.  I waited for a sale, and then jumped on these.

 

 

We received the bin pulls, but just found out that our knobs are backordered for 12 more weeks. Boo.  We might wait for the ORB ones we ordered, or we may consider this:

 

What do you think?

 

Backsplash

 

The delays in the backsplash department are purely our fault.  We did decide on a material, but now we are tossing around different pattern ideas.  We have narrowed it down to these two options which are both marble:  While there are color variations in marble, these are similar colored samples.  The funky lighting must've made them look different.

 

 

My dad made his opinion clear.  Apparently he thinks option #1 (on the left) reminds him of a bathroom.  Hopefully there is no confusion if that is what we choose.  Gross.

Here's the hex tile: 

 

Try to look past the weird lighting on the backsplash.  It won't be so stark white/grayish under the same light as the rest of the kitchen.  #amateur

And the traditional marble subway tile:

 

We aren't worrying if the hex will be busy, because we'll be breaking up the 25" of tile under the cabinets with a shelf.  Let's pretend like those painted strips in the photoshopped picture below are shelves. 

 

 

I'm leaning towards one more than the other.  I just want to hear your feedback to see what you should choose.

 

What would you choose?

Hexagonal or subway tile backsplash?

 

Oil-rubbed bronze or silver pulls?

We've got a few decisions to make (and items to receive) before we can move forward with the kitchen.  In the meantime, I've got several other unfinished projects to keep me busy this extended weekend.