tp gal: The Kitchen Re-Do

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

The Kitchen Re-Do

Our newish house is lovely and we adore it. However, the counter-tops in the kitchen were granite tile and we did not adore them. The color was fine, the back-splash was fine, but I did not love the giant tile and the unfinished edges.

We decided to replace the counter-tops and a kitchen re-model was born. The first thing to go was the ineffective microwave/vent hood. We took it out (recycled it to a worthy home) and installed a very good vent hood.

After shopping around and getting three bids we selected a vendor and started picking materials. The first decision - granite or quartz. I thought for sure we'd go with granite, but we found a quartz that is very exciting. It has blue, black, tan, clear resin and some sparkle. SO VERY PRETTY.

To keep it from going too dark we selected a cream subway tile with a stainless steel accent. An issue with the tile heights resulted in a delay and to protect our bare drywall I put up foam core around the sink. The only color I could find was black. We lived with it for a day and decided that a cream tile would not do. Back to the tile designer we went with our photos and in spite of our desire not to go "too modern" we selected a black tile that would be cut in to 3x12 tiles and set like subway tile.

In addition to the new vent hood we ordered upper cabinets for the butler's pantry -thankfully we had the name of the supplier our house builder used. They were very helpful in the ordering process, and they were delivered right on time. Thank you to Cousin Marty and Jason for the lovely installation.

Lastly, a stove. This is the item that feels the most extravagant , but I love it so much. We were going to wait on the stove, but in the end the desire to have the kitchen done won out. We came in on budget - even with the stove and I love how it turned out.

Because we were involved there are little touches that show that a lot of thought went into the details. We had a row of tile set below the counter height behind the stove so that it looks as though the tile goes all the way to the floor. In the nook where the refrigerator is there is a row of tile that extends to avoid a shocking spot of cream wall behind the fridge.

In the butler's pantry, we installed wine glass hangers on the one end and our expert tile installer was able to tuck the tile up and behind the hangers. We used bull-nose tile around the edges which makes it look so finished. The bull-nose had to be cut and shaped on site so it is not 100% perfect, but I think it shows that it is a custom kitchen.